The viability of British urban transport planning in the post Buchanan period : a systematic study

Long term transport plans produced by county borough councils between 1960 and 1974 had low implementation. This thesis examines the degree and likely causes of low-implementation in a detailed and systematic manner. The findings are then used to recommend improvements to structure and local planning including transport planning. The thesis is in five parts. Part 1 begins with justifications for the research. In Chapter II, the land use-transport planning process in its historical context is comprehensively presented. Research by others has been used in Chapter III to identify key factors affecting implementation. These may be grouped as: (l) Institutional - e.g. local government re-organisation (2) Shortage of funds. (3) Socio-political. (4) Inaccurate transport provision and forecasting. The first three groups are further distinguished between national and local factors. In Chapters 4 and 5 the following two measures are developed to assess implementation. FMR is a ratio of plans recommended and implemented TO recommended infrastructure in plan for a given period. FMQ measures recommended and implemented works AS A proportion of total capital works undertaken, FMQ is satisfactory but FMR is low. Parts II and III examine the causes for low FMR. Part II, (Chapters 7 to 9 examines national factors - shortage of funds, political and pressure group resistances and technical deficiencies as reasons. Part III examines local factors - shortage of funds, changes in political control in councils, public resistance and chief officers' influences. In each case variations in local factors and variations in FMR are correlated. The last three factors together explains nearly 90 percent of the variation in FMR. In Part IV chapter 15 deals with changes in influence of factors, in the post-1974 period and chapter 16 concludes implementation analysis. In Part V (the last 4 chapters) present day land use-transport planning is critically reviewed and improvements are outlined