Recommendation 40

HM Government Acknowledged

The Government agrees that consideration of freight flows in and out of the high street and management of congestion is critical to its future success and environmentally friendly solutions should be encouraged. The Department for Transport have work underway to improve freight distribution in urban environments, for example work is ongoing with Local Authorities in Future Transport Zones to test future mobility solutions including those for freight, feasibility of urban consolidation centres is being examined, and we will be undertaking a review of guidance for Local Transport Plans, where urban freight should be planned for in combination with wider local transport requirements. Local Transport Plans bring together Local Transport Authorities’ responsibilities for planning, designing, delivering and maintaining local transport infrastructure, helping to focus strategic transport planning that is tailored to local circumstances and to transport needs of both people and freight. The Department for Transport (DfT) is committed to encouraging Local Transport Authorities to regularly update their Local Transport Plans to help facilitate efficient and sustainable freight networks now and into the future. As such, DfT is looking at revitalising its guidance on Local Transport Plans and will ensure freight is a key consideration in that review process. To help drive the adoption of innovative solutions to last mile logistics the Government’s broad and ambitious Future of Transport Programme supports industry and local leaders to secure the UK’s position as a world-leading innovator. Key elements include: • An Urban Strategy published in 2019 that helps cities, government and innovators to harness the various emerging mobility opportunities; • A regulatory review of how transport regulations need to change to be fit for the future and how to address outdated regulation, which acts as a barrier to innovation; and • A Traffic Technology Forum, bringing together local authorities and technology providers to jointly resolve challenges. To supplement this, in 2020 the DfT announced a £90m funding boost for real-world testing of new transport innovation for people and goods in 3 new Future Transport Zones. Highlights for freight include: • Research on how urban consolidation centres and last mile delivery can help make freight transport more efficient and sustainable in Portsmouth and Southampton; • E-cargo bikes for last mile delivery in Bath, Bristol, Derby and Nottingham; and • Drone delivery of medical supplies to the Isle of Wight. Furthermore, as outlined in the Prime Minister’s Cycling and Walking Plan (‘Gear Change’) published in 2020, the DfT has tendered in 2021 for a desk-based research project to examine the feasibility and requirements of a real-world pilot of a compulsory urban consolidation centre, to test whether such consolidation of goods will lead to fewer trips and therefore reduced congestion and emissions without producing unnecessary inefficiency and cost. The Government is also in the process of finalising Future of Freight, a long-term cross-modal strategic plan co-developed with the freight and logistics sector, to be published early 2022. The plan will help deliver an efficient, resilient and environmentally sustainable freight system and will speak to the role of the planning system and the provision of zero carbon energy infrastructure for freight across the whole freight system. The above approaches recognise that different solutions will be required in different places across the UK to manage congestion and emissions. Local and regional level organisations are often best placed to make the decisions that will deliver the required practical change.