NEW APPROACH TO PROMOTING CLEANER, SAFER FREIGHT TRANSPORT
01 February 2005 - DEPARTMENT FOR TRANSPORT

Transport Minister Tony McNulty today announced details of a new approach to reducing the impact of freight transport on the environment and congestion and to improve safety.

The Government set out last July, in its White Paper The Future of Transport, its intention to start administering grants to focus more on the overall objectives of reducing congestion, pollution and accidents, rather than promoting individual modes. Under the new arrangements it will:

* Merge the water freight grants and sustainable road haulage budget into a single pot from April 2005.

* From April 2007 extend the single pot to include rail freight grants including Freight Facilities Grant. Subject to the passage of the Railways Bill, the administration of rail and water freight grants will be brought together in to a single unit.

* Prioritise schemes that offer the best value for money in terms of their impact on the environment, safety and congestion.

* Set a minimum value for money threshold whereby every pound spent on grants will ''buy'' benefits valued at £1.50 or more.

* In parallel, use funding from the Aggregate Levy Sustainability Fund to minimise the transport impacts of aggregates movements.

Taking 2005-06 and 2006-07 together, a total of £50.4 million will be available for rail freight grants and £19.2 million for water and road freight schemes. The rail figures include an additional £2m available to support new applications. In 2007-08, when rail freight grants are incorporated into the new arrangements, the total budget for all modes has been provisionally set at £22.6 million.

Tony McNulty said:

''Current freight programmes have separate budgets and are administered separately even though they all have the same objective. By bringing these programmes together into one funding pot we can focus on the overall aim of promoting cleaner, safer freight transport that does not add to congestion.

These new arrangements will provide better value for money for the taxpayer, and will ensure that the additional funding announced today to support the freight industry brings real benefits for the environment and the economy.'' . Notes for Editors

1. Full details are available on the DfT website at http://www.dft.gov.uk

2. The Aggregates Levy reduces demand for primary aggregates by increasing their cost and makes the use of recycled and secondary materials more viable; but it does not tackle the environmental impacts directly. The ALSF uses revenue from the Aggregates Levy to address those environmental impacts. Roughly £300m per year is raised by the Aggregates Levy and £35m per year is channelled into the Fund in the UK (£29.3m in England).

www.dft.gov.uk

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