TPS welcomed Louise Ellman, MP, to their annual dinner on 24th November.  Held for the second year running at the Wine Tun opposite St Pauls in central London, Louise Ellman provided a detailed insight into her work as Chair of the Transport Select Committee.

Louise highlighted that despite the wide ranging importance of transport to the public, particularly local bus services, it was disappointing that such topics were rarely discussed in Parliament.  An exception to this was a recent debate in Parliament, prompted by the Select Committee, on the proposed changes to the Coastguard Service.

Other topics Louise raised which illustrated this diverse nature included topics such as the response by Local Authorities to adverse weather conditions and the rising cost of motor insurance.  And of course High Speed 2 continues to be debated with strong opposition both for and against the case for High Speed rail.  The Transport Select Committee report recognised the scheme could bring benefits, but recommends that more information on the business case for HS2 is required and a number of questions still need to be addressed.

TPS have provided written and oral evidence to the Transport Select Committee on a number of enquiries including Transport and the Economy and Effective road and traffic management. Louise welcomed this input as critical for the Transport Select Committee to pursue its evidence based approach, and confirmed that the Committee would always look to transport professionals to provide the experience and expertise that this required.