It is my pleasure to launch the State of the Nations report, as a record of the current state of transport and transport planning across the nations of Great Britain. It highlights what is going well and areas where we would like to see improvements, in order to achieve our desired outcomes for a sustainable future - a low carbon transport system and better places for people.

Underlying challenges remain the same with new uncertainty

The initiative started before the current Covid pandemic, which as you will be aware has massively impacted and disrupted travel demand and travel patterns across the nations. So we have tried to record the trends leading up to the pandemic, and acknowledge some of the changes we have seen since it started, although many of the longer term impacts remain to be seen.

This presents a challenge, but it is also an opportunity for the transport planning profession and key stakeholders in national and local government to consider what changes we could make to the system that would help us create an efficient, integrated and healthy transport system that enables people to easily access essential services, jobs, shops, leisure facilities and their friends and families.

A well rounded view

For the first time, we have brought together a comprehensive review of all aspects of the transport system that combine to produce the outcomes we see around us. We look at travel trends and patterns, the impacts of this travel behaviour, current government policies, local and regional transport and spatial planning, transport planning skills and capabilities, spending and investment, transport taxation and charges, and transport appraisal methods.

From this we are able to draw key conclusions and make some clear recommendations for government and for the profession. I urge you to browse the report and consider and support the recommendations.

We already have a world-class transport planning profession. I believe that working together with stakeholders in government and other organisations, we can further improve transport to provide a better quality of life for people and communities across the nations.

I would like to thank everyone involved for their hard work on the report, my colleagues on the TPS Board and Steering Group, and the team at the University of Hertfordshire. I hope this will be the first in a series of these reports that can track and monitor the state of transport planning in our nations and play a part in improving transport for everyone.

Read the State of the Nations report