Chapter 9: Department of Environment, Transport and the Regions

This Government is improving the quality of life of current and future generations through thriving regions and communities; better transport; better housing; a better environment; safer, healthier surroundings; and prudent use of natural resources. This Review provides for the following major investments and reforms:

the transformation of the country's transport system with public investment rising to over £6 billion a year by 2004, a doubling in real terms. The Ten Year Plan for Transport will deliver reduced congestion on our busiest roads, better and more reliable trains, a renaissance in local public transport, a step improvement in transport for London, and will tackle the maintenance backlog on local roads;
half a million homes will be brought up to a decent standard by 2004 - tackling over a third of the social housing units in a poor condition, with all social housing reaching a decent standard by 2010;
a major strengthening in the role of the Regional Development Agencies will ensure that every region shares in rising prosperity and high employment. By 2010, over 17 per cent of current brownfield land will have been reclaimed;
a cleaner environment with help to improve energy efficiency in business and to reduce fuel poverty, and support for local authorities to promote sustainable waste management and raise levels of household waste recycled or composted to 17 per cent by 2004; and
improved access to the countryside through the implementation of the Countryside and Rights of Way Bill, and support for rural communities with a new initiative to help market towns.

9.1 The DETR plays a central role in delivering the Government's objectives for society, the environment and the economy. It makes a real difference to everyone's daily life - improving the air we breathe and the water we drink, the homes and communities we live in, our health and the transport services we depend on. The Department is at the heart of this Government's commitment to improving quality of life and delivering sustainable development.

9.2 The new fiscal framework shows clearly this Government's commitment to investing in the future. In the 1998 Comprehensive Spending Review the Government began to put right years of underinvestment - ending the decline in the condition of the trunk road network, restoring cuts in maintenance of local authority roads and bridges, and investing in over 1.5 million council houses to start to reduce the huge backlog of repairs built up over the last twenty years. This Spending Review builds on those foundations bringing a total increase of over 60 per cent in net investment in the DETR programmes over the next three years.

Investing in sustainable development

9.3 The Government is committed to getting maximum benefit from this increased investment. The extra funds are therefore backed up by a series of reforms to ensure that spending programmes deliver value for money for the taxpayer and real benefits for all members of the community. Work across Government to deliver sustainable development is summarised in Chapter 4. The rest of this chapter gives a brief summary of the most important changes introduced by this Review for those policies and programmes contributing to sustainable development that fall to DETR.

Box 8.1: Key PSA targets - Department of Environment, Transport and the Regions

Ensure that all social housing is of a decent standard by 2010 with the number of families living in non-decent social housing falling by one third by 2004, and with most of the improvement taking place in the most deprived local authority areas as part of a comprehensive regeneration strategy.
Targets for transport will be announced in the Ten Year Plan for Transport, to be published by the DETR shortly, to tackle congestion on our busiest roads and to increase use of public transport.
Improve air quality by meeting the National Air Quality Strategy targets, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, enabling 17 per cent of household waste to be recycled or composted by April 2004, and reducing fuel poverty among vulnerable households.
Open up public access to mountain, moor, heath and down and registered common land by the end of 2005, and bring 95 per cent of all nationally important wildlife sites into favourable condition by 2010.

Investing in transport

9.4 The Spending Review funds the first three years of the Ten Year Plan for Transport, Transport 2010, which will be published by the Department shortly. This will set the agenda for modernising the country's transport infrastructure. The Review has delivered very significant increases in public resources for transport - total spending on transport will rise from £4.9 billion in 2000-01 to £9.1 billion in 2003-04. Congestion imposes billions of pounds of costs to businesses and individuals in wasted time. The Ten Year Plan sets out a balanced package of investment in public transport and roads to reduce congestion, particularly in large urban areas and on the trunk road network. The Plan will support the long-term growth of the economy by expanding businesses' catchment areas and market size, facilitating a more efficient use of resources and stimulating competition and productivity.

9.5 The Ten Year Plan contributes to further improvements in local air quality and to meeting international commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Overall carbon savings from the Plan are estimated at 1.6 million tonnes, in addition to the 4 million tonnes already expected from voluntary agreements with the car manufacturers. Investment in roads will be carefully targeted to reduce congestion while respecting the environment.

Protecting the environment

9.6 The Government will provide new money over the next three years to deliver a step change in recycling, on top of additional funds for local councils. This will help local authorities improve waste management so that at least 17 per cent of household waste is recycled or composted by 2004, which will reduce the costs of meeting the UK's European Union obligations to reduce reliance on landfill. Fuel poverty will be further reduced through Home Energy Efficiency Scheme grants to vulnerable households to improve the heating and insulation of their homes, reducing the amount of money they need to spend to keep warm. There is extra help for business over the next three years to further improve energy efficiency, including energy efficiency advice and audits for small and medium sized enterprises, support for developing new more efficient low carbon technologies, the promotion of renewable energy and incentives for firms to join a domestic emissions trading scheme.

A sustainable countryside

9.7 The new spending plans increase Government funding for DETR's countryside and rural programmes by an average of 10 per cent a year in real terms over the next three years, building on the conclusions of the cross-departmental review of Rural and Countryside Programmes, described in Chapter 32. This will improve access to the open countryside for all, and provide additional support for rural communities by helping to develop market towns and the vital role they play in the economic and social life of the countryside.

A decent home for all

9.8 The Government will provide extra investment of £1.6 billion a year by 2003-04 compared to 2000-01 to take another major step forward in tackling the backlog of investment in council housing and to provide more housing for those in need. By 2004 there will be a net reduction of one third in the number of houses in the social housing sector that are not of a decent standard - well on the way to meeting the target set in the Housing Green Paper of ensuring that all social housing is of a decent standard within 10 years. As well as tackling past under-investment in social housing, the Government is also taking action to improve the performance of social landlords through Best Value and the work of the new Housing Inspectorate. A new Community Housing Taskforce will also be set up to drive forward a reformed transfer process and ensure that the new social landlords created by transfer empower tenants and regenerate communities. The Government will spend additional resources on helping low earners - including key workers - move into home ownership, while providing new social rented units to help families and individuals for whom home ownership would not be sustainable. The spending plans include additional supported housing provision for victims of domestic violence.

Strengthening communities

9.9 Everyone should benefit from the better public services these spending plans will deliver. The Regional Development Agencies (RDAs) have a key role in enabling every region of the country to realise its full potential. The RDAs' budgets will rise by £250 million in 2001-02, £350 million in 2002-03 and £500 million in 2003-04 compared to 2000-01, helping improve the economic performance of all regions and raising the trend in growth of each region's GDP. RDAs will be given the flexibility to encourage more business-led innovative working as more decision-making is devolved to the individual regions.

9.10 The Government will guarantee funding for the European share of Objective 1, 2 and 3 projects within departmental allocations. This is estimated to total £4.2 billion for European Union Structural Funds in the UK over three years, including an estimated total of £600 million for new Objective 1 programmes in English regions, with resources for matching funds provided for within the total spending settlements.

9.11 The Government is committed to narrowing the gap between the most deprived communities and the rest of the country, and the Spending Review provides for the first steps in implementing the National Strategy for Neighbourhood Renewal. Further details on the cross-departmental review of Government Intervention in Deprived Areas are in Chapter 23.

Spending plans

9.12 The new spending plans for DETR provide an average annual increase of over 15 per cent in real terms over the next three years, including a 20 per cent a year real increase in capital spending. The figures exclude over £3 billion which will be spent annually on housing through the Housing Revenue Account Subsidy. This is included in Annually Managed Expenditure.

Table 9.1: Key figures

£ million
	2000-01	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04
Transport	4895	6019	7369	9120
Housing and Regeneration	4462	5664	6361	7000
Environment, Countryside & Other	1384	1510	1785	1730
Total DETR Main Programmes*	10742	13193	15514	17850
of which: Resource Budget	4305	5124	5573	5663
Capital Budget	6437	8070	9941	12187