October newsletter – Campaigns update
22 October 2021
Transform Scotland’s Communications Officer, Rachel McFarlane, reports on a selection of our recent campaign activities. Putting Down Routes: Building Scotland’s Active Freeway Network On October 7 we published a new report titled ‘Putting Down Routes’ accompanied by a video explainer. The report builds upon the inclusion of Active Freeways within the Scottish Government and Scottish…
Travelknowhow Scotland — ‘How workplaces need to become an active part of the solution’
22 October 2021
The Climate Emergency: how workplaces need to become an active part of the solution. With COP26 in Glasgow just around the corner, there has never been a more crucial time for workplaces to take action on climate change. Scotland is committed to achieving net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2045. Currently, domestic transport is responsible…
Director’s Note — October Newsletter
22 October 2021
So how does one process COP26? Transform Scotland’s director Colin Howden muses on COP26, and what might make it on to the agenda for our meeting with Scotland’s new Minister for Active Travel. It would be easy to issue a new stirring call to action from the world’s leaders. But these have been done before,…
Rail patronage recovery campaign should be the priority, not rail service cuts
19 October 2021
We have today published out response to the ScotRail consultation ‘Fit for the Future’ consultation. In our response, we set out five key recommendations for the Scottish Government: Pause rail service cuts for 12 months. Commission a thorough, independent review of rail industry costs — within the next six months. Instruct Transport Scotland & ScotRail…
Putting Down Routes: New report provides blueprint for delivering Scottish ‘Active Freeway’ network
07 October 2021
NEWS RELEASE Thursday 7 October 2021 PUTTING DOWN ROUTES: New report provides blueprint for delivering Scottish ‘Active Freeway’ network Transform Scotland, the national sustainable transport alliance, has today (Thursday 7 October) published ‘Putting Down Routes’. Our new report builds upon the inclusion of Active Freeways within the Scottish Government and Scottish Greens’ shared programme for government….
Transform Scotland is recruiting new Policy Forum members!
05 October 2021
Transform Scotland is recruiting new Policy Forum members! Do you have an interest in sustainable transport? Are you knowledgeable in transport policy, public finance and/or economic appraisal? Do you have good communication skills? If it’s a ‘yes’ to all of the above, then you could be the perfect person to join Transform Scotland’s Policy Forum!…
Transform’s Annual Report for 2021
30 September 2021
2020/2021 has been a busy year for Transform Scotland. We are delighted to share our activities and progress in the form of our Annual Report, which was published today. We started the year with three areas of focus: Scottish Parliament elections Climate change Capital expenditure Our Annual Report maps out our progress on each of…
Caledonian MacBrayne — Environmental Heroes Programme
21 September 2021
In each newsletter we highlight the work of one of our members. This edition we hear from Caledonian MacBrayne. Caledonian MacBrayne is the UK’s largest ferry operator – delivering ferry services across 200 miles of Scotland’s west coast, from Lewis in the north to Arran in the south. In an average year we deliver 160,000…
September Campaigns Update
21 September 2021
Transform Scotland’s Communications Officer, Rachel McFarlane, reports on a selection of our recent campaigns activities. Roads to Ruin report published On August 10, we published a new report titled ‘Roads to Ruin’. This report found that despite promises to tackle the Climate Emergency, Scottish Ministers intended to nearly double their spending on new roads over…
Prospects for sustainable transport in 2021: we’ve got to win this time around
21 September 2021
Transform Scotland’s director Colin Howden discusses the prospects for sustainable transport in light of this summer’s collaboration agreement between the Scottish Government and the Scottish Greens, and the subsequent Programme for Government. It’s amazing what hosting an international climate summit can do for one’s array of transport commitments. Yes, for the first time since late…
Programme for Government commentary
07 September 2021
Transform’s response to the Scottish Government’s Programme for Government this year took the form of a tweeted commentary from our director Colin Howden. (In truth, there wasn’t much new in the PfG on transport this year, all of the new material having come from the Scottish Government/Scottish Green Party deal that had been published three…
Transform responds to Workplace Parking Levy consultation
06 September 2021
We have published our response to the Transport Scotland consultation on Workplace Parking Licensing regulations and guidance. Transform director Colin Howden said: “Our response is based on the principle of giving the proposers, that is Scottish local authorities, as much flexibility as possible. We found a tendency within the consultation for power in the process…
SNP-GREENS DEAL: Scaling-back of Scottish roads programme welcomed
20 August 2021
Transform Scotland NEWS RELEASE For immediate release: Friday 20 August 2021 SNP-GREENS DEAL: Scaling-back of Scottish roads programme welcomed Transform Scotland, the national sustainable transport alliance, [1] has today (Friday 20th) welcomed the “modest scaling back” of the Scottish roads programme, and the major spending commitment to active travel, announced as part of the SNP-Greens…
Roads to Ruin video
18 August 2021
We’ve today published our new ‘Roads to Ruin’ video, prepared for us by Bob Carr of Bob Carr Creative.
Roads to Ruin: New report finds climate-wrecking roads programme due to double in size
10 August 2021
Transform Scotland NEWS RELEASE Tuesday 10 August 2021 ROADS TO RUIN: New report finds climate-wrecking roads programme due to double in size despite Scottish Government’s Climate Emergency pledge Transform Scotland [1] has today (Tuesday 10 August) published a new report, ‘Roads to Ruin’. The report finds that despite promises that it will tackle the Climate…
Strategic review needed of Edinburgh-Newcastle local passenger services
05 August 2021
Transform Scotland has today published its response to the review of the East Coast Main Line rail timetable. Transform rail spokesperson Paul Tetlaw said: “We welcome LNER’s proposed improved journey times from Edinburgh to London. These align with our long-time calls for modal shift from air to rail on this key corridor connecting the two…
TRO Review “fails the test of transparency”
29 July 2021
We have responded to Transport Scotland’s ‘Traffic Regulation Order Review Consultation‘. In our response, we call for a more fundamental review of the TRO process, arguing that the current process is not understandable beyond a narrow field of specialists within Local Authorities. Transform director Colin Howden said: “In his Ministerial Foreword to the consultation, Graeme…
New action required to embed the benefits of distributed working
22 July 2021
We’ve today published an update on our ‘Connected Recovery’ report of June 2020, highlighting whether there has been progress in embedding the benefits of distributed working necessitated by the pandemic lockdowns. The June 2020 report had recommended that: The Scottish Government, Scottish Public Bodies & the Scottish Parliament demonstrate their own commitment to distributed working….
Scotland’s Railway – The Year Ahead
15 July 2021
Transform’s rail spokesperson Paul Tetlaw has prepared a new commentary on what developments we might see on Scotland’s railways over the coming year. Government Transport Policies The future development of the railway in Scotland will be shaped by government policies not only for the railway itself but across all transport modes. If we are…
Why has Scottish public transport recovery lagged behind the rest of Great Britain?
08 July 2021
Transform Scotland has today published a new paper, ‘A Just Recovery for Transport?’, which reflects on pandemic trends in transport, and the differing impacts that this has had on private and public transport use. The paper follows an initial report, ‘Just Recovery’, which was published in June 2020. The paper makes four key findings: Finding…
‘Now is the time to invest for the long-term future of our public transport networks’
24 June 2021
In our ‘Transport Recovery – Rebuilding Public Transport Patronage’ report published on 25 June 2020, we examined the impact of the pandemic on public transport and the routes to recovery – focussing in particular on measures needed to enable a ‘green and healthy’ recovery. Twelve months on, report author Paul Tetlaw reflects on what has…
Treasury’s aviation tax proposals would create perverse incentives for flying over rail
21 June 2021
Transform Scotland has published its response to the HM Treasury’s ‘Aviation Tax Reform’ consultation. Transform’s policy officer Marie Ferdelman said: “Flying is by far the most climate-damaging form of travel. Reducing the cost of flying, especially in a domestic context where there are less environmentally damaging viable alternatives, sends the wrong message and undermines confidence…
Transform responds to SPT’s ‘Case for Change’ consultation
18 June 2021
Transform Scotland has published its response to Strathclyde Partnership for Transport’s Regional Transport Strategy ‘Case for Change’ consultation. Transform’s response to the consultation takes the form of a letter sent by Transform’s director Colin Howden. While welcoming the narrative on the existing situation in the SPT area as being “informative and indeed interesting”, we find…
Open for Business — June 2021 newsletter article
18 June 2021
Transform Scotland’s Policy Officer, Marie Ferdelman, reports on our recent ‘Open for Business’ report launch. We’ve published a new report titled ‘Open for Business – Gaining business support for car-free city centres’. The report reflects on the implementation of a car-free city centre in Oslo in recent years; how businesses were engaged in the process;…
Campaigns Update — June 2021 newsletter
17 June 2021
Transform Scotland’s Communications Officer, Rachel McFarlane, reports on a selection of our recent campaigns activities. Committee structure for new parliament announced It has now been established that there will be a Net Zero Energy and Transport committee in the new parliament. We are pleased to see that transport is now more clearly represented, and that…