September 10 2015
This is an exciting time. There is a growing interest in the importance of towns and cities to our prosperity. Transport networks and local bus services are vital to this new urban agenda. Our ability to get around shapes where we live and work, where we are educated, how easily we can attend to our healthcare needs, where we shop and how we use our spare time.
Local decision makers have an important new opportunity – and some new challenges. Funding of major transport schemes is now part of local Growth Deals, with local decision makers determining how to allocate the money. They need to develop robust and rigorous plans for monitoring and evaluation of these schemes. It is not clear, however, at what level this needs to be done and there is no guidance on monitoring and evaluation of specific schemes. Making sure that schemes provide value for money, and work for the benefit for local communities is now more important than ever.