Transport planning

The Transport (Wales) Act 2006 imposes a general transport duty on the Welsh Ministers to:

• develop policies for the promotion and encouragement of safe, integrated, sustainable, efficient and economic transport facilities and services to, from and within Wales, and
• carry out their functions so as to implement those policies. Section 2 of the Act requires the Welsh Ministers to publish, and to keep under review, the Wales Transport Strategy, which must set out those policies and how the Welsh Ministers propose to fulfil their general transport duty. The Wales Transport Strategy was published in April 2008.

Section 108 of the Transport Act 2000 requires county and county borough councils to develop policies for the promotion and encouragement of safe, integrated, efficient and economic transport to, from and within their area. They are also required to develop policies for the implementation in their area of the Wales Transport Strategy. They must carry out their functions so as to implement those policies. There is a requirement for them to produce a local transport plan containing those policies. That plan must be approved by the Welsh Ministers. It may be prepared by a local transport authority in respect of the whole of its area, in respect of part only of its area or jointly with one or more other local transport authorities