In LTT magazine, LTT948, available for subscribers to access.
The Budget this week has directly and indirectly provided the content for quite a lot of our coverage this time. As well as details of fuel tax and EV charging changes, our lead story focuses on the Chancellor's promise of a pathway to more fiscal devolution, and the opportunity that could bring for a significant programme of locally funded transport investment. We also have an accompanying piece from the Prime Minister Andy Burnham providing his latest overall thinking on devolution and empowering local decision-making.
The Treasury and the Department for Transport chose to release a big batch of related policy announcements and documents alongside the Budget. We cover these on other pages including important new Green Book place-based business plan guidance, a Revised Northern Growth Strategy and establishment of a new rail investment costs review.
We also report on significant steps in shaping the leadership of Great British Railways, the latest highway condition survey, more in-depth discussion of the plans to expand Heathrow Airport, forthcoming legislation for changes in taxi regulation, the potentially significant implications of the work of the Mass Transit Taskforce, and very interesting new research on children's travel behaviour and its transport implications.
We also round-up on major developments in Scottish and Welsh transport policy and bus services, take a first look at the pedestrianisation of Oxford Street in London, and report on a substantial new financial and passenger data release from TfL.
Our expert contributor in this issue is Kat Deyes of Frontier Economics, who considers suitable new approaches to Place Based Investment Decision-making ahead of the new LTT/Landor LINKS Appraisal World event at which she will be speaking in a few weeks time.
In his Editorial Opinion, Peter Stonham reflects on the Budget and the new Green Book messages on more broadly- based scheme appraisal and the implications for business case consideration by the Department for Transport. He is positive about the new thinking on multi-dimensional appraisal, but concerned that the choice of approach will still seemingly be discretionary and mean schemes are put forward on different bases chosen to suit the promoters.
The implications of the new Green Book releases and place-based thinking will be one of the key issues under discussion in detail at next week's Local Transport Summit in York and we will be examining this topic in our next issue of LTT after the Summit, which in consequence will appear in three weeks time on 18th November.
Access the latest issue here
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The next issue will appear on 18 November 2026.
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A 30-year journey
Local Transport Today has been providing a unique service of news, analysis and comment about everything relating to transport at urban, conurbation, rural and regional levels in Britain for over 30 years.
Founded as a magazine in 1989, it quickly became required reading for planners and transport managers in local authorities, transport service providers, consultants and specialist suppliers and all those researching and studying the challenges of providing mobility and accessibility for people and businesses all around the UK.
Over the years, conferences and seminars, online information resources and other networking and knowledge exchange activities - including an annual Local Transport Summit - have been added to the mix.
During the Covid-19 lockdown this year, LTT introduced a regular fortnightly series of online conversations which became must-attend discussions for those tackling the impacts of the pandemic on local transport.
The most recent innovative step has been the switch to digital publication including the LTT digital platform, providing an enhanced reader experience for you in accessing LTT content. This brings together the opportunity to read the complete copy of the magazine digitally - and print it out if required - with the facility to explore its contents as individual items. This platform is designed to suit both desktop and handheld devices. There are also direct links to all featured websites and email addresses mentioned in the magazine.
…and desktop viewing facility too
Plus you can print it too!
For those who still want to read the magazine as a paper product, we have designed it in an A4 print-friendly format, ready for you to print at home or in the office. You can print a whole issue or select and print certain pages.
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The LTT digital platform includes a paywall — though for existing subscribers this will not affect access. All it requires is to simply log in with an email that is registered with LTT and click on ‘Forgotten?' to receive a new password to access your account.
For anyone who is not a subscriber, there is a facility to quickly purchase access for either an individual issue or a monthly or annual subscription to LTT. And you will see that we have brought in attractive new lower prices, as we have promised, to reflect the switch to digital delivery. It is now just £75 to subscribe to LTT for a year as an individual or £7.50 per month.
This full exceptional collection of material is not available anywhere else and continues the well-established LTT mission to be the only authoritative source for UK local transport professionals and practitioners!
Here’s what we cover for you
The UK Local Transport Eco-system at a Glance(!)
Transport issues and challenges are now a complex overlapping web of different localities, activities, modes, professional disciplines, technologies and financial and governance models. The LTT team uniquely understand this matrix and how all the different elements fit together.
