The Institute is one of some 130 organisations and individuals that has submitted evidence to the Transport Select Committee’s study of zero emission vehicles and road pricing.
CILT's submission can be seen viewed here. Other evidence is on the Parliamentary website.
The Institute's evidence was based on the major review of the route to net zero carried out in 2020 by several Policy Groups under the aegis of the Public Policies Committee and related studies by the Roads and Traffic Policy Group on electronic road pricing.
The Institute is strongly in favour of the ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars and vans by 2030 with conditional exemptions for plug-in hybrids until 2035, but only if sufficient progress is made in the provision of charging facilities for road users.
It also supports measures to encourage mode shift and to make it easier for individuals and companies to take informed decisions on their travel taking account of the wider social and environmental impacts.
In the submission, the Group argues that a properly designed electronic road charging system would be the fairest, most efficient and most effective means of doing this. But also flag up key issues that must be resolved in winning public support and rolling out the technology. Most of the other submissions to the Select Committee are broadly supportive of this line but there are some major points of disagreement on matters such as the phasing out of diesel HGVs and the feasibility of producing and distributing sufficient quantities of hydrogen produced from green electricity.
It remains to be seen how quickly the Committee will tackle these issues and call for oral evidence as a new session of Parliament is due to begin in May, following the State Opening. There is usually a delay of six weeks or so in resuming the work of Select Committees. But CILT will be looking at the evidence and considering some of the issues and areas of agreement over the next few months.
Anyone with views and information is welcome to send them to the PPC and the Policy Groups by contacting Daniel Parker-Klein.
Jim Coates, Chair, Roads and Traffic Policy Group, CILT(UK).