Discussion on Paper 10

Mr M. C. Bradshaw, West Yorkshire Metropolitan County Council

To me it is inconceivable that transportation problems can be tackled without reference to the planning policy framework, which I suggest is changing and not a static thing. There must clearly be concern for short-term measures, but I hope not to the total exclusion of long-term policy thinking.

One major point made by the Author concerns the so-called immutability of the land use scene and the unchanging nature of the physical pattern of society. Paper 1 described the importance of the buildings and the interactions between them which gave rise to complex patterns of movement, but this was regarded as totally fixed and no reference was made to the frequent changes in activity that take place within the same building. Paper 6 discussed the mechanics of rural transport, but did not mention the political policy background which might be altered to ease transport problems. Paper 10 states that the overall settlement pattern will not change. In an overall sense, I would accept this and that it is probably not necessary for the overall pattern to change in order to assist the resolution of the transport problem. What is critical are the possibilities for making changes within this overall pattern.