British-Irish Council
Transport Meeting
Communiqué

The first British-Irish Council meeting on Transport took place in Belfast today.  The meeting was chaired by the First Minister, The Rt Hon. David Trimble MP MLA and the Deputy First Minister Mr. Séamus Mallon MP MLA, and they and Sam Foster, Minister of the Environment represented the Northern Ireland Executive.  The Irish Government was represented by Mary O’Rourke, Minister for Public Enterprise and Noel Dempsey, Minister of the Environment and Local Government and the British Government by Gus Macdonald, Transport Minister at the UK Department of Environment, Transport and the Regions.

The devolved administrations in Scotland and Wales were represented by Mr John Martin, Head of the Transport Planning Group of the Scottish Executive and Mr Martin Evans, Director of Transport Planning and the Environment, National Assembly for Wales, respectively.

The Isle of Man was represented by Mr Philip Pain, Director of Isle of Man Airport. Jersey was represented by Mr Colin Powell, Advisor on Air and Shipping Services and Guernsey was represented by Deputy Michael Torode, Vice President, State of Guernsey Transport Board.

Transport was identified at the first British-Irish Council Summit meeting in London on 17 December 1999 as one of the issues for discussion between the different administrations, and it was agreed that the Northern Ireland Executive would take the lead in this area.

Today, members of the British-Irish Council had a wide-ranging discussion covering various aspects of transport.  Recognising that transport cannot be viewed as an issue in isolation, members of the British-Irish Council agreed on the need for an integrated and sustainable approach to transport issues, which would take account of the relevant economic, social and environmental context.

The members of the British-Irish Council identified a range of key issues which will inform their future work.  Among these issues were: the problems of peripherality; road safety, urban congestion and the need to develop public transport as a viable alternative to the private car; the importance of adequate access to ports and airports and the need to consider the impact of new technologies on transport.

As a first step members of the British-Irish Council agreed on a number of areas to be considered with a view to identifying those issues which would most benefit all members.  The areas are:-

(i)      Sharing knowledge and experience on:-

-         the development of public private partnerships and other sources of funding for new transport schemes

          -      modelling and projection of  the size and pattern of future transport demand

          -      the development of sustainable transport policies, including, where relevant, measures to restrain the growth in demand for transport

          -      programmes to improve road and rail safety.

          -      spatial development strategies linking transportation and land use planning.

(ii)      Ongoing review of the implementation of the Transport TENS, including in particular the identification of transport infrastructure deficits and bottlenecks and proposed remedial measures.

(iii)     Consideration of practical measures which can be taken to increase co-operation in relation to the road transport industry and further enhance co-operation on enforcement

(iv)       Examination of  the potential for improved linkages with peripheral regions

(v)        Examination, in the wider European context, of the potential for an east/west trade axis through improved transport linkages.

(    vi)   Protection of regional air links

(vii)      Comparative studies on the application of information technology to transport eg :

          -        Travel information and retailing – including exchange of information on progress with emerging projects,

          -        Exchange of experience on interoperability of smartcards and development of standards.

          -        Impact of information and communication technologies on travel patterns and freight distribution

(viii)         identification of examples of best practice – especially in local transport provision in urban and rural areas.

The Northern Ireland Executive will convene an early meeting of senior officials to examine options and prepare detailed recommendations for work in a number of initial priority areas.  Recommendations will then be submitted to a further British-Irish Council meeting for approval early in 2001.

Belfast

19 December 2000