An interview with Graham Hughes, Cambridgeshire's Director of Transport - May 2006
If there were a league table for local authorities, Cambridgeshire County Council would certainly have a top spot in the Premier League. Through the efforts of the former Head of Transport and Development, Brian Smith, Cambridgeshire has set a high standard for delivering excellence in transport planning. With Brian’s move to a broader role within the council, Graham Hughes has stepped into the newly created role of Director of Sustainable Infrastructure. A year into the job, we asked him how he intends to keep Cambridgeshire at the top of the ‘Premiership’.
Having spent five of his 15+ years in transport working for Cambridgeshire, Hughes is able to provide an in-depth analysis of life in local government. He believes that “most local authorities have laudable (and pretty similar) transport policies, but all too often these sound ideas remain in policy documents. The issue is how to get from these policies to actually delivering a positive impact upon an individual’s quality of life”.
According to Hughes, transport policy must be related to what we actually spend our money on, whether this is infrastructurebased, like a guided bus system, or winning hearts and minds through an educational campaign. “Policies need to be unpacked into achievable segments.” The proof of a good policy can only be in what works on the ground. This focus on delivery is evident in the way Hughes has structured his directorate, where cross-departmental project teams take advantage of multidisciplinary skills to get things done.
Looking to the future, Hughes has recently steered Cambridgeshire’s bid under the Transport Innovation Fund (TIF) and has secured a substantial allocation to test ways to keep Cambridge moving in the future and the potential role of some form of road user charging (RUC). In the past, Cambridgeshire was part of John Prescott’s ‘Charging Development Partnership’, set up after the Transport White Paper in 1998, and investigated the possibility of a workplace parking levy.
Other authorities such as Edinburgh and Bristol City Councils have looked at forms of RUC and the recent lessons from Edinburgh, notes Hughes, “demonstrate just how hard, at the local level, it is to deliver RUC, as it requires exceptional politicians and real commitment”. Hughes acknowledges that, although a special case, London demonstrates this point well.
He concedes that while the government now seems set on investigating RUC, it will be some time before it is widely accepted at a local level. “For something this significant, national government should set the tone and lead the way,” he notes.
Nearly a year into the top job, Hughes reflects on the successes so far. As well as TIF, Cambridgeshire’s LTP is in the top league and real progress has been made on grasping the challenges of the growth agenda. Much still needs to be done, but Hughes is one for a challenge and relishes the opportunity to continue to make a difference. With this approach, he and Cambridgeshire seem well set to remain at the top of the Premier League.
Visit Cambridgeshire County Council at www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk
