These amendments relate to the Living Standards and Sustainability consultation document. They are merely ideas at present. Nobody has agreed them.
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Line 42 Delete “includes” insert “prioritises”
Insert new heading “Transport and health ”
Insert “Traffic accidents are higher in more disadvantaged and urban areas (particularly amongst children and outside schools) – perhaps due to the higher volume of traffic in such areas, and are the leading cause of death in children over 5. There is a strong evidence base that shows that reducing traffic speeds from 30mph to 20mph results in a reduction in accidents. We will encourage widespread introduction of 20 mph limits in urban areas to encourage the reclaiming of our streets by pedestrians.
The Active Travel (Wales) Act 2013 will be extended to England. Every local authority will be required to publish details of expenditure on transport measures divided between walking, cycling, public transport and motor vehicles. We will rebalance the transport budget so that 10% is spent consistently over the length of the parliament on the needs of pedestrians and cyclists with the aim of building networks of segregated cycle tracks in every major city. We will remove VAT from bicycles.
We will take urgent steps to reduce the air pollution caused by road traffic, and in particular by diesel engines. We will reconsider the taxation of vehicles and motor fuel in the light of the evidence of damage to health caused by particulates.
We will reduce the level of alcohol which is permitted for motorists”
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Line 15 add “Free bus passes should be extended to unemployed and workless people to enhance employability and job search. New ways of enhancing mobility for disadvantaged people and developing community transport, especially in rural areas, will be explored. ”
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Line 30 Delete “Encouraging safer cycling” and following 2 paragraphs.
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Line 35 insert “Central government should provide funds to local authorities to ensure that public transport is continued to be made available in rural areas to connect communities with services.”
Line 50
“The decline in rural services has been well documented. Rural co-operatives, such as community-owned shops, post-offices and pubs, and other social enterprises can be the only viable alternative for communities looking to retain or re-introduce a service in areas of market failure. However, it is still a real challenge for communities to mobilise quickly enough when a local service is under threat and the current rules mean that communities will find a wide range of barriers, including legislative, planning and financial barriers, when wanting to save vital services. One Nation Labour will change the balance of power so that communities have the ‘right to try’ to put together a community run model which can keep services open.”
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Line 19 delete “Issues around public health and diet are addressed in the Health and Care Final Year Policy Consultation”. Insert “Healthy food is not an issue for the NHS, except that the NHS bears the costs arising from the consumption of unhealthy food. It is the responsibility of the government to protect the health of the population and to defend it from those who make a profit from selling unhealthy food and drink whether the damage is immediately apparent or more insidious. We will remove the VAT exemption from sugar, which has no nutritional value. We will ensure that the quantity of sugar, salt and fat in manufactured food is easily apparent to customers wherever it is sold. We will ban the use of trans fats in food products (as has been done in Denmark) – and push for the ban to be extended throughout the EU.”