Jim Steer is a distinguished UK transport consultant, founder of Steer Davies Gleave. He was President of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport, 2013-14, and gave a very interesting Presidential Lecture last March, now available in print and well worth reading.
An important theme is the relation between land use and transport investment. A key reason for the success of London in recent years is the requirement on the Mayor to prepare a spatial plan for the development of the city that provides a sound basis for planning transport investment. In contrast, what’s missing is a national spatial plan, and hence we lack an adequate basis for planning national investment in transport infrastructure.