Guidance on assessing the economic impacts associated with the transport proposals has been developed in England and Scotland. Further guidance is currently being developed in Wales. In Scotland and Economic Activity and Location Impact Analysis (EALIs) must be undertaken as part of STAG (Scottish Transport Appraisal Guidance), while Economic Impact Reports (EIRs) are undertaken in England. EALIs and EIRs have been developed with the same intention - to assess the likely impacts on the economy in relation to transport projects and proposals. However, the methodological approach differs significantly between the two-EIRs focus on distributional ipats, pre-empted by changes in transport accessibility and journey time and how this increases or reduces the number of jobs potentially available for an individual who must live in a Regeneration Area. The guidance is supported by a series of tables, which the promoter should aim to fill out as part of the assessment.It is also recommended that some form of modelling is applied for larger projects. EALIs are split into two stages, the first of which involves a detailed scoping exercise to try and understand the cause and effect linkages within the economy and the second, which focuses in detail on those segments of the economy where economic impacts have been identified as being likely. EALI guidance is less prescriptive than that for EIRs and the promoter is able to be innovative and explore all potential impacts, including demand side effects. Each EALI or EIR is different, not only in the conclusions, but also in the way the analysis is undertaken.The analysis is dependent on the spatial dimensions, socioeconomic and demographic nature of the study area and on the amount of data available.It is also dependent on the overall approach adopted, which will vary according to the guidance followed and the individual undertaking the work. There is no 'job elasticity'. In the last two years EIRs and EALIs have been undertaken for a range of transport proposals in England and Scotland, some of which have made a case for funding, some of which have included innovative features within the analysis and some which have not strictly followed the guidance. The paper aims to assess the disparities between EIRs and EALIs through assessing a range of analyses that have been undertaken. Critical success and failure factors will be determined, such as the level of adherence to the guidance and the range of impacts assessed and analysed.For the covering abstract of this conference please see ITRD E132365.
Abstract