The first section of the report concentrates on the position in UK and is limited to those areas believed to be of interest under Theme 5. Responsibility in UK for access and mobility issues lies with the Department of Transport in England with areas of separate responsibility in Scotland Wales and Northern Ireland. In mobility terms the main aim is to achieve policies and provision for public transport users, pedestrians and motorists that are acceptable, accessible, available and affordable. Emphasis is placed on reducing social exclusion and dealing with the needs of the disabled and elderly. Isolation in rural areas is tackled through support for local facilities, special funding for buses and community support to improve accessibility. Strategies have been developed to increase the priority given to pedestrians and cyclists and actions are in place to promote safe, healthy and sustainable travel to school. Schemes are in place to encourage imaginative new partnerships between the public, private and voluntary sectors working together to develop local solutions to local problems.uUK has a strong interest in supporting international development and the second section of the report describes the UK approach in this area. UK Government responsibility lies with the Department for International Development (DFID). Funding assistance has been used to support the work of individuals and organisations as well as contributing to the work of the major multilateral development agencies. DFID funds a Transport-Links website to serve as an information resource for those involved with transport issues in low income countries. The Rural Transport Policy Toolkit is particularly aimed at the problems of access and mobility in rural areas and guides users through to the formulation and development of action plans. Practical engineering guidelines for the construction and maintenance of lightly trafficked roads is provided with a manual on minimising the cost of sustainable basic rural access. The Rural Transport Knowledge Base provides reference and training material on the latest thinking in rural transport and each issue paper is supported by practical case studies. DFID is also supporting work to encourage the more effective consideration of social and rural transport issues into the new versions of PIARC's HDM-4 investment decision support system. For the covering abstract see ITRD E135448.
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