The Multi-Modal Study (MMS) programme was an outcome of the Government's strategic review of the roads programme, as described in "A New Deal for Trunk Roads", published by DETR in July 1998.
The 22 MMS announced in March 1999 were intended to be investigations of the most severe strategic transport problems across all regions of England. For example, areawide congestion which might be best addressed by an area-wide policy could be considered by a Multi-Modal study, as could collections of localised transport problems. In seeking solutions to the problems to be addressed in a Study, the contributions of all transport modes were to be considered, including walking, cycling, air transport, shipping and pipelines, as well as roads, railways, buses and other forms of public transport. Solutions could also relate to non-transport policies, for example land-use, health and education. It is fair to say therefore that the studies were truly holistic and very innovative in their approach, and represented a very complex undertaking for government.
The Government Offices in the relevant regions were in the lead on the studies, and for each study established a Steering Group drawn from the Regional Planning Bodies, the Regional Development Agencies, the Highways Agency, the Strategic Rail Authority, local environmental interests and other transport and business groups. Given the complexity of the studies and the scope of the programme, the studies got underway and published their reports at different times during the period late 2000 to early 2004, with the average study taking two years to complete.
The output from the Multi-Modal Studies usually included a number of different options aimed at addressing the problems within the study area. As indicated in the hearing on 16 December, the options identified by the Studies were not in the form of fully developed schemes ready for statutory procedures and implementation. Due to the time that has elapsed since the studies were completed and subsequent changes to the machinery of government, we are unable to give the Committeeinformation to the same level of detail as we provided in relation to consultants' costs on delivering the PFI project. However, in the time available for response we have prepared the attached tables which identify the consultants involved with each of the studies and the total costs for each study. Since consultants played a key role in most of the studies, it would be reasonable to assume that the majority of this cost was made up of consultancy costs.
January 2011
______________