Transport and Communications Group

NSC - Communications group - Annual report 2000-2001

Introduction

The aim of this report is to summarize the work of the NSC Communications group since the last NSC General Assembly in Bergen in June 2000. Planned activities and priorities are contained in the last section of the report.

Leadership and administration

Since the General Assembly in Bergen last year, the group has got a new Chairman and a new Co-ordinator. Councillor Jan Hallberg from Västra Götaland region was appointed new Chairman at the Executive Committee meeting on 27 October. At the same meeting, Jon Halvard Eide from Vest-Agder region was appointed new Co-cordinator.

Consequently, the group has needed some time to re-establish it-self in order to be fully operative. The Chairman and the Co-ordinator met with the NSC Secretariat in Viborg in December to establish the necessary structures and to plan the re-start of the group.

Membership

The group has got 31 registered members, including Chairman and Co-ordinator. In addition, a number of regions are on a correspondance list receiving information about the activities of the group.

Organisation of work

The work is as a main rule organised in one plenary group. Sub-groups may be established for projects and special events (conferences, seminars etc.)

The group will produce a detailed annual work programme, including specific activities with measurable outputs.

The group meets three times a year (winter, spring and autumn). The meetings will normally start at lunch day 1 and end at lunch day 2. Sub-group meetings may be held outside plenary meetings.

The meeting programme will normally include some sort of learning element, including presentations of or visits to systems of transportation in the host region. The host will normally make a brief presentation of his region, with emphasis on key developments within transport & communications, including "best practice" in this area. The agenda shall always be open for the exchange of experience and best practice solutions between member regions.

Group meetings

The group has met two times since the last General Assembly: In Gothenburg (Västra Götaland region) 25-26 January and in Brugge (Euregio Scheldemond) 11 May.

In average about 10 -15 persons- coming from regions in Scotland, Belgium, Germany, Sweeden, Denmark and Norway have attented the meetings.

At the two meetings under this administration, the group has adopted new working procedures (see above) and has revised the terms of reference.The reasons behind the revision was a wish to follow a broader and more integrated approach to communications issues, also including issues like: urban transport, safety in transport, the impact of ICT on transport volumes and patterns. It was also a wish to put greater emphasis on sustainability. The revised terms of reference can be found on the NSC web site [they will have been put there when people read this].

Other events

Joint Seminar on Sustainable transport

On 10 May the group organised a seminar on Sustainable transport in co-operation with the NSC Environment group. A total of 25 persons attented the seminar. The seminar was sponsored by the NSC Executive Committee and hosted by the new NSC member Euregio Scheldemond. The seminar was originally scheduled for November 2000 in Aarhus, but it had to be postponded due to practical reasons.

The purpose of the seminar can be stated as follows:

• To develop a better and a common understanding of the concept of sustainable transport and define the most important issues in the promotion of this concept.
• To work out a plattform/proposal for a joint conference on sustainable transport in 2002 with broader scope and attendance

The programme contained the following items:

• The concept of sustainability
• EU objectives & strategies on sustainable transport
• Economic growth without growth in non sustainable transport
• How to educate and influence the public towards a more sustainable transport behavior

The 2nd part of the seminar was organised in workshops to promote creativity and active participation.

Output

The seminar found it usefull to apply a broad definition of the concept of sustainability, with the following key dimensions: environment, economy and human & social concerns. Among the prioritized issues were: spatial planning, promotion of public transports and sea transport, green transport planning, the role of Information & Communication technologies, safety in transport and the challenge of promoting sustainable transport behavior among the general public.

The seminar decided to plan for a 1,5 - 2 days conference on sustainable transport in Aarhus in March/April 2002. The conference is supposed to have a broader scope and format and the following catergories will be invited: NSC and regional politicians, other NSC thematic groups, the media, relevant industries and special interest organisations. It was agreed that the conference should focus on "best practice examples" in order to provide the regions with practical tools that can be used in their daily business. It was envisaged that the conference could probably lead to the production of a catalogue with such practical tools. Such a catalogue could in turn be updated and issued on a regular basis. It will be explored how the conference and the catalogue can be made into a project eligible for funding under Interreg IIIb.

A "task force" with members from both the involved groups has now been established to prepare the conference in 2002.

Seminar on Sustainable Urban Transport and the Citizens, Stockholm 26-27 April

A member of the Communications group attented this seminar which was organised by the Committee of the Regions (COR) under the Maastrich Treaty. Urban transport is a key issue for members of the COR, as local and regional authorities have a central role to play in providing public transport services.

Main conclusions of the seminar:

• Europe's regions and cities need to develop urban transport solutions tailored to their particular problems
• The EU has a role to play in helping them meet the challenge

Current issues & priorities of the group

• Work for increased attendance and activity in the group

This is of course a permanent and universal challenge for all NSC-groups, but having been inactive for such a long period, it represents a particular challenge to the Communications group. In order to attract more active members, the group will try to develop itself in to a forum which is perceived as providing services and opportunities of direct benefit to the NSC-regions.

• The Strategic transport study (STS)

The STS has been a project under Interreg IIc. The goals of the project have been to provide an Action Programme that is based on coherent and unified decision support information, and to provide a platform for (future) co-operation between the participating regions through new Interreg proposals. Another goal is to reduce the likelihood of countervailing transport actions/policies.

The main recommendations of the STS are:

• Developing Intermodality and Multimodal Networks in the North Sea Region
• Improving the possibilities for Short-Sea Shipping
• The institution of a transport and economic information database and a port traffic database

The recommendations and findings of the STS will constitute an important plattform and knowledge base for the future work of the group. However it is a challenge to communicate it's findings to relevant target groups (National governments, the EU-system, the NSC Executive Committee) in an effective way. The group therefore has to elaborate more on how the STS can be made into a tool for the work of the group. As a first step, the group has decided to put the summary reports, as well as the whole report out on the NSC web site.

• Work towards Interreg IIIb

The group has decided to give high priority to the identification and development of projects for Interreg IIIb. In this respect, the group primarily sees itself as a forum for the exchange of ideas and the building of networks between interested regions. The group has decided to invite representatives from the Interreg Secretariat to future meetings.

• Ways of influencing EU policies on transport

In order to influence EU policies on transport, the group has decided to work systematically towards the establishment of a contact network within relevant parts of the EU system. The group will especially monitor the ongoing revision of the TEN's (Transeuropean Networks) closely, and will try to issue an opinion on them.

• Preparations for a Joint Conference on Sustainable transport (see above)

Planned meetings and events

• The next meeting of the group will be held on 8 - 9 October in Narvik (Nordland region, Norway).

The time and place offers the opportunity of combing the meeting with a conference on East-West transport issues on 9 - 10 October, also in Narvik. The conference will among other items adress Russian transport policy and needs- especially in relation to their expanding oil industry, Russian market potential, intermodal container transport via Northern Scandinavia, and The Orkneys as a Hub for transatlantic container transport.

• The next meeting after that is planned for Aberdeenshire on 24 - 25 January 2002.
• Joint Conference on Sustainable transport, planned for March/april 2002 in Aarhus

Jon Halvard Eide Co-ordinator
NSC Communications group
Kristiansand, 16 May 2001