How Transport is Integral to Local Growth Plans 

As councils shape their local growth plans, transport is emerging as a vital lever, not just for improving mobility, but for unlocking access to jobs and driving productivity. Paul Swinney, Director of Policy and Research at Centre for Cities, unpacked these issues and more during our Mobilityways webinar.

Centre for Cities is a think tank that examines the geography of the UK economy, identifying which areas are thriving, which are struggling, and what that means for policy. Paul expands on the concept that employment is concentrated in city centres meaning many residents are unable to reach jobs quickly or affordably, and making transport a crucial bridge between people and opportunity.

We’ve highlighted the key takeaways from the session in the article below, but if you’d prefer a deeper dive, you can watch the full webinar or download the slides too.

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Transport Barriers to City Employment

Swinney began the session by showing that the geography of jobs is anything but even. In every region, from Newcastle to Leeds, employment clusters sharply around a few city centres. Yet most people cannot reach those centres quickly or affordably. The role of transport is to link that pool of workers to those clusters of jobs. The larger that accessible pool becomes, the more attractive the city can be. 

However, UK cities lag far behind their European peers. Research by the Centre for Cities found that in places such as Manchester, Leeds and Birmingham, only 20–50% of residents can reach the city centre within 30 minutes compared with 70–90% in comparable European cities. The result, Swinney observed, is that our cities look big on paper, but they behave like medium-sized cities because poor transport makes their effective size much smaller. 

The Tipping Point

Transport alone will not solve this. The deeper challenge is urban density, or rather the lack of it. Comparing Leeds and Marseille, Swinney demonstrated how compact urban form determines the success of public transport. In Marseille, where more people live close to jobs and stations, 87 percent of residents can reach the centre within half an hour. That level of accessibility benefits not only commuters but also employers. Businesses are increasingly choosing office locations near train stations, recognising that good transport links make commuting easier for staff and simplify client travel. In Leeds, however, with its spread-out suburbs and weaker public transport connections, less than half of residents can reach the city centre within half an hour, limiting both commuter convenience and business opportunity.

In low-density areas, the car is king, but in higher-density areas, driving becomes inconvenient, public transport thrives, and the city becomes more accessible. To make transport work, housing and land use policy must work with it by concentrating new development around transit hubs and encouraging walkability rather than car dependency. 

In central London, around 90% of workers travel by public transport or on foot. Compared to the rest of the UK, that is a striking difference, and it’s not just the result of policies like the congestion charge, helpful as they are in encouraging people to switch modes. The real reason lies in London’s density. With more than two million jobs clustered in the centre, driving simply isn’t practical. The close concentration of workplaces, homes and amenities means most people are surrounded by frequent, reliable travel options, making public transport and walking the easiest and most logical ways to get around.

What makes London stand out even more is that this density doesn’t stop at the city centre. Surrounding neighbourhoods are also compact and well connected, tipping the balance further towards public transport and active travel. In contrast, many newer developments elsewhere, particularly those on the outskirts of towns and cities, have been designed around the car. Long walks to infrequent bus stops, unreliable services and poor connectivity leave people with little choice but to drive. Places like the new housing developments around Cambridge are a prime example, where car dependency has been baked in from the start.

If you think about the benefits that city should be offering, it’s not intercity transport links that are the most important thing, it’s intracity transport links. What does your network look like coming out from the centre to increase the number of workers that can commute in from anywhere around that city.

From Plans to Action

So, what should growth plans prioritise?  

•  Investing in intra-city transport, not just inter-city links, to widen access to high-value jobs. 
•  Integrating housing and transport planning so that density supports viable, frequent services. 
•  Designing places people want to live in, where good transport, amenities and public realm combine to enhance wellbeing and inclusion. 

Ultimately, integrating transport into local growth plans is about creating places where sustainable transport is the natural choice. By ensuring more people can reach more opportunities more easily, cities can raise productivity, cut emissions and improve lives. 

To read more on this topic, download Paul Swinney’s slides from the webinar here

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