As assessment of the Competition Commission Report and subsequent outcomes

Following the Office of Fair Trading's review of the British deregulated bus market as a whole in 2009, the issues raised were referred to the Competition Commission. Its final report was published in December 2011. Subsequently, the House of Commons Transport Committee carried out an enquiry into the Commission's report, and reactions to it by the operating industry, user groups, and other bodies, which was published in September 2012. A number of major issues have been raised, including the extent to which price competition may be effective, the appropriate rate of return on capital that would be expected within the industry (and appropriate actions where this is excessive in practice), and industry structure. The importance of competition per se, as distinct from attributes of direct concern to users (such as reliability, frequency, and fares) has also been debated. This paper reviews the issues raised, and outcomes to date, in the light of further evidence on the industry's performance. It is demonstrated similar rates of return could be attained through very different operating strategies, which in turn have very different implications for changes in consumer surplus. The alternative uses made of such profits (for example through reinvestment) may also have markedly different impacts effects on users. Rather than focussing on the dangers of excessive rates of return on capital, the outcomes for service users should be the main issue

The reliability of asset management regime of the SROH using air void content of asphalt mixtures

The comparison pairs of cores (each 100 mm apart) from 68 reinstatements sites from various parts of the UK revealed that, the compounding consequences of generic non-homogeneous characteristics of hand laid recipe mixed materials (specified in Specification for the Reinstatement of Openings in Highways (SROH)) and high likeliness of being biased during air void (AV) testing makes the coring method extremely unreliable with very low repeatability and reproducibility. The wide-ranging maximum density reported in every instance in the comparison pair coring experiments meaningfully rationalizes the distorted homogeneity of materials. Although not only maximum density but also bulk density of adjacent cores located only 100 mm apart were found to be varied in the case of every pair in this study. Furthermore, the in situ performance shown by from 50 reinstatements after experiencing 1.5–10 years real-life ageing from various parts of the UK predictably indicates that either the linkage between the reinstatement with non-compliant AV and its impact on footways durability is non-proven or the reported AV content is extremely over estimated. At 95% level of significance, there exists enough evidence to conclude that, due to high uncertainty, very low repeatability and reproducibility and poor reliability with high chances of bias, the assessment of hand laid reinstatement work by AV testing will expose both the contractor and the client to unacceptable risk. © 2017 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Grou

Priorities, policies and (time)scales : the delivery of emissions reductions in the UK transport sector

Peer reviewedPreprin

Elected Mayors: Leading Locally?

The directly elected executive mayor was introduced to England a decade ago. Drawing inspiration from European and American experience, the elected mayor appealed to both New Labour and Conservative commentators in offering a solution to perceived problems of local leadership. There was a shared view that governance of local areas was failing and that elected mayors were the answer. The first local referendums were held in 2001. Most have continued to reject the idea of the elected mayor. During 2012, the coalition government initiated 10 further mayoral referendums in England's largest cities but only one, Bristol, opted for an elected mayor. Overall, there is no evidence of widespread public support, yet the prospect of more mayors - with enhanced powers - remains firmly on the policy agenda. Drawing from a decade of research, this paper considers reasons for the persistence of the mayoral experiment, the importance of local factors in the few areas where mayors hold office and the link to current policy debates. Using the authors' analytical leadership grid, this paper links the governmental, governance and allegiance roles of mayors to the problematic nature of local leadership. It then draws tentative conclusions about the strange case of the elected mayor in England

The potential impact of reforms to the essential parameters of the council tax

Council Tax was introduced in Britain in 1993 and represents a unique international property tax. There is a growing belief that it is time to reform the number and structure of council tax bands but such views have a minimal empirical base. This paper sets out to assess the impact on personal and local government finances, and extends the analysis to the role of the tax multipliers linked to each band. The research is based on the experience of a representative sample of local authorities in Scotland. A statistical revaluation for 2000 is estimated for the existing eight band system, and from this base a ten band system is calculated. Financial implications are then simulated for each local authority taking account of central resource equalisation mechanisms. The results indicate that increases in bands will have little impact on the burden of the council tax compared with regular revaluations. Changing the tax multiplier range has the greatest impact on local authority finances and council tax payments

Sustainable travel behaviour and the widespread impacts on the local economy

Statistics show that unsustainable travel behaviour and global greenhouse gas emissions are growing and due to the perceived indispensable nature of personal travel, shifts to more sustainable modes remain a challenge. Automobility supports sustained local economic growth but also raises issues around safety, health, road fatalities, traffic and congestion, and detrimental environmental impacts. This article addresses the issue of sustainable mobility by investigating how to increase sustainable travel choices and, where this is not possible, ensure existing travel choices and patterns are as environmentally friendly as possible. Existing soft initiatives aimed at increasing sustainable travel behaviour fail to fully acknowledge that travel decisions are made at the individual level and that tailored strategies would be more effective at targeting distinct behavioural patterns. Influencing changes in travel behaviour at the local level demonstrates significant potential where individual behaviour can be influenced if appropriate support at the system level is in place and complies with the needs of individuals. This article demonstrates that, in doing so, this will simultaneously address other areas, such as accessibility, employability, health and sustainable growth, crucial to the establishment and survival of automobility by both supporting local economic growth and achieving reductions in carbon emissions

Is metal theft committed by organized crime groups, and why does it matter?

Using the example of metal theft in the United Kingdom, this study used mixed methods to evaluate the accuracy of police estimates of the involvement of organised crime groups (OCGs) in crime. Police estimate that 20-30% of metal theft is committed by OCGs, but this study found that only 0.5% of metal thieves had previous convictions for offences related to OCGs, that only 1.3% were linked to OCGs by intelligence information, that metal thieves typically offended close to their homes and that almost no metal thefts involved sophisticated offence methods. It appears that police may over-estimate the involvement of OCGs in some types of crime. The reasons for and consequences of this over-estimation are discussed

«¡España viva!»: Personifications of Spain in Lope de Vega's 'comedias de santos'

The frequent deployment of non-human characters is a distinctive feature of Golden-Age hagiographic drama. Non-human characters intervene in every one of the twenty-five comedias by Lope de Vega that can, according to the criteria applied by Robert Morrison [2000:97], legitimately be considered saints plays. Lope’s non-human characters can be divided into three broad categories, although there can be some overlap

‘Is it essential that a steamship company’s posters must have a ship?’ The shortcomings of British shipping posters c.1840 to c.1970

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the nature of marketing communications of British shipping lines in the period from c.1840 to c.1970 to establish the extent to which these outputs reflect extant scholarship which points to the lack of innovation as a key reason for the demise of these lines. Design/methodology/approach: The research is built on a survey of >450 posters plotting the shifting nature of advertising messages over this long period in response to the market. This is supported by reading trade press contemporary to the period to establish broader trends in marketing and whether this product sector was aberrant. Findings: What is revealed is a generally static response in the promotion of British shipping lines throughout the timeframe, at odds with trends elsewhere. What stands out is the widespread criticism of the time singling out the shipping poster. This suggests an advanced appreciation of the role of the poster and the effectiveness of promotional messages focussing on emotions- versus a product-centred approach. Originality/value: Whilst there is an established literature which suggests that the British merchant marine was hamstrung by a pattern of family ownership making adaptation slow, no research to date has expressly read marketing as a window onto that culture. This paper shows that whilst there may have been change within the sector which these British shipping lines responded to, when it came to presenting themselves in public via their communications strategy, they adopted a staid, conservative approach. British shipping lines, throughout the period, had a very fixed idea about who they were and what best represented their business irrespective of dramatic shifts in attitudes concerning how best to reach consumers. Interrogating promotional material, and particularly the ubiquitous shipping poster, provides another insight into the conservative and debilitating corporate culture of British shipping