THERE has been much praise for Gordon Browns budget. Why, even that bastion of Tory thought, the Daily Telegraph, grudgingly commented that it was better than anything Labour has ever offered us before.

Certainly it was a whole new approach to many of the problems our society faces. Far-thinking, radical even, its eventual success remains to be seen. Many of its measures sound reasonable and sensible and have been welcomed by businesses.

Even so, we remain unimpressed with Labours proposals on the environment, and in particular on rural transport (although the reduction in the car licence allowance for smaller vehicles is most welcome).

As we have commented before, slapping an extra few pence on a litre of petrol will sting for the first two or three times we fill the car up but will have no long term effect on the problem of too many vehicles on our roads. Indeed, for people living in remote areas who rely on their car, this will be a major additional expense with no benefit.

The real problem of air pollution lies in our cities, where cars sit in long traffic jams spewing out noxious fumes. Four pence a litre on petrol wont solve that. Nor will providing better public transport if it is done in isolation. Most motorists will need to be virtually dragged out of their vehicles and pushed on to the bus or train.

The Government needs to get really tough on this. Setting up barriers at the entrance of cities and charging large - and we mean large - tolls for entry into the central zone and bringing the gates down when a maximum number has passed through will have the effect of reducing traffic but would be hugely unpopular. Sometimes drastic situations require drastic remedies.

Why has Labour not changed the rule which offers tax benefits to company car drivers for driving more, not less, miles on business? A journey to Leeds or Bradford is made by car rather than by train, simply because company car drivers are striving to surpass the mileage thresholds which bring tax reductions. Barmy!

Mr Brown has also pledged £50 million to subsidise rural bus transport. All very worthy but one wonders how much effect it will have, particularly after the ravages caused by the deregulation of the bus services which was one of the Conservative Governments most damaging legacies for the countryside. Is it really going to decrease the numbers of cars pouring into the Dales?

Again we say physically preventing cars from being on the roads not pushing up the price of petrol is the way to cut traffic. Any other measures penalise the poorer sections of our society and make access a privilege for the rich.

In a generally promising Budget, Labour has made only a very small step towards solving Britains chronic transport problems.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.