The government's transport plans are at odds with its urban regeneration policy, a report has warned.
The report, for think tank the Independent Transport Commission, said the government's 10-year transport plan is encouraging people to leave cities while the urban renaissance agenda wants them to stay.

The report's authors, former Urban Taskforce member Sir Peter Hall and Stephen Marshall of University College London's Bartlett School of Planning, said that discussion of how urban regeneration would improve road and rail links was "sadly" lacking in the transport plan.

They said that as commuting to work becomes easier, more attention must be paid to dispersal to new developments as more affluent families move home. Because existing cities are unable to accommodate forthcoming housing and other development needs, "the future is therefore bound to see a mix of city, urban and dispersed development", the report said.

It added that the transport blueprint fails o discuss how transport infrastructure will contribute to this development. The report's authors fear this omission will continue as a result of the division of responsibilities for transport and land use between the Department of Transport and Office of the Deputy Prime Minister.

"If this was allowed to happen, it would be serious," the report said.