Graham James

Screenshot of a double-page spread from Local Transport Today. The headline at the top of the left-hand page is “New edition of MHCLG Appraisal Guide offers TAG parallels.” Half-way down the page is a new article headlined “New approach to valuing healthier urban development could have transport significance.” On the right-hand page, the top headline is “New MHCLG Appraisal Guide (continued)”. Towards the bottom, the final headline is “£1.4m contract for TAG software support”. The article texts are pixelated, except for the opening of the first article, which reads: “An updated Appraisal Guide just published by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) includes a new methodology for valuing the health impacts of urban design, among other changes. “There are a number of areas in which MHCLG appraisal practice has both parallels and contrasts with that of the Department for Transport’s own Transport Analysis Guidance (TAG). Both now have the challenge…”

The latest Local Transport Today #LTT covers the updates to the MHCLG Appraisal Guide, with some comments from me about its relevance for transport planners.

If you usually read it online via TransportXtra, the direct link is: www.transportxtra.com/publications...

TAG's cousin: the MHCLG Appraisal Guide Graham takes a look at a different aspect of investment appraisal

New blogpost: the updated MHCLG Appraisal Guide. Why transport planners look at it, and what's new in this version.

grahamjames.co.uk/tags-cousin-...

Oddly the suggestions don't seem to draw much on Newmarket's horse-racing for inspiration - "Thoroughbred line" anyone?

Tempted by the "St Edmund's Line" idea. But I think my vote will be to keep the name "Ipswich to Cambridge line" - it tells you exactly what it's about.

Competition launched to find promotional name for the Ipswich to Cambridge Line - Community Rail Network The Ipswich to Cambridge Community Rail Partnership (CRP) and Greater Anglia are launching a competition to find a promotional name for the Ipswich to

Local news - your chance to vote for a name for the Ipswich to Cambridge line Community Rail Partnership. (It includes Soham too.)

There are options to choose from, and you can submit your own suggestion as well.

communityrail.org.uk/competition-...

Montage of screenshots from the TAPAS website. Includes the section of the TAPAS home page headed ‘Special Articles about the Connectivity Tool’ which lists the three articles mentioned in this post; the headings and first two paragraphs of one of Graham’s articles; and some of the graphics from the articles.

My commentaries on the DfT’s new Connectivity Tool and its metrics are now available online, free-to-access, on the TAPAS Network website:

tapas.network/tapas-home.p...

They were originally published earlier this year in Local Transport Today #LTT.

Photo taken on a train, with copies of Logistics & Transport Focus magazine and Modern Railways magazine resting on a seat-back table.

Trip to London today meant a chance to catch up on reading - Logistics & Transport Focus and @modernrailways.keypublishing.com. Grotty weather and a dirty window minimised distractions too!

This is all about giving back to the profession – but it’s enjoyable too.

Teaching last Wednesday, and explaining the role of the Green Book, I said there was a new version due out – but I didn’t expect it would appear the very next day...

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assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6984ac...

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▶️ The TPS’ initial response to publication of the updated Treasury Green Book
▶️ Reviewing abstracts submitted for the Transport Practitioners Meeting #2026TPM
▶️ And finding out the results (embargoed!) from the TPS Bursary Awards (I had been mentor for one of the bursarians).

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Decorative montage of images related to some of the things mentioned in this post. The front cover of the ‘Green Book’. Presentation slides headed ‘The Green Book’ and ‘Value for Money Assessment’, Pixelated screenshots of two conference paper abstracts and a spreadsheet-based table of abstracts submitted.

Last week was busy with professional activities beyond the day job:

▶️ Teaching transport economics & appraisal on the PTRC ‘Principles of Traffic and Transport’ course
▶️ Organisational legwork for the Transport Planning Society's annual quiz

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This was an interesting interview - Gerald Corbett's own perspective on a rather eventful period for the railway, that many of us still remember. Recommended.

Photo looking along a city centre street at dusk. The footways and carriageway are wet. A grey double-decker bus is coming towards the camera. In the background a crane and a church spire are on the skyline.

My week at work (Great Chieftain edition):

Delivered a well-received set of parking strategy recommendations to a local authority. From the ‘big picture’ of supporting their high streets, through to the details of getting the best from individual car parks.

Happy Burns Night if you’re celebrating.

Maybe let's share starter packs again for people new or reactivated on the site?

Mine is this UK / EU Active Travel people Starter Pack (150 people, now full). Feel free to suggest others in replies.

go.bsky.app/GYyLGPA

Photo showing parts of two punts that have snow on their gunwhales and their punting platforms. A gull is standing on one gunwhale, with another gull sitting nearby in the well of the same boat.

My week at work (snow+sleet edition):

🌨️ What the local government transparency code requires
🌨️ Controlled parking zones
🌨️ And measuring transport connectivity

Photo from a snow-dusted sunny Cambridge at the start of the week. Two modes of transport (if you include flying).

What’s new in TAG for December 2025 Graham rounds-up the latest TAG updates. What’s changing, and what does it mean in practice? With bonus Strictly content.

Calling all Shakespeare fans in transport planning:

Tonight is Twelfth Night.

To celebrate*, I’ve hidden a quote from that very play🎭 in my blogpost on the latest #TAG changes. Can you spot it?

grahamjames.co.uk/whats-new-in...

* and definitely not as an excuse for this blatant plug

PS meant to say: Happy new year from Cambridge!

Photo looking along a cycle track on the edge of a green space alongside an city street. Prominent in the foreground is a totem with a thermometer-style display showing the number of cyclists this year. The counter goes up to 1,500,000, but only the bottom row is lit. The totem also shows the number of cyclists today (290, hard to see because the shutter speed was too quick for the LEDs) and the time (14-something, again hard to see). The totem has logotypes for the Greater Cambridge Partnership, Marshall, and the Cambridge News.

Back to square one! (Or row one)
I was number 290.
I wonder how many of the previous 289 had been in the early hours, on their way back from the fireworks, and how many had been a bit later, heading to the sales and the coffee shops.

With thanks to those at work Graham rounds off Railway 200 year with a thank-you to those who make the railway happen - including over Christmas and the New Year.

With thanks to those at work...

Today's blogpost rounds-off the #Railway200 year with a thank-you to the people who make the railway happen - including over Christmas and the New Year.

grahamjames.co.uk/with-thanks-...

Photo taken inside a large railway station. It is after dark, but the station is brightly lit. We are on the concourse, looking past a Christmas tree in the foreground, towards the gateline and the platforms. The station is busy, but not crowded, with people walking across the concourse, through the gateline and on the platforms. The Christmas tree is decorated with red, white, gold and silver tinsel and baubles, and lots of little lights. The concourse has white-ish Terrazzo-type floor tiles. We are under a beautiful Victorian two-bay train shed, with ornate pillars and arches in a crisp blue and grey colour scheme, contrasting with the white of the unglazed elements of the roof. Beyond the gateline, we can see a Thameslink class 700 train at platform 4, and can glimpse a Class 387 unit in red Gatwick Express livery.

Brighton station looking lovely a few days ago. The transport system busy connecting people.

Wishing everyone a peaceful and happy Christmas. Thank you to all my friends and followers for your posts, comments, likes and reposts over the course of the year. See you in 2026!

Photo taken on an urban street, on an overcast day, looking along the footway and across to the carriageway. On the footway is a yellow temporary sign on an A-frame. The sign reads, in capitals, “Strictly no waiting of vehicles on carriageway.” Alongside the footway is a grey construction hoarding with the ‘Sanska’ logotype on it. On the opposite side of the carriageway, a single-decker electric bus in blue ‘U’ livery is at a bus stop. The stop has a shelter and there is a person waiting in it. Behind the stop is a terrace of yellow-brick houses that look like they are now in institutional use. In the background is a five-story office block faced with yellow brick.

Tess and Claudia’s new gig?

Photo in an urban setting, looking from a pedestrianised area towards a dual carriageway road and down a side street beyond. The sun is setting in the distance above the side street, with golden evening sunlight coming towards the camera. The light picks out the yellow herring-bone brick paver pattern in the foreground, with pedestrians silhouetted against the light. In a flower bed, two wire-frame reindeer are lit with strings of white lights. The dual carriageway is busy with cars and a van.

My week at work (still Advent edition):
🎄The law on setting parking charges and spending the income
🎄The DfT’s connectivity metrics and tools
🎄Mapping parking demand
🎄And the value of conference papers – for both the audience and the authors.

Charts Follow Chaos How information design rescued the railway from fiery catastrophe.

Interesting piece on the early history of railway timetable graphs:
www.chartography.net/p/charts-fol...

Photo taken from the upper deck of a bus, looking along a city street towards a signalised crossroads. It is a bright day, with some cloud cover. A person is crossing the road in the foreground. There are other people, and cars, around the junction. The people are wrapped-up warm. There is a bus stop with shelter in the right foreground. The buildings are a mixture of one to four storeys, in a variety of styles. Some have shopfronts on the ground floor.

Back at home (and thawing out) after two interesting, intensive days in Derby at the Local Transport Summit.

Always good to catch up with old friends and make new ones.

The conference theme was how to harness opportunities from the new strategic authorities. More on this from me soon...

Photo, taken from near ground level, looking along a shopping street after dark when it has been raining. We see a puddle, double yellow lines, and a give way line. In the background, the lights are on in the shops. There is a person walking towards the camera, and there are car headlights in the distance.

My week at work (downpour edition ☔ ):
Lots of work coming in. Plus:
▶️ Getting the best from controlled parking zones in one local authority
▶️ A financial model for another
▶️ Customer-service options for a third
▶️ And a visit from a cute doggie 🐕

Photo taken in Parliament Square, looking towards the Houses of Parliament and Westminster Bridge Road. The Elizabeth Tower (home of Big Ben) prominent in the centre background. It’s been a wet day and the street is damp. The sky is a beautiful blue colour as twilight approaches.

Finally, back to Cambridge for the TPS Eastern Region celebration of Transport Planning Day.
A.k.a. beer!
Enjoyed chatting with everyone. Lovely way to finish the day. (3/3)

Photo taken in Parliament Square, looking towards the Houses of Parliament. The Elizabeth Tower (home of Big Ben) is prominent in the centre background. It’s been a wet day and the street is damp, but the sky is bright and there is some a bit of sunlight poking through the clouds. Some of the people in the picture are queuing to take photos with the old-fashioned phone boxes.

... the TPS Policy Panel meeting. A good chance to look back at all our work over the last year, leading the profession, and to look ahead to next year. (2/3)

Photo of a train alongside a station platform. The train is predominantly white with ‘Great Northern’ branding. People are walking along the platform having just alighted from the train.

Yesterday for me involved three different Transport Planning Society activities!

Firstly, an update from one of this year's TPS Bursary recipients. I'm their mentor as part of the bursary scheme. Their research is really worthwhile and interesting.

Then to London for... (1/3)

As a bonus, there’s a Graham ‘explainer’ on another topic too.

If you’re not already an LTT subscriber, I reckon this edition is a very good one to start with - but I'm biased!

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Screenshot of pages 2 and 3 of Local Transport Today, issue 925, dated 30 October 2025. The lead headline on page is “New freight time values will boost highway scheme appraisal outcomes”. That story continues on page 3, with a head-and-shoulders photo of Graham. All text is pixelated, other than the lead headline and the words “Graham James looks at the proposed revised DfT Transport Analysis guidance on this subject and its background – see pages 31-36”.

“You’re the page 3 boy”, a colleague said…

That’s one way of putting it!

Today’s issue of Local Transport Today includes my piece on the new road freight values of time that DfT is proposing.

▶️ What’s the problem with the existing values?
▶️ Why does it matter?
▶️ What’s the plan?

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TAG: forthcoming changes Record of upcoming changes to transport analysis guidance (TAG).

If you want to do the same:

TAG changes - www.gov.uk/government/p...

Road freight VOTs - www.gov.uk/government/p...

Strictly - no idea!

Screenshot of two browser windows alongside each other on a computer screen. Both are open at UK Department for Transport web pages. The one on the left is headed "TAG: Forthcoming changes". The text reads "Record of upcoming changes to transport analysis guidance (TAG)." It then has links to HTML documents called "Forthcoming change: appraisal data update", "Forthcoming change: vehicle emissions carbon tool" and "Forthcoming change: climate change adaptation update". It looks like there's more if you scroll down the page. The one on the right is headed "Understanding and valuing road freight travel time" and continues "Research that aims to estimate new road freight values of travel time." It then has links to PDFs called "The value of road freight travel time" and "Freight value of time and value of reliability". The text continues "Details" and again it looks like there's more if you scroll down.

Lots of technical updates on transport modelling + appraisal coming out of DfT recently.

My application to host #Strictly might have to wait until I've read all these and responded to the mini-consultation on road freight values of time...