ABSTRACT
In the Major era, transport increasingly came to be seen as a policy problem on three key levels: public health; congestion, and lifestyle, marking a significant change from the Thatcher period. Problem centred models of agenda setting argue that changes such as these are likely to have a negative effect on the policy image of an issue, and thus form an important element of any explanation of policy change. This chapter explores the hypothesis and evaluates the impact of each of these changes in the transport case. Transport became linked with increases in respiratory diseases, such as childhood asthma, thus eroding the positive policy image of motor vehicles as they became associated with damage to public health in a highly emotive manner. In the Major era transport became identified as a significant contributor to deteriorating public health. One of the things which have really started changing is the link being drawn between transport emissions and health.
