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Conference,

I'm delighted to open the debate on sustainable communities.

A debate at the very heart of Labour's ambitions for Britain.

About how we ensure families can live and thrive within our cities, towns and rural areas.

How we meet people's aspirations for housing, jobs and travel.

And how we do all this while handing on our planet in good shape to our children.

It's about how we meet the big challenges facing us as a nation.

And as I found in my first week in this job, there are few bigger challenges than global terrorism.

Those who sought to bring terror to London and Glasgow were trying to destroy our way of life.

But in the face of this terrorist threat, it was the dignity and resilience of the British people that shone through.

So I would like to add my words of thanks to Gordon's, and pay tribute to all those men and women who work so tirelessly to keep our transport system both open and secure. You have our wholehearted support.

Conference, in facing up to the long-term challenges - security, the economy, the environment - no party is better equipped than ours to rise to the task.

That doesn't mean that over the past ten years we've always got everything right on transport.

But no-one could deny that real progress has been made.

The chronic underinvestment in our transport system is being addressed.

Our railways are now on a stable and secure financial footing.

40% more people are on our trains than in 1997 - the fastest growing railway in Europe.

And rail freight is up 50% over ten years, taking lorries off our roads.

For the first time since the war we have a fully costed, fully funded plan for growth allowing our railways to double in size over the next thirty years. And as we go forward conference, I will make sure that tickets will be simpler and easy to use and people can be confident they are getting the right ticket at the right price.

And bus use is up for the first time in decades.

Coming to this job from the Communities Department, I know how important properly planned bus services are to local people.

The granny wanting to visit her daughter in a nearby town.

The mother struggling home with bags of shopping.

The commuter rushing to get to work on time.

Frankly, in too many places bus services are still not good enough.

Many of you will remember the Manchester bus wars of last years' party conference - traffic ground to a halt by buses nose to tail in wasteful competition, with the council powerless to intervene.

So conference we have listened and learned. I pledge to give local councils stronger powers over buses.

And, from next April, we can be proud that pensioners and disabled people will have free off-peak bus travel - not just in their own local area, but wherever they travel across England.

But rising aspirations, congestion and climate change mean we have to do more.

To boost Britain's economy and help hard-pressed commuters I am working round the clock to strike a deal on Crossrail - a challenge that has eluded governments for generations, but is now within our grasp.

You will hear shortly from Yvette on how we are meeting people's aspirations for home ownership.

But if in building these new homes we are to create low carbon communities, housing and transport must in future be tied much more closely together.

And to improve public health and tackle congestion I will give greater priority to cycling, including more cycling training for children at school.

Conference, I have no doubt that alongside investment in public transport, travel patterns will also have to change.

I will not duck the tough choices that Rod Eddington set out, because we simply can't build our way out of road congestion.

So let us have the debate on road pricing, and as we do I look to our towns and cities to take the lead in showing how better public transport and measures to reduce congestion can go hand in hand.

And conference, I am working closely with Hilary to ensure that transport, like all other sectors of the economy, plays its full role in tackling climate change.

This is a serious challenge, demanding a serious Government.

Which is why fewer and fewer people are looking to Cameron's Conservatives for answers.

It's not, of course, that they don't have solutions. It's that they have a different solution for whoever they are talking to.

John Redwood calls for more road building. John Gummer for less.

John Redwood backs our aviation industry. John Gummer wants to ground it.

And John Redwood calls for huge unfunded tax cuts to increase British competitiveness - while - you guessed it - John Gummer calls for higher taxes.

And in the middle of all this confusion stands David Cameron.

Desperately trying to appeal to everyone.

And finding he is increasingly appealing to no-one.

No clear values.

No clear vision for our country's future.

We can't afford such lack of leadership over our economic stability.

And future generations can't afford it over climate change.

So we reject the Tories' false choice - that as a nation we can either be 'rich and dirty' or 'poor and green'.

This isn't an either/or question. We don't have to choose between tackling global warming and supporting economic growth.

Stern showed that making the right decisions now can cut emissions without damaging the economy.

That tackling climate change is the real pro-growth strategy.

This means giving people the right incentives to make greener choices.

Enabling individuals to choose how to reduce their own carbon footprint.

Not telling them, as the Tories do, that they can't take cheap breaks - that flying should once again be the preserve of a privileged elite.

Labour is at the forefront of the debate on tackling climate change - in Britain, Europe and the world.

So as we consult on the details of a third runway at Heathrow - so vital to Britain's international competitiveness and to British jobs -we are also arguing for a European cap on aviation emissions at levels below where we are today. So if people choose to fly, they pay directly for real reductions in emissions elsewhere.

That's why we are pushing at the UN for Europe's emissions trading scheme to be the basis for a worldwide agreement on aviation.

That's why we are campaigning for tough mandatory reductions in new car emissions across the EU.

And that's why later this year, I will publish a carbon reduction strategy which sets out the role that transport will play in reducing harmful CO2 emissions.

A serious party, a serious government.

Looking outwards not inwards.

Confident that we can create a transport system that helps people meet their economic, social and environmental goals.

Confident that only a Labour Government can meet people's aspirations.