New Approach to Appraisal

The New Approach to Appraisal (also NATA) was the name given to a multi-criteria decision framework used to transport projects and proposals in the United Kingdom. NATA was built on the well established cost–benefit analysis and environmental impact assessment techniques (such as those contained in the Highways Agency's Design Manual for Roads and Bridges (DMRB)) for assessing transport projects and proposals.

In April 2011 the Coalition Government decided that the term NATA would no longer be used. However, the principles and key elements of the NATA framework remain in the Department for Transport's WebTAG Transport Analysis Guidance.

NATA was introduced by the then Department for Transport, Environment and the Regions as part of the 1998 Integrated Transport White Paper and first used in the 1998 review of trunk road schemes. Its development reflected the new Labour Government's aim of providing a more balanced approach to transport appraisals, in terms of both:

Accompanying documents to that review list the ASTs for 68 trunk road schemes and provided initial guidance on how NATA was to be applied to transport projects.

A subsequent published study by academics at the Institute for Transport Studies (ITS), University of Leeds found that the decisions made by Ministers in respect of the road schemes were statistically significant in terms of how they related to the information about the schemes included on the ASTs. This demonstrated that Ministers were taking account of the information provided on the ASTs in a consistent way.

On 30 October 2007, the DfT published a consultation document – The NATA Refresh: Reviewing the New Approach to Appraisal – alongside, and as part of, its new transport strategy document 'Towards a sustainable transport system: Supporting economic growth in a low carbon economy'. The aim of the NATA Refresh consultation document is to seek views on how NATA should be developed.

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