PAPER B

 

 

 

ENVIRONMENT AND TRANSPORT SELECT COMMITTEE – 20 AUGUST 2003

 

LOCAL TRANSPORT PLAN - ANNUAL PROGRESS REPORT

 

REPORT OF THE HEAD OF ENGINEERING SERVICES

 

 

REASON FOR SELECT COMMITTEE CONSIDERATION

 

The Select Committee asked to receive a copy of the Local Transport Plan Annual Progress Report and consider the Council’s progress towards achieving the targets contained in the Local Transport Plan. (A copy of the APR has been sent separately to all members and should be read in conjunction with this report)

 

ACTION REQUIRED BY THE SELECT COMMITTEE

 

To note the content of the Report

BACKGROUND

 

 

The Local Transport Plan (LTP) was prepared in 2000 and is the Council’s adopted transport strategy for the Island for the period 2001-2006.  The Plan sits under the Community Plan – “Island Futures” and Corporate Plan.  It works with the Island’s other key policy and strategy documents, such as the Unitary Development Plan (UDP), Local Agenda 21 Strategy (LA21), Social Inclusion Strategy, Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty Plan (AONB) as well as other plans and strategies supporting improvement in other areas, such as economic development, health, education and community safety.

 

The LTP covers more than just transport, but how transport impacts on and relates to other areas such as education, pollution, environment, development, employment, health, tourism, crime and disorder, rural issues, mobility and social exclusion.

 

Annual Progress Report

 

The Government requires us to monitor the performance of our LTP and produce an Annual Progress Report (APR) to explain how successful we have been in implementing our transport strategy and achieving the targets contained in the LTP. 

 

The APR has to fulfil a number of roles.  It should comply with government guidance with regard to content and layout and should be easily understood and widely available.  It is the means by which we can report to Government, transport providers, transport users, interested individuals, groups and organisations

 

Copies of the APR must be submitted to the Department for Transport (DfT) and Government Office for the South East.  The Government have made it clear that the amount of money we get to spend on transport will largely depend on how successful we have been in achieving our targets.    

 

Progress towards meeting our targets.

 

This is our third APR and we are continuing to show real improvements and progress towards achieving our targets.  The Government have made it clear that they will reward Councils that are performing well and last year our encouraging performance helped achieved an additional £400,000 to spend on transport.

 

The good showing regarding sustainable transport in 2002 continues. Traffic growth was between 1.6% and 13.8% (depending on area) lower than the targets. Our efforts to encourage cycling have been very successful with the number of cycle trips no less than 69.6% above target. Train usage is 3.0% above target while train punctuality and reliability are 2.2% and 1.7% above. Unfortunately the number of bus passenger journeys has decreased by 3.7%. There has also been a decrease (1.1%) in the number of employees walking to work but this could be attributed to the large increase in home working.

 

The number of slight casualties on the Island’s highway network fell considerably with the number being 78 below target. However, our target of reducing deaths or serious injuries to 112 was exceeded by 2 overall and by 1 regarding the under 15’s (target 14). With the publishing of the Council’s new Road Safety Strategy, the commencement of a Child Pedestrian Training Scheme for primary schools and the work of the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Safety Camera Partnership it is hoped that targets will be met next year.

 

Annex C page 78 explains how successful we have been in achieving our targets and the tables on pages 80 – 85 graphically indicate how well we are doing in each target area.  Annex P, pages 126 and 127 compares our performance against other local authorities. 

We are looking to improve our roads, road safety, footpaths and cycle facilities and are working with local transport operators to make travel by public transport and taxi a more attractive option.   Details of schemes we have delivered in the last year are included in Section B of the APR and Section D, pages 27 – 41, explains how this work is contributing towards reaching our targets.

 

The Council has embarked on an ambitious programme of transport improvements and has been able to progress the much-needed work on the Island’s most heavily used road corridors.   Section B19 gives an update with regard to the stabilisation of the Military Road, whilst section B20, page 15, shows good progress in other areas. 

 

Many of the Island’s minor roads are receiving long overdue repair work and Section B10, pages 7– 9, explains the headway we are making on our Island-wide bridge assessment and strengthening work.

 

Revised targets

 

The Government is keen to ensure that Councils have set challenging targets and are working hard to achieve them.  Annex D of the APR explains the revisions we have made to our existing targets and the new strategies currently under development. 

 

We have seen an increase in the numbers of people cycling on the Island and have chosen to adopt a more challenging target as part of the Councils Local Public Service Agreement (LPSA) Details of which are included on page 86.  We are working with the bus operator on the development of a Bus Information Strategy, which is required under the Transport Act 2000 and have set a new Rural Bus Target to help focus the development of our already good rural bus network – page 87.

 

We are also talking with our freight operators to look at ways in which we can work with them to improve facilities and operation – page 88.  

 

Best value

 

The improvements we have made have generally been very well received by Government Office for the South East (GOSE), DfT and as part of the Best Value review. 

 

The Best Value, Highways and Transportation re-inspection noted, “We think the Council is committed to change in general, but is also committed to improving highways and transport in particular”.  Government Office have commented, “we are pleased to see strong progress against the majority of targets set out in your LTP” and “it is encouraging to see evidence of widespread and consistent delivery of schemes on the ground, despite the recent landslips and associated problems you have faced”

 

Section F, pages 48-50 gives details of the best value review and Corporate Performance Assessment (CPA) and Section G includes in full, the comments made by GOSE and the actions we have taken in response.  

 

Supplementary and Major Scheme Bids

                           

It is possible to bid for additional funds through the LTP process and we have been successful in achieving money for a number of important projects. These include additional funds to address the damage caused by severe winter weather in 2000/01, £950,000 to reopen the A3055 Undercliff Drive at St. Lawrence and £5.56m to improve the multi-modal interchange on Ryde Esplanade, currently under development.

 

This year a Supplementary Bid has been submitted for the repair and strengthening of Ryde St. Johns Road over rail bridge. The anticipated cost being £750,000 with work programmed for 2004/05. (Details can be found in Annex M, pages 114-115)

 

A major bid is also included, for £11.1 million, to protect A3055 Undercliff Drive between St. Lawrence and Niton from further land movement and possible closure. (See Annex N, pages 118-121)

 

Although not yet a formal bid, the opportunity has been taken to provide background information and a financial plan for a long term solution to land instability in and around Ventnor at a total cost of £30 million (£9.9m being highway related). (Detailed in Annex D, pages 122)

 

RELEVANT PLANS, POLICIES, STRATEGIES AND PERFORMANCE INDICATORS

 

Local Transport Plan (2001 – 2006)

 

CONSULTATION PROCESS

 

Extensive consultation has been carried out as part of the production of both the LTP and APR.  The full five-year LTP was developed taking into consideration comments received following the production of the first one-year “Provisional Local Transport Plan”. 

 

The APR has been made widely available with nearly 500 copies of the document distributed to Government Departments, Elected Members, Town and Parish Councils, members of the Quality Transport Partnership, all schools, libraries, transport operators, transport user groups, other groups and individuals. 

 

Each report includes a questionnaire inviting comment on all aspects of the document including the policies, strategies, clarity and ease of understanding. 

 

Details of the consultation process are included on page 59 of the APR, with the results from last year’s questionnaire included on page 60.  The LTP and subsequent APRs including the latest one are available on the Council’s web site at www.iwight.com/transport

 

FINANCIAL LEGAL, CRIME AND DISORDER IMPLICATIONS

 

The LTP /APR process has the ability to generate significant transport funding.  The Government has indicated the level of funding we may expect to receive – depending on our performance.  We can also bid for additional money to fund large transport schemes.

 

The table below indicates the amount of money already achieved through the LTP process and potential allocations depending on performance.

 

LTP allocations (,000)

 

YEAR

01/02

02/03

03/04

04/05

05/06

06/07

 

Integrated Transport

 

3,000

 

2,814

 

3,232

Indicative allocation

2,915

2,999

3,083

Maintenance

2,900

3,968

2,263

2,264

2,264

2,264

TOTAL

5,900

6,782[1]

5,495[2]

5,179

5,263

5,347

 

There are no legal, crime and disorder implications.

 

BACKGROUND PAPERS

 

Local Transport Plan 2001-2006

Annual Progress Report 2003

 

Contact Point:  Chris Wells, Senior Transport Planner F (01983) 823777

e mail : [email protected]

 

STEPHEN MATTHEWS

Head of Engineering Services


[1] 02-03 Includes £950,000 supplementary bid for emergency repairs to Undercliff Drive

[2] 03-04 The Council received an additional £400,000 discretionary payment based on evidence of performance