Meeting documents

PTE/14/77

North Devon Highways and Traffic Orders Committee

18 November 2014

Successful Local Sustainable Transport Fund (LSTF) 15/16 applications

Report of the Head of Planning, Transportation and Environment

Recommendation: It is recommended that the LSTF programme for 2015/16 be approved.

1. Background/Introduction

Devon County Council submitted an application in March 2014 to the Department for Transport's Local Sustainable Transport Fund (LSTF). The Fund was created in 2011 to help build strong local economies and address the urgent challenges of climate change. Devon County Council has successfully run LSTF programmes since 2011. In 2014, the Department for Transport announced a further competition for revenue funding available for 2015/16.

Authorities were urged to develop a package of measures to address particular transport problems in their areas, aligned to the forthcoming Strategic Economic Plan. The bid was successful in July 2014 and has resulted in the Council being awarded 0.910m in revenue funding for the one year period from April 2015. The bid document is available at:

http://www.devon.gov.uk/unlockinggrowthsustravel.pdf

Devon will also receive a share of 999,119 which will enable the continuation of the "Access to Education" programme, of which Devon is the lead partner authority working with Sustrans and six other local authorities. This project aims to tackle congestion on journeys to school and other educational institutions by enabling people to walk, cycle and use public transport more often. The bid document is available at:

http://www.devon.gov.uk/accesstoeducation.pdf

This paper summarises the proposals for the main LSTF programme "Unlocking Growth through Sustainable Travel".

2. Proposal

The LSTF proposal for 2015/16 will build upon the existing, highly successful LSTF projects in order to boost economic growth in three defined areas by inspiring and supporting people to travel actively for everyday journeys.

The proposal focuses on securing maximum benefits from our transport capital investment through three key packages:

Integration: integrating transport modes to ensure seamless door to door journeys.

Information: providing targeted and personalised information.

Inspiration: marketing of sustainable travel to inspire and enthuse residents and visitors.

The strategic project areas are strong economic centres that are accommodating ambitious levels of growth in housing and employment. All areas benefit from comprehensive sustainable travel networks with landmark routes such as the Exe Estuary walking and cycling trail. Further improvements to the network are also expected to come online through development.

The geographical areas covered by the funding are Exeter and the Exe Estuary; Newton Abbot and Kingsteignton; and Barnstaple. Barnstaple has not previously benefited from LSTF initiatives and so provides a good opportunity for the forthcoming year.

Barnstaple

Barnstaple serves as an economic hub for North Devon with a significant inflow of commuters from surrounding conurbations. Key routes on the highway network are approaching capacity the east-west corridor through the town suffers from daily peak time congestion. Significant growth is planned for Barnstaple including 6,400 homes and 80 hectares of employment land.

Key complementary transport infrastructure to this growth includes:

A planned high quality east-west walking and cycling link to connect housing, employment and education sites, including two new bridges across the A361 and River Taw.

The Tarka Trail route runs through the heart of Barnstaple and has received significant investment in previous years. Further improvements are planned to extend the route to provide a continuous link to Ilfracombe.

The three packages of integration, information and inspiration build on previously successful projects. A summary of the proposed programme is included below.

Integration

Introduction of smart and integrated ticketing.

Improvement to transport interchanges including the provision of cycle infrastructure, information points, security cameras, lighting and signage.

Kick-start and strengthening bus services to key employment sites and development areas.

Development of a 'Car Free Living Package' to enable mobility without owning a car.

Build on the provision of a Cycle Taxi service.

Information

Further development of the Travel Devon journey planning website (www.traveldevon.info).

Developing information on key walking and cycling trails in a variety of formats, capitalising on recent investment throughout the County.

Developing tailored information on public transport options for travel to work and leisure.

Expansion of our work with employers and a focus on offers available to local businesses including continued Personalised Travel Planning and the offer of cycle confidence sessions.

Working with businesses to promote flexible working at our network of Work Hub facilities.

Inspiration

Implementation of a social marketing campaign for active travel.

Marketing and brand development of initiatives such as CarshareDevon, Devon Metro and support to the local car clubs.

Promotion of the forthcoming bus real time information and targeted bus routes.

Delivery of small scale events aimed at encouraging and inspiring individuals to try active travel.

The packages of work will be monitored against the following key objectives:

1. No growth in traffic on the key corridors in Exeter, Newton Abbot and Barnstaple

2. Increasing the proportion of journeys made by bus and rail

3. Major increases in cycling in the three areas

4. Increases in the number of people walking for their commute

5. No increase in the rate of walking and cycling casualties

3. Financial Considerations

The Department for Transport has granted Devon County Council 910,000 for the 'Unlocking growth through sustainable travel' programme. This will be matched with local authority and third party contributions.

'000s	2015-16	2016-17	2017-18	2018-19	2019-20	TOTAL
DfT funding	910					910
Local Authority Contribution	158.393	50	50	50	50	358.393
Third Party Contribution	125.143	115.123	115.123	115.123	115.123	585.635
TOTAL	1,193.536	165.123	165.123	165.123	165.123	1,854.028

Local authority contributions are a blend of staff time, public transport contributions and specific projects that have LTP funding already committed.

4. Environmental Impact Considerations

The LSTF is focused on achieving economic growth without negative environmental impacts from transport.

Reducing the number of vehicle kilometres and absolute number of vehicles on the network will reduce emissions.

5. Equality Considerations

Where relevant to the decision, the Equality Act 2010 Public Sector Equality Duty requires decision makers to give due regard to the need to:

eliminate discrimination, harassment, victimisation and any other prohibited conduct;

advance equality by encouraging participation, removing disadvantage, taking account of disabilities and meeting people's needs; and

foster good relations between people by tackling prejudice and promoting understanding.

taking account of age, disability, race/ethnicity (includes Gypsies and Travellers), gender and gender identity, religion and belief, sexual orientation, pregnant women/new and breastfeeding mothers, marriage/civil partnership status in coming to a decision, a decision maker may also consider other relevant factors such as caring responsibilities, rural isolation or socio-economic disadvantage.

A full Impact Assessment was undertaken during the development of the bid to central government, which is attached to this report.

The project seeks to improve accessibility by encouraging use of alternative travel modes. This will include working with a number of groups to ensure options are available to all users and advice and support is available if required. As a result there are no negative social impacts identified.

6. Legal Considerations

There are no specific legal considerations as a result of the programme. The lawful implications/consequences of the proposals have been considered and taken into account in the preparation of this report.

7. Risk Management Considerations

The proposed programme has been assessed and all necessary safeguards or action have been taken to safeguard the Council's position.

The risks to delivery that have been identified are:

Employers are unwilling/unable to commit time and resources to the programme.

Commercial public transport operators are unwilling to participate in an integrated ticket scheme.

Lack of capacity within partners to deliver complementary work.

Funded bus services do not become commercially sustainable.

Where risks have been identified, such as those above, actions have been put in place to remove or reduce the risk.

8. Public Health Impact

The project is closely linked with Public Health in that the promotion of active travel works towards Health objectives. The Public Health Devon team are Partners in the LSTF programme and we will continue to work in collaboration with the team on relevant projects.

9. Conclusions

The proposed programme builds upon the existing LSTF work and extends the initiatives by a further year, enhancing and evolving the programme as necessary. The programme is aligned with the Strategic Plan and Local Transport Plan, and aims to deliver economic growth across the county through sustainable travel.

Dave Black

Head of Service Planning, Transportation and Environment

Electoral Divisions: Barnstaple North, Barnstaple South, Chulmleigh & Swimbridge, Fremington Rural, Combe Martin Rural and Braunton Rural

Local Government Act 1972: List of Background Papers

Contact for enquiries: Emma Dalton

Room No: ABG Lucombe House

Tel No: 01392 382092

Background Paper	Date	File Ref.
Impact Assessment	31/03/2014

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sc/cr/successful local sustainable transport fund 15 16 applications

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