Agenda and minutes

To approve the minutes of the meeting held on 7 April 2022.

It was PROPOSED by Councillor Drean and SECONDED by Councillor Drean that the minutes of the meeting held on the 7 April 2022 be approved as a true record.

Items which in the opinion of the Chair should be considered at the meeting as matters of urgency.

There were no matters raised as urgent items.

Verbal update of the Programme Lead on the latest progress and activities of Peninsula Transport.

The Board heard an update on the progress of Peninsula Transport and the indicative dates of work package sign off dates.

-       Carbon Transition Study, WP06: draft report circulated to Board Members, Directors and Co-Opted Members for comment. Final report expected at the October 2022 Board Meeting.

-       Technology and Electric Vehicles, WP07: final report almost ready for comment, sign off expected October 2022 Board Meeting.

-       Rail Strategy, WP08: currently working to make it more Peninsula specific and incorporate more regional data. Final report expected October 2022 Board Meeting.

-       Freight Strategy, WP09 and Rural Mobility WP10: formal sign off expected in today’s Board Meeting.

-       International Gateway, WP12: work ongoing, final report expected at December 2022 Board Meeting.

-       Strategic Implementation Plan (SIP). WP17: initial baselining work commenced and currently engaging with work package leads.

-       Rail Mobile Connectivity, WP23: expected to be completed imminently.

-       Alternative Fuels for Freight, WP25: technical report expected to be completed in the summer.

The WP04 vision and consultation report is ready to publish, it is currently waiting graphic updates and looking to get it on the website as soon as possible.

The outputs of the Corridor Study completed earlier in the year will be incorporated into the strategy and strategic implementation plan.

Presentation of the proposed Business Plan for 2022/23 and overview of 23/24 and 24/25 programmes of works for approval by the Board.

The Board received a presentation on the summary of the proposed business plan, and it was circulated ahead of the meeting for comment. The business plan considers key policy agendas as identified by Baroness Vere and uses the evidence base collated so far. Peninsula Transport wants to make the evidence base available and accessible in order to support Local Authorities with their local plans and levelling up agendas. The business plan also recognises the key role that Peninsula Transport has in representing the Peninsula. The 2022/2023 Framework Plan covers five key areas (public transport, electric vehicles, rural mobility, decarbonisation and freight) and shows the individual work packages feeding into both the strategic implementation plan and the transport strategy. It also shows the funding breakdown highlighting the available budget, how it will be spent and the allocation of funding to each of the key theme areas.

Resourcing also presented for the resourcing for Peninsula Transport going forward which included keeping the Technical Director and Programme Director in place. It also included creating a pool of seconded technical and strategic staff to help broaden the STBs (Sub National Transport Board) capability and enable programme delivery to stay on target.

The Department for Transport (DfT) reported that the business plan follows Baroness Vere’s direction and vision of what STBs will be doing over the next 12 months. DfT will need the business plan to be submitted this week if ministerial clearance can be achieved before summer recess.

It was also noted that Levelling Up needs to be a theme through the SIP and transport strategy work.

It was PROPOSED by Councillor Drean, MOVED by Councillor Davis and SECONDED by Councillor Morey that the information be noted.

Report of the technical consultants seeking approval of the final Freight Strategy by the Board.  

The Board received a verbal update on the Freight Strategy. It was discussed that the Freight Strategy has been updates as per comments and feedback from the April Board Meeting. The Strategy now recognises that the Southwest and Peninsula are in a unique situation for the freight industry due to the distances involved and limited options for routing. There is a substantial amount of technical information and evidence that sits behind this strategy. Small working groups will be set up with industry partners to take interventions forward in partnership as well as the initial Freight Steering Group Meeting taking place later this week.

It was PROPOSED by Councillor Drean, MOVED by Councillor Davis, SECONDED by Councillor Morey and RESOLVED that the Freight Strategy is approved and signed off as complete.

Report of the technical consultants seeking approval for the Rural Mobility Study.

The Board received a verbal update on the Rural Mobility Study. Since the April Board Meeting the strategy has been improved with greater focus on the Peninsula and it’s specific needs and specific context around the socio-economic diversity of the rural settlements across the Southwest. The next step recommendations have been refined to allow for more flexibility of the pilot scheme locations and settlement types. The next steps will now focus on developing the pilot schemes into live trials and exploring opportunities for securing funding the support the delivery of the pilot schemes.

The Heart of the South West LEP are interested in seeing how the next steps relating to the pilot schemes and live trials are progressed. The Chairman has asked that they are both kept informed on how this develops.

It was also noted that the trials include local authority, community and private sector led trials and asked if there were examples of private sector led trials from elsewhere.

It was PROPOSED by Councillor Davis, MOVED by Councill Davis and SECONDED by Councillor Morey.

Report of the Finance Lead Authority on the latest financial position.

The Board was given a verbal update from the Finance Lead Authority on the latest financial position.

The Board noted that there was limited change since the April Board Meeting. The current budget for the STB is £1,180,000 and the current spend to date is £86,000. The spend to date is expected to step throughout the year and all activities remain affordable.

Report of the Communications and Engagement Lead Authority on the latest communications and engagement activity.

The Board received a Report of the Communications and Engagement Lead Authority recommending for the Board to note the Communications and Engagement Report.

It was noted that since the April Board Meeting, key activities have included: the STB Conference, supporting National Highways with the A358 communications including a regional voice video, promotional material for the Freight Strategy and Rural Mobility Study, improving Social Media engagement and LinkedIn as a new channel.

The STB Conference was held in May 2022 and a considerable amount of effort went into promoting the event and preparing the materials. The focus for Peninsula Transport was highlighting the uniqueness of the Peninsula and showcasing its opportunities, as well as the key investment opportunities. There was also a Ministerial address by Andrew Stevenson who highlighted local and regional partnerships are key to delivering government priorities.

Social Media has been a main focus since the April Board Meeting. Coverage of the STB Conference boosted engagement figures. Looking to mirror this in work coming forward through a social media plan which includes using LinkedIn as a new channel to help with more effective engagement.

The next steps for Communications and Engagement remains largely unchanged as waiting for the Work Packages to come forward and publish the Business Plan, Freight Strategy and Rural Mobility Study.

The Board thanked Becky Appleby and colleagues at Coast Communications for their role and hard work in putting together a good profile for the STB Conference.

Verbal update from the Peninsula Rail Task Force (PRTF) Chair and Network Rail on recent activities.

The Board received a verbal update from the Peninsula Rail Task Force Chairman (PRTF).

The Board heard that in May they met with the Secretary of State for Rail to discuss decarbonisation, mobile connectivity, capacity of Waterloo Line and Restore Your Railway (RYR) projects including Cullompton and Wellington Stations, and the reopening of the Tavistock to Plymouth line. This was also an opportunity to showcase a range of rail projects happening across the South West.

Co-opted Members to provide updates and feedback from their organisations.

The Board received updates from the Co-Opted Members covering matters of interest arising from their respective organisations.

Network Rail gave an update that there is a strong passenger recovery in the South West that is largely driven by the leisure market. Timetable updates have been introduced in May 2022 which included restoration of omicron service reduction and hourly services from Okehampton. Strike action has impacted the services with demand falling by 80% on strike days. The South West Rail Resilience Programme (SWRRP) in continuing with Phase 1 completed, Phase 2 Dawlish Sea Wall nearing completion, Phase 3 work is underway and Phase 4 funding was announced by Rail Minister in April. The Peninsula Rail Corridor Study is progressing with a draft report due in late July 2022.

The Board asked questions regarding battery trials and examples across the country. The Board has requested a further update on Phase 5 of the SWRRP.

Department for Transport shared a verbal update stating that there has been a change in the ministerial team at DfT and Trudy Harrison has been promoted to Minister of State. There is also an internal restructure occurring with all area leads being brought into one division. Chris Boardman has been confirmed as the Active Travel Commissioner. The Local Authority Decarbonisation Toolkit has been released and will be updated on a periodic basis. The Local Transport Plan Guidance will be consulted on over the summer with the final report released over the Autumn and Local Authorities expected to have updated their Local Transport Plans by Spring 2024.

The Board asked for some clarification over the release date of the Local Transport Plan Guidance as well as if there will a rural design guide for active travel and for a further update on the Levelling Up Fund Portal.

National Highways shared some of their recent work. The initial report on the Strategic Road Network Masterplan will be released in Autumn as well as the draft route strategies. They are also taking forward early development work on RIS pipeline schemes and wider portfolio options for the DfT to consider in Peninsula area. The A38 Trerulefoot to Carkeel consultation is currently live until the end of July. Also developing thematic work to promote good design of the network which includes publication of guidance for project teams, case studies and National Highway case studies showing successes and lessons learnt.

Heart of South West shared that they have been working on marine and aviation sectors. Regarding the marine sector, they have been working in Plymouth on marine autonomy and decarbonisation. In regard to aviation, work has been undertaken to try and reach decarbonisation by 2050 and the LEP Sustainable Aviation Board is showing potential for South West to offer itself as a future aviation test environment. 

The Board noted that there is a lot of regional flights in the South West with a lot of technology being considered for alternative fuels for aviation.

Questions or Representations from Members of the public in line with the Board’s Public Participation Scheme.

Questions received from David Regwell – South West Transport Network and Railfuture Severnside.

The Board received 13 questions from a member of the public. The Chairman offered to give a written response to all the questions given.

The speaker summarised their question and introduced their points regarding bus services.

The Chairman thanked the speaker for their participation and reiterated the importance of buses to the Peninsula transport system.

All meetings will be held digitally via Microsoft Teams until further notice:

6 October 2022 (10:00)

8 December 2022 (10:00)

Please use link below for County Council Calendar of Meetings;

http://democracy.devon.gov.uk/mgCalendarMonthView.aspx?GL=1&bcr=1

Board Members noted the dates of future meetings as: 

6 October 2022

8 December 2022

All meetings to be held digitally, via Microsoft Teams.

Please use link below for County Council Calendar of Meetings;

http://democracy.devon.gov.uk/mgCalendarMonthView.aspx?GL=1&bcr=1