Contact: Peter Syddall, ext 6050

1. Summary

1.1 This report provides information on:

(i) the Local Transport Plan (LTP) settlement announced by the Government in December 2001 and a separate announcement regarding the new discretionary funding under the single capital pot which comes into operation in 2002/03; and

(ii) a review of the capital programmes for 2001/02 and 2002/03 to 2005/06 on the basis of the LTP settlement, progress with scheme development and cost changes.

2. Local Transport Plan Settlement 2002/03

2.1 The LTP settlement for 2002/03 for highway authorities in England and Wales was announced by the Government in December 2001. The letter included an analysis of the national and regional situation with regard to transport funding, including the introduction of the new single capital pot arrangements. It goes on to discuss the Government's assessment of Hampshire's APR and the funding arrangements for the County Council in 2002/03.

2.2 The County Council put in supplementary bids for funding in 2001/02, including the CIVITAS programme in Winchester, and also put forward provisional major scheme submissions elsewhere in Hampshire for the five year period. (CIVITAS is a European Union programme related to innovation in environmentally acceptable transport and systems.) More detailed submissions will be required for major schemes (over £5 million) in future years.

2.3 Hampshire was congratulated on the quality of its APR and its performance in transport has been assessed as `well above average', the highest category. The funding allocated from the original LTP allocation for 2002/03 (£23,188,000) was confirmed, together with £240,000 for the CIVITAS project and £300,000 additional for general transport purposes.

2.4 The County Council also received £2,168,000 under the new discretionary single capital pot arrangements. The settlement letter and a subsequent one about the single capital pot have indicated that the scale of this award is, to a large extent, due to the County Council's good performance in transport.

3. Capital Programme

3.1 The transport capital programme for 2002/03 to 2005/06 has been drawn up on the basis of the transport award made in the settlement letter and the funding and commitments being brought forward from 2001/02. The 2001/02 programme has been reviewed on the basis of progress to the end of December 2001. This programme for the South East Hampshire Transport Strategy (SEHTS) area is set out in Appendix 1. It remains predominantly unchanged from that reported to the last meeting of the Panel, except that certain Fareham urban centre schemes on which it has not been possible to make a start are now included in the programme for 2002/03 (these are Common Lane and Coach Hill traffic management schemes and Miller Drive cycle lanes). In addition, the opportunity has been taken to fund a new shelter that can be implemented quickly at Emsworth Station, where there are no waiting facilities. Progress on specific schemes is reported elsewhere on this agenda.

3.2 The new LTP funded programme for 2002/03 to 2005/06 county-wide is summarised as follows:

	2002/03 £'000	2003/04 £'000	2004/05 £'000	2005/06 £'000
Maintenance/Bridges	9,000	7,520	7,520	7,520
Area Strategies	14,955	7,610	10,405	8,450
Casualty Reduction	1,600	1,600	1,400	1,600
County-wide Programmes	1,945	1,665	1,610	2,360
Total	27,500	18,395	20,935	19,930

Note: The 2002/03 total for Area Strategies includes £5.2 million for the A3 bus priority corridor in Havant Borough.

3.3 The programmes are based on the LTP funding available over the five years from 2001/02. The maintenance programme was enhanced in 2001/02 and is shown at a lower level from 2002/03 to produce overall spending in the five years of £44 million. There is £68 million to be spent on integrated transport in the five years of the LTP programme. It is not possible to fund the whole of the A3 bus priority scheme within this programme without seriously affecting the area strategy and county-wide programmes. For this reason the A3 scheme will be progressed as a major scheme beyond 2002/03 and will form part of the County Council's major schemes bid in July 2002.

3.4 The transport programme for 2002/03 to 2005/06 is set out in Appendix 2 for the SEHTS area. The programme should be regarded as flexible and likely to change within overall programme limits. It will be reviewed during the year and amendments may be made if warranted by progress, and cost and spending profile changes. There will be a further review at the end of 2002 after the funding availability for 2003/04 has been announced. The above programme is planned to produce annual spending in accordance with LTP funding available each year.

3.5 The strategy area table (Appendix 2) includes schemes to be funded from external sources, principally developers' contributions. These schemes are generally included only for 2002/03 to 2003/04, as beyond this date there is less certainty about the likely availability of funding, which is usually related to the progress of the development.

3.6 Details of county-wide and maintenance programmes affecting south-east Hampshire will be included in future programme reviews. These programmes have yet to be determined for 2002/03.

Recommendation

That this report be noted.

7026/PCS

APPENDIX 1

SOUTH EAST HAMPSHIRE TRANSPORT STRATEGY (SEHTS)

PROGRAMME 2001/02

APPENDIX 2

SOUTH EAST HAMPSHIRE TRANSPORT STRATEGY (SEHTS)

PROGRAMME 2002/03 TO 2005/06

N.B. Externally funded schemes are shown in italics.

The total column excludes external funding except for *.

The funding for the A3 bus corridor is excluded from the programme total.