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1. Summary

1.1 The following decisions are sought:

(i) That the proposed final Transport Capital Programme for 2002/03 be approved as set out in Appendix 1.

(ii) That the proposed revised Transport Capital Programme for 2003/04 be approved as set out in Appendix 2, subject to a review later in the financial year, which will examine whether the expected spend in 2003/04 can be accommodated within the financial resources identified. If not, then part of the 2003/04 starts programme may need to be deferred.

(iii) That the proposed detailed programmes for Structural Maintenance of Highways and Bridges and for Pedestrian Crossings be approved as set out in Appendices 3 and 4 respectively. A two year list of candidate schemes for the Safer Routes to Schools programme is included as Appendix 5 for approval.

2. Reason

2.1 The 2002/03 and 2003/04 programme amendments are proposed to reflect slippage in the programme and increased costs in some schemes. It has also been possible to identify additional developer funded projects, including several in Basingstoke following a combined assessment exercise with Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council. The proposed programme for 2003/04 anticipates that a proportion of its spending will not be incurred until 2004/05, or later. Should spending forecasts for 2003/04 from this year's programme or commitments from previous years' programmes increase, then it may be necessary to defer uncommitted schemes from the 2003/04 programme. The details of the Structural Maintenance and Bridges programme and the Pedestrian Crossings programmes for 2003/04 are put forward for approval. The Safer Routes to School programme for the two years 2003/04 and 2004/05 is also set out as one list covering all the schools where schemes are expected to be progressed in the two years, altogether there is £1.2 million available in the two years. Safer Routes to Schools schemes will be progressed only where a School Travel Plan has been approved by the County Council. This programme will be reviewed regularly and schools that are not in the current list may be added to the programme if their School Travel Plans are approved by the County Council and there are available resources.

3. Other Options Considered and Rejected

3.1 The 2002/03 and 2003/04 proposed revisions result largely from schemes slipping in the programme and/or from increased costs with ongoing or completed projects. Details of the cost changes are set out in section 7 of this report. The increases will lead to less funding being available for new schemes in 2003/04 unless extra resources are forthcoming. One option would be to reduce the 2003/04 programme now but this could lead to the County Council being unable to fully use any extra resources that may become available. The 2003/04 starts programme level of £12.2 million gives a theoretical over programming of £5.6 million (ie if everything in the programme were to be delivered in 2003/04). It is likely, however, that much of this spending will actually fall into 2004/05 and beyond; indeed, about £1 million of A3 statutory undertakers' works is already programmed for 2005/06.

3.2 The programme will be reviewed in the autumn when the resources position, including that of the A3 corridor major scheme bid, is known. Should spending forecasts for 2003/04 from this year's programme or commitments from previous years' programmes increase, then it may be necessary to defer uncommitted schemes from the 2003/04 programme.

3.3 The Highways Maintenance and Bridges programme and the Pedestrian Crossings programmes could be changed to give more priority to certain localities or to introduce new schemes. One example would be to introduce more pedestrian facilities at traffic signal junctions. The recommended priorities for pedestrian crossings are for schemes deferred from 2002/03 and new stand alone crossing facilities.

4. Conflicts of Interest Declared by the Decision Maker or a Member or Officer Consulted - None.

5. Dispensation granted by the Standards Committee - Not applicable.

6. Reason(s) for the Matter being dealt with if Urgent - Not applicable.

Approved by: Date:

Councillor K B Estlin

7. Background

2002/03 Transport Capital Programme

2002/03 Programme

7.1 The 2002/03 Transport Capital Programme was revised at the January meeting. This programme now needs to be amended to reflect that some schemes did not in the event start until 2003/04, while there are also some amendments required to starts values where costs are now known to have increased. The major increases are discussed in section 8 below. The Bus Quality Partnership schemes in Leigh Park, Havant and southern Test Valley have been reinstated into the 2002/03 programme to reflect commitments made in that year. The proposed final programme for 2002/03 is set out in Appendix 1.

2002/03 Spending

7.2 The 2002/03 Transport Capital spending accounts are now complete. The County Council fully used its Local Transport Plan (LTP) credit approval allocation as follows:

£ million

Integrated Transport 19.50

Light Rapid Transit 1.13

Highways Maintenance and Bridges 11.44

Total 32.07

7.3 There was also expenditure of £2.8 million of developers' contributions and £12.9 million of local (Hampshire County Council) resources, the latter mostly on Highways Maintenance and Bridges.

7.4 The Integrated Transport spending includes committed expenditure from programmes prior to 2002/03 and preparation costs for future schemes, as well as expenditure on the 2002/03 programme itself. There is an estimated spending commitment of £8.3 million carried forward into 2003/04, together with £1.5 million reserve resources.

2003/04 Transport Capital Programme

Proposed Revised 2003/04 Programme

7.5 The programme for 2003/04 is proposed to be amended to incorporate schemes slipping from the 2002/03 programme, and some increased costs on projects already in the 2003/04 programme (major changes detailed in section 8 and complete list of changes set out in Appendix 6). Additional developer and district council funded schemes have also been identified (many in conjunction with Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council) and these schemes are included in Appendix 2.

7.6 There is a proposed change in the allocation for Home Zones. Following a successful bid for support from the Department for Transport (DfT) a scheme has been developed in Portchester at a total estimated cost of £1.004 million. While Government grant covers £499,000, the scheme is dependent on further contributions from the following sources - Maintenance (£255,000), Fareham Borough Council (£50,000) and the Integrated Transport Programme (£200,000). Although this allocation is shown in the 2003/04 starts programme it is anticipated that most of the LTP funding will not be used until 2004/05.

Spending Plan for 2003/04

7.7 Resources available for integrated transport in 2003/04 are £14.4 million from the LTP settlement and £1.5 million in local resources brought forward from 2002/03. There is a carried forward spending commitment from 2002/03 of £8.3 million, which leaves £7.6 million to be spent on schemes within the 2003/04 programme and scheme preparation for future years' programmes. Programmed starts amount to £12.2 million and it is currently estimated that expenditure in 2003/04 could exceed available resources should all works forecast for 2003/04 be completed in that year. Spending will need to be carefully controlled to keep within these limits. A review report is proposed for the autumn which may need to recommend programme reductions unless other funding becomes available.

7.8 The above spending plan includes committed expenditure on the A3 Bus Priority Corridor, and for stage 2a and some preparation costs, but does not allow for new works on the ground for stage 3 onwards. A decision is still awaited from the DfT on the County Council's major scheme bid for the A3.

Highways Structural Maintenance and Bridges Programme 2003/04

7.9 This programme is funded from both the LTP and through local resources. The total new starts programme approved at the January meeting was £23.77 million for 2003/04 and a further £3.5 million was added by Cabinet in February.

7.10 There are two major highways maintenance schemes in the 2003/04 programme. They are the A334 at Curdridge and the A325 at Alice Holt. The Curdridge scheme has an estimated cost of £2 million and involves four kilometres of road between Botley and Wickham. The works vary between sections and so the traffic arrangements required will vary, although some road closures are inevitable. Consultation with Members, Police, local residents and Parish Councils has already commenced and will continue until the works are completed. The scheme is expected to start in late summer, which is the preferred time expressed by local business interests.

7.11 The Alice Holt scheme is for approximately 1.5 kilometres of the A325 between the A3006 junction at Sleaford and the southern edge of the Alice Holt forest. The estimated cost is £1.5 million. It is anticipated that there will be relatively little need for road closures as most of the work can be carried out using single lane working under traffic signal control. A summary table of the programme is attached as Appendix 3 to this report.

Pedestrian Crossings

7.12 The pedestrian crossings programme is set out in Appendix 4. A number of schemes have been deferred from 2002/03 to 2003/04 because of difficulties in implementation. A draft programme is also included for 2004/05.

Safer Routes to Schools

7.13 This programme has been allocated £500,000 in 2003/04 and £700,000 in 2004/05. Progress with individual projects will be dependent upon progress with each School Travel Plan and then the preparation, design and consultation arrangements. The two year list (Appendix 5) will give flexibility in programming and should produce more scheme delivery in 2003/04. These schemes will only proceed where a School Travel Plan has been approved by the County Council.

8. Background to Cost Changes and Other Additional Pressures on Resources in 2003/04

A3 Bus Priority Corridor

8.1 This project has to date been funded from the LTP Integrated Transport Block Allocation. A bid was made in 2002 to the DfT for major scheme funding for the project from April 2003 onwards, which is still being considered. The outcome of the bid is expected to be received soon and the result will have a significant effect on both the project and Capital Programme in one way or another. The following updates assume that continued LTP funding for the project may be required.

8.2 The Capital Programme up to 2002/03 allocated a total of £10.2 million for Sections 1, 2a and 2b. The original Section 1 allocation of £4.1 million was increased in January 2003 by £620,000, predominantly to cover additional bus lane construction at the top of Portsdown Hill, and the closed circuit television costs that have now been determined.

8.3 The original allocation for Section 2 was £5.2 million. This section has been developed as two separate parts and the largest, 2b, had an estimated total cost of £4.6 million for its Project Appraisal in September 2002. Since then ongoing negotiations with statutory undertakers have resulted in significant extra design fees and increased construction costs. This is due to the need for attenuation water storage tanks for the rainwater run-off from the widened road, and the 83 week fibre optic cable diversion time specified by British Telecom (BT). An additional £700,000 is needed to meet these new costs.

8.4 The increase in Section 2b means that it now accounts for all of the Section 2 allocation, and additional funds will have to be secured for Section 2a. The detailed design cost estimate for Section 2a is £1.72 million. This is more than the preliminary estimate due to the actual fees used in the extensive public consultation, accommodation work requirements, utility diversions and Real-Time Passenger Information system for the corridor.

8.5 The delay to Section 2b to complete the BT diversions means that a significant amount of work cannot be completed until 2005/06.

8.6 At present there are no allocations in the future programme for the remaining sections of the A3 corridor beyond Section 2a. The remaining sections have preliminary estimates of £8.9 million for Section 3, £6.5 million for Section 4 and £7 million for Section 5.

8.7 It is not feasible (and was never envisaged) for the LTP Capital Programme to continue to fund the remainder of the project to its current scale and programme. However, a contract has been let for the whole of the works as this gave a potential saving of £1.66 million over the whole contract of £13.3 million. Reductions in savings take place for each section not completed. The break-even point is the completion of Section 2. Therefore there are several options that may be considered if the project is not to proceed in its current form:

(i) Stop the project completely after Section 2b is completed and terminate the construction contract. This is not a practical solution because without at least completing Section 3 Waterlooville there will be no significant benefits from Sections 1 and 2 alone. This is also likely to incur claims from the contractor of at least £0.5 million which would require funding and would in effect cancel out savings achieved to this point.

(ii) Maintain the project but at a much lower level of expenditure each year over a longer programme. Negotiate with the contractor to see if it is feasible to retain the construction contract but at a much lower level of annual turnover (and for a greater number of years). This is likely to result in some form of disruption claim but smaller than that in (i). Consideration could also be given to providing similar work for other schemes in place of that intended for the A3 Corridor.

(iii) Complete Section 2b, reduce or suspend Section 2a Purbrook village and focus on completing Section 3 Waterlooville as the key destination for the A3 corridor. Undertake a technical re-evaluation of Sections 4 and 5 and determine the way to proceed that is compatible with Capital Programme funding. Negotiate with the contractor to see if this can be achieved with the current contract. Again, because this is less than the tendered work it is likely to result in a claim, but less than (i).

(iv) As above, but with a much reduced Section 3. This is not a practical solution because again Section 3 Waterlooville is the main destination for this part of the corridor - without it being completed to the same standard as Sections 1 and 2 their cumulative benefits will be greatly reduced.

8.8 To finish the scheme at the end of Section 2b would be expensive in termination costs and achieve few of the project benefits. It may be better to use the partnership working already developed with the contractor to develop a more cost-effective way of progressing a revised project which retains significant benefits.

8.9 If the major scheme bid is successful then it will not be necessary to consider stopping the project or making financial provisions in the Capital Programme for it to continue. If, however, the bid is only partially successful (ie only part of the 2003/04 costs are funded) then the impact to the project on the 2003/04 and future years' programmes will have to be reassessed.

8.10 A further report will be brought to the Executive Member for Environment when the outcome of the major scheme bid is known.

Chandler's Ford Station

8.11 Following Project Appraisal approval on 16 October 2002 construction works are now well advanced, with the platform for the station having come into operation on 17 May 2003 in time for the first train the following day. The associated station building, footbridge and cycle ramp works are programmed to be completed by early September 2003.

8.12 Since approval of the Project Appraisal in October, the estimated cost of the project has risen from £2.2 million to £3.38 million. The predicted final cost reflects increases in tender preparation fees, works to the station and cycle ramp and footbridge, management, supervision and legal fees and land. It is proposed that the project funding profile is adjusted by increasing the externally funded contribution from the Knightwood Agreements from £800,000 to £1.2 million and LTP from £1.4 million to £2.18 million (2002/03 programme).

8.13 Detailed reports on Chandler's Ford Railway Station and the Knightwood Development, encompassing the above summary, are considered elsewhere on the agenda.

Winchester

8.14 Construction costs increased over Winchester City Council's estimate on three projects - Chesil Street, Stockbridge Road and Winchester Station Interchange. In the first two projects there were additional costs not anticipated in the original estimate and in the last two projects there were time extensions during construction that increased costs. Altogether these three projects are showing an increase of £430,000 compared with the allocations approved in January.

Western Distributor Road

8.15 The County Council has been delivering this distributor road in stages over many years as a developer-funded project. It may be necessary in 2003/04 to use credit approval to part-fund the advance purchase of land associated with the final phase known as Section 4b (Schooner Way to Warsash Road), which is programmed for construction in 2004/05. After several years of negotiation by the County Council for the Warsash Motors site, it has been reported that provisional terms have now been agreed. The final cost to the County Council is estimated to be in the order of £800,000, of which £375,000 will be met from developer contributions. If the purchase proceeds it would be necessary to reduce spending on the 2003/04 programme in order to avoid exceeding the overall spending resource level.

Havant Bus Station

8.16 The proposal for Havant Bus station is to provide a quality facility with indoor waiting areas and real-time information systems. It will build on the very successful Bus Quality Partnership in the area, which is a major contributor to progress towards the bus PSA target and will also hopefully encourage bus operators to expand this to further routes. The scheme is at an early stage of design but it is already clear that it would be prudent to budget for a total LTP contribution of £1 million rather than the £650,000 agreed in January.

9. Other Amendments

9.1 The full list of amendments from the January 2003 approved programme is included as Appendix 7. The report submitted on 14 January 2003 included incorrect allocations for Weyhill Road, Andover and Fareham Town Centre Signing. These should be £500,000 and £150,000 respectively for LTP funding, a total increase of £262,000.

8042/JWB

TRANSPORT CAPITAL PROGRAMME 2003/04 (AND 2002/03)

PROGRESS REPORT AND PROGRAMME DETAILS

ADDENDUM

The following amendments to the report were detailed at the decision meeting held on 24 June 2003 and were taken into consideration by the Executive Member for Environment:-

Paragraph 9 - Other Amendments: Romsey Movement and Access Plan

The latest estimate for the Romsey Movement and Access Plan indicates an increase of £93,000, which would require an additional LTP allocation of £100,000 (up from £600,000 to £700,000) in the 2003/04 programme.

Appendix 2: Transport Capital Programme for 2003/04

Under the list of schemes "Countywide/Others" on the last page of the appendix, it was noted that in respect of Home Zones/Community Strategies, this would be for the scheme in Portchester in receipt of a Department for Transport grant subject to match funding of £50,000 from Fareham Borough Council.