APPENDIX

appendix

Contacts:

Jon Foley, ext 7559 email: [email protected]

Tim Cheesebrough, ext 7114 email: [email protected]

1. Summary

1.1 The following decisions are sought:

(i) That retrospective approval be given to Andover being submitted as the County Council's preferred town for the Department for Transport's Sustainable Travel Demonstration Town initiative.

(ii) That the implications of a successful bid for the second Hampshire Local Transport Plan (2006-11) be noted.

2. Reason

2.1 The Department for Transport (DfT) recently invited expressions of interest from local transport authorities and Passenger Transport Executives in England to work with the Government to establish a sustainable travel demonstration town. Working with local authorities, the Government wishes to develop one or two model/showcase sustainable transport towns over a four to five year period, and inspire other authorities to introduce similar programmes in their own areas.

3. Other Options Considered and Rejected

3.1 Basingstoke and Eastleigh were also considered as potential target towns. Subsequent to a detailed assessment process involving officers from the three affected District Councils, Andover was selected on the basis that it most closely met the DfT's criteria for the project. The means by which Andover has been selected are detailed in this report.

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

7.1 This report outlines a proposal to put forward Andover as the County Council's preferred town for the Department for Transport's (DfT) Sustainable Travel Demonstration Town project.

7.2 The DfT has recognised that there are towns throughout the country where local authorities are establishing themselves as leaders in developing more sustainable forms of public and non-motorised transport and where new transport initiatives are being trialled. However, at present there is no clear model for an established best practice, whereby transport operators and managing authorities could attempt to integrate transport projects in order to bring wider scale transport benefits to a particular area. The Showcase Towns Initiative is an attempt by the Government to further promote and develop best practice in sustainable transport, which should reflect LTP guidance and meet local transport objectives of reducing car dependency.

7.3 The DfT has earmarked a total of up to £1.5 million a year (revenue funding) for the five year project to run from 2004/05 to 2008/09, with the expectation of equivalent match-funding from the successful transport authorities.

8. Project Criteria

8.1 The DfT is seeking successful partners to:

(i) identify a suitable town;

(ii) demonstrate commitment and the technical ability to introduce a comprehensive package of sustainable and integrated public transport initiatives;

(iii) establish a comprehensive baseline traffic and travel indicator database which can be used to assess trends in modal choice and trip rate during the project period, and measure intermediate and long-term project outcomes and objectives;

(iv) show commitment to developing partnerships between the tiers of local authorities, public transport operators and other key stakeholders involved in the project;

(v) show the commitment of elected Members;

(vi) demonstrate the necessary level of expertise in project delivery and management; and

(vii) importantly, demonstrate value for money and cost effectiveness in scheme delivery.

8.2 The project specification to be addressed by the bid document needs to consider the following points:

(i) A self-contained settlement - a centre of local employment and economic activity (preferably with a population of between 60,000-150,000), with emerging transport congestion problems, and not currently leading in the field of sustainable travel.

(ii) Transport measures are to be developed in the defined town as integrated packages contributing to an overall transport strategy. Modes should be fully integrated by the best standards in design and accessibility between all user groups. The strategy should be accompanied by a parallel marketing exercise - seeking to enhance travel awareness of alternatives to the private car (focusing on cycling and walking schemes).

(iii) The promotion and development of `softer' policy options - the establishment of journey planning initiatives, working with local businesses and educational establishments to promote green travel plans through the setting up of a sustainable travel team of experts in the project town, with free access to site specific consultancy advice. Part of developing `softer' measures is the creation of personalised journey planning initiatives. These would underpin the overall package of `harder' measures, and influence modal choice by using individualised marketing, travel diaries and personalised journey plans.

(iv) Newer, more experimental initiatives would be expected to be developed through the project, such as the example of setting up employee car sharing clubs with local organisations.

(v) Working with local transport operators to better promote an integrated transport network through the quality provision and dissemination of public transport information to local residents and businesses. The project will generate the potential for commercial operators to develop their own innovations on the back of the project (such as combined demand responsive transport or train ticketing initiatives).

(vi) Schemes in the candidate town are expected to commence shortly after the bid selection process has been completed. However, the first full project year will require the establishment of baseline survey work on which short/medium/long-term monitoring will be conducted, and primary public and stakeholder consultation activity will be undertaken. Years 2, 3 and 4 will see the projects developed and measures launched, raising awareness of new, enhanced and alternative travel choices. The DfT will make available up to £1.5 million per year to support the revenue costs of public transport information and promotional schemes.

8.3 Final long-term monitoring to determine the effectiveness of the project's strategy would be conducted in the fifth year of the programme.

9. The Choice of Town

9.1 The County Council approached all district councils in Hampshire to establish the level of interest in this initiative, which would require considerable commitment from a district council, in partnership with the County Council, to ensure success. Eastleigh Borough Council, Test Valley Borough Council and Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council all indicated a strong interest in working with the County Council to develop an expression of interest. Officers of the four authorities met in early September to consider the options and assess the chances of success of a single town bid against the DfT's project criteria and required submission information.

9.2 Andover, Basingstoke (town area) and Eastleigh (town area) were identified as the possible candidate towns. However, following the compilation of an assessment matrix to appraise the towns likely success, as based upon the DfT's criteria, the collective view was that Andover should go forward as the County Council's preferred submission. A summary of the assessment matrix compiled is set out in the attached appendix.

9.3 This conclusion was based principally on Andover being seen to be a predominantly self-contained town with evidence of a high proportion of existing trip making with both origin and destination within the town and the immediately surrounding areas. Although the size of the town is smaller than the DfT is ideally looking for, the relatively low levels of external commuting indicate that travel choice patterns could be especially susceptible to the transfer of short distance trips to walking, cycling or bus usage when supported by an intensive complementary behavioural change campaign.

10. The Expression of Interest Submission

10.1 Hampshire's expression of interest, and the subsequent more detailed bid if requested, will therefore focus on Andover. It should be noted that the DfT is placing great emphasis on the need for `soft policy' solutions (for which revenue funding is available) and will be looking to the partner organisations to provide match-funding through adequate support, where appropriate, for complementary infrastructure, delivery and maintenance measures.

10.2 The proposal therefore majors on an approach to generate significant behavioural change built upon comprehensive travel plan development and associated marketing work in the early project years, together with the introduction of enhancements to the local bus network (which may include an extension of the Cango demand-responsive transport initiative). The schemes already identified in the current Capital Programme will also be pursued. However, it is anticipated that the travel planning work in the early years will determine the appropriate infrastructure works in the latter part of the project, which will in turn be subject to necessary priority being allocated through the Local Transport Plan process. A successful submission would therefore have an important influence over programmes of infrastructure delivery for the second Hampshire Local Transport Plan for 2006-11.

11. Department for Transport's Bid and Selection Process

11.1 The DfT's selection process comprises two key stages. Firstly, expressions of interest were required to be submitted by the applying transport authorities on behalf of local partnerships before the closing date of 30 September 2003. The initial applications will be assessed, leading to a short-list of authorities who will be invited to submit a fully costed and detailed package of transport proposals for their candidate town after November 2003. The final assessment process will involve a visit by DfT officials to the short-listed local authorities in the New Year. A final decision to notify the one or two successful authorities will be made by the end of February 2004.

AWHTS 16.10.03

Policy and Progress Update Item 8

Appendix