Contact: Tim Cheesebrough, ext 6882 email: [email protected]

1. Summary

1.1 This report outlines progress on the Casualty Reduction Programme, Hampshire Safety Camera Partnership and Safer Routes to School (SRTS).

2. Casualty Reduction Programme

2.1 The 2003/04 low cost/high yield casualty reduction engineering programme consisted of 62 schemes throughout the county with a combined value totalling approximately £1.1 million. Appendix 1 shows the list of schemes featured in that initial programme for the New Forest area, with the current implementation/study position for each scheme. The provisional Low Cost Casualty Reduction Programme for 2004/05 is detailed in Appendix 2.

2.2 For the last quarter of the 2003/04 financial year and following the award of major scheme funding for the A3 bus priority corridor in Havant Borough, the County Council has supplemented the initial casualty reduction engineering programme with an additional £750,000. The total low cost programme value for 2003/04 is approximately £1.75 million out of a total enhanced programme value of around £2.75 million. The remainder of the programme includes significant safety schemes at the B2177/B3354 junction, Fishers Pond (Winchester District), A30 Southwood Corner, and Basingstoke District and Lymington High Street (New Forest District).

2.3 The additional funding for the lower cost/high yield casualty reduction programme enables the County Council to implement early additional schemes at locations with a record of high severity casualties. Some of these sites are being identified through the County Council's Casualty Reduction Partnership investigations with Hampshire Constabulary at locations that have recently experienced high severity collisions. The treatments being proposed are broadly similar to the well established low cost programme and include measures such as improved signing,


carriageway markings, retexturing, and resurfacing. In addition, the enhanced funding enables early carriageway repair works to be undertaken ahead of an increased surface dressing programme in the 2004/05 financial year for roads with a proportionally high occurrence of loss of control incidents.

3. Hampshire Safety Camera Partnership

3.1 Installation of fixed safety (speed) cameras is progressing and are operational (February 2004) at the following sites:

(i) B3037 Bishopstoke Road, Eastleigh;

(ii) Highlands Road, Fareham;

(iii) A337 Setley, New Forest;

(iv) A35 Totton;

(v) A32 Gosport Road, Fareham; and

(vi) A36 (T), West Wellow (on behalf of the Highways Agency).

3.2 New sites approved as part of the 2003/04 Safety Camera Partnership operational case submission to Government have included:

(i) A3090, Crampmoor (Test Valley Borough);

(ii) Marine Parade, Lee-on-the-Solent (Gosport Borough); and

(ii) A339 (de-trunked route) north-east of Wootton St Lawrence (Basingstoke Borough).

3.3 These sites are currently being installed and are expected to be operational by the end of 2003/04 financial year. A former proposed fixed camera site on A325 at Holt Pound (East Hampshire) is being replaced with a speed reactive signing scheme. This is due to technical difficulties in finding an acceptable location that would fully accord with the Government's camera conspicuity criteria.

3.4 New camera locations are only approved at sites or on routes where there has been a history of serious injury accidents and where speed checks have shown a significant percentage of drivers exceeding the speed limit. Fixed cameras are considered where the evidence shows speed-related accidents on a short stretch of road and mobile cameras where accidents are distributed along a route.

3.5 The 2002/03 Annual Review of the Hampshire Safety Camera Partnership will be made available to Members at the meeting.

3.6 For the 2004/05 Operational Case year, approval has been sought from the Department for Transport for the placement of a further fixed safety (speed) camera at Southampton Road, Hythe (New Forest District). Subject to final detailed analysis it is expected that this would be installed during the autumn of 2004.

4. Safer Routes to School Programme

4.1 The current position of identified schemes within New Forest for the 2003/04 SRTS programme, together with the status of associated School Travel Plans is outlined in Appendix 3. A number of schemes in the countywide programme were carried forward from the 2002/03 programme following adjustments required to the capital programme to keep within 2002/03 spending limits.

4.2 It was reported to Members during the autumn round of the former Highway Management Advisory Panel meetings, that it is the County Council's intention to require all SRTS schemes from the 2004/05 financial year to be associated with the development and publication of School Travel Plans by the directly affected schools. This approach will ensure that schools, their pupils, parents and carers will fully benefit from the infrastructure measures installed. These include offering improved levels of child travel safety, opportunities for increased levels of cycling, walking and passenger transport usage. The current position regarding the development of School Travel Plans by schools in the New Forest is shown in Appendix 4.

4.3 The full list of schemes comprising the 2004/05 SRTS programme has at present not been set. As a consequence it will be reported to Members at the autumn Highway and Transport Advisory Panels. Nevertheless, in anticipation of an increasing pace of publication of Travel Plans by Hampshire Schools during the coming year, the county-wide SRTS programme is being increased from the 2003/04 value of £0.5 to £1.25 million in 2004/05 and £1.5 million in 2005/06.

Recommendation

That this report be noted.

8567/TLC

APPENDIX 3

Safer Routes to School Programme 2003/04

Schemes in New Forest District

Key:

0 Interest shown

1 Initial work on travel plan started

2 Draft travel plan completed

3 Final travel plan submitted