Archived decisions

Contact: Geoff Topps, ext: 7959 email: [email protected]

1. Summary

1.1 The County Council's Transport Capital Programme identifies funding for individually named integrated transport improvement schemes and also includes other county-wide improvement programmes and block budget allocations.

1.2 The table below shows the county-wide improvement programmes that are applicable to the Havant area, and identifies the funding allocation made from the Local Transport Plan (LTP) for the 2004/05 year. The table also identifies where further information about the works appropriate to each programme can be found on the agenda.

1.3 This report provides a progress update on the named integrated transport schemes within the 2004/05 Transport Capital Programme that have been approved for implementation in the Havant area. These are summarised in the attached Appendix 1. The report also provides a progress update on schemes started in earlier programmes which were incomplete at the last Panel meeting.

1.4 Individual schemes within the Transport Capital Programme are financed from the LTP, which consists of Central Government supported capital expenditure (SCE) and/or external funding (EF) received from developers or other contributors.

1.5 The 2005/06 Transport Capital Programme will be considered in January 2005 by the Environment Policy Review Committee and then the Executive Member for Environment. The programme will be influenced by the level of the Local Transport Settlement for 2005/06 for Hampshire, which will be announced by the Government in December 2004, and by the level of spending commitments carried forward into 2005/06 from the 2004/05 programme. Area Transport Strategy Panels are being asked to prioritise schemes within their areas to assist the Executive Member for Environment.

2. Transport Capital Schemes 2003/04

West Lane Footway, Hayling Island - £12,000 EF

2.1 The new footway on the west side of West Lane has been investigated and developed in two sections. The northern most part between number 113 and number 123 is being designed in detail, with the previous land issues surrounding this section having now been resolved. A further, small, element of survey work is required before this can be completed and construction carried out.

2.2 Completing the northern section will use all of the existing developer funding therefore additional funding will have to be determined before further work can be carried out on the southern section. The land issue for this section appears to have been resolved recently with all frontages agreeing in principle to dedicate the required land for the footway.

3. Transport Capital Programme - 2004/05

Havant Bus Station - £1,520,000 SCE and £80,000 EF

3.1 This item is discussed in detail in the `Passenger Transport' report at Agenda Item No 13, paragraph 3.1.

Hayling Billy - Havant Railway Station Cycleway Stage 2 - £250,000 SCE

3.2 The second stage of this project is the extension of the cycle lane through the south side car park as a contra flow lane up to the station. To achieve this the protruding car park edge of the south platform will be removed, which will also allow additional car parking to be created. The existing bin store will be relocated and a new cycle parking shelter built for in excess of 100 cycles.

3.3 Detailed design is nearing completion. To help accelerate the whole process South West Trains have been requested to undertake the works on behalf of the County Council. The agreements necessary for this are being clarified but it is unlikely that significant construction will be undertaken before March 2005.

Havant Quality Bus Partnership - £200,000 SCE

3.4 This item is discussed in detail in the `Passenger Transport' report at Agenda Item No 13, paragraph 3.2.

Havant Decriminalised Parking - £100,000 SCE

3.5 Consultation was undertaken in July and no major objections were received. The Agency Agreement is being drafted in line with those already completed and progress is continuing as planned to meet the November final application date for the Department of Transport. The new authorisation is programmed to come into effect on 1 April 2005.

Havant Town Centre Accessibility - £85,000 SCE and £15,000EF (Havant Borough Council)

3.6 The extension of the footway/cycleway along the south side of Maurepas Way has been completed, creating a continuous link to the town centre.

3.7 The results of the accessibility study are being discussed with the local accessibility forum in order to agree the features and routes to be improved into the town centre. These works will be completed by March 2005.

A3 Bus Priority Corridor - £25,100,000 Major Scheme funding

3.8 Construction work is progressing well with approximately half of the five year construction period completed. There has been a little slippage while the funding process was clarified in 2003 but development of the route north of Waterlooville is being accelerated to help get the project finished by the original completion date. The works undertaken so far are within the project budget and a summary of the financial position is set out at Appendix 2.

3.9 Section 1 - Widley to Purbrook. Road works were substantially complete in February 2003. Drivers have adapted well to the new conditions and the traffic will be monitored while the other sections are completed. There have been some vandalism problems with the glass panels in the new bus shelters being broken - the maintenance contractor has been instructed to use less fragile polycarbonate replacements until the CCTV cameras can improve security.

3.10 During a very heavy down pour of rain in August a suspected blocked drainage pipe caused some flooding at Penjar Avenue shops. This appears to be a Southern Water drainage pipe and while site A3 staff did offer some immediate assistance to the shop owners the matter is being pursued with the drainage authority.

3.11 Following the one year post completion date several `Part 1' claims have been received from some of the local residents for the loss of property value caused by the road works (where road widening / realignment has brought traffic nearer to their property). In reply the owners agents have been asked to demonstrate this and to provide justification of the case; such claims were anticipated and a significant amount of survey work has been undertaken to refute them. Any legitimate claims will be paid and the situation is being monitored with respect to the proposals north of Waterlooville.

3.12 Section 2a - Purbrook Village. Road works here started in March 2004 and were predominantly finished by the end of September, with the exception of the accommodation works to some of the shop fronts which are still being completed. A road closure was avoided during the resurfacing by the contractor's careful programming. After some criticism from local traders and residents about poor information a weekly notice of planned works has helped ease the disturbance of construction in such a difficult and dangerous working area. There have been some complaints about the disruption caused but reasonable steps have been taken to fit the work in as best as possible with local needs and expectation. One business has enquired about compensation for loss of takings during the road works but it has been explained that because it is a Statutory duty for the Highway Authority to maintain and improve the public highway there is no cause for compensation.

3.13 Section 2b - Purbrook to Waterlooville. Construction here started in March 2003 and was substantially completed in October 2004. It had been planned to leave approximately a quarter of the work until 2005 while BT carried out diversions of their underground fibre optic cables, but as expected BT completed their work approximately a year early so that all the Section 2b works could be completed in one go. This has avoided long term disruption. New temporary bus shelters have been installed until the new shelter supplier for the remaining A3 shelters can provide the final shelters - the temporary shelters will be reused on future sections after which a long term location for them will be found.

3.14 The traffic signal bus gate for southbound vehicles has been installed at the north end of Purbrook and its performance will be monitored for 18 months and then reviewed to see if it is effective and suitable to retain long term.

3.15 Section 3 - Waterlooville town centre. After several years of development the final proposals for this the main destination of the Hampshire side of the route are being recommended for approval. The advanced works have started at Forest End; it had been hoped to carryout off-road parking accommodation works for adjacent residents beforehand but it has taken longer than expected to complete the agreements and obtain planning permission. This means that the road works are being built first and the residents given temporary parking elsewhere until the works are finished - this is causing some inconvenience but will still ultimately result in the residents having their own off-road parking compared to the free for all verge parking that happens at present.

3.16 Advanced statutory undertaker diversions of underground pipes and cables has started in London Road south in preparation of the pedestrian zone improvements. Consultation with the town centre manager and traders has started in preparation of the actual road works that are planned for the February 2005. Construction of the new right hand turn signals for buses turning right out of St George's Walk is underway. This is not expected to affect the existing subway and will save buses time U turning at the existing ASDA roundabout or new Major Development Area access junction.

3.17 Sections 4 and 5 North of Waterlooville. Advanced street light replacement and drainage improvements will take place shortly but the main works are not scheduled until late 2005 / early 2006.

3.18 Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) and Real Time Passenger Information (RTPI). The construction of both the infrastructure and control room facilities for each these systems has been progressing but technical delays due to foundation requirements for camera columns and the County Council's RTPI contractor establishing specifications and compatibility have taken longer that expected. However, they will still be provided and made operational in early 2005 along Section 1 and 2(a+b).

3.19 Performance. Although the improvements are being introduced incrementally it is too soon to be able to measure any impact towards the targets of the project. This is because of the lack of a finished product and the disruptive nature of the road works which can be a short term detriment to bus services. While measures such as the ZIP service branding will help to counter this it will not be possible to assess the projects actual performance until after the whole project has been completed and road conditions have settled to equilibrium.

Recommendation

That Members note the progress with schemes in the Transport Capital Programme and support the schemes approved for inclusion in the Capital Programme for 2004/05.

9020/GT

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