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

1. Summary

1.1 This report provides a progress update on transport schemes within the 2004/05 Capital Programme, together with the schemes for the 2005/06 Capital Programme that were approved by the Executive Member for Environment on 21 January 2005. The 2005/06 summary of schemes is shown on the attached appendix.

1.2 The table below shows the county-wide improvement programmes for 2005/06 and where applicable to the Havant Borough Council area the report item is given for reference.

1.3 Schemes in the Capital Programme are financed from the Local Transport Plan (LTP) and/or external funding (EF) received from developers or other contributors.

2. Capital Schemes 2004/05

West Lane Footway, Hayling Island - £13,000 EF and £13,000 LTP

2.1 The northern of the two sections investigated on the west side of West Lane has been designed by Havant Borough Council. The footway will be built immediately adjacent to the carriageway where all the required land is highway and therefore no land purchase or dedication is required. The works have been approved and the footway construction will take place before the end of 2004/05 subject to weather and contractor availability.

Havant Bus Station - £1,800,000 LTP and £80,000 EF

2.2 It is proposed to replace the existing bus shelters with a new purpose-built, two-storey bus station. This will comprise booking office, supervisor's office and public toilets on the ground floor, with drivers' rest room, toilets and plant room on the first floor. The pedestrian area around the bus station will be paved with the same finish as the internal concourse, with seating internally and externally. The proposed main building is faced in brick in keeping with existing buildings in the area and is fronted by an enclosed, glazed waiting area. A `Real Time' bus journey information display screen is to be incorporated within this area.

2.3 The revised layout of the main bus concourse area will comprise seven bays for buses in operation, plus three further `layover' bays and a coach stop to the west of the main station site.

2.4 Construction of the new bus station and apron area, which will require the existing bus station to shut, is scheduled to start in early August 2005 and will take up to 15 months. Advance works on the layover area are programmed to commence in February 2005. During the station closure buses will pick up and drop off on-street in Market Parade and North Street and utilise the completed layover area.

2.5 It is envisaged that the bus station will be handed over to Havant Borough Council ownership on completion of the capital works, with the Borough Council assuming responsibility for operation and future maintenance of the bus station in its entirety. The level of service and maintenance standards have been agreed by the County Council and Havant Borough Council by legal agreement before funding for the scheme can be approved.

2.6 Latest scheme costs are estimated at £1.8 million SCA with a contribution of £80,000 from Havant Borough Council. Planning permission was granted by Havant Borough Council in February 2005. It is intended to seek Project Appraisal recommendation for approval from the Executive Member for Environment on 22 March 2005 and the Buildings, Land and Procurement Panel on 5 April, and approval from the Executive Member for Policy and Resources on 14 April 2005, subject to completion of the legal agreement.

Hayling Billy - Havant Railway Station Cycleway Stage 2 - £274,000 LTP

2.7 Scheme deferred to 2005/06 programme.

Havant Quality Bus Partnership - £200,000 LTP

2.8 See Passenger Transport Item 11 on this agenda.

Havant Decriminalised Parking - £100,000 LTP

2.9 It is expected that the process will be completed by 4 April 2005 deadline; for more details refer to Havant Borough Council Item 12 on this agenda.

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

2.10 Atkins was commissioned to identify improvements to the pedestrian network to/from Havant town centre. The work has been audited by the Havant Access group which has prioritised the schemes. Detailed design work is now being undertaken with a view to the works being implemented in March 2005.

3. Capital Schemes 2005/06

Hayling Billy - Havant Railway Station Cycleway Stage 2 - £250,000 LTP £24,000 EF Havant (deferred from 2004/05)

3.1 This project is a major element of the Havant Cycle Plan, which supplements a SUSTRANS route and adds to the benefit of earlier associated cycle schemes. It will extend the provision of a walking and cycling link through the car park and provide a large new covered cycle parking at Havant Railway Station.

3.2 It will involve alterations to part of the station which are most easily achieved if carried out by the Train Operating Company (TOC) South West Trains. Therefore a Grant Agreement is to be entered into with South West Trains so that they can undertake the design and construction of the scheme in agreement with Network Rail.

3.3 The first part of the works consists of extending the cycling and walking route through the one-way section of the car park. This involves the demolition of part of the old station platform to permit changing the parking layout to facilitate a wider area for pedestrians and a contra-flow cycle lane. The revised parking layout is to include new spaces for disabled parking and the resultant reduction in spaces is mitigated by the 15 space car park extension provided under phase one.

3.4 The second part of the works is to provide a purpose-built covered parking unit for 115 cycles, together with a replacement area set aside for waste bins, motorcycles and cycles at the western end of the station site.

3.5 The detailed delivery programme is now being prepared, with site clearance expected to start in May 2005 and completion of the works by the end of the summer. More exact information will be provided when it becomes available.

Havant-Portsmouth Route 21 £100,000 LTP

3.6 See Passenger Transport Item 11 on this agenda.

4. Major Scheme - Integrated A3 Bus Priority Corridor £25,100,000

Major Scheme Funding

General Progress

4.1 A substantial amount of work has been undertaken this year but it has not proved possible to accelerate the programme and speed up overall completion. This is because the nature of the consultation and design and the importance of not rushing such major changes is time rather than resource dependent. As a result, although it is still intended to complete most roadworks by the end of spring 2007, the final finish date has now been reassessed as March 2008.

4.2 This does not change the expected project costs, which are being managed to fall within the allocated funding. The expenditure for 2004/05 will be lower than estimated but this balances the new estimated costs for remaining years following the programme review. A updated version of the financial summary is set out in Appendix 2.

Section 1 - Widley to Purbrook

4.3 All the glass panels in the bus shelters have been replaced with shatter-resistant material. It is hoped that the closed circuit television (CCTV) will deter such vandalism; the camera poles will be installed in April with the cameras operational by July. Flat screen bus information signs will be installed in bus shelters afterwards and consideration given to reinstating glass panels.

4.4 The matter of claims for the loss of property value (as a result of major roadworks) continues to be addressed and the requested cases of justification are still awaited. This process can be lengthy given that some parties take time in responding.

Section 2a - Purbrook Village

4.5 Both the main roadworks and accommodation works for the shopping areas are now substantially complete. Local traders will be surveyed about the works to gauge their views and any further ways the process might be improved in future. The new layout and car parking is now being monitored to see how the new situation works out, with any minor alterations being undertaken while the main scheme is still being completed.

4.6 Temporary bus shelters have been provided here and also in Section 2b. These will be replaced with route-specific shelters that are being acquired through a special contract and the temporary shelters will be re-used on other areas of the project. Consideration is being given for a trial of a pair of `clean energy' bus shelters in Section 2b to see how effective sustainable energy use might be.

Section 2b - Purbrook to Waterlooville

4.7 All the roadworks here are substantially complete and the traffic signal bus gate was switched on in January 2005. The operation and performance of this will be monitored for 18 months and minor teething problems, such as cars parking and blocking the bus lane approach, are being dealt with. At present it is difficult to see the true peak-time benefit due to the effect of the Section 3 temporary traffic signals, but these should be removed by the end of April. All traffic will be monitored, now that the road is open, to determine behaviour and compliance with the new layout.

Section 3 - Waterlooville Town Centre

4.8 Proposals were approved in November 2004. This is the major destination point within the scope of the current works that incorporates significant environmental improvements to the southern half of the town centre. It has been split into sub-sections to simplify reporting on the different elements within this area of work, starting at the southern end where Section 2 finishes.

Section 3a - Southern Approach, Waterlooville

4.9 The advanced works and main bus lane roadworks are complete, planning permission has been granted and the off-road accommodation works have started. The drainage requirements have been expanded to cater for historic problems and an underground `surge tank' similar to those used on Section 2b is being built to combat storm flooding. For safety reasons this has required full-time two-way temporary traffic signals during construction but the congestion will be relieved when the works are completed in April.

Section 3b - Forest End Roundabout, Waterlooville

4.10 There are only minor alterations planned here and upgrading of the Pelican crossing on Maurepas Way to a Toucan.

Section 3c - Main Shopping Area, Waterlooville

4.11 The advanced Statutory Unitaries (SU) diversions were stopped and withdrawn for the Christmas shopping period to avoid undue disruption to traders. Extra signs have been put up at the traders' request, along with advertisements in The News to encourage customers to keep using the town centre while the roadworks are carried out. This effort to combat the disrupting effect will be continued for the duration of the works, which have started again with the remaining SU diversions and the main works scheduled to start in July.

Section 3d - St Georges Walk and Maurepas Way Junction

4.12 The main works for this area are well underway to create a new right hand turn for buses, which will save time U-turning at the Hambledon Road roundabout. This is a busy junction that has required some temporary turning bans so that a new layout can be built, but access has been maintained to the main shopping and parking areas via London Road south. Ultimately this junction should become less busy when it is no longer a through route.

Section 4 and Section 5 - Waterlooville to Horndean

4.13 Some advanced works for Sections 4 and 5 north of Waterlooville were also approved in November 2004. This consists mainly of CCTV duct laying, replacement street lighting and drainage improvements, although the drainage works are being reviewed further to minimise the impact and maximise the benefit before the work is undertaken.

Performance

4.14 As reported previously, the overall performance of the project cannot be measured until after all the facilities have been completed. But the point has already been reached where the bus operator First has provided a fleet of 20 brand-new buses for the corridor service and an increase in bus frequency from four to five per hour. These will feature the shared `ZIP' branding that is being used for both the service and facilities, which is helping create the new corridor character as more works become complete.

Recommendation

That Members note the progress with the schemes in the Transport Capital Programme and support the schemes approved for inclusion in the Capital Programme for 2005/06.

9184/GT

APPENDIX 1

CAPITAL PROGRAMME 2005/06