Archived decisions

Contact: Jon Foley, ext 7559 email: [email protected]

1. Summary

1.1 This report provides a progress update on the workplace and school travel planning programmes for the East Hampshire area. It also includes an update on the Safer Routes to School programme for schemes within the East Hampshire area.

2. Workplace Travel Plan Programme

2.1 There are currently seven organisations developing a travel plan, compared to four reported at the last meeting of this Panel in November 2004.

2.2 The current status of travel plans in the East Hampshire area is shown in the table below. An indication of the number of employees covered by the plans has also been given. Individual organisations are not identified for reasons of confidentiality - for example some travel plans are related to planning applications or a change in location that is not yet public knowledge.

* this is an approximation. Not all employee data is complete yet.

2.3 The Travel Plan Adviser is currently working to update records by liaising more closely with officers in the district to provide a more complete picture of travel plan activity.

3. School Travel Plan Programme

3.1 The School Travel Planning Team continue to work with schools to develop School Travel Plans. To date over 330 schools throughout Hampshire have developed or are in the process of developing plans, compared with just over 200 as at November 2004.

3.2 Schools with travel plans approved by the School Travel Planning Team are eligible for funding through the Safer Routes to School programme, as well as a one-off capital grant from the Department for Education and Skills. The latter is only available to state schools.

3.3 The School Travel Planning Team distributed an information leaflet to all the schools within Hampshire in November 2004. This leaflet was intended to raise awareness of School Travel Plans and has resulted in a number of new contacts from schools interested in developing a travel plan.

3.4 The team works closely with District Council officers and is now engaged with 40 of the 58 schools in the East Hampshire area, compared with 30 schools as at November 2004. This includes interest from an independent school. A summary of the current status of all School Travel Plans in East Hampshire area is shown as a table below. More detail is shown in the attached appendix.

4. Safer Routes to School Programme

4.1 The Safer Routes to School programme links very closely with the development of the School Travel Plan programme. One of the objectives of a School Travel Plan is to encourage as many children as possible to be active and independent by walking, cycling or using public transport to get to and from school on a regular basis. This could be through a combination of physical and other measures. If physical works are identified within the approved School Travel Plan then the school can bid for funding from the Safer Routes to School programme.

4.2 On 21 January 2005 the Executive Member for Environment agreed an indicative allocation of £1.5 million for a county-wide programme of Safer Routes to School schemes from the 2005/06 Capital Programme.

4.3 When a proposal for highway improvements is received from a school with a completed School Travel Plan the feasibility is assessed to determine the scale, implications, costs and benefits. As more proposals come forward, this allows the priorities to be determined for inclusion in the programme. The current status of potential and actual schemes is shown in the attached appendix.

Recommendation

That Members note the progress made with the delivery of the Workplace and School

Travel Plans, and Safer Routes to School programmes in the East Hampshire area.

9169/JF