Archived decisions
Hampshire County Council New Forest Highway and Transport Advisory Panel 8 March 2005 Travel Plan Programmes Report of the Director of Environment |
Item 9 |
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 New Forest area. It also includes an update on the Safer Routes to Schools programme for schemes within the New Forest area.
2. Workplace Travel Plan Programme
2.1 There are currently 12 organisations developing a travel plan.
2.2 The current status of travel plans in the New Forest 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.
Travel Plan Level |
Number of businesses |
Number of employees* |
0 - Has an interest in travel and transport issues but no plan being produced |
1 |
50 |
1 - Framework travel plan produced (often planning related), inception meeting held or some measures have been implemented |
3 |
2270 |
2 - Draft travel plan produced and approved by HCC |
5 |
600 |
3 - Full travel plan produced and approved by HCC. Measures being implemented and reviewed. |
3 |
1600 |
* 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 District Council officers to provide a more complete picture of travel plan activity.
Travel Plan Partnership Fund
2.4 In June 2004 the Executive Member for Environment approved a £50,000 county-wide allocation from the transport capital programme to the Travel Plan Partnership Fund. Businesses with travel plans were invited to submit bids for matched funding for the provision of 'on-site' facilities to encourage use of a range of modes for journeys to work at their establishments.
2.5 In respect of the New Forest area, Gifford Consulting has been awarded £5,000 Partnership funding for a secure cycle scheme, which is currently awaiting planning consent. Monitoring will be undertaken to establish the success of the project over the coming months.
3. School Travel Plan Programme
3.1 The School Travel Planning Team continues 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 September 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 maintained 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 is now engaged with 37 of the 78 schools (71 maintained and
7 independent) in the New Forest area, compared with 21 schools as at September 2004. A summary of the current status of all School Travel Plans in the New Forest area is shown as a table below. More detail is shown in the attached Appendix.
Travel Plan Level |
Number of schools |
Level 0 - Interest shown |
15 |
Level 1 - Initial work on travel plan started |
9 |
Level 2 - Draft travel plan completed |
5 |
Level 3 - Final travel plan submitted and approved |
8 |
P- Travel plan submitted for planning application |
0 |
C- Contacted awaiting response |
41 |
4. Safer Routes to School Programme
4.1 The Safer Routes to Schools 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 Schools 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 Schools 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 Planning and Safer Routes to School programmes in the New Forest area.
Section 100 D - Local Government Act 1972 - background papers | |
The following documents disclose facts or matters on which this report, or an important part of it, is based and has been relied upon to a material extent in the preparation of this report. | |
NB the list excludes: | |
1. |
Published works. |
2. |
Documents which disclose exempt or confidential information as defined in the Act. |
TITLE |
LOCATION |
None. |
206/JF
New Forest Highway and Transport Advisory Panel APPENDIX
School Travel Plan levels as at 26 January 2005
Key:
0 Interest shown
1 Initial work on travel plan started
2 Draft travel plan completed
3 Final travel plan submitted and approved
P Travel plan submitted for planning application
C Contacted, awaiting response
() School Travel Plan Level at time of last HTAP. No change to level if not shown.