Contact: John Buckett, ext 6599 email: [email protected]

Andrew Smith, ext 6003 email: [email protected]

1. Summary

1.1 This report puts forward the proposed sub-programmes for casualty reduction and access to the countryside within the 2006/07 capital programme. The overall allocations are £2,500,000 for the casualty reduction engineering sub-programmes and £200,000 for access to the countryside. A separate allocation of some £253,000 in the wider capital programme permits a casualty reduction engineering scheme to be implemented at the A325 Bucks Horn Oak junction in the East Hampshire District .

1.2 The proposed sub-programmes for casualty reduction engineering measures are as set out in Table 1 and Appendices 1 to 5, together with the proposed programme for access to the countryside, as set out in Appendix 6.

2. Casualty Reduction Programme

2.1 The long established annual casualty reduction engineering programme has played a major part in improving the safety record on Hampshire's roads over the last decade or more. The County Council has been successful in achieving good performance towards the headline Government national casualty reduction target of a 40% reduction in all killed or serious injuries by 2010 from their typical levels in the mid 1990s, together with exceeding the more stretching target for road casualty reduction on Hampshire's roads as associated with first round of the Local Public Service Agreement (LPSA1) for Hampshire for 2004.

2.2 Success in this area has been based for some years on a large annual programme of lower-cost safety engineering measures at higher risk accident sites (identified through police collated personal injury accident statistics), which has been supplemented in recent years with important new targeted programmes. This programme is unique in that it is completely based on analysis of accident statistics and the site characteristics of locations with poor accident records. In recent years the programme has been expanded to include route carriageway surface improvements, detailed auditing of the continued performance of previously implemented accident remedial measures and ongoing Casualty Reduction Partnership investigations with Hampshire Constabulary in the vicinity of the most serious crashes on the Hampshire road network. This report proposes that budget allocations be made for each of these sub programmes in the 2006/07 financial year and contains provisional information on the locations that remedial works are proposed to be applied.

3. Proposed Programme - Casualty Reduction

3.1 The proposed breakdown of the overall programme, as divided into four sub-programmes, is as outlined in Table 1 (below) and Appendices 1 to 5. As is typically the case at this point in the programme year, some individual candidate schemes are well developed and ready to be implemented early as based upon police recorded personal injury accident data. Other schemes both provisionally listed and not currently named will be subject to further analysis of the recently received road casualty data for 2005. Those further schemes will be detailed therefore when those studies are complete. The Casualty Reduction Partnership investigations with Hampshire Constabulary are by their very nature ongoing throughout the programme year and therefore the requested sub-budget remains a reserve allocation to enable appropriate measures to be determined as appropriate in response to those subsequent studies. In each case, therefore, individual named schemes featuring in the appendices represent the status of the provisional programmes only as at May 2006 and will be updated throughout the programme year. Arrangements will be made to appraise elected Members of the programme delivery status through capital programme progress reports and through the new Hampshire Action Teams (HATS) process.

Table 1

Casualty Reduction Sub-Programme Budget Allocations

Lower cost sites programme Provisional Programme detailed in Appendix 1	£650,000
Casualty Reduction Audit Programme Provisional Programme detailed in Appendix 2	£200,000
Casualty Reduction Partnership Provisional Programme detailed in Appendix 3	£350,000
Surface Treatment Programme Provisional Programme detailed in Appendices 4 and 5	£1,300,000
Total (excluding separate allocation to A325 Bucks Horn Oak, East Hampshire)	£2,500,000

4. Countryside Access Programme

4.1 This new programme of £200,000 has been introduced following the inclusion of Rights of Way Improvement Plans within the Local Transport Plan (LTP) remit. It absorbs elements of the former Recreational Cycling programme.

4.2 The objectives of the programme are to improve access to the countryside meeting the accessibility aim of the LTP with additional benefits for health and the rural economy.

4.3 The programme was considered by the Executive Member for Recreation and Heritage at her meeting on 18 May.

Priorities for Investment

4.4 The priorities for investment are:

(i) links between communities/strategic links, eg disused railway lines;

(ii) safe (off-road) routes in and around towns;

(iii) links to services and recreational facilities;

(iv) short circular routes;

(v) safe links to fill gaps in the network;

(vi) safe crossing facilities especially for riders and cyclists; and

(vii) improved access to allow use by more users - families, elderly people and people with disabilities.

4.5 For the first year, programme priority has been given to schemes which meet LTP aspirations, Countryside Access Plans priority and which have strong local support and are able to delivered relatively quickly. There is an emphasis on smaller schemes which produce a big impact.

5. Detailed Programme

5.1 The proposed detailed programme is set out in Appendix 6. The programme has been prepared to produce impacts across the county.

6. Monitoring and Reporting

6.1 All schemes will be subject to before and after monitoring which will include usage of new and improved facilities and the views of local stakeholders.

6.2 Schemes will be progressed through Recreation and Heritage department procedures but progress monitoring will be co-ordinated with Environment Department control systems and progress on the programme will be reported as part of the Capital Programme Monitoring reports to the Executive Member for Environment.

7. Impact Assessments

7.1 The casualty reduction programme will improve road conditions for all users but will involve some additional road signs in some cases, where necessary, to increase awareness of hazards. While new schemes will mean some increases in maintenance liabilities, some parts of the programme, including the surface treatment works and refurbishment of previously treated sites, will reduce maintenance needs.

7.2 The countryside access programme will improve access for all countryside users with many schemes being of particular benefit to people with a mobility impairment.

7.3 The programme as a whole will improve the quality of the assets associated with countryside access although some schemes will increase future maintenance liability.

Recommendation

That the proposed sub-programmes for casualty reduction and countryside access be approved.

916Rpt/JWB/AS

APPENDIX 6

COUNTRYSIDE ACCESS

LOCAL TRANSPORT PLAN 2 PROPOSED PROJECTS 2006/07

By Theme

Urban - links to services or recreation

Urban - links to countryside

Improving Access for More Users

Completing Important Strategic Links

Responding to Lack of Facilities for Riders and Cyclists

Providing Important Arterial Routes

Total £197,300