Archived decisions

AT A MEETING of the TRANSPORT FOR SOUTH HAMPSHIRE JOINT COMMITTEE of HAMPSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL held at The Guildhall, Winchester on

Tuesday 16 October 2007.

PRESENT:

1. INTRODUCTION

Councillor Kendal opened the morning session of presentations by welcoming

everyone. The first meeting of the newly established Joint Committee for

Transport for South Hampshire would be meeting at 2pm that afternoon.

He reported that one of the items on the agenda for that afternoon's meeting is the

Action Plan for investment into transport over the coming years. Transport

stakeholders met in August to discuss the direction of Transport for South

Hampshire, as a new delivery body. It was a most useful session and the

outcome was a widespread agreement that everyone needs to better understand

the investment plans of the different organisations who have an involvement in

transport. There will be the opportunity for the key stakeholders to present an

outline of their plans and aspirations, so that the future can be approached

together, better informed, with a shared agenda.

There is an ambitious target to meet, if the authorities in South Hampshire are to

provide a transport system that can meet the needs of residents and the growth of

80,000 new homes identified in the South East Plan over the coming twenty years.

Representatives of the key transport providers will give the first insight of their

transport investment plans. They are Gavin Johns of Network Rail; David Lees of

Southampton Airport; Captain Steven Young of Associated British Ports -

Southampton Port; Phil Dominey of South West Trains and Paul Robinson of the

Highways Agency. Other transport stakeholders, including the bus and ferry

operators will be invited to make an address over the next couple of meetings.

He also reported that it will be useful to hear from Hampshire Primary Care Trust

(PCT) about their plans for health service provision around South Hampshire and

was delighted that Fran Buxey, the Future Services Manager for Fareham and

Gosport is able to join us today. Fran will be joined later this morning by

Inger Hebden, the Director of Capital Planning for the PCT. Inger will present her

plans for changes to community healthcare in the area and its likely implications

on transport needs, as well as giving an early indication of sites that may become

available for other land uses.

Councillor Kendal advised that he looked forward to a productive meeting and

discussions from each of the presenters, 15 minutes each plus time for questions.

2. PRESENTATIONS

(a) Network Rail

Gavin Johns, Route Enhancements Manager for the Wessex Route of Network

Rail presented an overview of Network Rail's Agenda which included the Route

Utilisation Strategy, High Level Output Specification and Access for All.

In terms of the High Level Output Specification, a 14% annual increase in

passenger transport travel in the next 5 years to London Waterloo was anticipated.

Projects had been identified in the Route Utilisation Strategy and would be bid for

through the Strategic Business Plan, a submission was due to be made in the next

few weeks.

Tactical plans included a 10/12 car railway as part of the rolling stock strategy;

Waterloo capacity for longer trains and platforms; consideration of improvements

at Clapham Junction and Woking railway stations; impact on South Hampshire

including services for new routes, lengths and frequency; and station

enhancements at Southampton Central and Eastleigh.

The impact on South Hampshire in terms of services for new routes, length and

frequency, station enhancements and renewals in terms of signalling and

infrastructure was detailed.

There is a need for alignment with other stakeholder strategies and aspirations,

for example the Chickenhall Lane Link Road proposal.

A copy of the presentation is available by email on request.

(b) British Airports Authority Southampton

David Lees, Director of Planning and Development at Southampton Airport

outlined the future development plans for the `airport of regional significance'.

The vision of the airport is to be the `Fast Track' quality airport of choice serving

Southern England working with 7 scheduled airlines to 48 European destinations

welcoming 1.9 million passengers each year of which 30% is business traffic.

The airport employs 1500 people in direct and indirect jobs with an estimated £86

million economic contribution and continually invests to put the passenger first.

The predicted future annual growth rate in the airport's masterplan was

highlighted and compared to that in 2005, it indicated 3 million passengers by

2015 and 6 million by 2030.

The close proximity to transport connections; the M3, M27 and Southampton

Airport railway station with a catchment area of 3.2 million of the population

living within 60 minutes of the airport and 6.8 million living within 90 minutes

further enhances Southampton's position as a popular airport.

The vision for the future development of the airport over the next 25 years in

terms of meeting demand for regional air travel between now and 2015 and

between 2015 and 2030 including the potential land use options were highlighted

particularly in terms of the Terminal 1 extension and the development of a

possible Terminal 2.

Key issues of benefit were major contributor to the local economy, the largest

employer, good surface access links including rail and motorway and the inbound

tourism opportunities. Noise, surface access, air quality and climate change were

concerns which needed to be addressed.

In summary, the airport wished to maintain its fast track service, increase the

connectivity with key European Cities and expand the surface access

connectivity with its single runway and no night time flights.

A copy of the presentation is available by email on request.

(c) Associated British Ports Holding PLC - Southampton

Steven Young, Deputy Port Manager of Associated British Ports Holding at

Southampton presented the Port of Southampton, A `Global Gateway' and its

importance to the regional and national economy, the strategy for future growth

and the role of the port as a multi modal hub.

He reported that there was a diverse range of traffic; bulks, containers, cruise

ships, fresh produce, petrochemicals and roll on roll off, including cars. A record

of 40.5 million tonnes of cargo were handled in 2006 and 7% of all UK trade by

tonnage passed through Southampton. 23% of the value of UK international

non-EU sea borne trade passes through Southampton, more than any other port.

The port supports a huge range of diverse activities and maritime as the largest

seaport and the economic benefits are huge and include 12,000 jobs and £2

billion per year into the local/regional economy. The port has a unique marine

access as it is a deep water harbour with lock free access, a unique double tide

giving 17 hours of rising and standing water, the first in-bound and last-out bound

deep-sea European port of call, only 28 miles from the main international

shipping lanes and is strategically located on the UK's South Coast avoiding

the congested London network.

The port is the UK's leading port for importing and exporting vehicles and is

home to the UK's first port-located multi-deck car terminals, it has a dedicated

storage and distribution compounds close to deep-water berthing and handled

686,000 units in 2006. It is the UK's premier cruise port with three dedicated

cruise terminals, home to P&O's Princess and Cunard's UK vessels with over

£21 million of recent investment and a further £multi-million investment for a

4^th cruise terminal in final stages agreement.

Key issues included a sustainable development strategy, re-facing and berth

deepening of 201/2 berth, improved marine access and dredging, consultation and

agreement on the scope and environmental impacts of the proposals, potential

impact of Habitat Regulations and phased intensification in line with demand.

The port is the second largest container terminal in the UK and handled 1.5

million teu (twenty foot equivalent) in 2006, 50% of the UK trade is with the

Far East and China, 27% moved by rail and 5% transhipped by water.

In terms of potential, the focus has been on the sustainable growth within the

existing developed docks following the Government's rejection of the Dibden

Terminal and the re-development of the existing infrastructure, improvements to

operational efficiency and maximising the proportion of additional boxes moved

by rail and sea as a multi-modal hub.

There are excellent road and rail communications that by-pass the over-stretched

London network and Southampton is a fully integrated rail freight hub with 19-20

container trains per operational day.

The requisite infrastructure is already available for coastal shipping and the ports

and navigation channels provide a `Coastal Ring-Road'. The latest automatic

stacking crane with optimum stacking blocks 9 boxes wide,

45 boxes deep and 5 boxes high.

A copy of the presentation is available by email on request.

(d) Hampshire Primary Care Trust

Inger Hebden, Director of Capital Planning at Hampshire Primary Care Trust

(HPCT) outlined the strategic direction and major developments of the HPCT,

potential surplus land for disposal and issues for health.

The strategic direction for health in Hampshire involved care closer to home,

being the hub and spoke of the service with community hospitals, one stop shops

and practice based commissioning.

Major developments include the Gosport War Memorial Hospital remodelling in

the Summer of 2009, Fareham and Havant Community Hospitals in December

2010 and General Practice Surgeries for major and strategic development areas in

2011 onwards, all of which would an impact on the well being of the population.

Potential surplus land for disposal included St Christopher's Hospital at Fareham

and surplus land in Havant, Romsey, Moorgreen and Coldeast.

Issues for health included an aging population and the challenges faced by people

living longer, strategic working across the Health and Social care economy, the

age of some of the health centres, Green Travel Plans, closer working with other

agencies, for example the bus companies and car park management.

A copy of the presentation is available by email on request.

(e) South West Trains

Phil Dominey, Stakeholder Manager for South West Trains presented the New

South Western Franchise Transport for South Hampshire.

He detailed the headlines of the new franchise which included increasing seating

capacity on mainline and peak suburban lines, new smart ticketing and flexible

fares, improvements to train services and timetables and station enhancements.

Fleet improvement and capacity was highlighted with a 21% increase in mainline

seats capacity and 20% increase in suburban capacity, a rolling stock

refurbishment programme and an additional service from Basingstoke to Waterloo

at morning peak time.

He detailed the services in the Hampshire area and highlighted the 3 trains an hour

from Winchester to Poole and the 2 trains an hour from Poole to Weymouth, the

new through service from Salisbury to Southampton via Romsey and Chandlers

Ford and the withdrawal of the Reading to Brighton services but introducing a

new service from Southampton to Littlehampton.

Security included a more visible staff presence to improve personal security,

guards on every train, CCTV on every mainland train and travel safe officers and

working in partnerships for a more coherent strategy.

Fares and ticketing included an investment in Smartcard technology to purchase

tickets, promotion of internet purchasing and telesales, flexible ticket options and

the installation of 160 more ticket vending machines.

Station enhancements included major refurbishment at 14 stations, investment in

station improvements, lighting, cleaning an painting at all 185 stations and the

provision of an additional 2000 car park spaces. Station enhancements so far

included Access for All schemes at Brockenhurst, Havant, Fareham, Fratton,

Farnborough and Fleet. Aspirations for Basingstoke, Winchester, Southampton

Central, Farnbrorough Main station subject to a business case. Developing

opportunities in partnership with local authorities at Hedge End, Southampton

Central, Portsmouth stations, Fareham and Totton.

Example of successful partnership schemes included Chandlers Ford Station,

Winchester Forecourt scheme and Southampton Airport Parkway. Discussions

were taking place about Southampton Airport Parkway and how to provide

real time rail information in the airport terminal and addressing the car park

capacity issue.

In conclusion, Transport for South Hampshire can assist with station

enhancements, national Station Improvement Programme, Access for All,

Car Park Schemes, Train Planning, recognising the `regional hub' stations and the

need to increase rail usage regionally, identify suitable locations for residential

areas and continued dialogue to align aspirations.

A copy of the presentation is available by email on request.

(f) Highways Agency and South Hampshire

Paul Robinson, Network Manager of the Highways Agency and South

Hampshire presented an overview of the work of the Highways Agency which on

behalf of the Secretary of State is responsible for managing and operating the

Strategic Road Network safely and efficiently. It also participated in all stages of

the planning process including the Local Development Frameworks with the

Government Office for the South East, the Regional and Local Planning

Authorities and, local transport authorities and developers.

In South Hampshire the Highway Agency Roads are the M27, M3, M271,

M275 (part), A3 and the A27 and it is important to note that the M27 has been

designated a Route of Regional Significance. In terms of the state of the roads,

three stress maps - 2006 showing the bass network stress and the networks in

2016 and 2026 showing the base network stress carried out by the Highways

Agency to inform the EiP into the draft South East Plan. The stress levels had

been calculated based upon the forecast daily traffic flows divided by available

link capacity.

Highway Agency schemes included the widening of Junctions 3 to 4 of the M27

which would start early 2008, the climbing lanes at Junctions 11 to 12 due to start

early 2008 - no other major schemes were planned.

Key concerns for the Highways Agency were the impact of the Strategic

Development Areas at Fareham and Hedge End, the M3 South of Junction 9, the

M27 Junction 5 and the general impact of development on the Strategic Road

Network (SRN) Issues for the immediate future included the roll out of the

Influencing Travel Behaviour project across the network, demand management

through the Planning system and the non financial demand management on the

roads, junction upgrades and the need for corridor improvements.

He welcomed the setting up of the Transport for South Hampshire which would

create the opportunity to be a key part of its future, building on the excellent

working relationship with local transport authorities and being a key partner in

future Local Authority Agreements.

A copy of the presentation is available by email on request.