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 afternoon session welcoming everyone to the first

meeting of the newly established Joint Committee for Transport for South

Hampshire.

He reported that the delivery agency will work alongside the Partnership for

Urban South Hampshire (PUSH) as a formally constituted body under the Local

Government Act 1972, with powers that straddle the local authority boundaries of

Hampshire, Southampton and Portsmouth Councils. The new body will build

upon the voluntary Solent Transport partnership, which has been well recognised

over its four year existence.

The Transport for South Hampshire has appointed Keith Willcox as Project

Director. He was formerly Head of Passenger Transport at Hampshire County

Council and he will work on behalf of Hampshire but is likely, in the fullness of

time, to assume a wider role within the partnership, working across the sub-

region's boundaries.

The key transport stakeholders; Network Rail, the Highways Agency,

Southampton Airport, Southampton Port, South West Trains and the Hampshire

Primary Care attended that morning and presented their plans for investment in

South Hampshire over the coming years. This had been very helpful in better

understanding the spending plans by the main transport providers across the

sub-region, as a way of meshing the investment ambitions of Transport for South

Hampshire. This will be important if the authorities in South Hampshire are to

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

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

Other stakeholders, including the bus and ferry operators will be invited,

similarly, to address the Joint Committee with their plans over the next couple

of meetings.

It has been particularly useful to hear from Hampshire Primary Care Trust (PCT)

about their plans for health service provision around South Hampshire and their

plans for changes to healthcare facilities in the community. These are likely to

have an impact on local transport arrangements and it is good to have an early

indication of their plans.

The presentations from the stakeholders will be built upon as part of the Action

Plan, which will be discussed later in the Agenda.

2. APPOINTMENT OF CHAIRMAN

Councillor M. J. Kendal was appointed Chairman of the Committee for the

ensuing year and Councillor A. Bentley was appointed Vice-Chairman.

3. DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

Councillor M. J. Kendal declared a personal interest as the Leader of New Forest

District Council.

4. CHAIRMAN'S COMMUNICATIONS

Councillor Kendal thanked the key stakeholders for their very informative and

interesting presentations.

5. GOVERNANCE ARRANGEMENTS

The Committee considered the report of the Hampshire Director of Environment,

the Portsmouth Head of Planning Services and Southampton Head of Planning

and Sustainability (Item 4 in the Minute Book) which informed the Committee of

the Governance arrangements contained in the Agreement.

The Hampshire Director of Environment advised that the key aspect was to

formally appoint lead authorities. Discussions had been held at officer level and

informal agreement had been reached in principle, subject to the decision of the

Joint Committee.

An amended coloured map showing the Transport for South Hampshire area was

distributed to Members and replaced as Appendix 1 to the report.

RESOLVED:

(a) That the Agreement and Key Objectives of Transport for South Hampshire be

noted.

(b) That Southampton City Council take the lead responsibility for Legal matters,

Portsmouth City Council take the lead responsibility for Financial matters and

Hampshire take the lead on Technical matters relating to transport planning

and co-ordination across the partnership, in accordance with Clause 12 of the

Agreement.

6. BUSINESS PLAN 2007-2009

The Committee considered the report of the Hampshire Director of Environment

(Item 5 in the Minute Book) on the draft Business Plan 2007-2009 to guide the

work of the Joint Committee for the coming two years and provided the basis for

establishing the necessary resources to carry out its functions by the three

constituent authorities. The Business Plan will form the basis of the work for the

Transport for South Hampshire (TfSH).

The Hampshire Director of Environment reported that the decision making bodies

in Hampshire, Portsmouth and Southampton had set the Agenda for the Transport

for South Hampshire's work, some of which will be undertaken from finance

already committed and some from funding not committed and contingent upon

finance being secured. The TfSH recognises the important work, issues and

engagement with the District Councils. The Business Plan is representative of

where the TfSH is at the moment and will be reviewed on an annual basis.

The TfSH studies have been commissioned jointly and in parallel and will be

assisted by a number of stakeholders. The work sets out to link more closely the

schemes in refreshing the regional funding allocation and using the TfSH

partnership to engage with stakeholders. Interim reports will be considered by this

Joint Committee in Spring 2008.

The Portsmouth Head of Planning Services reported that the TfSH would have to

move forward to satisfy the transport requirements of the district councils' local

development frameworks. The Southampton Head of Planning and Sustainability

advised that whilst there is a joint authority working group in the South East

Hampshire area, there is a need for a similar group in South West Hampshire

covering Test Valley, Eastleigh, the New Forest Authorities and Southampton.

In response to a question by Gosport Borough Council about the allocation for

further technical studies into schemes and delivery, the Hampshire Director of

Environment explained that this is work in progress and the intention would be to

investigate the case for a sub-regional model. However the availability of funding

would dictate the speed of the programme of works.

RESOLVED:

(a) That the draft Business Plan for 2007-2009 for recommendation to all three

constituent authorities for their formal approval be agreed.

(b) That the actions shown within the Business Plan that are yet to be funded are

contingent on funding becoming available are noted.

7. DRAFT LOCAL TRANSPORT BILL

The Committee considered the verbal report of the Transport for South Hampshire

Hampshire Project Director on the draft Local Transport Bill which provides,

amongst other things, for the concept of a Passenger Transport Authority for non-

Metropolitan areas.

The Transport for South Hampshire Project Director reported that the aim of the

draft Local Transport Bill is to `empower Local Authorities to take appropriate

steps to meet local transport needs in the light of local circumstances' in order to

`tackle congestion and improve public transport'. The Bill covers four main areas;

improving the quality of bus services; reforming local transport governance; road

pricing and the role of the Traffic Commissioners. This will provide greater

flexibility and create opportunities to strengthen transport strategy and delivery.

Improving the quality of bus services is proposed via Voluntary Quality

Partnerships, Quality Contracts and/or the reform of the Bus Service Operators

Grant will be achieved and Community Transport will have greater flexibility in

terms of allowing vehicles with less than nine seats to be used on local services,

using paid drivers

The Bill provides for road pricing schemes to be implemented by Local

Transport Authorities (LTAs) and it removes the duty on the Secretary of State to

approve local authority charging schemes, allowing the revenue from such

schemes to support local transport policies. The Traffic Commissioners will play

a greater role in future by holding operators and local authorities to account for

the punctuality of local bus services and the role of the Senior Traffic

Commissioner is placed on a statutory footing with power to issue directions to

individual Traffic Commissioners.

The Transport for South Hampshire Project Director outlined the principles and

the main activities of the Passenger Transport Authorities and Executive in terms

of securing and promoting the provision of a system of public transport meeting

the needs of the area.

He further reported that the views of the Transport for South Hampshire (TfSH)

on the draft legislation which is of great importance to the sub-region and its

communities and businesses had been well received by the Department for

Transport. It was recognised that further research needs to be carried out on

the Passenger Transport Authority concept for the Transport for South Hampshire

and to take into account the views of the stakeholders.

The Joint Committee noted the offer of assistance from the Highways Agency of

experience in working with Passenger Transport Executives in the North West.

RESOLVED:

(a) That the verbal report be noted .

(b) That a small working group consisting of a Member from each of the

Authorities be set up to undertake further research on the concept of a PTE,

before reporting back to this Committee at a future meeting.

8. SOLENT TRAVELCARD SMART CARD OPPORTUNITIES

The Committee considered the report of the Portsmouth Head of Planning

Services on the conclusions of a study undertaken by MVA Consultancy into

developing the Solent Travelcard scheme into a fully multi-modal, multi-

functional smart card for the Solent Transport area.

The Portsmouth Head of Planning Services advised that the new Smartcard would

integrate with the Rail Network.

RESOLVED:

(a) That further investigation of a multi-functional smart card led by Transport for South Hampshire not be pursued at this time but the matter be reviewed in

two years.

(b) That Southampton City Council's continued development of its Southampton

smartcard be welcomed by Transport for South Hampshire.

(b) That following the integration of rail into the Solent Travelcard the

opportunity to include the local ferries be investigated.

9. BRANDING AND IDENTITY

The Committee considered the verbal report of Southampton Head of Planning

and Sustainability on possible options for the Transport for South Hampshire

identity.

The Southampton Head of Planning and Sustainability advised that initial work

had been undertaken to work up some possible suggestions for the branding and

identity. A number of examples were displayed. Members expressed a preference

for the `Land, Coast and Sea' logo.

RESOLVED:

That the `Land, Coast and Sea' logo be used as branding and identity for the

Transport for South Hampshire be agreed.

10. SCOPE FOR A SOUTH HAMPSHIRE MULTI-AREA AGREEMENT

FEATURING TRANSPORT

The Committee considered the report of the Hampshire Director of Environment

on conclusions from the recent Partnership For Urban South Hampshire (PUSH)

Leader's Panel and discussions on a potential Multi-Area Agreement (MAA) for

South Hampshire and possible inclusion of Transport within the proposed MAA.

The Hampshire Director of Environment advised that the MAA was the

mechanism to incorporate Transport for South Hampshire.

RESOLVED:

(a) That the decision of the PUSH Leader's Panel to authorise the development of

a South Hampshire MAA, be supported.

(b) That the potential inclusion of transport within the proposed MAA be

approved and authority be given to the relevant officers to develop proposals

for further consideration in due course.

11. DATES AND VENUES FOR FUTURE MEETINGS

Tuesday 8 January at 10am in Southampton - please note this will be an all day

meeting with presentations by key stakeholders in the morning and a Joint

Committee in the afternoon.

Monday 14 April at 10am in Portsmouth

Tuesday 15 July at 10am in Winchester

Friday 17 October at 10am in Southampton