Archived decisions

Agenda Item 5

Report to the

Transport for South Hampshire Joint Committee

Date: 17 October 2008

Report by: Phil Marshall

tel: 02380 832590 email:[email protected]

Subject: Transport for South Hampshire Response to South East Plan

Purpose of the Report

This report summarises proposed comments by Transport for South Hampshire on the Government's proposed modifications to the South East Plan.

Recommendations

1. That the Joint Committee submits the comments on the Government's proposed modifications to the South East Plan as set out in Appendix 1.

Introduction

1. The South East Plan, which is the Regional Spatial Strategy for the South East from 2006 to 2026, was submitted by the South East England Regional Assembly (SEERA) to the Government in March 2006. The plan subject to an Examination in Public (EiP) during Winter 2006/07, conducted by a Panel of three Planning Inspectors. In Summer 2007, the Panel published a report with their recommendations on how the South East Plan should be modified.

2. Following consideration of the Panel report, on the 17 July 2008, the Government published the changes that Ministers propose to make to the submitted South East Plan. These are subject to 12 week public consultation, which finishes on the 24 October 2008. The Government will then consider these comments before publishing the definitive version of the South East Plan, probably next year.

3. This report specifically considers transport issues in the Government's proposed changes to the South East Plan. Non-transport matters were comprehensively considered by the Partnership for Urban South Hampshire (PUSH) Joint Committee on the 16 September.

Overview of Government's Proposed Changes

4. Appendix 1 provides a detailed breakdown of recommended comments to be made by Transport for South Hampshire on the Government's proposed changes to the South East Plan. These focus primarily on two key elements of the South East Plan; the Transport section and the South Hampshire section, which contains a number of specific transport references.

5. Many of the proposed changes are recommended for support, although the report concurs with PUSH to recommend objecting to the deletion of Policy SH5. A number of other objections are recommended to the proposed wording of some policies and supporting text. In these instances, alternative wording is proposed.

Transport (Section D4)

6. The policies have been re-ordered to provide a greater priority towards Mobility Management, to emphasise the importance of demand management. Other policies and supporting text have been revised to take into account the Panel's recommendations, or recent developments in national transport and planning policy that post-date the publication of the Draft South East Plan. These include publication of the Eddington Report, Towards a Sustainable Transport System (TaSTS) and the Air Transport White Paper.

7. A new Policy T14 "Transport Investment and Management Priorities" has been added. This includes an Appendix, which lists Strategic Transport Infrastructure Priorities.

8. In Appendix 1, it can be seen that many of these changes should be supported, with some recommended wording changes to supporting text.

South Hampshire (Section E1)

9. The main changes of note are the proposed deletion of Policy SH5 "Plan Monitor and Manage" and changes to Policy SH10 "Sub-regional Transport Strategy", which has been revised to remove specific reference to the type of schemes to be implemented within the sub-region. These have been replaced within the supporting text, by a list of "Key issues to be addressed". The supporting text notes that a separate Regional Implementation Plan will be produced and updated by the Regional Planning Body to prioritise investment. A number of strategic schemes are already highlighted in the Appendix to Policy T14 (noted above). For more local schemes, the revised supporting text recommends their inclusion within Local Development Documents, with justification in accordance with national policy.

10. PUSH are objecting to the deletion of Policy SH5 and this report concurs with PUSH, as removal of this policy undermines the strategy to focus initial growth in the cities, urban areas and brownfield sites, which are the most sustainable locations in transport terms. Whilst the revision to Policy SH10 is substantial, it still retains the requirement for investment in appropriate transport schemes to increase public transport and highway capacity and a framework for how these schemes should be prioritised.

11. In Appendix 1, there are a number of recommended wording changes, primarily to Policy SH10 and its supporting text. Additional wording has been added to highlight the importance of accessing the South Hampshire Strategic Employment Zone and it is recommended that historic reference to "Solent Transport" is updated with "Transport for South Hampshire", when referring to the development of a delivery agency.

Summary

12. This report makes a number of comments on the Government's proposed changes to the South East Plan, focusing transport issues that affect the South Hampshire sub-region. It also notes where proposed changes should be supported.

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