Archived decisions

Agenda Item 8

Report to the

Transport for South Hampshire Joint Committee

Date: 28 January 2009

Report by: Phil Marshall

tel: 02380 832590

email: [email protected]

Subject: Delivering a Sustainable Transport Strategy

Purpose of the Report

This report summarises the proposed response by Transport for South Hampshire on the Government's consultation on "Delivering a Sustainable Transport Strategy".

Recommendation

1. That the Joint Committee submits the response to the Government's consultation on "Delivering a Sustainable Transport System", as set out in Appendix 1.

Introduction

1. In October 2007, "Towards a Sustainable Transport System" (TaSTS) was published, which set out the Government's proposed approach to long term transport planning. TaSTS set out an approach to implement the recommendations of the Eddington transport study and reflect the findings of the Stern review on climate change. A four step process was outlined as follows:

(i) clarify transport policy goals;

(ii) specify challenges for each goal on the different transport networks;

(iii) generate cross modal options to address the challenges;

(iv) appraise both the delivery of these options against the transport goals and their value for money.

2. "Delivering a Sustainable Transport System" (DaSTS), which was published in November 2008, describes how the Government will take forward this four step process from TaSTS, to identify the priorities for transport investment in England from 2014 across all transport networks.

3. This report considers the content of DaSTS in more detail and outlines the proposed Transport for South Hampshire (TfSH) response to the consultation, which is shown in Appendix 1.

4. In addition to the DaSTS Main Report and Consultation Report, the Department for Transport have published draft guidance for the regions on delivering a sustainable transport system and a separate document looking at the Logistics perspective.

Goals and Challenges

5. TaSTS identified five broad goals for transport that have been taken forward into DaSTS. These are:

(i) support Economic Growth;

(ii) tackle Climate Change;

(iii) contribute to better safety, security and health;

(iv) promote equality of opportunity; and

(v) improve quality of life.

6. For all of these five goals, DaSTS has identified a comprehensive set of challenges for each of the different transport networks in England to produce a matrix table (Appendix 2). These challenges highlight where progress should be made against each goal and provide an assessment framework for how well packages of transport schemes meet the goals. The consultation asks whether any challenges should be added or deleted, if they could be made easier to understand or measure and finally, which of the challenges are most important.

7. The TfSH response recommends that an additional challenge should be added for City and Regional Networks, under the "Support Economic Growth" goal, which highlights the need to improve accessibility and connectivity for the full range of journeys (education, health, retail and leisure). These are vital to support economic growth.

8. The TfSH response recommends the following amendments to challenges:

(i) amending the challenge for supporting new housing is proposed to make specific reference to the need for appropriate local and regional transport solutions;

(ii) amending the challenge under the "Promote Equality of Opportunity" goal to recognise that there's also a need to reduce the gap in economic growth rates within regions at the sub- regional level; and

(iii) make specific reference to the National Air Quality Strategy in the challenge under the "Contribute to Better Safety, Security and Health" goal, which provides a better definition on how targets for improving air quality can be defined and assessed.

9. The TfSH response identifies all the challenges under the "Support Economic Growth" goal as important, in the light of the economic growth aspirations for South Hampshire, together with the challenge (as proposed for amendment) to contribute to the reduction in the gap of economic growth rates for different regions and within regions, highlighted under the Equality of Opportunity goal. The TfSH vision also recognises the need to ensure that the sub-region's future transport needs are met in a sustainable way and that a good quality of life is supported both now and in the future. The following challenges are therefore also recognised as important:

(i) reduce greenhouse gas emissions (all networks);

(ii) reduce social and economic costs of transport to public health (all networks);

(iii) reduce number of people and dwellings exposed to high levels of noise (all networks);

(iv) improve quality of transport integration into streetscapes/urban environment (city and regional networks)

(v) enhance well-being and sense of community creating more opportunities to social contact, better access to leisure facilities/natural environment (city and regional/national networks).

Networks

10. Building on the Eddington Report, DaSTS considers the different transport networks - city and regional, national and international. It is proposed that the Government will take the lead on developing options for the national and international networks and for cross network (national policy) measures. Regions and local authorities will take the lead for developing options for City and Regional networks. Separate guidance has been produced to advise Regions and local authorities on their role. It is anticipated that transport programmes developed by the regions post 2014 will build on the established Regional Funding Advice (RFA) programmes.

11. The consultation seeks a view on these respective roles. The TfSH response generally supports roles as proposed, with the caveat that clarity should be given on how the decision making process on investment proposals will assess the relative importance of national/international and regional/sub-regional issues on national/international corridors. This is particularly relevant for South Hampshire, as a number of road routes are proposed to be upgraded to strategic national corridor infrastructure.

12. The TfSH response also notes that there should be recognition that solutions could address both national/international and regional issues. The South Hampshire Multi-Area Agreement (MAA) and Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), which promote close and constructive working between all parties, should be respected when options are developed and decisions made about improvements to transport infrastructure

13. In order to develop the Strategic National Corridors (Figure 1), DaSTS has identified the 10 largest urban areas and the busiest ports and airports. Within South Hampshire, Portsmouth has been identified as a large urban area and Southampton as a busy port. When pragmatically considering the urban area around Southampton, it is of a similar size to Portsmouth and the TfSH response suggests that Southampton should also be recognised both as a large urban area.

14. DaSTS shows two national corridors serving South Hampshire, namely London to Southampton and South Coast Ports to the Midlands. The consultation asks whether any strategic corridors should be added or deleted and the TfSH response recommends that London to Portsmouth (direct) should be added and that the Strategic National Corridors should recognise the links to and from the Isle of Wight in South Hampshire.

15. The consultation asks for suggestions on how solutions for the national/international and city/regional networks are developed in a joined up way. The TfSH response refers to the need for close partnership working between all relevant agencies, seeks clarity on how the decision making process will and refers to the South Hampshire MAA and MoU, which provide a framework for how this can take place.

16. For the Strategic National Corridors, DaSTS has identified in detail the proposed strategic national road and rail infrastructure.

17. In terms of road infrastructure in South Hampshire, the M3 from London to Southampton will be retained as strategic national infrastructure. The following routes are proposed to be added to the Strategic National Infrastructure in 2014:

(i) A34 from the M40 North of Oxford to Junction 9 of the M3;

(ii) M3 to Port of Southampton via M27, M271 and A35/ A33; and

(iii) M3 to Portsmouth via M27 and M275.

18. These are currently regionally important routes managed by the Highways Agency, except the M275 (Portsmouth) and A35/A33 (Southampton), which are local roads. Although these would become Strategic National Infrastructure, DaSTS proposes that these remain local roads managed by the respective highway authorities.

19. The TfSH response welcomes, in principle, the retention of the M3 as Strategic National Infrastructure and the addition of the A34, M27, M271, M275 and A35/A33 and notes that the A35/A33 in Southampton should become part of the trunk road network managed by the Highways Agency. The respective highway authorities (Portsmouth and Southampton) will respond individually to the consultation on the management issues relating to the M275 and A35/A33. The response recommends that the A3 from London to Portsmouth is added to the Strategic National Infrastructure, noting the forthcoming implementation of improvement works at Hindhead.

20. DaSTS identifies the following strategic rail routes and services to and from South Hampshire:

Passenger

South Coast Ports to Midlands (Cross Country service between Southampton to Birmingham New Street)

Freight

(i) London to Southampton; and

(ii) South Coast Ports to the Midlands.

21. The consultation response recommends the addition of London to Portsmouth and London to Southampton as strategic passenger services. No change is proposed for the strategic freight routes, but the response highlights that automotive traffic to and from the Port of Southampton should be included as a freight flow.

Timetable for Decision Making

22. DaSTS outlines the decision making process to develop a transport investment programme for the 2014 to 2019 five year period and beyond.

23. The Government are proposing to take the lead on Cross-Network, National Network and International Network issues, but this will be informed by work taking place in the Cities and Regions, who will be responsible for developing transport packages for the city and regional networks. Separate detailed advice is being provided to the Cities and Regions to outline the process for developing transport packages. This will build on the existing Regional Funding Advice (RFA) process, which currently identifies regional transport spending priorities.

24. For all networks, it is expected that comprehensive cross-modal packages of schemes will be developed and these will be assessed against their benefit : cost ratio and delivery against the five transport goals. The packages will be assessed in both the medium term (2014 to 2019) and longer term (post 2019). It is anticipated that a detailed investment programme will be identified for the 2014 to 2019 five year period, with further options identified for implementation post 2019. The appraisal of schemes will be based on the New Approach to Appraisal (NATA), which is currently being updated.

25. At the City and Regional level, DaSTS indicates the range of measures that would be expected in an intervention package. These include public transport investment, demand management measures, promoting alternatives to the car and reducing the need to travel through land-use planning. This is consistent with the TfSH Reduce - Manage - Invest approach. In order to meet the DaSTS goals and challenges, it is likely in the future, that a greater proportion of regional transport funding will be directed towards packages of smaller scale local schemes and away from the major road capacity enhancements, which currently dominate the regional transport programmes.

26. National level decisions will be made in 2012, taking account of Government led proposals for Cross-Network, National Networks and International Networks and advice from the Cities and Regions for transport packages on the City and Regional Networks.

27. In the short term to 2014, the focus will be on making better use of existing transport networks, combined with a targeted programme of measures to improve capacity, reliability and safety in the most congested areas.

28. The consultation seeks comments on this approach. The TfSH response generally supports the timescales proposed and notes the need for the timely provision of guidance.

Summary and Conclusions

29. DaSTS outlines how transport policy and investment decisions will be taken forward from 2014, at both the strategic and local level, building on TaSTS, the Eddington transport study and Stern review on climate change.

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30. Within South Hampshire, both Portsmouth and Southampton are recognised as key destinations, with proposed extensions to the strategic national infrastructure to support this.

31. Transport for South Hampshire generally supports DaSTS and welcomes the opportunity to provide a response to the consultation, which is shown in detail in Appendix 1.

Rpt/PM