Archived decisions

Agenda Item 5

Report to the

Transport for South Hampshire Joint Committee

Date: 28 January 2009

Report by: Peter Murnaghan

tel: 01962 846920

email: [email protected]

Subject: South Hampshire Agreement - Multi Area Agreement Refresh

Purpose of the Report

To approve the process for developing further proposals on potential Multi Area Agreement (MAA) transport outcomes to be included in the refresh of the South Hampshire Agreement.

Recommendations

1. That the Joint Committee approves in principle the participation of Transport for South Hampshire in refreshing the South Hampshire Agreement and submitting the next Multi Area Agreement.

2. That the Project Director be delegated to negotiate the transport provisions of the next Multi Area Agreement on behalf of Transport for South Hampshire.

Introduction

1. The South Hampshire MAA is a key element in securing the delivery of the South Hampshire Strategy. Alongside the enabling measures it contains, its value is the formalisation of the relationship between central Government and its agencies with Partnership for Urban South Hampshire (PUSH) and Transport for South Hampshire (TfSH).

2. When the South Hampshire MAA was signed in July, it contained a number of agreed outcomes, of which the development of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for highways was an important part. This was subsequently signed in October. It also contained a provision for a further round of MAA to be negotiated with Government, alongside our partners during early 2009.

Background

3. At its meeting on 15 July, the Joint Committee resolved that, following the signing of an agreement on highways, a further agreement would be developed with outcomes that involve working with transport providers to deliver improved public transport services.

4. At the last meeting of the Joint Committee on 17 October 2008, the Memorandum of Understanding for Highways was approved and signed by the Chairman, on behalf of TfSH, in the presence of the Managing Director of PUSH and senior representatives of the Government Office for the South East (GOSE), Department for Transport (DfT) and the Highways Agency. A copy of this signed MoU is attached as an Appendix to this report.

5. A number of the targets that were contained in the original MAA are to be revisited by PUSH in the light of the changing economic situation and there will be merit in reviewing the original transport targets in the same manner.

6. The MAA contained a number of further outcomes as a starting point for development of the next version of the MAA, due for submission in Spring 2009. There were two pertaining to transport, these being:

(i) support development and overcome transport constraints on economic growth by increasing the modal share for public transport and the active modes, thus reducing car travel and congestion; and

(ii) to overcome transport constraints (congestion, poor accessibility and deteriorating journey time reliability) on economic growth, the performance of the existing transport networks must be optimised and dependency on travel by car reduced.

7. There is scope to flex these potential outcomes, but there is a clear expectation that measures to achieve a modal shift away from the car are anticipated. Exploratory discussions have been held with the transport undertakings (Network Rail, South West Trains and the South Hampshire Bus Operators Association). Discussions have also taken place with GOSE and DfT on possible enabling measures that might meet joint objectives.

8. The PUSH Joint Committee also considered the development of the next MAA at its meeting on 18th November, and agreed to authorise further work to develop proposals for the refresh of the South Hampshire MAA.

9. Although the timescale for the development of the next MAA has yet to be firmed up, it is likely that submissions will be invited during early 2009. In the event, the Government's deadlines may present a difficulty in seeking the approval of the Joint Committee to the measures before they are finalised.

10. For the transport measures, it is clear that many improvements are desirable in the way that public transport services are assembled. It is important to recognise, however, that they are essentially provided by commercial undertakings. The legislative background is complex and it is advisable to aim at the `art of the possible', maintaining the support and harmonious relationship with the commercial providers.

11. Thus there is still scope for further discussion and negotiation with both the transport operators and government officials in reaching a point where enabling measures can be proposed that are both beneficial and challenging to the status quo.

12. It is recommended that the Joint Committee delegates the authority to the TfSH Project Director to participate in the negotiating team with Government for the new Multi Area Agreement.

13. It is proposed that the development of the new MAA will be overseen by the Strategy Working Group of TfSH and the interests of the partnership negotiated by the Project Director

14. It is intended that a report on the next MAA will be submitted to the next Joint Committee for ratification.

1887Rpt/PM