Archived decisions

APPENDIX

TRANSPORT FOR SOUTH HAMPSHIRE REDUCE STRATEGY

SUMMARY DOCUMENT SEPTEMBER 2009

INTRODUCTION

Background

"Reduce - Manage - Invest" was originally established in the Solent Transport Strategy as the strategic approach to address the transport issues arising from the sub-regional economic growth proposals in the South East Plan for 80,000 new homes and 2 million square metres of employment land across South Hampshire by 2026. This approach has been adopted in the transport authorities' Local Transport Plans and the 2008 Transport for South Hampshire (TfSH) "Towards Delivery" statement.

The aims of the Reduce Strategy are defined as follows:

As part of the integrated Reduce - Manage - Invest approach to support sustainable economic growth across South Hampshire, the TfSH Reduce Strategy aims to influence travel behaviour and widen travel choice in order to:

· reduce the need to travel;

· maximise the number and proportion of journeys made by alternative modes to the private car; and

· contribute to wider environmental and health benefits, such as reducing carbon emissions and improving air quality

This document is a summary of the key aspects of the main Reduce Strategy report.

Why Reduce?

In South Hampshire and many other parts of the United Kingdom, a combination of "predict and provide" approach to increasing road capacity combined with increasing levels of out of town development has resulted in high levels of car dependency and usage. This has resulted in a number of problems, including traffic congestion and a range of other environmental impacts, including noise, air quality and severance. Over -reliance on car use also has wider implications, including increasing obesity levels due to a lack of exercise and health implications arising from poor air quality.

The Reduce Strategy aims to reverse this historic approach and has significant scope to succeed in a predominantly urban area like South Hampshire. For example, walking and cycling can offer real alternatives to driving for the high proportion of journeys under 5 miles in length and simultaneously make a beneficial contribution towards wider health objectives.

Links with "Manage" and "Invest"

The Reduce Strategy will need to be considered comprehensively with the Manage and Invest strategies. The boundary lines between the three strategies are not well defined and they will need to complement each other. For example, investment may well be required in some areas to make Reduce Strategy measures attractive.

A Flexible Strategy

The Reduce Strategy will need to flexible and react to new innovations and technological advances. A good example of this are the emerging opportunities provided by Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to allow more homeworking.

IDENTIFICATION AND PRIORITISATION OF REDUCE STRATEGY MEASURES

A wide range of potential Reduce Strategy measures have been considered. These have been classified under three main headings:

Smarter Choices - a range of generally "softer" measures that aim to influence travel behaviour. ACT Travelwise have defined Smarter Choices as "a variety of methods and initiatives which reduce the negative impacts on congestion, carbon emissions, the environment and health". Examples include workplace travel planning, personalised travel planning and promoting car sharing. More recently, technological developments are creating much better opportunities for home working and shopping and this could have an ever increasing role as part of Smarter Choices. The MATiSSE project (Mobile and Teleworking Initiative for a Smarter South East) is developing these initiatives in Hampshire.

Land Use Planning - A range of measures that can be applied to new developments to reduce the demand for travel. This includes strategic spatial land use policies controlling the location, design and layout of development and how these policies are applied on individual planning applications.

Demand Management - Although demand management measures were originally considered as part of the Reduce Strategy, but it is more appropriate to incorporate these into the Manage Strategy.

The prioritisation process has considered each measure against three criteria:

_ Impact - How would the measure contribute towards the strategy?

_ Cost - How much would it cost to implement the measure from a local authority perspective.

_ Difficulty - How easily could the measure be implemented, both practically and / or politically.

Each measure scores between 1 and 3 points, meaning a total score between 3 and 9 points. Based on these scores, measures are classed as follows:

_ High Priority - 8 to 9 points

_ Medium Priority - 6 to 7 points

_ Low Priority - 3 to 5 points

Each measure has been scored in five different locational areas in South Hampshire:

_ City and town centres

_ Urban areas (district centre)

_ Suburban areas (local centres)

_ Out of Town centres

_ Rural areas

Table 1 outlines the high and medium priority measures identified for each locational area.

WHAT CAN THE REDUCE STRATEGY ACHIEVE?

A considerable amount of research has been examined to determine what the Reduce Strategy could achieve in terms of travel behaviour. This includes both theoretical research and studies of real life applications.

Smarter Choices

After considering the research available, the report has concluded that a ten year intensive application of Smarter Choices in South Hampshire could result in up to a 15% reduction in peak period traffic flows in urban areas. This will not be evenly spread across the sub-region. Some areas will be more susceptible to change than others and higher reductions may be required in specific areas to accommodate the additional travel demands created by new development. New developments themselves should be seeking to achieve greater reductions, due to the additional initiatives that can be implemented through the Land Use Planning process.

Research suggests that if Smarter Choices initiatives create spare capacity, this can be filled by latent, induced traffic demand. Within South Hampshire, this spare capacity will be required to accommodate the additional travel demands created by new development and it is important that Smarter Choices measures are progressively applied at appropriate times and in appropriate locations across the sub-region as new development is implemented. This issue can be considered in more detail buy the detailed transport evidence base model.

It is recommended that Smarter Choices is initially started as a pilot project, subsequently evaluated, monitored and if appropriate, progressively rolled out across the sub-region. Southampton is developing proposals for a Smarter Travel City project and would be an ideal location for the pilot project, covering approximately 25% of the South Hampshire population.

Land Use Planning

The Land Use Planning process provides considerable scope to implement Reduce Strategy measures. Looking initially at the strategic spatial planning proposals for South Hampshire, the following conclusions can be drawn in relation to the Reduce Strategy:

_ The initial focus of development in existing settlements and particularly the two cities, is the best strategy to minimise the demand for travel, building on existing sustainable transport networks. It is therefore important that facilitating development in these areas is given a high priority ahead of less sustainable greenfield locations;

_ When allocating employment and housing sites, local planning authorities should seek, where possible, to achieve a quantitative and qualitiative jobs : housing balance in close proximity in order to minimise the demand for travel

_ Even with an optimised jobs: housing mix, the research suggests there will still be a considerable amount of out-commuting from the Strategic Development Areas (SDAs) and existing settlements. A comprehensive and high quality public transport network will be necessary to link major residential and employment areas across the sub-region, as an alternative to the private car, for longer journeys;

The layout of new developments, including the SDAs, is also key to minimise the need to travel, particularly by private car and the following approach should be taken:

_ Masterplan site layouts in accordance with New Urbanism principles to ensure key facilities for local residents are within easy walking distance and the layout and environment of the development positively encourages walking and cycling for local journeys;

_ Provision of high quality walking, cycling and public transport links into adjacent settlements with the focus of high density residential and employment development adjacent to public transport corridors; and

_ Intensive application of Smarter Choices measures.

For self-contained internal trips within the SDAs and other large developments, research indicates that if New Urbanism principles are applied, reductions in peak hour traffic flows of over 60% are achievable compared to traditional suburban layouts. For trips leaving the development, targets will need to be set for reduced traffic generation levels. These will vary from site to site, based on local conditions and the ability of the adjacent road network to accommodate traffic growth. However, it is expected that traffic generation leaving and entering the development may have to reduce well in excess of the global 15% reduction that could be achieved by Smarter Choices across urban areas in South Hampshire. This highlights the need for new developments to have an intensive application of appropriate Smarter Choices measures and the provision of upgraded public transport, walking and cycle networks to and from key destinations in surrounding areas.

Finally, car parking standards will be a critical element to influence travel demand. It is important that appropriate and consistent standards are applied across the sub-region.

REDUCE STRATEGY - FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS

"Towards Delivery" currently proposes a total of £17 million for the Reduce Strategy over the period to 2026, out of a total investment programme of £2.469 billion, which represents only 0.69%.

Smarter Choices

Based on experience in the Sustainable Travel Towns Project and Smarter Travel Sutton, an initial intensive pilot project in Southampton is estimated to cost £1.6 million to £2.3 million at 2008 prices. Securing sufficient levels of revenue funding to deliver Smarter Choices programme is a significant challenge, particularly as the research demonstrates that such programmes need to be implemented over a number of years, in order to achieve the desired outcomes. The Unitary Authorities have direct access to parking revenues that could potentially provide a funding source, although within the County Council area, such revenue funding is controlled by the District Councils. Other potential funding sources to be considered include:

_ Nationally funded Smarter Choices initiatives, such as the recently completed Smarter Travel Towns project and forthcoming Smarter Travel City project;

_ Developer contributions; and

_ The Demand Management measures that will be considered by the Manage Strategy.

It is also recommended that investment is increased in capital infrastructure to support more walking and cycling for shorter journeys. As an example, doubling current levels would result in annual investment of approximately £10 million at current prices, although to put this in context, the additional investment required over the remaining life of the South East Plan would not be much more than the recent widening schemes on the M27 Motorway. The cost of improving public transport has not been directly considered by the Reduce Strategy, but does also need to be addressed.

It is accepted that in the current economic climate, the amount of funding available for the Invest part of the overall Reduce - Manage - Invest approach is likely to be reduced significantly and consequently, the Reduce and Manage elements of the strategy are likely to take a more dominant role. The development of the sub-regional transport evidence base will identify in detail the role Reduce needs to take across the sub-region as part of the overall sub-regional transport strategy and what the consequent funding implications are. There then needs to be detailed consideration of how this funding can be secured.

Simple cost: benefit analysis suggests that if Smarter Choices can achieve traffic flow reductions of 10% or more, this would be a high value for money project, as defined by the DfT assessment criteria.

Land Use Planning

It is expected that a significant proportion of financial implications of the Land Use Planning elements of the Reduce Strategy would not fall on local authorities. Many aspects can be achieved simply through good masterplanning and layout design and where appropriate, funding can be secured through planning obligations. There will be major infrastructure funding requirements that cannot borne by development alone that will also contribute towards the Reduce Strategy (eg new bus infrastructure). Funding for this will need to be secured through major scheme bids to central government funding sources as appropriate.

POLICY COMPLIANCE

The Reduce Strategy has been assessed and is compliant with the transport goals and challenges defined by Delivering a Sustainable Transport System (DaSTS).

REDUCE STRATEGY IMPLEMENTATION PLAN

A detailed Implementation Plan has been developed for the Reduce Strategy. This outlines a number of over-arching measures, together with detailed actions for the individual identified measures under the two themes, Smarter Choices and Land Use Planning.