Agenda item

Report by the Corporate Director of Environment and Place

 

This report provides the Place Overview and Scrutiny Committee with information about the Central Oxfordshire Travel Plan (COTP) prior to it being submitted to Cabinet on the 29November 2022.

 

The COTP sits within ‘part 2’ of the local transport plan process.  Along with other plans for certain area and specific corridors, the COTP sets out how policies within Part 1 of the LTCP will be applied across specific geographic areas, in this case the central Oxfordshire area.

 

Part 1 of the local transport plan (the Local Transport and Connectivity Plan) was considered by the Place Overview and Scrutiny Committee in June 2022, prior to adoption at full council in July 2022.

 

Analysis of the public consultation on the COTP (undertaken between August and October 2022) identifies a number of amendments to the COTP.  

 

Place Overview and Scrutiny Committee are therefore asked to provide any comments on the proposed revisions to COTP prior to its consideration by Cabinet.

 

 

 

(Councillor Duncan Enright, Cabinet Member for Travel and Development Strategy and Councillor Andrew Gant, Cabinet Member for Highway Management, attended the meeting for this and item 22 below)

 

The Committee had before it a report providing the Committee with information about the Central Oxfordshire Travel Plan (COTP) prior to it being submitted to Cabinet on the 29November 2022.

 

The COTP sat within ‘part 2’ of the local transport plan process.  Along with other plans for certain area and specific corridors, the COTP sets out how policies within Part 1 of the LTCP will be applied across specific geographic areas, in this case the central Oxfordshire area.

 

Part 1 of the local transport plan (the Local Transport and Connectivity Plan) was considered by the Place Overview and Scrutiny Committee in June 2022, prior to adoption at full council in July 2022.

 

Analysis of the public consultation on the COTP (undertaken between August and October 2022) identifies a number of amendments to the COTP

 

The Chair introduced the report and welcomed a number of speakers who had been invited to address the Committee.

 

Councillor Andrew Gant, Cabinet member for Highway Management, presented the report and explained the background to the preparation and revisions to the COTP.

 

Robin Tucker, representing the Coalition for Healthy Streets and Active Travel, spoke in support of the COTP.  He referred to the traffic congestion levels in Oxford which had returned since the pandemic and said that the measures set out in the COTP had gained the support of residents and the business community. He suggested that a number of improvements were required:-

 

-        Reduction in the number of passes

-        Avoid universal pass and exemption gaming bureaucracy

-        Personal travel planning

-        Hythe Bridge Street – motor free

-        Longwall/St. Cross Street Bus Gate

-        Vans only for legitimate businesses

 

Mr Tucker then answered a number of questions.

 

Emily Scaysbrook, Oxford Business Action Group, addressed the Committee.  She made the following points:

 

-        that the proposed traffic filters would increase emissions and traffic congestion on the ring road and main arterial roads into Oxford.

-        traffic would continue to access Oxford through alternative routes

-        Any experimental schemes should be properly monitored and evaluated

-        The schemes, if not successful, had the potential to cause irreparable damage to businesses in the city

-        Businesses were struggling in the current economic climate and the Council had not completed an economic impact assessment of the proposals

-        The scheme was not transparent and easy to understand

-        A congestion charge should be considered initially, at least during rush hour periods

 

Richard Parnham, Reconnecting Oxford, addressed the Committee.  He made the following points about the COTP proposals:-

 

-        There had been a poor response rate to consultation

-        Need to identify a starting baseline year for evaluating traffic volumes

-        The proposed ZEZ did not target main sources pollution

-        Workplace parking levy would only affect a small proportion of users

-        Proposals were not hitting the right targets

 

Zahura Plummer, Oxfordshire Liveable Streets, addressed the Committee and made the following points:-

 

-        Importance of creating beautiful cities for people to visit and shop

-        Winners of the proposed scheme were people who need to go to work and walkers and cyclists

-        School streets system was not effective – too many permits were available

-        Universal passes were not effective

-        Traffic filters created a propensity for exemption gaming

-        Schemes need to be clearly understood

 

Carolyn Ploszynski, Head of Economic Development, Oxford City Council addressed the Committee.  She explained the joint work done between the County Council and the City Council on the COTP and made the following points:

 

-        Interventions were needed to deliver the Local Plan and address the traffic congestion issues issues in Oxford

-        Impact on businesses and communities and environment in Oxford will worsen if nothing is done

-        There was no viable alternative to the proposals

-        There was a need to encourage modal shift from private car use

-        Improve infrastructure of the city

-        A unified transport strategy was needed for Central Oxfordshire

 

Alison Chisholm and Juliet Carpenter, Oxford University, addressed the Committee on the recommendations of the Citizens Jury held in Headington, Barton and Wood Farm.  The jury had focused on the health and climate implications of travel in Oxford.  She explained how the agreed actions from the jury aligned with the objectives of the COTP.

 

Professor Tim Schwarnen, University of Oxford, addressed the Committee.  He made the following points:

 

-        Restrictive policies were essential to achieve targets in the LTCP

-        A workplace parking levy could create resources to fund Council objectives

-        More attention should be given to goods and transport

-        Improvements were needed to communication and framing of policies

-        More emphasis should be given to fairness and consultation

 

Members then asked a number of questions of the speakers and discussed the issues raised in the Cabinet report.

 

During discussion the following points were made:

 

-        The Council should adopt a set of targets to assess whether the measures to be introduced in the COTP were achieving the objectives of the Local Transport and Connectivity Plan

-        Public access should be provided to this information

-        The impact on access to Oxford in terms of visitor footfall and spend should be considered

-        There should be a full Economic Impact Assessment and the effect on businesses in the current economic climate should be considered

-        In view of the good practice adopted by Waltham Forest LBC, the Council should work with the City Council to implement customer surveys on modes of transport

-        There should be consistency in terms of hierarchy of road users and that the impact on the bus network should not be an overriding consideration in comparison with the needs of other road users

-        Issues concerning freight and logistics should be aligned with the COTP

-        Implementation of the workplace parking levy should be prioritised

-        The Council should be more proactive in publicising the benefits of the COTP

 

RESOLVED to recommend the Cabinet that the Council:-

 

a)    develops a set of targets for modal shift for the COTP which correlate with the LTCP’s modal shift targets

b)    publishes its measures and targets for the COTP, and levels below which different levels of intervention will be triggered in the proposed COTP plans if the project is not working.  The Council should clarify where this performance will be reported to.

c)     taking on good practice from Waltham Forest LBC,  the Council partners with Oxford City Council to undertake customer surveys relating to the modes of transport used to access shops, and the average spend per mode, and that this work informs a forthcoming Economic Impact Assessment of the COTP proposals.

d)    does not accept the recommended text concerning the feedback around ‘wider commitment to/ a better balance on 20mph speed limits’

e)    ensures the COTP and Freight and Logistics Strategy are aligned with one another throughout implementation

f)      works to accelerate the implementation of the workplace parking levy

g)    gives greater emphases in its communications on narratives of success arising from the COTP