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ITEM EX5

EXECUTIVE – 15 APRIL 2003

TRANSPORT CAPITAL PROGRAMME 2003/04 TO 2005/06

Report by Assistant Director (Transport Development) and Head of Finance

1. This report seeks the Executive’s approval for the 2003/04 Transport Capital Programme and the Provisional Programmes for 2004/05 and 2005/06. The programmes have been developed taking into account the Executive’s decision on 18 March 2003 on the allocations of the Single Capital Pot (SCP) to the 6 main transport budget headings and further discussions with the Executive Members for Transport and Strategic Planning & Waste Management.

Background

2. The Transport Capital Programme has grown rapidly since 2000/01 as additional Government allocations and developer contributions have become available. The outturn figures for the last 5 years are shown in Table 1 below.

Year	Outturn £m
1998/99	10.1
1999/00	10.9
2000/01	10.4
2001/02	25.2
2002/03	33.3*

*Provisional

3. The rapid expansion of the programme has proved to be a real challenge for Oxfordshire County Council staff, Babtie (the Term Consultant for Engineering Design) and Isis Accord (the Combined Maintenance Contractor). Due to the historic lower level of the transport programme, there were very few schemes in approved forward programmes and not only has it been necessary to promote and design a much increased annual programme but in order to prepare for future years’ programmes, much preliminary design and assessment work has had to be undertaken.
4. This has resulted in some slippage in planned programmes. Problems recruiting additional staff in a tight labour market, combined with increasing levels of consultation and technical problems with individual schemes, have led to underspending in recent years. Due to careful financial management, no Government credit approvals have been lost and funding has been carried forward to support the following years’ programmes. In 2002/03 commitments of £3.340m were carried forward to the current year, which was similar to 2001/02.
5. The increasing availability of transport funding has led to a sharp rise in public expectations and many requests are being received for a wide variety of schemes from across the County. Even with the transport programme proposed for 2003/04, it will not be possible to meet these public expectations. If Oxfordshire County Council is to continue to attract good settlements from the Government there is also a need to make progress on delivering on key transport targets. This requires substantial investment in road maintenance, public transport, cycling and road safety schemes; and will limit our ability to meet community aspirations for schemes such as pedestrian crossings and traffic calming. The Community Safety (Transport) programme has been established to enable the County Council to respond appropriately to these requests and this programme will help to meet the commitments set out in the County Council’s stated values.

Programming Issues

6. On 18 March the Executive approved the provisional allocations to each of the 6 main budget headings. As in previous years, priority was given to structural maintenance and to meeting commitments being carried forward. This inevitably limits the number of schemes that can be included in other programme areas and there will undoubtedly be disappointment if schemes that have a high level of community support have to be deferred to the 2004/05 or 2005/06 programmes.
7. The Executive Members for Transport and Strategic Planning & Waste Management are very concerned to ensure that we use our resources in the most effective way. The 2002/03 programme was reviewed in October 2002 and approval given to bring forward maintenance schemes from 2003/04 to ensure that the SCP funding was all spent. It would be possible to follow the same approach in October 2003 but this would not help to deliver other schemes that are urgently wanted.
8. An alternative strategy has been developed which recognises that, based on previous years’ experience, there will again be slippage in the delivery of the 2003/04 programme due to consultations delaying schemes, objections to traffic orders or technical design problems. In the report to the 18 March Executive the shortfall of funding required to complete the 2002/03 programme was identified as £1.592m, resulting in schemes to this value having to be deferred to 2004/05.
9. The underspend reported in October 2002 was forecast to be £1.8m (approximately 10% of the SCP funding). To avoid the risk of underspending in 2003/04 and to maximise the size of the delivered programme, it is proposed to include in the 2003/04 programme £2.0m of schemes (10% of the 2003/04 SCP) that would have formed part of the 2004/05 programme, in the expectation that the programme will underspend by at least this much. At this stage it is impossible to predict which schemes will slip but the programme will be kept under review and expenditure carefully monitored.
10. This approach will result in the new schemes included in 2003/04 programme being very similar to those envisaged when it was reviewed in October 2002; although the proposed allocations to each budget heading have been reviewed in the light of the latest information on the state of each scheme. The total programme includes an additional £3m of SCP being directed at Structural Maintenance. (This would have been an additional £4.0m, but £1m was brought forward into 2002/03 and has already been spent.)
11. It must be recognised that there will be an additional £2.0m commitment carried forward into 2004/05; but this will be off-set to some extent by the first £1.5m repayment of the SCP that was "borrowed" in 2001/02. Although there is an element of risk in this approach, the worst outcome that could arise is that there will not be sufficient slippage in the programme to enable all programmed 2003/04 schemes to be completed by 31 March 2004 due to a lack of SCP funding. Some schemes may simply have to be deferred to April or May 2004 and funded as a commitment on the 2004/05 budget. The intention would be to review the programme in October 2003, as in previous years, and take appropriate action to ensure that the expenditure of the SCP exactly matched the £19.927m available. The availability of developer contributions and on-street parking surpluses provides some flexibility to achieve this result.
12. New financial and programming systems have recently been introduced that will enable greater financial control and monitoring. It is not anticipated that this approach will create any financial difficulties.

Proposed Programmes

13. The proposed detailed programmes are set out in the accompanying booklet.
    (tables - (download as .xls file)) (cover and notes - (download as .doc file).
    The revised allocations to the 6 main budget headings are set out at Annex 1. The provisional allocations approved at the meeting held on 18 March are included at Annex 2 for comparison.
14. There is a need to provide some flexibility in the programme to be able to respond to opportunities or problems that may arise during the year. The Community Safety (Transport) programme includes funding for Minor Traffic Engineering Schemes. These are schemes identified by the Area Engineers, usually in response to complaints, which typically cost less than £5,000.
15. Continuing negotiations for developer contributions offer the opportunity of including new schemes in the programme. In addition, some programmes include funding under the heading of Rapid Response Schemes. It is proposed that the inclusion of new schemes in the Capital Programme is delegated to the new Head of Roads &Transport, subject to funding being available; and in the case of schemes costing more than £10,000, in consultation with the Executive Members for Transport and Strategic Planning & Waste Management.

Project Appraisals

16. At the Executive meeting on 18 February 2003 a commitment was given to bring forward a full Project Appraisal for the Premium Bus Routes project which is planned to be implemented over the next eight years. This is attached at Annex 3.
17. A Project Appraisal for the Structural Maintenance Programme (A4130 Didcot and A417 Ardington) is appended at Annex 4.
18. The new Water Eaton (North Oxford) Park and Ride site is now nearing completion. The earthworks were undertaken in October and November, which proved to be amongst the wettest months ever recorded. As a consequence, significant additional areas of clay soil had to be excavated and filled with stone beneath the car park and access roads, so that opening the car park was not unduly delayed. Other significant cost increases have resulted from adjustments to the new traffic signal-controlled junction on Bicester Road, Gosford and a higher than allowed for cost of site supervision, arising from use for the first time of the new NEC contract. Since the Project Appraisal (H152) was approved in December 2001, there have been other increases in the cost of the project, notably the decision by the Executive to purchase and install pay and display ticket machines. As a consequence the outturn cost of this scheme is now expected to be £3.683m rather than the £3,084m originally approved.

Financial and Staff Implications

19. The financial implications are as set out in the report. Assessment, promotion and design of schemes in the programme will be undertaken by a combination of existing staff, Halcrow, the County Council’s Term Consultant for Transport Planning, other specialist consultants and Babtie, the County Council’s Term Consultant for Engineering Design.

RECOMMENDATIONS

20. The Executive is RECOMMENDED to:-

1. approve the detailed programmes for 2003/04 and the provisional programmes for 2004/05 and 2005/06, set out in the booklet accompanying the report.
2. delegate the inclusion of new schemes within the main budget headings in the 2003/04 Transport Capital Programme to the Head of Roads & Transport, subject to finance being available and in the case of schemes costing more than £10,000, to consultation with the Executive Members for Transport and Strategic Planning & Waste Management;
3. ask the Head of Roads & Transport to carry out a review of the Transport Capital Programme and report back to the Executive in October 2003;
4. approve the Project Appraisal for the Premium Bus Routes project included at Annex 3 to the report;
5. approve the Project Appraisal for the Structural Maintenance Programme (A4130 and A417 Ardington) included at Annex 4 to the report.