Meeting documents

Cabinet
Tuesday, 21 March 2006

CA210306-08

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ITEM CA8

CABINET – 21 MARCH 2006

TRANSPORT CAPITAL PROGRAMME

Report by Head of Transport

Introduction

  1. The Cabinet approved the Local Transport Plan 2006 – 2011 (LTP2) at its meeting on 21 February 2006 and by doing so has approved the schemes in the Transport Capital Programme for 2006/07. The report on LTP2 also explained the reasons for selecting the schemes to be in the programme. This report provides the finer details of funding for each of the schemes in the 2006/07 Programme for approval and forms the basis for financial monitoring through the year.

    2. Financial Summary

  2. The total budget for Integrated Transport Schemes in 2006/07 is £13.730 million. This comprises £9.079 million from the Transport Capital Settlement; £2.911 million of developer funding and £1.740 million of On-Street Parking Surplus.

  3. The budget for Highway Maintenance in 2006/07 is £16.222 million which comprises £13.772 million from the formula based element of the Transport Capital Settlement and £2.450 million awarded for specific structural maintenance schemes on recently de-trunked roads (schemes on A420, A41 and A40 in 2006/07). The Programme in this report gives just the summary figure for Highway Maintenance, the detail of the programme is provided in the separate report on Highway Maintenance to this meeting.

    4. Programming issues

  4. The 2006/07 programme can be seen as a fresh start with the schemes selected to meet the priorities in LTP2. The programme is a mixture of construction and forward design to assist in the smooth allocation of work for both the design and construction stages of the schemes. There is no over-programming and no reserve schemes are listed because the LTP2 Programme beyond 2006/07 includes specific schemes that can be brought forward if there is a delay on planned schemes. To ensure that LTP targets are met, careful selection of replacement schemes will be required.

  5. All the schemes and their funding source are set out in the tables in Annex 1 (download as .doc file).

    6. Review of 2005/06 performance

  6. The Cabinet receive monthly updates on the Capital Programme throughout the year but this report is an opportunity to provide an overview of performance in 2005/06.

  7. The summary financial position at the time of drafting the report is that we will spend all of the Transport capital settlement for 2005/06. There is a forecast underspend of £0.47 million on a total budget of £38.00 million due to slippage on just a very few schemes. This underspend is almost all in developer funding which remains available for those schemes in the 2006/07 programme.

  8. The Oxfordshire Highways partnership has completed 214 out of 235 planned actions (a mixture of forward designs, construction and purchases) in the Capital Programme as reported to Cabinet in October 2005. The reasons why the small number of actions were not completed are all to do with reprogramming to fit future funding (reduced from that assumed in October), reviews of scheme viability or need, coordination with other planned works, land acquisition problems. None has been delayed due to lack of capacity or lack of project management.

  9. The Key Performance Indicators to measure how well Oxfordshire Highways delivers to time and cost are showing that schemes are largely falling within the 5% variation band set as a performance target. It is essential that performance information is returned for all schemes which is not always the case at the moment.

  10. There have been some notable examples of good performance on scheme delivery in 2005/06, Cowley Road and Abingdon Road in Oxford, Phase 1 of the West End Link Road in Witney, the A40 maintenance schemes on the Oxford Northern Bypass. An opportunity to re-phase Casualty Reduction schemes enabled the Eastern Bypass safety barrier to be built. A pedestrian controlled crossing stage was introduced at the traffic signals on Hart Street, Henley in advance of the town centre traffic scheme because of pedestrian safety concerns.

  11. Things that have not gone to plan are the Thornhill Park and Ride Interchange, where a review of the scheme was required because of the rising cost estimate; the delays and frustration over the Regulations for camera enforcement of bus lanes; and a redesign of the Middleton Road/Merton Street junction in Banbury. The design of the proposed Cow Lane subway in Didcot was not progressed because it is a hugely complex design from a railway point of view with a number of high speed lines and key control equipment at this location. Network Rail should be the designers of the scheme to minimise the risks due to these complexities but they have not been keen to make any progress because it is so difficult and because they have more immediate priorities for their resources. This is unlikely to change in the life of the next LTP. The station forecourt scheme better meets the LTP objectives and provides a more immediately beneficial use of the available developer funding in Didcot.

    12. Support for LTP Priorities

  12. The Programme has been developed to deliver the LTP priorities and to meet the target trajectories. Success in achieving this should raise the Council’s rating by Government and provide additional funding.

    13. RECOMMENDATIONS

  13. The Cabinet is RECOMMENDED to approve the 2006/07 Transport Capital Programme as set out in Annex 1 (download as .doc file)..

STEVE HOWELL
Head of Transport

Background papers: Draft Local Transport Plan 2006 - 2011

Contact Officer: Richard Dix Tel: Oxford 815663

March 2006

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