ITEM CA6 CABINET – 21 MARCH 2007TRANSPORT CAPITAL PROGRAMMEReport by Head of Transport Introduction1. The Council’s second Local Transport Plan (LTP), adopted in April 2006, set out a framework for capital investment in transport for the five-year period 2006-2011. The programme set out in the LTP is to be delivered through a combination of capital allocations (Supported Capital Expenditure (Revenue) or grant), developer contributions and other funding. This report updates the programme in the light of the progress made in 2006/07 and the financial settlement received from the Government in December 2006 in the light of its assessment of our Plan and our success in delivering the first Local Transport Plan (2001-2006). The Plan covered both Transport Improvements (known as the Integrated Transport Programme) and Structural Maintenance. This report focuses on the Integrated Transport Programme; the Maintenance Programme is dealt with in a separate report on this Agenda. 2. The Government assessed both our LTP1 Delivery Report and LTP 2006-11 as ‘good’. This resulted in an additional allocation of £418,000 for 2007/08. However the Government has also changed the basis on which it calculated the capital allocations for the final three years of the Plan period. This has meant that over these three years the Council’s allocation has been reduced by £1,316,000 from the Planning Guidelines used to develop the programme which was included in the adopted Plan. The revised figures for the LTP allocations for the Plan period are as follows:
3. At the time of writing it is estimated that the County Council will spend its full capital allocation awarded in the Transport Capital Settlement for 2006/07. This programme delivered has included the major improvement to Green Road Roundabout, the start of major town centre projects in Abingdon and Henley and the improvement in Oxford High Street (a combination of Maintenance and Integrated Transport funding), as well as on-going projects such as Better Ways to School (improvements are expected to be made at 81 schools) and the progressive expansion of the Premium Bus Routes and Real Time Passenger Information System (with major developments on the Kidlington Premium Route and the East Oxford Quality Bus Route). 4. Of the individual schemes that were put forward in the LTP for 2006/07 the proposal to improve the A40 Cassington Signals was dropped because no cost-effective scheme could be identified; an improvement to the Oxford Southern Approaches was deferred because of its inclusion in the Access to Oxford major scheme proposal (although the Highways Agency is currently investigating short term improvements in this area); and implementation of some of our named road safety schemes has been deferred until 2007/08. Programme for 2007/085. While the LTP set out a detailed five-year programme, it is important that this is regularly reviewed to ensure that it continues to offer good value for money, that it will contribute to meeting the targets and objectives set out in the LTP, and that it is able to respond to changes in circumstances as they occur. The programme for 2007/08 given in Annex 1 (download as .doc file) remains substantially as was set out in the LTP. Major changes to the programme are detailed below. 6. Access to Oxford – The County Council was successful in bidding through the Regional Prioritisation process for this major scheme. The Regional Transport Board has recommended that the project is funded in the 2011-16 period. This is the first stage toward gaining major scheme funding to implement this project in 2013/14 and 2014/15. The LTP had made allowance for some of the elements of this project to be considered in the current period, including work on the Southern Approaches in 2007/08. The major scheme would replace these as well as allowing for a more comprehensive scheme to be developed than would be possible using the LTP funding alone. The immediate need for this project is to develop a local traffic model which will be the basis for developing the business case both for the project as a whole and for the individual elements within it. A sum of £204K has been added to the programme for this. 7. A415 – The Transport Networks Review had recommended that the Marcham Bypass be pursued as part of a major upgrade of the A415 between the A34 and A40. Although Marcham Bypass had scored relatively well (but had been unsuccessful) in the Regional Prioritisation for 2006-2011 schemes, changes in the evaluation process meant that neither this nor the larger route upgrade would have been likely to score well in the 2011-2016 round. Consequently this aspiration has been dropped from our longer term strategy. There remains a significant problem within Marcham village and a traffic management scheme for the village is proposed to reduce this. A temporary scheme is to be trialled which, if successful would be made permanent. A traffic management scheme for Standlake is to be investigated in parallel with the work for the replacement of Newbridge and an allowance made to implement this late in the 5-year programme. 8. Better Ways To School – The programme allows for a significant increase in this programme in 2007/08. This would be offset by reductions in the programme in the later years of the Plan and so represents an acceleration which should assist us in meeting our targets for modal shift and School Travel Plan adoption. 9. Road Safety - The change announced by the Government to Safety Camera Partnership funding, which takes effect from April 2007, together with the consistent high performance by the County Council in reducing road casualties in recent years, has also provided an additional funding stream for road safety schemes. Out of the overall specific road safety grant allocation from central Government for 2007/08 of £1.7m, £309,000 is capital. Just over £100,000 of this will, together with a revenue funding stream, be reinvested in the Thames Valley Safer Roads Partnership. This will leave £201,279 to add to the casualty reduction capital budget, which would allow some measures currently planned for the 2008/09 programme to be brought forward to 2007/08, subject to further investigation . 10. Rail Station Development - Staff and financial priorities for 2006/07 were set by the Cabinet on 21 March 2006, and included a focus on key strategic projects, such as East West Rail, Cotswold Line, Didcot Parkway Interchange and expansion of Oxford station. All of these are being taken forward and work will continue on them in the year ahead. There is therefore no need to review our priorities for 2007/08. In addition, our partnership with the train companies has continued to deliver a varied range of improvements worth £154,000 at 13 local stations, including better waiting facilities, improved pedestrian and cycle access, increased car parking and environment and public realm improvements. Subject to ongoing support, it is planned that similar enhancements will take place in the year ahead at those stations where there are known problems and opportunities to increase use of the rail network. Some funding will also be set aside to support the launch of a community-based station adoption scheme. 11. Redbridge Park and Ride – This new scheme is aimed at improving facilities for people to access the Park and Ride from passing services by providing a bus stop closer to the site and improving pedestrian crossing facilities. 12. Congestion Monitoring – The LTP reflected the Government’s priority to tackle congestion and also our Network Management Duty to develop a system of countywide congestion monitoring. It is likely that this will also play an important part in developing the business case for the Access to Oxford major scheme. Data are being collected on this from a variety of sources but a need to supplement these has been identified. An allowance for Automatic Number Plate Recognition Equipment has therefore been added to the programme. Programme for 2008/09 – 2010/1113. A revised programme for the SCE(R) supported element of the programme for the rest of the LTP period is shown in Annex 2 (download as .doc file). This takes account of the revised allocations mentioned above. The intention has been to keep the shape of the programme as close as possible to that included in the LTP. The two major adjustments have been the increased “frontloading” of the Better Ways to School programme, although this means that there is a sharp drop off in this programme in 2010/11, and the deferral of the measures for Bridge Street, Witney (which were unlikely to be able to be delivered prior to completion of Cogges Link). 14. The need to ensure that our entire programme supports the aims of our Local Transport Plan has meant that there has been a hiatus for new developer funded schemes while the priorities for this are reassessed. It is expected that this prioritisation will be completed this spring. It is unlikely that this will result in changes to 2007/08 programme but adjustments to the later programme of SCE(R) funded schemes may be needed in the light of this. Additional schemes are also likely to be identified in association with the Westgate and West End developments in Oxford and as work progresses on District Local Development Frameworks. Financial Implications15. This report outlines a programme for transport improvements in 2007/08 in line with that set out to deliver our Local Transport Plan. The successful delivery of the LTP programme and the achievement of the targets and objectives set out in it are likely to be major factors in the Government’s future assessment of the capital requirements of the County Council. RECOMMENDATION16. The Cabinet is RECOMMENDED to approve the 2007/08 Transport Capital Programme as set out in Annex 1 to the report and note the revised programme for the remainder of the Local Transport Plan programme. STEVE HOWELL Background papers: Local Transport Plan 2006/07 – 2010/11 (April 2006) Contact Officer: Roger O’Neill, Principal Planning Officer, Tel 01865 815659 March 200711/12.
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