Committee Report: Local Transport Plan 2 Implementation Plan

Report to:	Cabinet
Date:	16th June 2005
Subject:	Local Transport Plan 2 Implementation Plan
Report of:	Director of Engineering Services
Contact officer:	Carmel Foster-Devine 01942 404687
Purpose / summary:	To inform Members of the progress of the Local Transport Plan 2 (LTP2) and the development of the Implementation Plan which will form an integral part of LTP2.
Alternative options considered and reason for selecting the one recommended:	None
Recommendation / decision:	That Members’ note the content of this report and approve the Implementation Plan and delegate approval for the Provisional LTP2 to the Director of Engineering Services.
Key Decision:	This report involves a key decision within ground(s) 1, 3 & 6. The decision made as a result of this report will be published within 48 hours and cannot be actioned until five working days have elapsed after that (making a total of seven working days after the meeting) i.e. before 23^rd June 2005. This item is included in the Forward Plan.
Implications:
Financial:	The Implementation Plan and LTP2 will form bid documents for Highways Capital Funding for the period 2006/07 – 20010/11
Staffing:	It is anticipated that the works associated with the Implementation Plan and LTP2 will be delivered using existing staff resources, supported by agency staff and external consultants as necessary.
Policy:	Greater Manchester Integrated Transport Strategy. LTP2 will become the policy document for 2006/07 – 2010/11
Equal Opportunities - Has a Diversity Impact Assessment been conducted?	There are no known equal opportunity issues associated with this report.
Wards affected:	All.
Special Interest Members – Which have been consulted	None.

Categorisation of the report:

Discussion leading to a decision	-	Discussion	-
Monitoring	-	Decision	x
Sharing for corporate understanding	-	Information	-

Tracking/Process:

Panel	Overview & Scrutiny	Cabinet	Council
	Consultation	Ward Members	Partners
	-	29/04/05	29/04/05
-	-	16/06/05	-

List of Background Papers in accordance with Section 100D of the Local Government Act 1972:

Document	Date	File Reference	Place of Inspection
Greater Manchester Integrated Transport Strategy	April 2005		Civic Buildings, New Market Street, Wigan

Proper Officer	Peter Taylor
Date	7th June 2005

1.0 Background

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1.1 The current Local Transport Plan was for the five-year period 2001/02 – 2005/06 and, therefore, expires at the end of this financial year. Local Authorities, therefore, have to produce a Local Transport Plan 2 (LTP2) for the period 2006/07 – 20010/11 which will not only outline their policies for transport but also act as a bid document for capital funding.

1.2 The Council are currently working with other Greater Manchester Authorities and Greater Manchester Passenger Executive (GMPTE) to produce the Provisional LTP2 for submission to DfT by 31^st July 2005 with the Full LTP2 being submitted in March 2006. The policies and strategies within this document very much follow those in LTP1 together with those set out in the Integrated Transport Strategy for Greater Manchester which was submitted to Government in April 2005.

1.3 As part of LTP2 each District has had to produce Implementation Plans for the five-year period of LTP2. These plans detail the schemes that districts plan to implement to address the problems and issues that exist within their area together with working towards achieving the targets and objectives set.

2.0 Local Transport Plan

2.1 The text associated with LTP2 is currently being drafted, however, the objectives for the plan have now been finalised. They are very much in line with those in the original LTP document but have been condensed and revised. There are now eight transport objectives arranged under the four shared priorities, thus:

2.2 Safety

2.2.1 Objectives:

To improve road and community safety, particularly for the most vulnerable users of the transport network and,
To improve the safety of centres.

2.2.2 Long term outcome desired:

A safer road network, designed to result in significantly fewer accidents, and a road and public transport system which offers high standards of personal security.

2.3 Air Quality

2.3.1 Objective:

To minimise the environmental damage caused by transport, particularly in terms of air quality, thereby improving the quality of life and health of the population.

2.3.2 Long term outcome desired:

Reducing transport-related forms of pollution to an absolute minimum

2.4 Accessibility

2.4.1 Objectives:

To improve accessibility by ensuring that the county’s transport system meets the needs of all sections of the community, promotes social inclusion and widens choice;
To Improve links with the wider Greater Manchester travel to work area, the rest of the country and the rest of the world, for both passengers and freight, in ways which are consistent with other objectives; and,
To support increased levels of activity in the Regional Centre, town and district centres and key employment areas; and to improve their environment, attractiveness and accessibility.

2.4.2 Long term outcome desired:

Good transport and travel planning for existing development, which concentrates on improving access to jobs and other local facilities by a range of sustainable modes.

2.5 Congestion

2.5.1 Objectives:

To manage all traffic so as to reduce congestion, improve reliability, and;
reduce the overall proportion of trips by car without detriment to the generation of centres; and,
To develop complementary land use and transport policies which increase the proportion of trips by non-car modes through ensuring that new development is easily served by public transport and by reducing the number of trips to non-central locations.

2.5.2 Long-term outcomes desired:

Well managed transport infrastructure and services which maximise the efficiency of the movement of goods and people to contribute towards the economic growth of the conurbation, whilst reducing congestion to an absolute minimum;
Comprehensive safe networks for pedestrians and cyclists;
Fast efficient and reliable high quality public transport services giving access to the regional, district and local centres with well-planned interchanges where trains, trams and buses work together effectively to provide a ‘seamless journey’;
Widespread availability of reliable, timely, understandable information which enables travellers to make an informed choice about the appropriate mode to use for a particular journey;
Efficient use of land, where new developments are located so that they minimise the need to travel, with those that generate significant trips being located such that they are served by a range of sustainable modes and;
Managed impact of traffic generated by developments in locations not readily accessible by sustainable modes, with limited road construction being undertaken where it relieves environmental problems in centres and residential areas, or is an essential component of economic regeneration.

3.0 Implementation Plan

3.1 Individual Authorities have used these objectives, together with the targets that have been set to develop implementation programmes of work.

3.2 The Council’s Implementation Plan has also been developed in conjunction with the Township Forums. In November of last year a presentation was given to each township on the four shared priorities of LTP2, namely, safety, air quality, accessibility and congestion. The Forums were then asked, with these priorities in mind, to identify issues that they felt could be addressed through the LTP.

3.3 Lists were then compiled for each Township containing the issues that had been identified from this process. These lists were distributed to all elected members, township managers, and co-ordinators, together with township champions and area engineers in Engineering Services to refine them.

3.4 These lists provide a comprehensive picture of the local issues in each of the townships and were subsequently used to develop our Implementation Plan. The township lists are contained in Appendix A. There are also many strategic issues across the Borough that need to be addressed through the implementation plan if we are to achieve our objectives and targets. The key statistics detailed below are for the northwest segment of Greater Manchester, in which Wigan lies. These statistics outline some of the overarching issues that need to be addressed.

The number of households without cars reduced by 16% between 1991 and 2001 and the number of households with 2 or more cars increased by 37% between 1991 and 2001;
72% of employed residents living in the North West segment also live there;
86% of the jobs in the segment are filled by residents of the segment;
Traffic increased by 38% on motorways and 7% on A and B roads between 1991 and 2003;
Manchester bound rail trips increased by 47% between 1991 and 2001;
Bus patronage has decreased by 7% since 1997;
Over 16% of journeys to work are car trips of less than 2km;
Over 23% of journeys to work are car trips of between 2km and 5km; and,
The number of killed and seriously injured casualties have decreased by 18% from a 1994 to 98 average.

3.5 From these statistics key issues have been identified that form the strategic issues that need to be addressed in conjunction with the local issues identified by the township forums.

Traffic with slow speeds causing congestion, air quality and road safety problems in town centres, on major through roads (especially A580) and around motorway junctions; causes delays to buses
Through traffic in a number of residential streets
Lack of passenger capacity and general poor quality on most heavy rail lines
Poor integration of public transport termini in Wigan
Unattractive environments at a number rail and bus stations
Local accessibility problems away from Regional Centre, including limited public transport access to some new housing developments and northwards towards Standish – also poor access to Regional Centre from Leigh by public transport.
Poor public transport accessibility between Wigan and Warrington.
Poor east-west access across Wigan Borough by road.
The main roads in Wigan Borough are narrow and continuously built up making on-road provision for cyclists difficult.
Lack of pedestrian links to retail and employment opportunities.
The percentage of school children that arrive and depart from school by car.

3.6 The Implementation Plan details schemes for 2006/07 and at this stage, for subsequent years, contains only scheme categories and the intended level of funding. The funding levels have been identified by the Greater Manchester Joint Transportation Team based on the levels of funding they expect to get from central government over the five year period of LTP2. The Implementation Plan for 2006/07 is detailed in Appendix B.

3.7 Schemes that have not been considered for the 2006/07 Implementation Plan will be considered for future years, should they be considered to fit within the objectives of LTP2.

3.8 To ensure that schemes proposed to be funded through LTP2 will help achieve our targets and objectives, there has to be a transparent process concluding in schemes being identified on the implementation plan. This process involves identifying the problems and issues, and linking the proposed schemes to these problems and issues. Justification for the Implementation Plans has, therefore, been developed which details the areas of work which will be targeted over the five year period. This information has been sent to all Elected Members and township managers and co-ordinators for comment. To date no comments have been received. The justification text is detailed in Appendix C.

4.0 Conclusion

4.1 Through consultation with Elected Members and the Township Forums, we have developed a robust Implementation Plan which will address the issues and problems together with working towards the objectives and targets in LTP2. All of this information will form part of the LTP2 submission with further work on subsequent years’ implementation plan being undertaken for the full LTP submission in March 2006.

Appendices

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