Agendas, Meetings and Minutes - Agenda and minutes

Agenda and minutes

Venue: County Hall, Worcester

Contact: Emma James/ Jo Weston  Overview and Scrutiny Officers

Items
No. Item

261.

Apologies and Welcome

Minutes:

The Chairman welcomed everyone to the meeting. No apologies had been received.

262.

Declarations of Interest and of any Party Whip

Minutes:

None.

263.

Public Participation

Members of the public wishing to take part should notify the Head of Legal and Democratic Services in writing or by email indicating the nature and content of their proposed participation no later than 9.00am on the working day before the meeting (in this case 19 January 2017).  Enquiries can be made through the telephone number/email address below.

 

Minutes:

None.

264.

Confirmation of the Minutes of the previous meeting

Previously circulated.

Minutes:

The Minutes of the meeting on 23 November 2016 were agreed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

265.

Local Transport Plan 2017-2030 (LTP4) pdf icon PDF 96 KB

Minutes:

In attendance for this item were:

 

Nigel Hudson, Head of Strategic Infrastructure and Economy

Andy Baker, Transport Planning and Commissioning Manager

Martin Rowe, Transport Strategy Team Leader

Cllr Ken Pollock, Cabinet Member with Responsibility for Economy, Skills and Infrastructure

 

A presentation had been prepared, to update the Panel on the draft Local Transport Plan (LTP)  for Worcestershire (2017-2030), which Cabinet had given the go ahead for consultation on 15 December 2016, following pre-consultation exercises with County Council local members, district councils and parish councils and the Cabinet over the period June to September 2016. The consultation, which would end on 17 March, before the Council's election purdah period, would include all six district councils, parish councillors and roadshows. It was planned to resubmit updated plans to Cabinet in June 2017, with the aim of formal adoption by full Council in July.

 

To date, the Evesham public participation event had been the busiest.

 

The LTP was a strategic, high level statutory document, which all local authorities are required to produce, deliver and maintain under the Transport Act 2000 and the Local Transport Act 2008.

 

The refreshed Plan would pick up the considerable changes over the past few years, including major political, social and economic change, the Council's growth ambitions and the district councils' local development plans. Crucially, the LTP was also used to support the Council's key business cases going forward.

 

Pre-consultation headlines included congestion, walking and cycling improvements, town centre/parking improvements, speed limits, junctions, air quality, HGV/Freight and rat running. Feedback to date had been included in the draft document, grouped into four main categories – 'to be included', 'already addressed', 'referred to stakeholders' or 'unable to include, with reasons provided' – the latter category referring to areas where the Council needed to work with others, for example bus services.

 

The consultation would include transport policies, local transport plans (North East Worcestershire, South Worcestershire, Wyre Forest), the Network Management Plan and two environmental screening assessments.

 

Transport Policies showed how the Council dealt with:

·         Transport engagement – councillor/stakeholder and consultation planning

·         Public realm – management and maintenance

·         Cycle infrastructure- maintenance/lighting/infrastructure, cycle routes/parking/signage

·         Integrated passenger transport – bus stop infrastructure, subsidies, bus services, rail

·         Transport and air quality – dealing with and monitoring air quality management areas (six out of ten were borderline)

·         Motorcycling – a big growth area amongst 18-25 year olds

·         Climate change – reducing vehicle emissions, asset resilience

 

The overarching aim and objectives of the Worcestershire Network Management Plan were to achieve the most efficient use of Worcestershire's transport network assets to deliver consistently reliable journey times, reduced direct and indirect costs and improved road safety.

 

The Network Management Plan brought together all the policies, standards and procedures associated with transport network demand management into one document.

 

In recognition that transport networks had a finite capacity, and that increasing capacity was extremely expensive, there was a targeted investment approach into the following three areas:

 

Transport technology

There were opportunities to manage network demand and tackle congestion and support  ...  view the full minutes text for item 265.