Report of Head of Transportation Services

BOROUGH OF POOLE

TRANSPORTATION ADVISORY GROUP – 4 FEBRUARY 2010

REPORT OF HEAD OF TRANSPORTATION SERVICES

2010/11 CAPITAL PROGRAMME

1. Purpose of the Report and Policy Context
2. To approve the Transportation Capital Programme for 2010/ 11.
3. The Capital Programme implements schemes that underpin the Council’s corporate objectives and priorities, and delivers the targets set out in the Local Transport Plan. Overall the programme seeks to achieve a balance of the associated aims and objectives
4. Recommendations

It is recommended that the Portfolio Holder be requested to approve:

2.1The 2010/ 11 Capital Programme, as detailed in Appendices A and B.

1. 2010/ 11 Capital Programme
2. The proposed schemes within the 2010/11 Transportation Capital Programme, together with estimated costs, are shown in Appendix A.
3. The 2006-2011 Local Transport Plan is laid out in terms of the four transport priority areas of :

• Tackling Congestion,
• Delivering Accessibility,
• Safer Roads
• Better Air Quality.

The 2010/11 programme has therefore been shown in similar terms, except for Better Air Quality which is included within the Prime Transport Corridor schemes that reduce congestion.

The Highway Maintenance programme has been developed in line with the Asset Management Plan.

3.3While every effort is made to adhere to this programme, experience shows that it is almost inevitable that it will not be possible to progress some of the schemes as planned. In this instance other schemes will be brought forward throughout the course of the year in order to fully utilise the resources available. Such progress will be reported at regular intervals to this Group for approval.

3.4A brief outline of each scheme within the programme is described at Appendix B. Following development of proposals for each scheme further reports will be submitted to this Group.

1. Funding for 2010/11 programme
2. Funding for the Transportation Services Capital Programme for next year comes from several sources. The majority is from the Government through the Local Transport Plan (LTP) and the programme itself has been developed to generally support the aims, objectives and strategy contained within the LTP with other sources of finance including Developer Contributions.
3. The 2010/11 programme is financed as shown below :

TRANSPORTATION CAPITAL PROGRAMME 2010/11
FUNDING SOURCE / BUDGET
Local Transport Plan: Integrated Transport 2010/ 11 / £1,390,000
LTP funding re-profiled from 2009/ 10 / £300,000
Local Transport Plan : Highway Maintenance / £1,530,000
Developer Funding re-profiled from 2009/ 10 / £50,000
Prudential Borrowing (P&D ticket machines) / £127,000
Prudential Borrowing (P&D ticket machines) re-profiled from 2009/10 / £100,000
TOTAL / £3,497,000

4.3Further work is required to Canford Bridge to complete the refurbishment and repair the masonry arches over the river. The costs for this will be shared with Dorset CC. The 50% share of cost that reflects the responsibility of this Council has been included within the available budget in 2010/11 for Bridge Maintenance.

4.4Where some slippage had been identified in schemes approved within the 2009/10 Capital Programme the opportunity has been taken to re-profile those budgets to 2010/11. In addition, there will need to be some reconciliation of the 2010/11 budgets once the 2009/10 outturn costs are known. At that time any unspent balance of 2009/10 budgets will be re-phased to 2010/11.

5.Developer Funding

5.1Developer funding secured through Planning Agreements is now identified in the Capital Programme in one of four ways:

(a)Most larger developments will result in two types of transport obligation:

(i)the requirement to fund some specific schemes, undertaken either directly by the developer (using a S278 Agreement if on highway), or by the Council on their behalf, to directly mitigate the impact of their development.

(ii)the remainder of the mitigation (if any) will be funding through the SE Dorset Transport Contributions Scheme, introduced in Poole in April 2009. and now operational throughout Bournemouth, Christchurch and most of East Dorset too. The allocation of funding towards strategic schemes is decided by the SE Dorset Transport Contributions Executive, according to published rules.

(b) The historic interim Transport Contributions Scheme, which operated from October 2007 to April 2009,which applied to residential development only. The 2008/9 tariff was £1046 per new dwelling unit and funding is intended for non-car modes of transport. No further planning agreements will be made under this heading, but funding is likely to be received for another two or three years. The current funds ( £514,000) have been set aside to support the Poole Bridge Regeneration Initiative Core Scheme and are therefore not available for any other schemes at this time.

(c)Contributions from agreements before October 2007. There is currently £3,728,000 remaining, approximately half of this relates to the ASDA Section 106 agreement. All of the funds that could be flexibly allocated were spent some years ago, and the remaining planning agreements have different caveats and requirements with rigorous checks required before the funds can be appropriately used in the Capital Programme. Once further allocation is confirmed additional schemes shall be reported as part of the corporate budget monitoring process. This is likely to include phase 2 of the Hungerhill junction improvement scheme.

(d) A few Planning Agreements include commuted parking payments, used to fund specific parking schemes within the Capital Programme.

NOTE : In addition to any specific requirements of a Planning Agreement, it is the duty of the Council to ensure that the funds are spent appropriately, in accordance with the guidance given in Government Circular 5/2005.

JULIAN McLAUGHLIN

Head of Transportation Services

Appendix A- 2010/11 Capital Programme

Appendix B – Summary of 2010/11 Proposed Schemes

Name and Telephone Number of Officer Contact: Graham Spicer (01202) 262072

TAG040210T3A

APPENDIX A
TRANSP0RTATION CAPITAL PROGRAMME 2010/11 / NEW BUDGET / BUDGET
RE-PROFILE FROM 2009/10
INTEGRATED TRANSPORT

LTP3 preparation

/

£45,000

LTP3 advanced design

/

£35,000

Congestion

Ashley Road / £150,000
Ashley Road/ Alder Road/ Poole Road / £20,000
Civic Centre Interchange (includes £35k from Developer) / £0 / £200,000
ITS – Control centre / £30,000
ITS – VMS, CCTV etc / £100,000
South East Dorset Traffic Model / £120,000

Accessibility

Bus Priority at Signals / £50,000
Bus Stop Facilities: Shelters/ kerbs (Rolling Programme) / £70,000
SW Passenger Transport Information / £20,000
Cycle facilities – Creekmoor/ Cabot Lane route / £50,000
Cycle facilities – Wimborne Road toucan upgrade by Police Station / £50,000
Cycle facilities – Penn Hill Avenue cycle lanes / £50,000
PROW Improvements / £30,000
Pedestrian Crossing Facilities / £100,000
Pedestrian facilities – Shah of Persia / £20,000
Dropped crossings (Rolling Programme) / £50,000
Safer Routes to School Schemes (Rolling Programme) / £100,000
School 20mph and School Zones (Rolling Programme) / £100,000

Road Safety

Road Safety Strategy

/ £80,000

Speed Limit Review

/ £20,000
Programme management / £100,000

TOTAL INTEGRATED TRANSPORT PROGRAMME

/ £1,390,000 / £200,000

MAJOR DEVELOPER FUNDED SCHEMES

Yarrow Road/ Fancy Road Link (2009/10 c/o Developer - £50,000) / £50,000

TOTAL DEVELOPER PROGRAMME

/ £50,000
APPENDIX A
TRANSP0RTATION CAPITAL PROGRAMME 2010/11 / NEW BUDGET / BUDGET
RE-PROFILE FROM 2009/10

HIGHWAY MAINTENANCE PROGRAMME

/ £1,000,000
BRIDGE MAINTENANCE PROGRAMME
Canford Bridge Phase 2 / £160,000
Towngate Bridge Bearings and Joints / £60,000 / £100,000
Canford Suspension Bridge / £40,000
Total Bridge Maintenance Programme / £260,000 / £100,000
Street Lighting Replacement / £270,000

TOTAL MAINTENANCE PROGRAMME

/ £1,530,000 / £100,000
TOTAL MAINTENANCE BUDGET / £1,530,000 / £100,000
REPLACEMENT OF ON STREET PAY & DISPLAY MACHINES (The pay & display machine replacement programme is funded from Prudential Borrowing) / £127,000 / £100,000

TOTAL CAPITAL PROGRAMME

/ £3,047,000 / £450,000

GRAND TOTAL

/ £3,497,000

APPENDIX B

2010/ 11 CAPITAL PROGRAMME PROPOSED SCHEMES

INTEGRATED TRANSPORT
CONGESTION: PRIME TRANSPORT CORRIDORS
Ashley Road
Consideration of general Traffic Management measures to reduce congestion, avoid delays to buses whilst reducing air pollution and improving road safety. Original options were developed during 2008/09 and it is anticipated the first phase will be undertaken in 2010/11, following consultation with stakeholders. Measures likely to include encouraging better utilisation of the existing car parks and enhancements to the environment. Proposals likely to be ongoing over some years
Ashley Road/ Alder Road/ Poole Road junctions
Feasibility studies and analysis of traffic flows to identify possible improvements at the roundabouts which will minimise congestion and assist public transport. Any schemes identified will be developed further in subsequent years.

ITS Implementation

First launched in 1997, the UTMC programme is the DfT main initiative for the development of a more open and customer-focussed approach to Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) in urban areas. All UTMC systems and components arespecified andbuilt to a commonstandard which allows connectivity between the separate transport systems. This will provide a cost effective and flexible means to manage transport in urban areas to support a wide range of transport policy objectives. It alsoenables information to be provided to systems for traffic management and as a means of influencing traveller behaviour.
Initial implementation, during 2009/10 included the purchase of a Common Database that will enable different computerised traffic systems to communicate with each other. Cloud Amber is software provided by a local company based in Dorchester. It is already successfully being used by both Dorset County Council and Bournemouth Borough Council, and therefore there will be a seamless integration of traffic control and information systems across the local area.
The Cloud Amber UTMC system interrogates all the different ITS applications - such as the Urban Traffic Control (UTC) computer, fault monitoring systems, roadworks schedules, Car Park and Bridge Variable Message Signs and the Real Time Information (RTI) systems. It then allows relevant information to be transmitted to the travelling public through an interactivewebsite.
During 2010/11 it is intended to develop proposals towards an ultimate joint Network Control Centre, possibly with Dorset CC and Bournemouth. In addition, it is intended to expand the use of Variable Message Signs and CCTV to manage traffic flows.

APPENDIX B

South East Dorset Traffic Model
Continuation of the work to prepare an area wide Multi Modal Traffic Model that will predict traffic patterns for the future given increases in housing and development. Atkins were appointed to undertake this work and is being funded by contributions from a partnership which includes GOSW, HA, SWRDA, BBC and DCC.
Civic Centre Bus Interchange
Unfortunately, this scheme had to be re-profiled from 2009/10 due to delays in finalising an Agreement with Bournemouth & Poole College regarding dedication of some land to enable the scheme to progress. This scheme, to progress a two-way enhanced bus interchange at the existing Bus Link by the clock tower, is number one priority for enhancement of bus services and will enable westbound buses in North Road to avoid traversing the Civic Centre gyratory, thereby saving several minutes journey time.
ACCESSIBILITY

Safer Routes to School Schemes

Continuation of the programme of schemes to improve and encourage sustainable travel to schools whilst improving all aspects of safety. Budget has been increased this year relative to recent years’ allocation

School Zones/ School 20mph Zones

In accordance with the approved Policy to develop 20mph or School Zones for all schools in the Borough, it is the intention to develop proposals for Stanley Green First and Courthill First. Budget has been increased this year relative to recent years’ allocation

Bus Priority at Signals
Continuing the strategy to encourage more use of public transport, this will enact the bus priority at signals facility which was installed as part of the original RTI programme. Equipment includes detection which gives signal priority to buses which are running behind timetable.
Bus Stop Facilities: Shelters/ kerbs
Ongoing support for public transport within the Quality Partnership arrangement in the form of new bus shelters and raised kerbs for low floor buses.
SW Passenger Transport Information
Ongoing funding towards regional ‘Traveline’ public transport information system specifically identified within the Government LTP allocation.
Cycle facilities - Wimborne Road toucan upgrade
The signalised crossing outside the new police station is to be upgraded to a toucan crossing. In addition, some widening of the footway on the East side of Wimborne Road will be necessary to provide a shared use footway/ cycleway facility. This will extend this route for cyclists across Wimborne Road to Elizabeth Road, and then into the cycle friendly environment of Heckford Park. This would be particularly beneficial for Poole High School pupils.

APPENDIX B

Cycling - Cabot Lane – Creekmoor
Cycle facilities have now been provided on both sides of Cabot Lane, the East side of Waterloo Road and on the footways around Darbys Corner. This proposal is to provide a cycle link between Cabot Lane and Creekmoor Lane.
Cycling - Penn Hill Avenue
A scheme to provide on road cycle lanes on both sides of Penn Hill Avenue has received Committee approval in 2008. It is now intended to implement the scheme as part of planned resurfacing works, together with proposed zebra crossing (subject to approval)
PROW Improvements
In order to encourage walking for recreational, health and commuting purposes the development of a comprehensive footpath network is essential. Public rights of way also provide important links for access to key services such as shops, GPs, schools and leisure services.
A targeted programme is developed from The Rights of Way Improvement Plan and this assesses the needs of different users such as walkers, cyclists, horse riders and people with disabilities to ensure fair and equal access for all.
Pedestrian Facilities - Crossings
Implementing pedestrian refuges, zebra crossings and signal controlled facilities across the Borough as part of a prioritised programme of works. Budget has been increased this year relative to recent years’ allocation. Subject to approval proposed crossing at Penn Hill will be first priority
Pedestrian Facilities - Dropped Crossings
A large number of requests are received each year for dropped crossings to be installed at various locations – normally at junctions. This is particularly important for those mobility impaired drivers of motorised scooters. All the requests received are prioritised and a small number installed each year. Budget has been increased this year relative to recent years’ allocation
Pedestrian Facilities – Shah of Persia
There have been requests for better pedestrian facilities at The Shah junction. While it has not been possible to develop any options within existing arrangements, but with the benefit of the traffic model it is anticipated that it will be possible to achieve the aims by considered banned traffic movements at the junction. Funding this year is for design costs only

ROAD SAFETY

Road Safety Strategy

The investigation and potential delivery of schemes that will reduce casualties in line with the Road Safety Strategy whilst delivering LTP Targets.

Speed Limit Review

The final phase of the Speed Limit Review was approved by this Committee at the meeting of 7 January 2010. The proposed changes to speed limits are now being advertised and, subject to approval, the changes will be implemented.

APPENDIX B

MAJOR DEVELOPER CONTRIBUTIONS

Yarrow Road/Fancy Road Link
A Pedestrian/Cycle link from Yarrow Rd, Mannings Heath up a hill to Fancy Road that will also provide a viewing/resting platform as the gradient will be steep.

HIGHWAY MAINTENANCE PROGRAMME

Highway Maintenance
Ongoing programme of major reconstruction and resurfacing schemes surveyed and prioritised in accordance with nationally developed techniques to maintain highway assets in most cost effective way.
Bridge Maintenance
Ongoing programme of repair and strengthening of surveyed and prioritised structures in accordance with nationally developed techniques to maintain highway assets in most cost effective way. This will include further remedial work at Canford Bridge, the costs of which will be shared with Dorset CC, as well as further work to Towngate Bridge and Canford Suspension Bridge.
Street Lighting Replacement
Ongoing programme of replacement of structurally defective columns, prioritised on basis of risk assessment. Replacement costs approx. £1,000 per column.
OTHER SCHEMES
Replacement of on street Pay and Display Machines
Continuing the contract to replace Pay & Display machines in surface car parks and on street. The contract was due to commence at the end of the 2009/10 financial year, with completion early in 2010/11

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