MEMORANDUM6 April 2005
______
To:All Members of Transport PanelExecutive Member for Environment
Director of Environment / From:COUNTY SECRETARY’S
DEPARTMENT
Ask for:
Ext:25564
My Ref:AS
Your Ref:
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TRANSPORT PANEL
22 MARCH 2005
NOTES OF PROCEEDINGS
ATTENDANCE
M V Bayes, R S Clements (Chairman), A Dodd, D J Drake, B C Engel,
M Green (substitute), J T Metcalf,B A York.
Also in attendance
D A Ashley (Executive Member for Environment).
Officers
D Humby- Lead Officer (Head of Transportation Planning & Policy) - Environment
C Allen – Smith - Principal Strategy Development Manager – Herts Highways
W Broome- Integrated Transport Services Manager – Environment
J Hayes - Griffin- Assistant Director of Environment (Strategy)
T Hodges- Assistant Engineer (Policy) - Environment
G Hughes - Passenger Transport Policy Manager- Environment
T Mason- Principal Engineer (Policy) - Environment
A Service- Panel Administrator
L Warner- Senior Engineer (Policy) – Environment
K White- Principal Transport Officer - Environment
1.NOTES OF PANEL MEETING HELD ON 15 FEBRUARY 2005
That the Notes of the Panel meeting held on 15 February 2005 be approved as a correct record.
2.MATTERS ARISING
(a) Integrated Highway Works Programme (Note 3 – 15 February 2005)
David Humby advised that the Integrated Highway Works Programme for 2005 / 2006 had been approved.
(b) Bus Network Review – (Note 5 – 15 February 2005)
Dave Humby stated that the Bus Network Review outcomes had been incorporated into the Bus Strategy part of the LTP2 which would be considered at today’s meeting.
(c) Regional Transport Strategy (Note 7 – 15 February 2005)
David Humby advised that the Panel’s recommendations as to what response the Council should make on the Regional Transport Strategy had been considered
by the Structure Plan and Regional Planning Issues Panel, the Cabinet and the full County Council.
(d) Little Hadham Bypass scheme (Note 11 b) – 15 February 2005)
David Humby advised that there was still a considerable amount of information that needed to be compiled prior to a detailed report on the Little Hadham Bypass scheme being ready to be submitted to the Panel.
3.DRAFT LOCAL TRANSPORT PLAN 2006 / 07 – 2010 / 11
Dave Humby and Louise Warner advised on the content of the draft Local Transport Plan [LTP2] for 2006 / 07 – 2010 / 11 which was being formulated in accordance with the guidance issued by the Department for Transport on 8 December 2004.
He advised that the late issue of the guidance had imposed a tight timescale to produce LTP2 which would be put out to public consultation in May 2005 and after taking into account responses received had to be provisionally agreed and submitted by 29 July 2005. He stated that this tight timescale had led to the bulk of the Consultation Draft plus Appendix ‘D’ being issued first, with Appendices A to C being dispatched later.
Copies of an updated Consultation Draft [labelled as Version 2] were circulated at the meeting.
Louise Warner advisedon the format and content of the second five year Local Transport Plan and how it differed to the first five year Plan.
She advised that LTP2 would include the following documents and these drafts would be discussed today : -
- The Local Transport Plan containing the policy context, targets and trajectories and the work programme.
- A Statement on the Rights of Way Improvement Plan – Annex A
- The Strategic Environment Assessment – Strategic Alternatives Assessment
- A supporting Long-Term Strategy document outlining the strategies and
programmes (Appendix A)
- The Bus Strategy (Appendix B)
- The Rail Prospectus (Appendix C)
Furthermore the following Strategies / documents would also support the Local Transport Plan 2 but would be brought to the Panel in July 2005 for approval and will include the following : -
- Road Safety Strategy
- Equality Appraisal
- Accessibility Planning Strategy
- District Borough Council Statements
- Transport Asset Management Plan (TAMP)
Dave Humby advised that officers were due to have a further meeting with GO East / Department for Transport officials in mid April 2005 and this would provide an opportunity to discuss the content of the LTP2 and in particular whether it met the new Guidance issued.
Dave Humby in response to a question advised that a number of the Hertfordshire schemes included in the draft LTP 2 were also included in aCommunity Infrastructure Fund bid. He stated that whilst they were shortlisted there was no guarantee that they would be funded as part of the Regional Plan and consequently still needed to be included in the draft LTP2.
In response to a suggestion that a further question should be added to the consultation exercise asking the public in the longer term i.e 2011 onwards what other schemes they would like planned, Trevor Mason advised that there was already a list of schemes which would be considered for the future which would
be included as a support document to LTP 2.
Trevor Mason advised that the Strategic Environmental Assessment [SEA] was largely a technical document which whilst of interest to Members may not provide data of much practical use to Members and suggested that future documents be sent only to those Members expressing an interest in receiving it [John Metcalf to be sent an E mail version of the SEA] with a copy being made available in the Members Room at County Hall, Hertford.
John Metcalf drew attention to the waiting problems experienced by walkers using pedestrian crossings across roads and the need for further action to minimise these delays for example in Hatfield Road, St Albans and Station Road, Borehamwood.
Vehicles parking on footways was also an issue which warranted attention but by whom was the usual practical difficulty.
In response to a question on the number of Hertfordshire bridges still requiring strengthening, Chris Allen – Smith advised that there were still 8 bridges within the Council’s programme that needed strengthening and they were bridges that Railtrack were responsible for maintaining.
Dave Humby as a consequence of the limited time to consider the full draft LTP, invited Panel members to submit any further comments they may have on the draft LTP 2 by 1 April 2005 in order that they may be considered for inclusion in the draft to be submitted for approval by Cabinet on 18 April 2005.
If necessary Panel members could individually meet with Louise or Dave to talk about the views they would like to make.
The Chairman on behalf of the Panel thanked Louise Warner for the efficient way she had taken the Panel through this considerable document which given the short time she had been undertaking the duties of her new post was an achievement worthy of recognition.
The Panel concluded that
1) subject to the following changes being made, the Cabinet be recommended to approve the draft Local Transport Plan 2 for public consultation purposes :-
a)paras 3.3 [The Regional Planning Context] and 3.4 [Cross Boundary and Sub regional Transport Planning] needs to be re worked and include more reference to London, mention Transport for London
b)para 4.2 [Sustainable Communities] – Park and Ride schemes in Bishop’s Stortford one site known of [David Humby made reference to announcement last week of bids accepted and said the document needs to be less prescriptive and less specific]
c)para 5.2 [Making the Best Use of Existing Infrastructure] emphasis more about the current deficit
d)para 5.3 [Making the Most of Demand Management Measures] – need to make reference / look at parking standards ?- problems spill out to roads adjoining new housing developments
e)para 6.3 targets for indicators BV 199 (x) and BVP 199 (y) should contain the words ‘reduce to {600} and {56}’
f)para 7.2 [Delivering Accessibility] - need to make reference to make provision for the needs of disabled and visually impaired persons
g)para 7.3.3 [Significant Road Safety Policy Issues] - Second sentence of section on Pedestrians needs to be corrected to read ‘Those fatally injured tend to be the elderly, possibly due to their inability to recover.’
h)para 7.5. [Other Quality of Life Issues] – add section to make reference to the fact that speed compliance measures will improve the quality of life of residents and may remove their doubts about the safety of streets to the extent they are content to let their children make greater use of them i.e cycle and or walk to and from school.
i)para 9.1 [Major Schemes] – Little Hadham {add the word} Bypass – Second sentence in fourth line should be ‘Albury Road’ rather than ‘Aldbury Road’
j)Long Term Strategy - para 4.3 [Rural Transport] – The Hertfordshire Forum
‘Agenda for Action, 2005 - ‘ details to be provided of updated Agenda
k)Bus Strategy – para 6.11 [Contract Issues] Comments made on Quality Contracts should be more positive
l)Bus Strategy – para 10 [Bus Priority and Infrastructure] – make more reference to the importance of bus priority measures
m)Bus Strategy – para 14.1 [Rural Themes]- need to supply appropriate information relating to the area and schemes concerned. Also need to target schemes where ‘home and ride’ could be used.
n)Rail Prospectus – para 8 [Access to Stations] – needs to be more robust
and car parking provision at Rail Stations is an important issue
o)Strategic Environmental Assessment - para 4.2 – Tables 4.1 – 4.5 –
Objectives should be numbered to aid clarity
p)all questions to be asked as part of the public consultation appear at the end of the document and cross referenced where the issues are covered in the draft
2)the following points be raised :-
i)para 6.3 target [average condition score for highway network] lower target set as condition worsens no incentive to improve the situation
ii)the current rules for indicators on usage of public transport do not take account of children travelling on dedicated school transport
3) clarification needed to be sought on whether the information incorporated into para 6.3 BV103 [Passenger transport information, user satisfaction] - did not include rail services.
- CONGESTION HOTSPOTS
Trevor Mason gave details of 87 congestion hotspots in Hertfordshire that had already been identified as part of the congestion action plan and strategies that would be developed to address the particular problems posed.
He welcomed Members to put forward any other considered congestion hotspots
in Hertfordshire which were not identified in the report which could then be evaluated as part of the process currently being used.
He stated that guidance was awaited from the Department for Transport before the next stage of the exercise could be undertaken.
Surprise was expressed that information on congested roads had not been received from the emergency services given that journey times were critical in attending incidents quickly.
Doug Drake commented on the recent incidents of closing the M11 due to major accidents which had resulted in congestion on the A10 in particular in Royston
and this could be considered as part of this exercise.
5.COUNTY HALL TRAVEL PLAN
Lilian Goldberg gave details of further progress made with the County Hall, Hertford Travel Plan since its introduction in September 2001.
She stated that there was a need to work with businesses in Hertford as people parked their vehicles in car parks other than their employers and as well as residential streets.
She advised that it was the intention to carry out a new survey in 2005 possibly to all staff [vehicle drivers and non vehicle drivers] to provide an update on staff’s travel patterns and what changes have occurred. Results of the survey would be reported to a subsequent meeting of the Panel.
New initiatives being considered included investigating increasing cycle allowances, interest free travel season ticket loan scheme and give up travel by car one day a week scheme.
It was suggested that a scheme involving daily charging for staff car and van parking at County Hall with weekly refunds to staff who normally drove to work being made which could encourage an increased number of staff to share vehicles and be slightly financially better off for sharing.
The Panel felt that consideration be given to subsidised public transport, making public transport seats more comfortable providing bus shelters protecting bus users from wind and rain etc. bicycle purchase loan schemes with the cost of VAT being removed, car sharing scheme to possibly involve a payment to passengers who choose not to drive.
6.M11 ROUTE MANAGEMENT STRATEGY
Dave Humby gave details on the Highways Agency’s Route Management Strategy for the M11 which had recently been published for public consultation and the Council had been invited to respond to by 17 April 2005.
He stated that whilst no stretch of the M11 ran through Hertfordshire it had connections with a number of major local communities such as Bishop’s Stortford,
villages near to Harlow and provided an access to Stansted Airport.
He advised that the roundabout at Junction 8 which linked to Stansted Airport had traffic light controls, had experienced traffic gridlock problems and had not been assisted by the Motorway Services Area being also located off this roundabout and junction.
The Panel agreed that the Executive Member for Environment be recommended
to include the following points in the Council’s response on the M11 Route Management Strategy :-
‘The M11 is an important route nationally and its operation has a significant impact on roads in Hertfordshire, particularly the A1184 which runs parallel to the motorway between Harlow and Bishop’s Stortford through Sawbridgeworth. The heavy volumes of traffic on this road cause major congestion at times, has an adverse impact on the environment in the towns and makes the operation of public transport inefficient and unreliable.
The operation of the junctions, particularly Junction 8, has a significant impact on access to Bishop’s Stortford and Stansted Airport. Despite the benefits of the opening of the dedicated slip roads from the M11 to the A120 east and Stansted Airport there is still congestion at times on the circulatory roundabout which is a particular problem at the point of access to the Motorway Service Area. The strategy does not include any particular Route Outcome for Junction 8.
Many of the Route Outcomes are generic of the route as a whole and do not identify specific locations where problems exist. For example, further studies need to be carried out to identify locations where accidents occur, particularly whether they are at junctions or on the links between. This information is not dealt with in detail in the strategy document.
The RMS and subsequent Route Management Plan considers issues over the next 10 years. The M11 corridor is in a major growth area and it can be expected that traffic conditions in the corridor will change significantly in the coming years. The Route Outcomes should be sufficiently flexible to respond to the changing circumstances.’
7.DISABILITY SHADOWING EXERCISE
Tina Hodges gave details of a recent shadowing exercise involving the Herts Action for Disability minibus which transported people around Hertfordshire on a dial a ride basis and highlighted shortcomings of roads and facilities in Hertfordshire.
The shadowing exercise was also undertaken by Tony Dodd.
One particular aspect of this charity funded service was the dead mileage when the minibus had no passengers.
She stated that the experiences of the shadowing exercise would be written up and E mailed to Members shortly.
Tina Hodges advised that one further shadowing event was proposed involving a parent with a child in a buggy travelling in Hertford including the Hospital and County Hall.
8.ANY OTHER BUSINESS
None was raised.
9.DATE OF NEXT MEETINGS
The next ordinary meeting of the Panel would be held on Tuesday 19 April 2005
at 10 am.
The next Joint meeting with Hertfordshire District / Borough Councils would be held on Thursday 21 April 2005 at 6.30 pm
Andrew Laycock
County Secretary
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