West of England Partnership Joint Transport Executive Committee 7 December 2011 Agenda item 6 Local Sustainable Transport Fund Purpose 1. To report on progress with the key Commuter Routes Project and to seek approval for the submission of the WEST large Project bid. Background 2. The Local Sustainable Transport Fund (LSTF) provides an opportunity for local transport authorities to bid for funds to bring forward packages of sustainable travel measures with a primary focus of supporting economic growth and reducing carbon. In addition, guidance advises that these packages should seek to address supplementary objectives of tackling problems of air quality, delivering improvements in public health, improving safety, and delivering wider social and economic benefits for communities. 3. The Fund provides a total of 560m over the four year period 2011/12 to 2014/15, split between 210m capital (38% of the Fund) and 350m revenue (62%). Applications to the Fund can either be for small (up to 5m) or large (up to 50m) projects. West of England Applications 4. At the Joint Transport Executive Committee meeting on 4 March 2011 it was agreed that in order to provide the maximum opportunity to secure funding for the area, a joint bid would be made by the authorities for a large project. It was confirmed that this would involve the submission of: A bid for an initial Key Component for 5m of funding through LSTF for the Key Commuter Routes Project focussing on 6 key corridors, and Initial proposals for the remaining elements of the West of England Sustainable Travel (WEST) large project with an additional 25.4m sought through the Fund. 5. Details of the proposals were reported to the Joint Transport Executive Committee on 4 March and 1 July 2011, and the submissions can be viewed at www.travelplus.org.uk. Key Commuter Routes Key Component 6. On 5 July 2011 the Department for Transport (DfT) announced the success of the Key Commuter Routes Key Component bid and the award of full funding of 5m from the LSTF. As reported to the Joint Transport Executive Committee on 1
22 September 2011, work commenced immediately to mobilise to deliver the project and a specific, detailed work programme and governance arrangements have been agreed. The Programme Board has agreed the overall Programme Plan and the operational manual that guides how it is run, and these documents have been shared with the DfT. The plan is now being put into operation with a small, dedicated team based in Bristol and effective virtual team working in place across the West of England. There is a clear and agreed plan as to which authority is leading on which project and the associated finances. Employer Engagement 7. The employer engagement project manager was appointed in October 2011, and the Sustainable Travel Field Team are fully recruited, trained and have already held a number of successful road shows across the area. The West of Englandwide account manager role has been filled, with the successful candidate starting on 8 November. The account manager for Bath and North East Somerset has not yet been appointed, but this is a priority and is expected shortly. 8. Each authority has provided details of their target employers and priority areas, and contact has been made with several key employers. An initial employer engagement plan is now in place, with a more long-term plan in development. We have also identified a number of venues where we can deploy the Roadshow teams during quieter times, and as a last resort only, they will do Personalised Travel Planning in the community through activities such as door-knocking in priority areas. 9. A process is in place for accepting and assessing employer grant applications and in some authorities these are already being assessed. Marketing, Communication and Promotion 10. The Marketing and Communication tranche covers three work packages market research, promotion and communication, and online information. A twostage plan is in place with market research being undertaken over the Winter 2011, and refreshed and evidence-based campaigns during 2012/13. A. Market Research 11. The Market Research project is already well underway with academic research looking at existing literature, plus research projects looking at attitudes to travel and transport and feedback on existing marketing materials. Geographical target group segmenting (Mosaic) will look at socio-demographic population types most likely to respond to switching to alternative/sustainable transport modes. B. Promotion and Communication 12. A number of Promotion and Communication activities are also well underway. At present communication messages are continuing to be promoted through existing channels, such as Travel+, Travel Bristol and Better By Bike whilst we await the market research findings. A significant amount of operational material 2
has been produced for the roadshow team (eg clothing, display stands, business cards, etc). Campaign activities for Autumn/Winter 2011 will focus on the promotion of multiple sustainable transport solutions across the West of England. As the project progresses, individual and more specific transport modes will be targeted. 13. It is planned to revamp the Commuter Challenge to launch on the first day of Spring. There will be a two month build up to recruit participants. The aim of this is to build on, and extend, the Jam Busting June approach, and improve the level of awareness and participation. Promotion for the Sustainable Transport campaign and Commuter Challenge has already started with editorial support in lifestyle magazines and artwork bookings in print publications. Further mass marketing approaches and direct mail will also support this strategy. C. Online information 14. Activities to support online information projects generally require a dedicated technical officer. Recruitment paperwork for this fixed term/secondment post is ready for publication although at the time of writing an offer of capacity from Bristol (and hence budget savings for re-investment) is being investigated. Once this post is resourced, the officer will focus on pulling together a West of England transport website (or set of websites), developing a new car share website and creating online applications for mobile phone technology. Bus Infrastructure 15. This is a relatively small part of the overall programme, mostly concentrated in North Somerset. Two issues that are currently being investigated are (1) whether RTI equipment will be available in time for the end of this financial year from the supplier (for both Bristol and North Somerset) and (2) whether any tenders have been let for the Kick Start new route project in North Somerset. Cycling and Walking Infrastructure 16. Each authority is planning to construct additional infrastructure. At the time of writing there are two significant changes. The route including a bridge in Batheaston is not going to progress as planned in the current financial year, and is therefore going to underspend. Much of this risk has been cancelled out by the ability of Bristol to bring forward improvements to the walking environments on the A38 in Stokes Croft. The rest of this financial profiling risk is being actively managed. West of England Sustainable Travel (WEST) 17. On 3 August 2011 DfT announced that the WEST project had been shortlisted to submit a full business case. DfT commented that the bid was a well targeted proposal focusing on major employment areas, showing genuine private sector involvement. Authorities whose project proposals were shortlisted were asked to submit a business case for submission by 20 December 2011. DfT have issued guidance which sets out the business case requirements which in terms of 3
structure mirrors that of the major schemes, and is built around the five cases - Strategic, Economic, Commercial, Financial and Management. WEST Project Elements 18. The project measures have been developed around three overarching themes supported by ten projects as outlined in the initial proposals. These are listed below and shown in Appendix 1. Theme: Low Carbon Commuting targeting business travel on key commuter corridors and at major employment locations: Key commuter routes - sstrategic routes for walking and cycling, bus priority measures, and environmental improvements on 11 corridors working with key employers and building on the Key Component. Area travel plans - focusing on Bristol Airport, the North Fringe and Portbury/Avonmouth/Severnside. Business travel Potential roll out of fleet management techniques and low emission vehicles supported by electric charging points. Theme: Active and Sustainable Communities - working with local communities to develop bottom up sustainable transport solutions: Local Economic Activity in Urban Areas walking, cycling and street scene improvements supported by promotional campaigns to encourage greater use of local facilities and to connect to commuter routes. Rural links and hubs working with rural communities to develop new services and information from bottom up ideas and solutions. Key centres - focus on Bristol, Bath and Weston-super-Mare centres to deliver public realm improvements and measures to enhance walking, cycling and public transport interchange. Theme: Transitions - focussing on the choices people make as they move school, university, home, or job Move to secondary school - focus on transition from primary to secondary school to embed sustainable travel Preparing for adulthood - focus on transition from Secondary school into work, training or further education. Work with schools, FE colleges and training providers to support access to jobs, training and further education. Universities engaging with students to encourage more sustainable travel, with supporting improvements to cycle facilities and enhanced bus services. 4
New Developments Targeted projects to provide better sustainable travel options for new developments from the outset. 19. WEST is a 42.3m project with 25.4m sought from DfT and the remainder funded locally. It is a mixture of capital and revenue funding (split broadly 45% capital to 55% revenue with respect to the DfT grant) and is planned to be implemented between 2012/13 and 14/15. Engagement on the Development of the Bid 20. In its guidance for the LSTF, the DfT states that it attaches importance to a wide spectrum of community participation in decision making and delivery. To support the development of the WEST bid there has been discussion with a wide range of stakeholders, both individually and via existing networks. In addition two workshops were held in early October specifically focused on gaining local stakeholders views on the emerging proposals for the bid. This has included those representing the business community, sustainable transport and community groups. 21. A strength of the initial proposals was the inclusion of letters of support from a wide range of organisations including the LEP, North Bristol Suscom, The Bristol Port Company, Bath Chamber of Commerce, Bristol Airport, Science Park, Hewlett Packard, GKN Aerospace, Bovis Homes, DHL, First Bus, Wessex Connect, Filton College, UWE, Cater Business Park, University of Bath, Sustrans, Primary Care Trusts, Avon & Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust, Bradley Stoke Community School, Community Partnerships, Banwell Parish Council, Shirehampton Community Action Forum and Greater Bedminster Community Partnership. It is anticipated that letters providing a similar breadth of support will form part of the bid submission. 22. In order to help guide the development and implementation of the Key Commuter Routes and wider WEST project a Stakeholder Advisory Panel has been established which first met on 28 November 2011. This brings together representatives from a range of organisations to advise the Programme Board and act as a critical friend, and to ensure appropriate involvement of stakeholders in the specification and delivery of the project measures. Bid Submission 23. Approval to submit the bid has been sought through the respective processes of each of the Councils via: North Somerset Council Executive 25 October 2011; Bristol City Council Cabinet 24 November 2011; South Gloucestershire Council Executive Member decision 5 December 2011; Bath and North East Somerset Cabinet 7 December 2011. 5
Subject to the above approvals it is proposed to submit the bid by the 20 December deadline. There will then be a period of several months when it is anticipated that DfT will seek further clarification on the detail of the bid before a funding decision is made in June 2012. If successful it is expected that implementation would commence in August 2012. Environmental Impact Assessment 24. Environmental improvement, and in particular carbon reduction, are important objectives of the LSTF. Initial estimates suggest the WEST project will reduce CO 2 emissions by 81,200 tonnes, some 3%, and also deliver benefits in terms of air quality, safety and health benefits. Risk 25. The LSTF is a highly competitive process and there is the chance that the WEST bid submission will be unsuccessful or only funded in part. 26. In terms of the delivery of the Key Commuter Routes project a risk register has been produced which is regularly reported to and reviewed by the Programme Board. 27. For the WEST project, risks surrounding the bid preparation are managed via a risk register regularly reported to the Project Board, whilst a Quantified Risk Assessment (QRA) has been undertaken to assess the financial impact of risks associated with the implementation of the project. Resources (financial and personnel) 28. The local authorities are responsible for underwriting their share of the local contribution identified in the bid which is totals some 10.6m. In addition there are funding contributions which are being provided by third parties ( 6.3m) which form part of the overall project cost but which are not underwritten by the authorities. Each Council s Section 151 officer will sign off the bid. Equalities Implications 29. There are no specific implications arising from the recommendations in this report. Views of Joint Scrutiny Committee 30. The Joint Scrutiny Committee has not met since February and therefore has not had the opportunity to consider the LSTF submissions. Recommendation Members note the progress with the Key Commuter Routes Project and approve the submission of the WEST project bid. 6
Appendices Appendix 1: West of England Sustainable Travel (WEST) Themes and Projects Author Pete Davis, West of England, tel: 0117 903 6867, email: pete.davis@westofengland.org Local Government (Access to Information) Act 1985 Background Papers: None 7
Appendix 1: West of England Sustainable Travel (WEST) Themes and Projects 8