To consider the findings of the Hereford Transport Strategy Review and the Peer Review of the South Wye Transport Package and Hereford Transport Package, recommendations made by the general scrutiny committee and determine any strategy proposals to be taken forward.

The leader of the council opened the discussion on this item, noting that it was eagerly awaited. He highlighted the climate emergency and that consideration of the planet was becoming more and more important. The decision to pause and review the transport strategy was felt to be correct in light of this and the impact of the coronavirus pandemic was a life changing shock which would have significant repercussions. Cabinet members had an important decision to make and should reflect on the ambitions in the adopted County Plan.

The cabinet member infrastructure and transport made an introductory statement. He reflected on the work that had taken place to review the options and find the best way forward. He commended the work and input of all involved and thanked members of the scrutiny committee for their thoughtful deliberations and recommendations. He concluded with an assurance that decisions would be based on sound evidence and made with the intention to deliver the best outcome for the future of the city and county.

The head of transport and access services introduced a presentation by officers. The presentation included comments from the consultant representing Mott Macdonald in relation to the peer review and critical friend work and from WSP in relation to the review of the Hereford Transport Strategy.

Cabinet members discussed the presentation and content of the report. The following key points were noted:

•               The strategic business case for the southern link road had not been submitted to DfT so no formal response had been received on that report;

•               There was an element of uncertainty on costs but the work within package A was scalable and did not have to be delivered all at the same time;

•               The council needed vision led plans for the future to respond to the climate emergency and to make an investment in the city overall, the evidence was now in place to underpin that new vision;

•               The report flagged the number of short trips taken each day within the city boundary, the majority of which were single persons, and reducing that figure would transform the experience of the city;

•               The strategy needed to work for everyone, supporting the economy and levelling up access to affordable and regular transport options for those households that did not have access to private vehicles;

•               There was a typographical error on page 56 of the WSP report (page 176 of the agenda pack) – the eastern link option c would link to the A438 Ledbury Road not Worcester Road as stated;

•               There was support for the introduction of a second river crossing in the city, while the quantitative measures for the western and eastern options were felt to be not dissimilar the cost of the western route was significantly higher in the report;

•               The impact of school travel on congestion was recognised and it was noted that this could be addressed by integrating elements from package B to improve school buses with the elements  ...  view the full minutes text for item 42

To seek the views and invite policy influence from the scrutiny committee on the findings of the Hereford Transport Strategy Review and the Peer Review of the Hereford and South Wye Transport Packages prior to consideration by cabinet.

The Committee was invited to provide its views on the findings of the Hereford Transport Strategy Review and the Peer Review of the Hereford and South Wye Transport Packages prior to consideration by cabinet.

The Head of Transport and Access Services commenced the presentations as published with the agenda papers. Mr M Revill, Regional Director Transport Planning, Mott MacDonald and Mr M Brookes, Director, National and Local Government Services, WSP, delivered their published presentations.

The Committee discussed the report asking a number of questions to which responses were given.

RESOLVED TO RECOMMEND TO THE EXECUTIVE:

That      (a)     more detailed studies are undertaken on the benefits and dis-benefits of traffic light management in more locations in Hereford;

              (b)     as a result of this review, the committee recommends that the cabinet consider ‘weighting of the preferred outcomes’ to help determine the preferred package to take forward;

              (c)     support is given to promoting more ‘park and choose’ options in combination with more investment into public transport options and cycle routes to reduce demand for car journeys into or through the city centre with a particular focus given to the limited transport options currently experienced by Herefordshire’s rural communities and that the executive set up a transport team as a matter of priority to implement the planning of cycling and walking, and that the road schemes are reconfigured to accommodate walking and cycling safely within the city;

              (d)     the cabinet follow up on the suggestion for a ‘River-Bus Service’ in ongoing refinement and review of the Hereford transport package options;

              (e)     consideration is given to a wider, more in depth study, on the transport options that address countywide transport challenges and solutions, not just in Hereford City;

              (f)      cabinet should not feel constrained by having to consider just the package of options that has been presented to them as part of this review.

              (g)     the committee considers that further analysis is undertaken to assess further the mitigation measures of traffic utilising an eastern crossing before the dis-benefits of an eastern crossing rule it out as an option.

              (h)     school travel and transport is given greater priority and that more work is done to undertake survey work with schools and parents to gain a better understanding to what the barriers to uptake of school transport are;

              (i)      carbon offsetting is looked at in relation to offsetting on major infrastructure projects.

              (j)      the impact of assessing routes over other river crossings, in particular, the Bridge Sollars crossing, is built into the analysis of options and packages under review.

              (k)     that the executive abandon the Western Bypass and reject other major road infrastructure schemes, barring only the eastern river crossing option;

              (l)      the executive take a look again at the robustness of the qualitative assessment of the evidence presented;  and

              (m)    Herefordshire Council should immediately implement a well-designed comprehensive safe and attractive network of active travel measures across the entire county to reduce the effect of climate change and the risk of surface flooding.