To provide scrutiny the opportunity to review the draft Local Transport Plan.

 

The committee considered a report on the Local Transport Plan (LTP).

 

The slides presented by the Transport Planning Services Manager are outlined below (in italics), with the principal points noted below.

 

A The Transport Planning Services Manager introduced the presentation and welcomed the opportunity to update the committee on the Local Transport Plan.

 

a.1 The Transport Planning Services Manager noted that last year a lot of public engagement was carried out to see what the public wanted focusing on in the Local Transport Plan.

 

a.2 It was noted that the strategies have been split into two parts with one half focused on the city, and the other half focused on the rural market towns as both are unique in terms of their transport networks.

 

a.3 There are three action plans including, 1) the transport network as a whole; 2) the city and; 3) the rural market towns. This will help to put appropriate measures into the appropriate places.

 

a.4 It was added that an internal consultation was carried out with staff prior to going to the public including consultation with planning services, business development services, education etc. to ensure that the offer to the public was appropriate before going out to the public with the draft local transport plan.

 

B The Transport Planning Services Manager presented:

 

Age of respondents

 

b.1 The responses were compared to the demographics of Herefordshire and it was found that there was difficulty with engaging with younger residents. Some additional links have been established with the college to attempt to engage better with younger residents.

 

Transport options

 

b.2 A key question asked was whether people felt that they had good options for transport and the resounding response was no. A key focus of the LTP, therefore, is that those options need to be enhanced.

 

Support for Action Plans

 

b.3 The action plans are a list of projects that have been identified for the city, transport network, and rural market towns.

 

b.4 Overall, people are either very neutral to them or supportive of them. The actual opposition is quite low which helps to reinforce that the decisions taken by officers, reflect the right projects.

 

Priorities on LTP5 objectives

 

b.5 The main trend is that people do not support things like active travel, EV charging, and sustainable ways of transport. Instead, more car-dominant ones are very supported. This is a change to what the government trends are saying and it is important that a balance is struck within the LTP.

 

 

The principal points of the subsequent discussion are summarised below:

 

1. In response to a question about how many responses were received, the Transport Planning Services Manager noted that 110 were received.

 

2. In response to a question about the trend of responses that have been received and whether they will have an impact on the LTP, the Transport Planning Services Manager noted that there would have to be a review and would involve a mixture of whether the council are doing the right engagement with people to explain the benefits of those strategies and whether too much is focused on certain benefits over others. A lot of the strategies are government priorities which means that things such as active travel and EV charging have to be delivered.

 

3. The Chair expressed his disappointment with the lack of responses to the survey and noted his intention to encourage constituents to engage with the survey as much as possible.

 

4. The Transport Planning Services Manager noted that the LTP aligns with the council’s priorities including the declaration of a climate emergency, however, it is limited as to what can be changed within the LTP in line with council policy and strategy.

 

5. In response to a question about whether the Local Transport Plan (LTP) is intended to be considered within the context of the existing local transport strategy, or whether it is being developed independently without reference to an accompanying strategy, the Transport Planning Services Manager noted that the LTP is linked to the housing allocation given previously. Since the LTP was being written, the government have increased those numbers significantly. Rather than delaying the LTP, it has been decided to do an amendment to the LTP once the Local Plan is adopted. Part of that will include monthly meetings with the transport policy and planning teams to consider where the housing allocation is going and how it will operate with the existing infrastructure. A working document will be created highlighting projects that are needed and changes needed to the LTP.

 

6. In response to a question asking why the development of a LTP is not being aligned with the development of the update of the Local Plan, the Transport Planning Services Manager commented that to wait until the Local Plan is finished would incur significant costs on the council as the data for the LTP is time-limited and the council would need to continue to spend significant amounts of money on a document which can instead be amended. It was added that when the Local Plan is adopted with the increase to housing allocation, the LTP should be amended at that point.

 

7. The Cabinet Member Transport and Infrastructure added that there needs to be a LTP in place to ensure that the council is in the right place at the right time.

 

8. In response to a question asking why the LTP is being taken to 2041 instead of 2031, the Transport Planning Services Manager noted that there are fundamental strategies will remain regardless of the housing allocation including safety, reduced carbon, inclusivity etc. so the difference will be the action plans where the projects are placed to align to the future needs of the county.

 

9. The Transport Planning Services Manager added that the decision to split the LTP into two strategies with multiple action plans because what is needed in certain parts of the county is not in other areas.

 

10. Rhiannon Evans (Active Travel England) commented that from Active Travel England’s perspective, it is great to see that active travel is embedded across the objectives including promotion of skills and the economy. It was added that it would be beneficial to see a bit more detail which can help to ensure that schemes are well-used to help achieve active travel objectives.

 

11. In response to a question about the lack of LTN/120 design commitments, the Transport Planning Services Manager noted that there is a guidance a document called LTN/120 which Active Travel England have developed and it gives the local authority guidance as to how local walking and cycling routes should be designed. It was added that as a guidance document, it is not mandatory but linked to that are road safety audits which are mandatory. Following on from the LTP, the Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plan (LCWIP) which will be consulted on later this year and then hopefully be adopted this year which will give more detail on the routes that intend to be developed. Within that document, there will be recommendations on monitoring including LTN compliance and number of modal shift.

 

12. Rhiannon Evans (Active Travel England) added that there is currently a draft version of the rural guidance which the council is commenting on. It was acknowledged that it can be challenging to implement LTN/120 routes, particularly in more rural areas. However, although it is guidance it is a good quality level to aim for because LTN/120 routes can be associated with higher levels of uplift.

 

13. In response to a question about whether Active Travel England would like to see targets in modal shift, Rhiannon Evans (Active Travel England) noted that it would be helpful to have that monitoring and evaluation to monitor and track how effective the council’s schemes are.

 

14. The Transport Planning Services Manager noted that the LTP is a dynamic document whereas the previous one was quite rigid. Instead, this document aligns with the council’s priorities which have been set by cabinet and are what the council have established as its priorities. The current period of consultation allows for any specific objectives and strategies from the previous strategy to potentially be added into the new LTP, subject to review.

 

15. In response to a question regarding the language used in the LTP, the Transport Planning Services Manager explained that the LTP is just one of several key documents that developers must consider, alongside others such as the Local Plan. It was also noted that Active Travel England is a statutory consultee and may provide guidance or raise objections to planning applications that do not align with its objectives. While the language in the LTP could be made more prescriptive, it was cautioned that doing so might inadvertently hinder development or restrict the flexibility needed to address local priorities.

 

16. A committee member expressed concern in relation to the impact of developments particularly on smaller villages in the county.

 

17. In response to a question about when the LTP moves to the next stage and whether there will be dates on all of the proposals, the Transport Planning Services Manager noted that the next stage, post-consultation, is a review of the consultation. If it is felt that the LTP is suitable, potentially with minor amendments, then it is scheduled to go to Cabinet in September for approval and then full council in October for adoption. Once it is adopted, officers will come back with delivery plans and priorities of those projects. A lot will be limited by funding made available and without significant investment from the council itself, a lot of the dates will be fluid dependent on external funding.

 

18. In response to a question about what the 30-minute place is and how they will be prioritised, the Transport Planning Services Manager explained that one of the priorities put forward by the government is infrastructure within a certain timeframe which links in with the council’s growth strategy. As the transport network is developed, it is important that local communities can access facilities and are easily accessible whether by bus or by car in a prescribed time-period.

 

19. In response to a question about how inclusion will be ensured as part of the council’s EV rollout across the county, the Transport Planning Services Manager noted that the government has been supportive of EV charging grants so that they can be located in the rural areas and work is needed to be done to decide exactly where those chargers should be located. EV charging ports are also part of brand-new developments and in some developments, every house has an EV charging port. It also includes working with community groups such as community travel initiatives where they can be supported in either purchasing an EV vehicle or having an EV charger.

 

20. In response to a question about whether an app with timetables has been considered, the Head of Transport and Access Services noted that data should instead be driven through Google Maps rather than building a new app which is cost-inefficient and is used by few people.

 

21. In response to a question about what operational model would be considered in relation to demand-responsive transport (DRT), the Transport Planning Services Manager noted that it would be worthwhile considering what neighbouring authorities have done in relation to DRT and what they found successful and unsuccessful. Shropshire is a relatively comparable authority to Herefordshire and would be a useful model to review.

 

22. In response to a question regarding the conduct and accessibility of strategic environmental assessments, the Transport Planning Services Manager stated that the information would be included in the Cabinet paper and made available online for public viewing.

 

23. The Transport Planning Services Manager stated that a supplementary planning document will be introduced to require developments to implement a travel plan, subject to the criteria established.

 

24. In response to a suggestion about ensuring that all the data is up-to-date which is informing the LTP, the Transport Planning Services Manager explained that since the old LTP was adopted, the council have created a transport model which will flag pinch-points and issues across the county.

 

 

Resolved:

 

1. That the draft Local Transport Plan is reviewed to ensure alignment with existing council plans and strategies.

 

2. That the Local Transport Plan gives particular consideration to the needs of children and young people.

 

3. The duration of the Local Transport Plan is kept in alignment with the Local Plan and Transport Strategy to which it applies - namely 2016-2031.

 

4. Herefordshire Council work to increase the number of residents taking part in the Local Transport Plan consultation as a matter of urgency, extending the consultation deadline to 30 June to all members of the public.

 

5. The policy wording of the Local Transport Plan is tightened to ensure that it is meaningful and capable of being applied.

 

6. The Local Transport Plan recognises the full extent of existing new developments, for example Ledbury, and the infrastructure improvements necessary to accommodate this.

 

7. The Local Transport Plan should include targets for the implementation of active travel measures.

 

8. The Local Transport Plan recognises the inability of the power grid network to meet the needs of fast EV charging point.