Memorandum from the West of England Partnership

 

 

Summary

 

· Funding shortfall to deliver Regional Spatial Strategy and Greater Bristol Strategic Transport Study

· Priorities to reflect Delivering a Sustainable Transport Strategy and major Strategically Significant Cities and Towns

· Regional Funding Advice 2 over subscribed

· West of England Multi Area Agreement to speed up delivery

· Rapid transit, public transport and rail schemes promoted in the West of England

· Need for regional steer on transport issues

 

West of England Partnership

 

1. With a population of 1 million, the West of England is a prosperous area with an excellent quality of life and a growing national and international profile. Rapid growth, however, means that the sub-region faces increasing pressure on its infrastructure, and it is still the case that there are too many neighbourhoods which do not share in this prosperity.

2. The West of England Partnership was formed in response to these opportunities and challenges. It consists of four unitary authorities - Bath and North East Somerset, Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire - and a range of social, economic and environmental partners.

 

Transport Provision in the South West

 

3. Whilst we welcome the funding allocated for transport schemes in the West of England sub-region through the Regional Funding Advice 2 (RFA2) we remain concerned that this falls short of the levels required to implement the Greater Bristol Strategic Transport Study (June 2006). This study set out £1.1 billion worth of proposals to tackle transport issues up to 2031. It was based around housing and employment figures set out in the draft Regional Spatial Strategy (RSS). These have since been increased by both the Examination in Public (EIP) Panel Report (January 2008) and the Secretary of State's proposed changes (July 2008) to 138,000 new households and jobs by 2026. We await the Government's publication of the final Regional Spatial Strategy. The expected increase in housing and employment levels appears to take no account of the additional infrastructure required.

 

Priorities for improvement

 

4. Priorities should reflect the importance of the major Strategically Significant Cities and Towns and the five key goals of the Delivering a Sustainable Transport Strategy. In turn these should form the basis for the Regional Transport Strategy.

 

Costs and affordability of improvements

 

5. The RFA2 process (2014 to 2019) was oversubscribed leading to some schemes being delayed until towards the end of the RFA2 time period and continuing into RFA3 (2019 to 2026). There remains a 20% overspend on the allocation for RFA2. New schemes will undoubtedly be added to RFA3. All this raises issues over the affordability, given current funding levels, of the programme of schemes.

 

Effective and appropriate

 

6. The South West's current arrangements for prioritising schemes through the RFA2 process encouraged discussion and enabled agreement to be reached on a final list reflecting the varying needs of the region.

 

7. Final approval and funding for major schemes bids still rest with the Department for Transport. In this respect the Department for Transport's proposed 'lighter touch' for appraising major scheme bids will help to speed up the approval and implementation process. The West of England's Multi Area Agreement includes the North Fringe to Hengrove Package as a pilot for this new approach along with memorandums of understanding with rail operators and the Highways Agency and closer working with the Department for Transport on rail issues.

 

Environmentally friendly

 

8. Environmentally friendly transport is key to the West of England's RFA2 list of schemes. Proposals include rapid transit routes, packages of public transport measures in Bath and Weston-super-Mare, reopening the Portishead railway line and the Greater Bristol Metro for half hourly cross city train services.

 

9. For the south west as a whole there is some concern that a pre-occupation with the Second Strategic Route is in danger of skewing decision making away from more environmentally friendly transport. The EIP Panel Report and the Secretary of State's proposed changes for the RSS both ruled out the need for a Second Strategic Route.

 

Regional bodies

 

10. There is a strong need for a regional steer on transport issues, particularly major scheme bids. Before the advent of the RFA process major scheme funding was often based on a first come first served basis with little recognition of the growth agenda. There is a need to preserve the best aspects of the RFA process particularly in bringing greater clarity to scheme selection, reflecting the Regional Spatial Strategy, and certainty of funding. We would not like to see a return to the first come first served approach of former years.

 

16 July 2009