Written evidence from Hampshire County
Council (TE 75)
1. Hampshire County Council is working hard to
maintaining a thriving Hampshire with strong economic growth.
As a local authority responsible for the transport network it
is clear to us that a strong and effective transport system helps
to support economic growth within Hampshire, through the provision
of a well-maintained and well-managed transport network (which
functions as the arteries of the County for movement of people
and goods), by connecting employment centres to labour markets.
Therefore we consider this Inquiry to be both important and timely.
Have the UK's economic conditions materially changed
since the Eddington Transport Study and, if so, does this affect
the relationship between transport spending and UK economic growth?
2. Despite the economic downturn the County Council
believes that the key principles and issues that underpinned the
Eddington Transport Study still hold firm. There remains a need
to accommodate growth in the future and the County Council remains
committed to supporting and developing transport infrastructure
that encourages growth, as local solutions are essential if sustained
economic growth is to be achieved.
3. To maintain national economic competitiveness
in global terms, a strong economy in the South East remains pivotal
to achieve this for the whole country. It is vital that the South
East is not starved of investment in transport, as this will have
negative impacts and implications upon the economy across the
whole country.
4. Priority needs to given to maintaining investment
in the highway and transport asset to ensure a safe, well-maintained
and managed network, that is resilient to extreme climate and
traffic-related events and supports the reliable movement of people
and goods.
5. Within Hampshire there remains a need to
provide a well-connected transport network that links employment
and business centres with labour markets and that ensures reliable
access to and from international gateway ports and airports.
6. The economic downturn has resulted in a fall
in traffic volumes on both strategic and local roads. The extent
to which this has been experienced differs across the County.
The fall in traffic volume has resulted in improvements in journey
times, with congestion decreasing. Nevertheless it is important
that efforts in this area do not diminish and that the likely
temporary fall in congestion does not provide the false hope that
congestion on our roads will not get worse.
What type of transport spending should be prioritised,
in the context of an overall spending reduction, in order best
to support regional and national economic growth?
7. It is clear that the dominant feature of the
transport landscape over the next few years will be the substantial
reductions in available funding from all sources, especially for
capital schemes traditionally funded by central Government. In
the short term it is perhaps inevitable that essential tasks such
as highway maintenance will consume a higher proportion of available
funding. However, if capital funding is constrained too much the
effects of significant reductions will be felt for many years
as the system catches up with what is likely to be years of national
under investment.
8. Therefore whilst revenue funding will probably
need to take up the greater balance of revenue and capital expenditure
in the short term, capital expenditure must not be reduced too
much.
9. The importance of maintenance has recently
been emphasised by the severe weather during the 2009-10 winter,
which had a devastating effect on the condition of Hampshire's
roads and created a significant problem in terms of highway maintenance.
As well as routine repairs to the network, there is a need to
deliver greater climate resilience (to flooding and heat as well
as winter conditions) on the County's roads. The importance of
highway maintenance is consistently reinforced by customer surveys.
The County Council has recognised that this has to be addressed;
and hence has determined that maintaining the highway asset must
be the single highest priority.
10. However it is vital that existing transport
network are effectively managed, by minimising unnecessary congestion
and works to continue to improve its efficiency of operation.
In particular there is a need to offer more certainty and predictability
about journey times, which can otherwise have a significant cost
to the economy.
11. It is also important to tackle transport
challenges through investment across a range of policy areas.
For example, the emerging Partnership for Urban South Hampshire
(PUSH) draft Economic Development Strategy has identified a number
of sectors that are highly specialised in the South of Hampshire
and offer opportunities to attract further growth and investment
(Advanced Manufacturing, Aerospace, Marine, Financial and Business
services, creative, transport and logistics, and environment technologies).
A focus on developing the skills required to support these growth
sectors and existing sectors through the education system could
- in time - ease transport challenges such as congestion and air
quality by reducing the need to import labour.
How should the balance between revenue and capital
expenditure be altered?
12. The financial constraints in the short to
medium term will necessitate a shift away from the delivery of
major new transport infrastructure, such as new road schemes,
in favour of maintenance and better management and use of the
existing transport network. To achieve this, maximising levels
of revenue funding will be of paramount importance.
13. Traditionally Government funding initiatives
have been primarily capital funding. However, It is hoped that
proposed new initiatives such as the Regional Growth Fund or Local
Sustainable Transport Fund, whilst offering potential to deliver
measures which require capital investment, will also be able to
provide a revenue funding stream. This is essential to help ensure
comprehensive and effective local strategies are developed, since
significant revenue funding will be integral to their success.
Are the current methods for assessing proposed
transport schemes satisfactory?
14. Local scheme prioritisation and assessment
is rightly carried out at a local level by individual transport
authorities and this approach should be maintained. The County
Council is able to provide clarity about what it takes into account
when formulating a prioritised list of schemes for inclusion within
the Local Transport Plan and capital programme. The "Big
Society/ localism and decentralisation agendas encourage decisions
to be taken at a local level, and in a clear, transparent way.
This can be met by the County Council's approach to prioritisation
of schemes.
15. There is currently a lack of clarity as to
what will replace the Regional Funding Allocation system, for
investment priorities for the South East region, especially with
the suspension of non-contracted expenditure, pending the conclusion
of the Comprehensive Spending Review.
16. Existing sub-regional partnerships can have
a key role in bringing together potentially fragmented funding
from the private sector. The County Council can work with a wide
range of private sector organisations, for example via Hampshire
Economic Partnership, or potentially the proposed Local Enterprise
Partnerships, to consider priorities.
How will schemes be planned in the absence of
regional bodies and following the revocation and abolition of
regional spatial strategies?
17. With the removal of the regional tier of
government and the revocation of the South East Plan, upper tier
authorities are in a position to take on an increasing role and
responsibilities in sub-national planning.
18. As highlighted in the evidence recently submitted
to Select Committee Inquiry into the Abolition of Regional Strategies,
Hampshire County Council's view is that the county level is the
most appropriate scale at which to undertake strategic planning,
that planning at regional level by unelected bodies does not reflect
the aspirations of local communities and does not deliver on the
ground. The County Council therefore welcomes the abolition of
Regional Strategies but does believe there is a need for a level
of strategic planning between the national and local level. County
and unitary councils are in the ideal position to take on this
role and we would urge the Committee to include a recommendation
of this sort in its report to Parliament.
19. Greater business involvement in shaping the
development strategies for an area is to be welcomed and there
is also clearly potential for Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs)
to have a role in scheme planning and to work with transport providers
to deliver new infrastructure. However the County Council has
reservations about LEPs being directly given any planning functions,
at least until there is greater clarity on the way LEPs are to
be developed and will operate in practise.
20. LEPs could usefully identify the planning
approach which they feel is needed to maximise economic growth
and could champion this during the formulation of planning documents.
However, the local authority should remain the accountable body,
with decisions on which planning policies to adopt, resting with
elected local councillors who need to take account of other considerations
(environmental constraints, public opinion etc.) in reaching planning
decisions.
September 2010
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