Agenda item

Considered – Report of Louise Neale, Transport Planning Team Leader, to update on progress with developing a new Local Transport Plan.

Some of the key points highlighted in the report and presentation are as summarised below:

·         The Local Transport Plan (LTP) is a statutory document required of us by the Local Transport Act 2000. The existing LTP was adopted back in 2016, so since 2022 transport planning officers have been working towards a full redevelopment of the plan.

·         Whilst official guidance from the Department for Transport has yet to be published and is unlikely before a General Election, officers have been working on developing the LTP to the best of their knowledge, based on the limited advice coming out of government, and insight from within the transport planning sector. 

·         Public engagement took place in summer 2023 under the ‘Let’s Talk Transport’ banner, with an online survey and public events and meetings held to raise awareness and help people to complete surveys, either online, or on paper form. Almost 5,000 people participated in the public engagement, making it the highest level of response of all the ‘Let’s Talk’ activities so far.

·         There was a general dissatisfaction with transport in North Yorkshire, such as transport choice and the affordability of it, along with issues around road safety and climate change.

·         An improvement to public transport provision came out strongly, along with active travel provision and looking at highway maintenance.

·         A further 100 responses were received to a stakeholder questionnaire, with public transport again seen as a priority. Officers have met with stakeholders on an individual basis to have more detailed discussions.

·         Alongside this, staff sessions to get their views and two sessions with each Area Constituency Committee have also taken place.

·         A Headline Strategic Transport Prospectus is in production along with City of York Council colleagues. It is hoped that this will be ready in time for the election of the new Mayor for York and North Yorkshire in May.

·         The data collected is starting to help formulate policies and strategies.

Following this, comments and questions raised by the committee included:

·         Ensuring reference to equality issues for public transport is included as part of the final LTP document

·         Transport provision in rural areas is addressed within the new LTP and in particular how to support initiatives such as community transport to improve the local offer and provide choice for residents

·         When an operator makes a commercial decision with regard to the operation of bus services, will the development of the Local Transport Plan help to give residents choice for how to try and take some control and influence back.

·         Pavement size and maintenance to be taken into consideration to encourage walking for shorter journeys.

·         Ensuring routes are safe for those riding bikes and trikes, but also making it easier for them to be kept securely when making journeys into town centres or visitor attractions.

·         The Local Transport Plan is required to be an ambitious and aspirational document, so it becomes a business case document and that the different places across North Yorkshire get the efficient transport system required.

·         An appropriate level of funding is required to support this LTP and to match the aspirational nature of the document.

·         It will be key to ensure cross border dialogue is regular and maintained with neighbouring authorities when developing the LTP. In response it was noted that initial meetings have taken place with neighbouring local authorities and combined authorities.

·         It was felt important that there is a strong link with the new Local Plan for North Yorkshire under development and that the new LTP becomes an enabling tool for the future.

A previous proposal to wait until receiving this report before considering whether to set up a working group following the election of the new Mayor for York and North Yorkshire to look at how to establish consistent active travel plans across the county and also link to the Planning work with developing a new Local Plan for North Yorkshire was not taken forward at this meeting. It was to be picked up under the work programme update at the 10 April meeting.

Resolved - That the Committee note the progress report on developing a new Local Transport Plan.