Decision Session – Executive Member for Transport	21 September 2021
Report of the Director of Transport, Environment and Planning

Active Travel Programme Update

Summary

1. This report summarises the current position of the ‘Active Travel Programme’ (ATP), which is a subset of the overall ‘Transport Capital Programme’. Annex A provides a summary of the Programme where the projects are grouped into the financial year they are projected to be delivered. The ATP primarily consists of pedestrian and cycling related schemes, with the majority of the projects on the programme being funded by external government grants.

2. Progress against this programme is seen as a high priority by the Executive Member for Transport and the Authority has also received significant pressure from interest groups to make progress on delivery.

3. It is important that stakeholder expectations align as much as is possible with the reality of delivery against the programme, especially when dealing with complex schemes that have a large degree of inherent uncertainty and the milestones in the programme reflect this.

4. The Tadcaster Road scheme to enhance the sustainable transport provision along the corridor as part of a wider maintenance scheme, has recently been out to consultation on the initial design and is referenced later in this report. It is typical of the complexities encountered on this programme.

5. To that end, this report aims to set forth the position with regards to programme delivery to enable the Authority to more effectively engage with stakeholders.

6. The Department for Transport (DfT) has issued formal guidance on cycle infrastructure design. Local Transport Note 1/20 (LTN 1/20) is intended to be used by local authorities during the scheme design stage and includes a wide range of advice on how to implement ‘high quality cycle infrastructure’.

Recommendations

7. The Executive Member is asked to:

1) Note the update on the Active Travel Programme contained within this report and accompanying annexes.

2) Note the issue highlighted on University Road and the current plans to address this issue and agree the delegation to the Director of Environment Transport and Planning to enter into the necessary arrangements with the University subject to advice from the Councils legal officers.

3) Note that a further funding bid has been submitted and we are awaiting the outcome. For those items on the programme where it is noted “subject to successful bid”, these schemes will only be progressed as part of this programme if the bid is successful.

4) Note that Annex A, the programme status summary, will be included in future Capital Monitoring Reports, to provide updates on the status of the programme.

Background

8. Active travel (principally walking and cycling) plays an important role in a modern, sustainable City and for a number of years the City of York has played a nationally significant role in the development of active travel as national strategy has sharpened its focus in this area and through the Department for Transport policy. It is at the apex of the City’s travel hierarchy in Local Transport Plan (LTP) 3 and this will carry through to LTP4.

9. Climate change and carbon reduction ambitions have added further weight of support to drive modal shift from traditional fossil fuel based transport to active travel. With transport activity responsible for approximately a third of the City’s carbon emissions, transferring trips to active modes will form a key part of the Local Transport Plan strategy. The first phase of consultation on LTP4, Carbon Reduction Strategy and Economic Strategy is currently ongoing with the strategies due to be submitted to the Executive in early 2022.

10. Funding has been made available at national (Emergency Active Travel Fund, Active Travel Fund tranche 1 and tranche 2 (decision on award pending), Transforming Cities Fund) and local level (CYC capital programme) to unlock and accelerate infrastructure development, which is a key enabler to this modal shift. In addition, a further bid has been submitted to undertake additional projects. These schemes are shown within Annex A and noted as “subject to successful bid”.

11. An update on the delivery of the Active Travel Fund schemes was provided to the Executive Member on 18 January 2021. This report will provide further information on the progress of the projects and the recent bid submitted to the DfT for further funding.

12. The DfT has moved away from the emergency provision of cycling/walking measures to address the immediate impact of the pandemic through to an approach focussed on quality schemes to deliver the step change in active travel uptake to deliver carbon reduction targets. An essential part of that approach is the need for full consultation with the residents. However we consider that consultation needs to be on a technically viable solution so that the impacts (traffic restrictions (e.g. speed limits), parking changes, road capacity/delays) are fully explained and expectations are not raised beyond what is deliverable. This is a particular challenge for York where road space is at a premium meaning that the development of viable schemes has taken longer than anticipated and there is a risk that acceptable solutions will not be possible at some locations.

13. The Active Travel Programme has an overall indicative value of £3.425m with a budget of £3.155m. Further detail on costs will be confirmed during the development of the schemes and the programme will be adjusted or additional funding sought to enable delivery. It should be noted that the results of the detailed feasibility work may mean that viable solutions may not be possible for some schemes or elements of schemes.

14. A high expectation had been set in terms of delivery and pace from the outset and this meant a number of pieces of work have been initiated in order to seek to understand the scope, the possibilities and identify where delivery could be accelerated with the backdrop of interventions that are complex and contentious where there is competition for existing road space and attempting to secure the resource to meet the expectation.

15. Initial design work has been undertaken for the majority of the Active Travel Fund projects but progress has been hindered by the availability of resources. It is proposed to recruit and commission additional resources to accelerate the delivery of the projects, increase the level of project management resource and review the proposals to focus on delivering phases of the longer projects where appropriate. This is reflected in the programme planning in Annex A.

16. Below is a summary of activity on projects that form the early part of the programme

Navigation Road

17. This scheme aims to support a low-traffic neighbourhood in the Navigation Road area and improve the safety of pedestrians, cyclists and road users travelling between Hungate Bridge, Walmgate and Foss Islands Road as part of the North/South city centre cycle route.

18. As indicated within Annex A, this scheme is currently due for implementation on an experimental basis in October 2021. A full project plan is in place for the scheme and the project team is resourced. A scheme design has been confirmed and an Executive Member decision has been obtained. The project team are in the process of confirming roadspace availability, construction resource, streetworks permits and completing the Experimental TRO processes. Annex B contains the proposed scheme design solution.

A19 Shipton Road

19. This project aims to improve the safety and amenity of cyclist journeys along the A19 from Rawcliffe Bar Park and Ride to Bootham Bar.

20. This scheme is currently in the Feasibility and Preliminary Design stage. The scheme presents a significant design challenge due to the fact that the scope includes several elements that are either costly, controversial, time-consuming, or all three.

21. Changes to traffic signal junctions, reduction of parking spaces, conservation impacts (cobbles), reduced speed limits, and LTN 1/20 implications are some examples of the challenges that the design team face when preparing solutions that can be taken forward to consultation.

22. When the design team have created a preliminary design solution that fulfils the existing brief, a decision will be made on whether or not to progress with this design to consultation, or to redefine the scope to increase the chances of a timely delivery.

23. To enable elements of the scheme to be delivered as early as possible it is proposed to consult and progress the scheme in sections.

Tadcaster Road

24. The aim of this project is to develop the whole corridor to make improvements for cyclists and other sustainable transport modes. This scheme encompasses a number of component projects that have their own complexities. The preliminary design and feasibility is complete and consultation has commenced and is due to be completed in September with a decision following in October.

25.  The ambition is then to start the first phase of construction, a maintenance scheme, in early 2022.

University Road

26. The outline dates of this scheme are highlighted in Annex A, however the following information is available by means of a more detailed update.

27. Early feasibility work and site visits have identified an issue with the footpath along this route caused by existing trees. Officers are of the opinion that irrespective of the outcome of the overall scheme feasibility work, action should be taken to rectify this issue.

28. Preliminary drawings have been created that identify a potential solution to the issue, and these are attached to this report as Annex C.

29. Ward Councillors from the two adjacent wards have indicated that a contribution of £2.5K per ward could be made as a contribution to this scheme and due to the nature of the obstruction of the Highway, officers propose to use the appropriate existing Highway and Transport budgets maintenance budgets to fund the scheme with an indicative overall cost of £30k.

30. The only adjacent land to the current footpath is in the ownership of the University who have indicated they are sympathetic to the proposed scheme but officers will need to enter into temporary arrangements with the University to secure this medium term arrangement with the University. Therefore delegation is sought to the Director of Environment Transport and Planning to enter into the necessary arrangements subject to advice from the Councils legal officers.

Position on LTN 1/20

31. The Department for Transport (DfT) has issued formal guidance on cycle infrastructure design. Local Transport Note 1/20 (LTN 1/20) is intended to be used by local authorities during the scheme design stage and includes a wide range of advice on how to implement ‘high quality cycle infrastructure’.

32. LTN 1/20 provides a proscriptive framework in which designs can work.  It has clear Core Design Principals and evaluation tools included within the guidance which provide the opportunity for designers to review their layouts to determine if they meet the ethos of LTN 1/20. It is appropriate that design decisions remain with the design team, however it introduces a difficulty if some sections of the design are unable to fully meet the criteria outlined. The risks and priorities in every scheme will be discussed when forming the brief with Members.

Consultation

33. Consultation on the programme is critical to ensure effective schemes are delivered to enhance walking and cycling provision whilst minimising any negative impact on the community. Funding is provided by the DfT on the basis that consultation is undertaken on all schemes with the results considered as part of the decisions making process. It is proposed to consult separately on schemes once the necessary technical viability assessment has been undertaken.

34. Consultation with Ward Councillors will be undertaken when developing the Brief for the scheme in the Initiation stage. This may well be an iterative process depending on the complexity of the local issues. Ward Councillors will also consulted during the formal consultation on each project. This proceeds the Executive Member decision.

Options

35. No decisions are required and therefore no options are presented.

Analysis

36. No decisions are required, no options are presented, and therefore there is no analysis of the options.

Council Plan

37. ‘Getting Around Sustainably’ is the core Council Plan objective that is supported by the Active Travel Programme.

Implications

· Financial

There is budget identified to support this programme, subject to the success of outstanding grant funding bids. As the individual schemes are progressed and further cost certainty is achieved, it will be clearer what will be feasible to deliver within the identified budget.

· Human Resources (HR)

In order to fulfil the requirements of the programme, additional resource will be required and this will be secured through recruitment and through drawing down from existing contracts.

· Equalities
Each individual project will be subject to an Equalities Impact Assessment.

· Legal
The primary legal implications of this programme relate to legal traffic regulation orders (TRO’s). There is a well developed process in place to deal with the changing of TRO’s and no specific issues are expected. However, it should be noted that the process itself can be a lengthy one, especially for schemes where there are objections to the proposals, as is anticipated here.

· Crime and Disorder

There are no Crime and Disorder implications.

· Information Technology (IT)

There are no IT implications.

· Property

There are no Property implications.

Risk Management

38. There are no known risks associated with the recommendations in this report.

Contact Details

Author:	Chief Officer Responsible for the report:
Dave Atkinson Head of Programmes and Smart Place Transport 01904 553 481 Christian Wood Smart Transport Programme Manager Transport 01904 551 652	James Gilchrist Director of Transport, Economy and Planning
	Report Approved	√	Date	18.09.21
Wards Affected:					All	X
For further information please contact the author of the report

Background Papers:

none

Annexes

Annex A – Status of Active Travel Programme v1.11 13092021

Annex B – Navigation Road Plug General Arrangement

Annex C – Preliminary Design – University Road Tree Diversion

List of Abbreviations Used in this Report

LTN 1/20 – Local Transport Note 1/20

DfT – Department for Transport

ATP – Active Travel Programme

EATF – Emergency Active Travel Fund