Agenda item

This report provides an update on York Civic Trust 9 Cities case studies as part of Section 6 of the Trust’s Transport Strategy for York.

In April 2021, York Civic Trust were invited by council officers to research some possible case studies from which the Council might learn in preparing its new Local Transport Plan (LTP4). The Trust selected nine cities from England and continental Europe which share some common characteristics with York in terms of size, geography, economy and history. The overall summary of what the Trust saw as the key messages from the nine case studies was  detailed in Section 6 of their Transport Strategy for York, which was included at Annex 1 of the report and the draft case studies are included at Annexes 2-10 of the report.

In attendance at the meeting from York Civic Trust were Andrew Morrison (Chief Executive Officer) and Professor Anthony May (Chair of our Transport Advisory Group and Environment Committee). Professor May thanked the Committee for their invite to the meeting. He explained the case studies noting that the Trust had offered visits and to work up two or three case studies, which had not been taken forward by the council. He noted the strategic messages from the case studies. Andrew Morrison explained that the request for the case studies came from the council Assistant Director Policy and Strategy as it was linked to engagement in using other cities as case studies which was around transport but not principally around engagement.

In response to questions raised by Members, Professor May and Andrew Morrison explained that:

·        The research was about looking at participation in the broadest sense, starting with the vision then the strategy. Reference was made to the International Association of Public Participation and the levels of engagement detailed by the Association were explained.

·        An integrated approach was needed to all modes of transport and there needed to be a reduction of 15% to be free of congestion and 20% to reduce emissions. This needed to be made attractive and communities needed designing so that there was no need to travel for amenities.

·        Some cities used revenue from road pricing to invest in transport. The Trust said it would be a good idea to commission a study on it. The value of looking at case studies was that those cities had been through the changes and offered a valuable way of learning.

·        Regarding drawing from successful approaches from the nine cities, the Trust had offered to work up two or three case studies. This involved looking at what did work and analysing it in terms of York.

·        Regarding the impact of changes in political administration, an all party informal members group had been formed in 2021 and there would be an election this could be an all party group. It was noted that there were coalitions in European countries and different government structures.

[The Director of Transport, Environment and Planning noted the benefits of getting buy in from residents. He noted the focus on overarching strategy in the transport plan and credited Cllr D’Agorne for setting up the cross party group, which still met. He added that the draft transport strategy was considered by that group before going to Executive].

·        There would be a joint strategy for York and North Yorkshire that would need to be signed off by the new Lord Mayor. Regarding rural North Yorkshire and urban York, there was a need to get a balance and there would be areas of conflicting need which would need to be resolved in advance of March 2024.

·        The Groves scheme had been beneficial to that community and more of that type of scheme would help produce a 20% reduction in emissions. Enforcement models in different cities was discussed.

Resolved: That it be recommended that the Executive Member for Transport work with York Civic Trust and relevant officers on taking the report forward with two or three case studies and focus on building public buy in into medium and long term traffic strategies.

Reason:     To improve public buy in into medium and long term traffic strategies.

The Chair thanked Andrew Morrison and Professor May for attending the meeting and they left the meeting at 18.46.