Local Transport Plan 1

1. Introduction

The Local Transport Plan (LTP) sets out the integrated transport strategy for Bedfordshire and was prepared following publication of the Government's White Paper on Transport "A New Deal for Transport-Better for Everyone" Department for Transport. The Plan considers all modes of transport and covers the whole of Bedfordshire excluding Dunstable and Houghton Regis. Within this area transport issues are discussed under the themes of Bedford/Kempston, the Market Towns and the Rural areas. A Local Transport Plan covering the Luton, Dunstable and Houghton Regis area has been prepared jointly with Luton Borough Council, to deliver an integrated strategy covering the whole of the conurbation. This summary gives an overview of the full Bedford, Market Towns and Rural LTP, which can also be accessed from here.

 The general aims of the Plan are to:

•  Promote sustainable transport - which means having a transport system which helps provide more prosperity and jobs, tackles social exclusion; and one that doesn't harm people's health and supports a better quality of life, and
   
• Provide safe and integrated transport networks, which encourage people to choose public transport, to walk and cycle - because it becomes more convenient and safer to do so.

To develop the Plan and to decide which issues it should consider local people, local authorities, transport providers and operators, and local transport and environmental groups have been involved in consultations leading up to the production of both the provisional and full Plans.

This full Plan submission will be used by the Department of Environment Transport and the Regions (DETR) to decide the financial resources to be allocated for local transport in 2001/02 and also to indicate the likely level of resources for the following four years. These indicative allocations will be reviewed annually during the five years of the LTP on the basis of performance and availability of resources. To assist this process, Government will require the production of an Annual Local Performance Plan (ALPP) from 2001 onwards. This will report on actual spending and progress towards achieving the objectives and targets defined in the LTP. This annual review also provides an opportunity for the Plan to be reviewed if necessary. 

2. Context and Objectives

The national policy background to Local Transport Plans is provided by the Government's White Paper on the future of transport, "A New Deal for Transport: Better for Everyone", its "daughter documents" and other policy statements subsequently produced by DETR to develop its ideas in different topic areas. The guidance for Local Transport Plans makes it clear that they should support the Government's five over-arching objectives for transport, which are:

• to protect and enhance the built and natural environment;
• to improve safety for all travellers;
• to contribute to an efficient economy, and to support sustainable economic growth in appropriate locations;
• to promote accessibility to everyday facilities for all, especially those without a car; and
• to promote the integration of all forms of transport and land use planning, leading to a better, more efficient transport system.

Bedfordshire's Community Vision

The LTP is prepared in the context of County Council modernisation and the aim of achieving best value by reviewing performance in providing services. The Council's approach to these is set out in the Best Value Performance Plan (BVPP) for 2000 which sets out the Community Vision 'a better place to live and work' and seven objectives suggested by the general public.

 Transport is an important element of all seven objectives. The BVPP also sets out the approach to community planning that has been used to prepare this LTP, which stresses the need to involve the public more by developing consultation mechanisms and keeping the public informed.

All of the aims for transport in Bedfordshire can be summed up in our overall vision of:

'Working together to provide safe and effective transport networks and better travel choices'

3. Problems & Opportunities

Bedfordshire is a small County of 119,220 hectares lying near the boundary between the South East and East Anglia. It has a total population of 377,000, of which about 320,000 live in the Plan area with about 95,000 (or 30%) in the Bedford/Kempston urban area. The five market towns have about 68,000 people between them and Leighton-Linslade with about 33,000 being the largest. The remaining 150,000 or so live in the 112 rural parishes. Recently, population growth has exceeded the average for counties in the South East region and current expectations are for continued growth.

The County lies on a number of nationally important transport routes between the South East and the North including the Midland Main Line, both the East and West Coast Main Lines, both the M1 and A1 and contains the regionally important link between these roads, the A421. At a strategic level, north-south accessibility by road or rail is still generally better than for east-west movements, although corridor improvements of the A507 have improved road accessibility. Past rail closures of rural links in Bedfordshire have had the result that rail accessibility for the rural area is now poor, particularly for east to west travel, and urban employment locations are not therefore easily served by rail from the rural area.

The main transport problems in the County include:

• Extensive daily traffic congestion on routes into towns and elsewhere,
• Poor bus and walk/cycle networks,
• Isolated rural communities dependent on car travel.

Opportunities to tackle these problems include:

• Using new development to help improve conditions,
• Enhancing the availability and quality of public transport,
• More identifiable networks for walking and cycling,
• More effective partnership working.

4. Overall Transport Strategy

The transport strategy for Bedfordshire has three main elements. These are:

• Integrating - making sure planning and action is co-ordinated with other policy areas,
• Improving - action to enhance the quality of transport networks for all means of travel, and
• Managing - maintaining transport infrastructure and ensuring it is used effectively.

The main elements of each of these elements are:

Integrating

• Keeping the planning of development well integrated with transport policy,
• Improve transport policy by better links to issues such as social inclusion, crime and disorder and health.
• Develop action at the local level through local area transport strategies, bringing all aspects of transport together and linking to other local initiatives. Bedford/Kempston has an adopted strategy and those for Leighton and Ampthill/Flitwick are in preparation.
• Develop specific strategies to deal with issues where integration is most needed e.g. Safer Routes to School and Road Safety

Improving

• Develop continuous routes for walking and cycling, particularly in urban areas, but also in and between smaller towns and villages.
• Use the conclusions of the Bedford/Kempston strategy review to improve the bus network, with support for bus/rail integration and improvements to the quality of public transport provision countywide.
• Complete the identified strategic road network projects provisionally accepted in the interim LTP.
• Contribute to the London to South Midlands Study and Regional Transport Strategy.

Managing

• Use parking controls in specific areas to support the overall objectives of reducing traffic congestion and improving the environment, with the Bedford Controlled Parking Zone providing valuable experience.
• Adopt the new national road safety targets as the basis of a new local safety strategy, supported by a programme of traffic management measures primarily aimed at reducing the dominance of motor traffic.
• Work with the freight industry and businesses to examine initiatives that reduce the impact of lorry traffic and improve efficiency.
• Ongoing asset management through maintenance of the local networks on a prioritised basis

5. Implementation

The LTP contains a bid for resources to spend on local transport projects amounting to £46.5m over the five-year LTP period. This planned implementation programme is directed towards the problems and aims described earlier in the LTP.

The programme includes:

1 Strategic and area-wide schemes covering:

• Major schemes over £5m - including Ridgmont bypass, Bedford Western bypass and Linslade Western bypass (around £11.1m total)
• Named Schemes over £250k - including Park and Ride sites and rail improvements (around £6.2m total), and
• Safer Routes to School and Road Safety - covering measures to improve the safety of the road network (around £3.6m over five years) and to improve conditions at and around schools (around £1.5m over five years).

2 Smaller scale improvement schemes

- for walking, cycling and public transport in Bedford and Kempston, the Market Towns and Rural Areas (around £5.2m).

3 Maintenance Projects for:

• Road Carriageways (£5.5m),
• Structures (11.2m total of which £5.5m is to replace Arlesey bridge), and
• Street Lighting (£1m).

In addition, about £1.2m is anticipated to be needed to support the preparation and monitoring of these projects.

The LTP also includes details of an enhanced bid, should the level of resources available locally be greater - as envisaged in the Government's new 10 year Transport Strategy. The enhanced bid takes account of the ability to increase or improve the initiatives being developed and better achieve the overall objectives of the plan.

Particular areas where increased resources will be most effective are:

• The earlier completion and greater extent of continuous cycle route networks,
• Enhanced walking routes and conditions,
• The ability to contribute further in bus quality partnerships,
• Higher quality safety and management schemes with greater attention to environmental enhancements,
• Greater likelihood of improving the condition of road carriageways and lighting, and
• Improved rate of strengthening bridges.

The enhanced bid comes to a total of £55.7m.

6. Appraisal and Performance

An important aspect of the LTP is ensuring appropriate action and progress by:

• Monitoring the use of resources to ensure they are directed to agreed aims and projects,
• Defining, measuring and reporting a set of performance indicators as part of a Best Value approach to show how far objectives are being achieved
• Measuring trends in travel behaviour to identify changes taking place, and
• Overall appraisal of the LTP to predict outcomes and help steer policy and action.

The LTP describes how recent allocations of money have been used and shows the important travel trends in the County. The anticipated impact of the LTP against the five overarching objectives of Government (described above) is also assessed and reported.

The Annual Local Performance Plan will continue to report progress, and the LTP contains the Road Traffic Reduction Report for Bedfordshire, which describes traffic levels, trends and forecasts in more detail.

7. For Further Information

The LTP describes more fully the context for transport issues in Bedfordshire and the approach to dealing with these issues in terms of policy and action. Copies of the document can be purchased from the address below or accessed on the County Council website from the end of September. As is inevitable, a number of local and regional studies and projects are in progress, and strategies will evolve during the life of the plan.

The wider context for delivery of public services is also changing, with increased emphasis on ensuring services are meeting needs effectively. Despite the changes that will occur during the next five years, the LTP probably sets out the clearest framework for consideration of transport issues locally that has ever been produced.

Although a wide range of people and organisations have contributed to this Plan, we are keen to broaden participation and ownership throughout Bedfordshire. If, therefore, you have comments on this Plan please contact us at:

Local Transport Plan
Environmental Strategy
Bedfordshire County Council
County Hall
Bedford
Bedfordshire
MK42 9AP

Email: ltp@bedscc.co.uk|

To read the full copy of the Local Transport Plan for Bedfordshire 2001/2 - 2005/6 please click on the Icon below. The document is saved in PDF format.