Bedford town centre study

1.   Context

Policy and Previous Work

Bedford is to play a key role in the planning agenda for the East of England. Under both the East of England Plan and the Milton Keynes and South Midlands Sub-Regional Strategy, Bedford and the Northern Marston Vale area is expected to facilitate 19500 new dwellings up until 2021, and 16000 jobs by 2021.

Bedford Borough Council, one of Bedfordshire’s district councils, is currently preparing a new Local Development Framework (LDF), to replace the existing Local Plan, part of which involves an Area Action Plan (AAP) for the Town Centre. Some elements of this work are already well advanced, with some preferred developers and development agreements in place.

Underlying the work on the AAP are a number of other studies, particularly the look at town centre transport issues in the Bedford Town Centre Study (Faber Maunsell, 2003), and the Bedford Town Centre Development Framework (GVA/MVA, 2005). The AAP envisages substantial investment in transport to help raise confidence in Bedford and reclaim its role as the County town. It proposes up to 47,000m² additional comparison retail floor space, and up to 6,000m² convenience floorspace. The AAP will be submitted to the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government in summer 2006.

Bedfordshire County Council is the key player in the transport elements of the AAP, being the Highway Authority for Bedfordshire. In March 2006, the County Council produced its second Local Transport Plan (LTP2), covering the 2006/07 to 2010/11 period. LTP2 is effectively the County’s Transport Strategy for the next 5 years. Elements of LTP2 will have an impact on the work of the AAP, such as proposals for walking, cycling, public transport, and traffic growth.

Further technical work is required to develop the investment strategy. This study will inform that, and develop a policy framework sufficiently to enable these transport improvements to be made, including a Major Scheme bid being made (if justified) through the LTP2 system. This process, being led by a Joint Study Group consisting of Bedfordshire County Council, Bedford Borough Council, and Renaissance Bedford, starts with this study.

The existing transport situation

Traffic

There are two crossings over the River Great Ouse in the town centre. The main crossing, known as the Town Bridge, carries the High Street south to St Mary’s Street towards the St John’s Roundabout. The second crossing is less than 400m to the west, and carries Prebend Street over the river into the town centre. These river crossings, in conjunction with a series of signalised junctions around the town centre, cause significant congestion and delays, especially during peak times. The close proximity of the Prebend Street and Town Bridges means that traffic is particularly severe in a localised area. St Paul’s Square and the High Street are particularly badly affected to the north of the river, while to the south of the river, significant congestion occurs on the one-way system encompassing St John’s Street, Kingsway, and Cauldwell Street, with additional problems on Kempston Road and Britannia Road.

Congestion also occurs on radial routes into the town, with routes such as the A428, B660, A6, A600, and B531 often congested at peak times. The latter 3 routes also add to the problems at Kingsway and Cauldwell Street, as all these routes converge on this area to cross the river. Recent Global Positioning System survey data obtained for LTP2 highlights Bedford’s congestion problems further, with average speeds of slower than 15mph recorded across the urban area.

Traffic is managed in the town centre by way of an Urban Traffic Management System (UTMS) called SCOOT 3.1, which is also used throughout the County. However, this system is more than 10 years old, and Bedfordshire Highways, the agency responsible for most of the highway works in Bedfordshire, is currently looking to replace the system with SCOOT MC3, which is Urban Traffic Management Control (UTMC) compliant. It is hoped that investment in the new system will deliver a range of bus priority tools, an improved traffic control service, and possibly real-time information to road users.

LTP2 contains some challenging targets relating to traffic in Bedfordshire. LTP2 seeks to limit traffic growth generally to 10% (measured in terms of miles travelled) by 2011, but perhaps more relevant to this study is that LTP2 is looking to keep peak period traffic flows into urban centres unchanged. This is even more challenging considering that proposals for the town centre as identified in the AAP will probably increase traffic in the town centre.

Parking

There are a number of public car parks in and around the town centre, which are mainly used by commuters and shoppers for the town centre. The majority of public car parks are owned and managed by Bedford Borough Council, who is the local authority with the responsibility for parking. However, some car parks are operated privately, but are available to use by the general public.

There is a Controlled Parking Zone (CPZ) in and around the town centre, which has improved management of on-street parking. The CPZ stretches from the northern bank of the River Great Ouse north as far as Clapham Road, De Parys Avenue, and St Peters Street, west as far as Sidney Road, Ashburnham Road, and Prebend Street, and east as far as Bushmead Avenue.

Public Transport

Bedford is one of the main hubs of the public transport network in Bedfordshire. The majority of local bus services are provided commercially by Stagecoach Bedford, although some smaller companies do provide specific services. Bedford Bus Station, situated on Greyfriars, is the focus of nearly all interurban bus services in Bedfordshire, as well as the town bus services. These services operate from as frequently as every 15 minutes. Other bus services also have their terminus points around the town centre (e.g. Park and Ride services terminate on River Street).

Nearly all buses approach and leave the bus station by one of two routes. The first route comes from the south along River Street, and the second comes from the north down Greyfriars. Despite some limited bus priority on these routes, there is congestion during the peak periods that impacts on the operation of bus services.

The bus station itself, while its location is excellent, being a short walk away from the town centre, faces a number of issues. The bus station’s design is not one of its stronger points, with criticisms including that the closed nature of the bus station is a threatening environment, especially at night, and the design of the bus station buildings are considered to be poor in appearance. Operationally, the bus station layout is of a ‘sawtooth’ arrangement. This presents difficulties in service operation, as buses have to pull into the bus bays, and then reverse back out again to start their journey. Therefore, the bus station is need of modernisation to meet current operational needs.

Bedford is served by two railway stations, Bedford Midland (known simply as Bedford) and Bedford St Johns. Bedford Midland is the main station, and by far the busier of the two. It is situated on Ashburnham Road about 500 metres west of the bus station. It is the northern terminus of First Capital Connect commuter services to Flitwick, Luton, St Albans, and London (continuing further south to Brighton), operating at a 15 minute frequency for most of the day. It is also served by Midland Mainline Intercity services to Kettering, Leicester, Nottingham and London St Pancras (among others), operating as frequently as every half an hour. Bedford is also the terminus for Silverlink County Marston Vale Line services, which operate hourly services to rural stations in the Marston Vale to its other terminus at Bletchley.

Bedford St Johns is situated 300 metres to the south of the Town Centre near the Bedford South Wing Hospital. It is served by Silverlink Marston Vale Line services at an hourly frequency, that run to Bedford Station to the North, and to rural villages to the South West, eventually terminating at Bletchley.

A key local issue is that there are almost no direct bus links between the bus station and Bedford Midland Station. This is mainly due to the inadequacy of the layout of the station to accommodate buses, and the requirement to re-route bus services in the town centre. There is no easy solution to this issue, and as such requires long term action. This will be one of challenges if Bedford is to adequately satisfy its role in the East of England Plan as a Regional Interchange Centre (RIC) for public transport. This means that public transport facilities to, from, between, and within RICs are to be greatly enhanced to encourage public transport use and traffic management measures should also be implemented in RICs to discourage the use of cars.

A recent addition to the public transport portfolio of Bedford is the opening of a Park and Ride facility at Progress Park, Elstow, on the A6 to the south of the town. Opening in November 2005, it consists of 480 parking spaces and a purpose built waiting facility. Bus priority measures were also delivered on the route into Bedford, the most notable being a new bus lane and priority signalling on Ampthill Road. Buses operate to and from the site from 7am to 7pm Monday to Saturday, at a frequency of 15 minutes (10 minutes in the peak periods). This is a limited stop service, calling at South Wing Hospital, County Hall, Horne Lane, and River Street only.

The Park and Ride is increasing in popularity, with around 190 people using the service every day, and plans are in place in LTP2 to deliver two new Park and Ride sites, one at Biddenham Loop, just off the A428 to the west of the town, and one on the A6 to the north of the town, near to the junction with Cut Throat Lane, the A6, and Clapham Road. The County Council intends to deliver associated bus priority improvements on the radial routes into Bedford to coincide with these new park and ride sites.

LTP2 contains targets relating to public transport usage, which are of relevance to this study. By 2011, the LTP is seeking to increase bus patronage by 15%, and operate 88% of buses on time. While not being the primary means by which these targets will be achieved, with Bedford being the key hub of the public transport network, any future transport works in Bedford Town Centre will be key in achieving these targets. Another key target of LTP2 is that by 2011, patronage on the Park and Ride is to be increased to 469400 trips (1 return trip = 2 trips) per annum. This assumes that the two addition Park and Ride sites mentioned previously are delivered. Any future transport works in Bedford should help facilitate the achievement of this target.

Walking

The streets of Allhallows, Silver Street, Harpur Square, Harpur Street (part), and Midland Road (part) are pedestrianised, providing a wholly-pedestrian access in the main retail shopping area. There are few pedestrian-only links to the town centre, with the main pedestrian access into and around the town centre coming via footways along the main roads.

Cycling

Cycling is a popular activity in Bedford. In recent years, numerous cycle routes have been completed in and around the town, with more being planned over the next 5 years. These routes include National Cycle Route 51, which runs from Sandy through Bedford along the south bank of the River Great Ouse, heading South West through the Marston Vale to Milton Keynes. There is still some local concern over missing linkages in the cycle network, and conflicts with other road users.

Reflecting the popularity of cycling, LTP2 contains targets to increase both off and on highway cycle trips by 22% and 15% respectively by 2011.

Air Quality

Bedford Borough Council recently announced its intention to declare two Air Quality Management Areas (or AQMA’s) in Bedford. One is situated along Prebend Street, and the other is situated on the High Street. Both of these AQMA’s have come about due to EU limits of Nitrogen Dioxide (NO₂) levels frequently being exceeded in these locations. Unsurprisingly, the primary source of these emissions is vehicular traffic in both areas.

Air Quality Action Plans are being developed for both areas, as required under law, and it is anticipated that these will be completed by October 2006. The implications for the highway network in the town centre from these action plans is currently uncertain.

2.   Study Purpose

The overall purpose of this study is to develop the existing policy framework for transport in and around Bedford Town Centre to the stage where specific schemes can be defined and progressed.

We envisage two phases of work:

• Phase 1 will review all relevant information, develop the tools necessary and apply these to provide a preferred transport strategy and robust supporting justification.
• Phase 2 will develop the design and justification of the agreed strategy to enable a major scheme bid to be made through the LTP system.