Glossary and abbreviations
Glossary
Accessibility Planning and Accessibility Strategy
A method of understanding the links between social exclusion and transport, and of developing transport solutions to reduce social exclusion. The authority’s vision, objectives and work programme for improving accessibility is evidence based and developed in the context of wider policy.
Airport White Paper
In December 2003 the Government published its White Paper "The Future of Air Transport". This sets out the framework for the future development of air transport in the U.K. It also seeks to balance the economic benefits that development offers against the environmental impact.
Air Quality Management Area / Air Quality Action Plan
AQMA’s are areas that have been declared as hot spots where levels of air quality will not reach national air quality objectives they are put in place to protect human health and the environment. Air Quality action plans will then be established by local authorities to improve the air quality in that area.
Area Frameworks
Area studies based on future land use planning and transport needs on the basis of (usually) large scale future development. To date, Area Frameworks have been carried out for Biggleswade and Leighton Buzzard with the involvement of local stakeholders.
Asset Management Plan / Transport Asset Management
Asset Management plans set out information needed and criteria used to make decisions on spending priorities for improving the road network. They are linked to those of other local authorities.
Baseline
A collection of data setting out a statistical summary of current conditions that can be used to inform predictions or targets for the future.
Bedford Growth Partnership
A partnership (‘Local Delivery Vehicle’ – see below) for the Bedford area that will deliver the MKSM Sub Regional Strategy. It will deliver new housing, infrastructure, jobs etc. and build on the progress that has already been made.
Bedfordshire
Unless indicated otherwise ‘Bedfordshire’ refers to the administrative area in which Bedfordshire County Council has competence and does not relate to the county in its geographic sense. Therefore areas such as Luton are not included in this meaning.
Bedfordshire Highways
From October 2005, the arrangements for managing and improving local transport moved from a complex series of partnerships to a single partner. This arrangement will improve the efficiency of procuring and delivering local projects.
Bedfordshire Local Authority Design Forum
A regular liaison meeting between the Districts Councils, the local police and the County Council with representatives from engineers, architects and planners. The group meets to consider Design Guides in order to achieve a consistent approach with respect to new development across the County.
Best Value Performance Indicators (BVPI)
These are indicators by which the Council’s performance can be measured and compared nationally.
Bus priority measures
Bus priority measures are a way of helping buses move around quickly and easily. They can include dedicated lanes, priority space at intersections, bus phases at signals, and more and better facilities along routes and at bus stations.
Climate change / greenhouse gasses
The threat to global climatic stability posed by the observed increase in concentrations of greenhouse gases, principally carbon dioxide and methane, in the atmosphere.
Community Rail Partnership
CRPs bring together partners from different sectors and purposes to provide social, economic and environmental benefits to communities served by specific rail services, often in rural areas. The partnerships generally exist on rail routes which are unlikely to attract major investment from the rail industry.
Community Strategy
A strategy developed by the Local Strategic Forum which consists of local government, health, community and business bodies working together to address policy in an integrated way and deliver improved quality of life for local people.
Comprehensive Performance Assessment
CPA is administered by the Audit Commission and measures local authority performance in an effort to ensure that services are delivered and resources are spent efficiently (see ‘Best Value Performance Indicators’ above).
Congestion hotspot
A particular part of the road network where the flow of vehicles is limited, often at certain times of day, due to high volumes of traffic.
Corporate Plan
A plan setting out the local authority’s key priorities, objectives and targets for the future and how these will be met.
Decriminalised parking
The transfer of responsibility for enforcing certain parking controls which apply to the public highway from the Police to the local highway authority. Once the cost of operating the scheme has been met any remaining income (such as from parking tickets) is used for improving local transport.
Demand management measures
Measures put in place to reduce use of private vehicles alongside measures to provide quality alternatives to the car. The measures may encourage voluntary change or they may involve financial or restrictive techniques for achieving change in travel patterns.
Demand Responsive Transport
Flexible bus transport that uses computer systems to assist operators in managing non-timetabled public transport services that respond to users’ needs. Demand responsive transport is a bookable service that combines the flexibility of taxis with the carrying capacity of buses.
East – West Rail
A major project to establish a strategic railway connecting East Anglia with Central, Southern and Western England
Environment Report
A requirement of the SEA legislation. The Environment Report identifies, describes and evaluates the significant effects of the plan on the environment.
Health Impact Assessment
Health Impact Assessments are a combination of procedures by which a policy or strategy may be judged as to its potential effects on the health of a population, and the distribution of those effects within the population.
Highways Agency
An executive agency of the Department for Transport with responsibility for Motorways and Trunk Roads.
Home Zone
A home zone is a street or group of streets designed in such a way as to improve the experience of local people dwelling, walking and cycling there and thus increase the social use of such spaces. Local people should be closely involved in the design work.
Indicator
A measure of change in a certain variable(s) over time often used to track the achievement of specific objectives.
Integrated Funding
This element of LTP funding is allocated to improvement schemes, such as safety schemes, public transport and cycling, as opposed to the “Maintenance” funding allocation which is for the structural repair of roads and bridges (see below).
Integrated Regional Strategy
The IRS has been prepared by the East of England Regional Assembly and its partners to integrate the key messages, themes and linkages from the regional strategies.
Land Use Planning
An assessment of the physical, social and economic factors that encourages the best use of land in order to increase productivity and increase sustainability.
Local Development Framework
A portfolio of planning policy documents that will provide a framework for meeting the community’s economic, social, and environmental aims.
Local Strategic Forum/ Partnership
A local partnership including health, police, learning and skills council, environment, fire and rescue, employment and business, voluntary and community representations. Its aim is working towards sustainable development by improving quality of life for Bedfordshire’s residents and businesses, often via a ‘Community Strategy’ (see above).
Modal shift
Overall change in use between different modes of transport for the movement of people or goods.
Multi Modal Studies / LondonSouth MidlandsMulti Modal Study
Studies commissioned by the government to examine problems relating to transport within a particular area and suggest appropriate measures for addressing those problems.
Peak hour flows / peak spreading
Peak hour flows are the a.m. and p.m. hours when volumes of traffic are at their highest.
Permeability
The extent to which an environment allows people a choice of access through it.
Personalised travel planning / Personalise journey planning
Personalised travel planning is the development of personalised information for the individual based on their lifestyle and travel patterns which enable them to make more informed decisions about their travel for various purposes. Personalised journey planning is similar but usually relates to various people travelling to a specific destination.
Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004
Act of Parliament which abolished Structure Plans and replaced them with Regional Spatial Strategies (see below).
Planning Policy Guidance Note 13 (Transport)
Sets out Government guidance on transport policy in a land use context.
Primary route network
A highway network defined by the government including all trunk roads and some major local authority roads chosen using a set of published criteria to provide links between major settlements.
Quality Bus Partnerships
Partnership between bus operators and other organisations such as local authorities to provide enhanced levels of service and increase their use.
Quality of Life (QOL) Issues
Issues which have traditionally been difficult to measure in any quantifiable way, such as the quality of public open spaces, community safety, noise disturbance, etc. The impact of LTP policies on QOL issues will be examined in the Strategic Environmental Assessment, Environment Report.
Real Time Information
Computing systems that are able to deal with and use new information immediately and therefore influence or direct the actions of the agents supplying or receiving that information e.g. real-time information at bus stops can show bus cancellations/delays to passengers waiting for a service at that stop.
Regional Economic Strategy (RES)
Sets out how sustainable economic growth can be achieved. The RES should sit within the spatial planning framework provided by the RSS.
Regional Interchange Centre (RIC)
As identified in the RTS (see below). RICs are identified on the basis of the following key transport characteristics: access to mainline railways; being served by interurban bus / coach links; major public transport hubs with strong sub regional bus networks; and international airports serving domestic and international destinations.
Regional Planning Assessment
Provide a level of rail planning below the Strategic Plan, over the medium to longer term (5 – 20 years). They will consider the function of the railway within current and future land use and transport systems, and in the wider economic context.
Regional Spatial Strategy (RSS)
In the case of Bedfordshire the relevant RSS is currently in draft form and contains a core spatial strategy, policies relating to sub regions and sub areas, policies relating to specific topics and activities (e.g. environment, transport, retail, housing) and policies for implementation measuring whether the strategy is meeting its objectives.
Regional Transport Strategy (RTS)
Closely related to the RSS the draft RTS contains transport proposals for the East of England. Its main purpose is to improve the accessibility of jobs, services and leisure whilst reducing the need to travel, minimising the environmental impact of travel and improving safety and security.
Regional Transport Board
Pilot scheme from 2004, the board includes representatives from South East England Assembly, representatives from business, environmental and voluntary sectors. The board carried out studies to assess how well regional transport strategies integrate with regional spatial, economic and housing strategies.
Rights of Way Improvement Plan
A plan that assesses the extent to which rights of way meet the present and future needs of the public and contains proposed actions by local authorities on the management of the local rights of way network.
Road Safety Strategy
Provides a framework containing proposals to improve road safety through schemes such as embedding a road safety ethos, safer road environments, educating road users and speed management.
Route Utilisation Strategy
The Strategic Rail Authority’s Midland Mainline Route Utilisation Strategy is a strategy designed to provide a planning framework on one of the busiest rail lines. Its purpose is to deliver major improvements in performance and capacity without the need for infrastructure changes.
Shared Priorities
Shared priorities are agreed by central and local government and identify issues where central government, local councils and other organisations must work together to improve the quality of people’s lives.
Smarter Choices
Approaches to changing attitudes and travel behaviour through voluntary means using packages of information, marketing and technology. They can be applied to new and existing development, schools, a range of employment locations and all other major traffic generators.
Social exclusion
The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister states that social exclusion occurs when people or places suffer from a series of problems such as unemployment, low income, poor skills, poor housing, high crime, ill health and family breakdowns. When these problems are combined together it can create a vicious circle.
Soft measures
Soft measures can create significant shift in travel patterns. They can include the introduction of travel plans, car sharing and individual marketing programmes for example.
Strategic Environmental Assessment
SEA is a systematic process for evaluating and anticipating the environmental consequences of decisions prior to the adoption of a set of policies or a plan within the setting of the European Directive 2001/42/EC. The UK SEA Regulations were published in July 2004 and provide the legislative mechanism for transposing the Directive into UK law.
Strategic / local road network
See Figure 3.5. For LTP purposes, the strategic network consists of the Motorway, Trunk and key strategic routes. All other routes form the ‘local network’. However, different service areas may use different definitions.
Sub regional spatial strategies
Strategies which require cooperation between local authorities and other agencies across administrative boundaries, often across regional boundaries. Bedford and Luton Growth Area is part of the Milton Keynes South Midlands sub region.
Surface access strategy
The study of the impact of traffic and transport generated by an airport, whether for freight, goods or people.
Sustainable Communities
The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister defines sustainable communities as places where people want to live and work, now and in the future. They will meet the diverse needs of existing and future residents, will be sensitive to the environment and contribute to a higher quality of life. They will be safe and inclusive, well planned, well built and well run and offer equality of opportunity and good services for all.
Sustainable Development
Development which meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. The foregoing is usually called the ‘Brundtland definition’.
Targets
An objective whose achievement can be measured quantitatively.
Thameslink 2000
Thameslink 2000 will extend and enhance London’s North/South Thameslink rail route. It aims to improve rail transport through London and the South East to serve a much wider area and reduce congestion on public transport.
Traffic Manager
As part of the Network Management Duty, Bedfordshire has appointed a Traffic Manager with responsibility for ensuring that the Local Transport Authority fulfils its duties.
Transforming Bedfordshire
The process of creating a new vision for Bedfordshire. A programme of improvements to be implemented by Bedfordshire County Council to accelerate the rate of change and deliver better performance.
Transport Design Guide
Guidance to developers on how best to provide transport facilities to meet the needs of their development.
Transport Innovation Fund (TIF)
A new Central Government fund to support additional and coherent transport measures.
Travel Plans
Travel plans include a variety of measures aimed at promoting sustainable travel within an organisation, or at a specific location with an emphasis on changing travel behaviour and in particular reducing single occupancy car journeys.
Travelwise
The National TravelWise® Association (NTWA) is a partnership of local authorities and other organisations working together to promote sustainable transport.
Trend / projection
A change over time in a specific variable usually connecting baseline data with a target. Trends are usually retrospective whereas projections attempt to predict the future.
Trip generators
New or existing developments which are likely to generate significant numbers of trips by people – for example, supermarkets, hospitals, colleges, retail parks etc.
Year 2005/06 etc.
In line with Government practice reference is made throughout this document to years in terms of the financial or administrative year rather than calendar year. The year generally runs from the start of April to the end March.
Abbreviations
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ACC APR BLEDP CIF / GAF Defra DfES DfT DH ECM EEDA EERA GDP GIS GNER GO-East GVA HGV HOV ITS JEDS LTA LTP MKSM MML NCN NHS NIRAH NMU NMV NRSWA ODPM PCT PHV RIC STP TOC UTC / UTMC WCM |
Automatic Cycle Count Annual Progress Report Bedfordshire and Luton Economic Development Partnership Community Infrastructure Fund / Growth Area Fund Department for the Environment, Farming and Rural Affairs Department for Education and Science Department for Transport Department for Health East Coast Mainline East of England Development Agency East of England Regional Assembly Gross Domestic Product Geographic Information System Great North Eastern Railway Government Office for the East of England Gross Value Added Heavy Goods Vehicle High Occupancy Vehicle Intelligent Transport Solutions Joint Economic Development Strategy Local Transport Authorities Local Transport Plan Milton Keynes and South Midlands Midland Main Line National Cycle Network National Health Service National Institute for Research into Aquatic Habitats Non motorised users North Marston Vale New Roads and Street Works Act 1991 Office of the Deputy Prime Minister Primary Care Trust Private Hire Vehicles Regional Interchange Centre School Travel Plans Train Operating Companies Urban Traffic Control / Urban Traffic Management Control West Coast Mainline |