Worcestershire County Council has a consultation open on its next Local Transport Plan (LPT4). The consultation runs until 17 March 2017.
Select here for the information on the County Council web site.
Our Dinah Sage has looked plan and has produced the following summary and suggestions:
Local Transport - Have a Say!
The The Local Transport Plan for 2017-2030 makes reference to the health and environmental benefits of active travel, but most of the detail is based on roads.
The consultation runs until 17th March. It suggests reading the LTP4 documents and links to a straightforward survey.
Here are some suggestions for pages of particular local or environmental interest.
The Local Transport Plan
A key showing how transport schemes are prioritised, from “in construction” to “emerging concepts” can be found on page 16.
Malvern Hills comes under “South Worcestershire Area Profile”. (p28)
Environmentally interesting description of Active Travel. (p35)
Great Malvern Town Centre Regeneration Scheme. (p42)
Transport policies
Consultation and partnership (p7-10, p13-14)
Pedestrians (p16-18)
Cycle infrastructure. (p23-28)
Integrated passenger transport. (p29)
- Bus costs low (p30)
- Information (p31)
- Parish councils and old bus stops (p32)
- Subsidies for buses (p33-35)
Motorcycling (p39)
Climate change (p42-46, especially p44)
The Worcestershire Network Management Plan
This document does make reference to health, promoting travel choices and an Air Quality Action Plan, though the detail is mostly roads.
The environment is barely mentioned in Transport Technology. (p26)
Travel Choices (p28) especially
- improving access to information NMP9
- travel choices major trip generator
- working NMP12
- travel planning NMP13
- station travel plans NMP14
- car share database NMP15
Habitats Regulation Assessment
Acronyms (p3)
If a scheme may lead to damage to human health - the Precautionary Principle is triggered. (p6, para 1.3.5)
A detailed study is not required. (p15)
Strategic environmental assessment
Assessment of alternative approaches (bottom of p6)
Summary of assessment findings - South Worcestershire (starts p11)
Climate change (p11-12)
Population and Communities- effect on households without a car (p13-14)
Health and Well Being (p14)
Next steps (p18)
Priorities and objectives for LTP4 (p21)
Climate change (p25)
Assessment questions (Table 1.4 on p28) include communities (p29,30) health and wellbeing (p30) especially access to the countryside for recreation
Statutory consultation (p23, para 1.5.1) is required with Natural England, the Environment Agency and Historic England.
In my opinion, this seems to mean that consultation with user groups is left until the final stage, when the main decisions have effectively been made. Accessibility to services by public transport, walking or cycling is particularly important for people whose health or budget precludes car ownership. But including walking or cycling links requires forward planning to integrate them with new housing developments or road upgrades.
I hope this encourages you to take part in the survey, as alternative views take time and repetition to be accepted.
Dinah Sage