Local Transport Today Issue 794

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LTT794 20 March - 02 April 2020

POLICY | PLANNING | FINANCE | DEVELOPMENT

All the latest news, comment and features inside… TransportXtra.com/ltt

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POLICY | PLANNING | FINANCE | DEVELOPMENT

COVID-19 pandemic turns the transport world upside down

COVID-19

THE UK transport sector is facing its biggest crisis in modern times as the COVID-19 pandemic wreaks havoc on the country’s way of life.

Passengers have deserted public transport in droves as people follow Government advice to work from home and avoid social interaction. Road traffic volumes have slumped and airlines have grounded most of their plane fleets, putting some airports in precarious positions.

The Confederation of Passenger Transport has called for a £1bn aid package for bus and coach operators.

Transport for London said its preliminary estimate, based on Government scenarios, was that

Transport for London has closed up to 40 Tube stations and is reducing service frequencies

the pandemic could lead to a reduction of up to £500m in passenger income.

Public transport operators were

this week preparing to make service reductions.

London Councils has temporarily suspended the London

A message from the publisher cutting edge of the subject.

We’ve also explored the changing context for local transport in terms of politics, financing, social and economic trends, lifestyle changes and more. In recent years we’ve increasingly reflected the huge topic of climate change, the concerns about the human health impact of emissions, and choices of travel behaviour.

But up to now we’ve never had to tackle the issue of

how the very future of human life is casting a dark shadow over transport activity – along with many other dimensions of our daily lives.

LTT cannot cover every dimension of the current COVID-19 pandemic and its effect on transport, but our coverage will strive to include as wide a set of issues and implications as we can with an eye on the short, medium and longer terms.

We’ll also be bringing you

>> READ MORE?

Virus impact

p4-5

new ways to share discussion with us in a period without the rich pattern of conferences, seminars and other events that we have all become so used to.

In the meantime, we can only keep our fingers crossed that the exceptional and unprecedented measures being taken to win control over the virus will be successful, and express our sincere hope for the health and wellbeing of all our readers.

Peter Stonham Publisher

Review of HE’s role in the conurbations

ROADS

THE DFT has announced a study into the role of Highways England’s Strategic Road Network (SRN) in combined authority areas.

“As elected mayors and combined authorities develop strategies and working arrangements for their transport and environmental activities in many of our urban centres, an important question emerges about how the SRN and Highways England can

play their part most effectively in those places,” says the Department’s Road Investment Strategy 2 published last week.

It says Highways England will undertake a study into the role of the urban SRN, “balancing the desire to better integrate these roads with local planning and transport operations while not adversely impacting on their national strategic role”.

The DfT said the study would “consider options such as improved collaboration on oper-

ations and changes in road ownership”.

RIS2 also reveals that the DfT’s five ongoing strategic studies exploring major road investments are struggling to devise workable proposals.

Investigations of a major new road between Oxford and Milton Keynes have been “paused” because of local opposition.

The M60 Manchester North West quadrant study has rejected “transformational schemes” and is instead focusing on “packages

of smaller schemes”.

The A1 East of England study has concluded that a new alignment for the road in Bedfordshire cannot be justified.

The Department also reports little progress to identify workable proposals in the Trans-Pennine Tunnel study and the M25 South West Quadrant study.

RIS2

>> READ MORE? p12-13

18-19 Shapps orders changes to smart motorways

12-13 DfT’s £27.4bn road investment plan

27 FirstGroup axes plan to sell UK bus businesses

29 Richard Dilks: life after COVID-19

TOP10

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Converting all car trips to EVs is impossible, says WMCA

Green groups target HE’s road programme after airport ruling

Bus deal is first stop on way to mass transit for Bristol’s mayor

Stagecoach goes it alone with partnership offer to Burnham

TfN wants freight off Manchester rail corridor

DfT floats accelerating HS2 to Manchester in new rail plan

Bristol workplace parking levy progress Palmer orders new CAM plan as city centre tunnel plans revealed

Nationwide road pricing gathers steam

10. No parking permits for fossil fuel cars?

most read LTT stories on

06 March - 19 March 2020

This magazine passed its 30th anniversary last year.

When it was launched, the title was chosen to express our mission to bring together for the first time in a dedicated medium the range of ingredients that make up the local transport agenda, in a way most relevant to those working in this sector.

There’s never been a shortage of immediate matters to write about, and issues to consider at the

Lorry Control Scheme to help facilitate deliveries of vital supplies to shops. Supermarkets across the country have empty shelves as shoppers panic buy.

Many home delivery food shopping services are fully booked for weeks.

As LTT closed for press, the Government published a Coronavirus Bill containing a range of temporary emergency powers to help control the outbreak.

The Worldometer website on Friday [20th] reported 245,749 confirmed cases of the virus worldwide and 10,046 deaths.

The figures for the UK were 3,269 cases and 144 deaths.

PROVIDING INDEPENDENT NEWS & ANALYSIS SINCE 1989

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4 COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 virus pandemic hit the UK in early March.

Since then, transport networks have seen a collapse in demand as people follow the Government’s advice to avoid large gatherings, work from home, and self-isolate.

Here we report some of this week’s developments in the fast-moving story

TfL predicts £500m loss from virus, as services are reduced

COVID-19

TRANSPORT FOR London will ask Government for financial assistance to cope with the collapse in public transport ridership caused by COVID-19.

Patronage last week was about 19 per cent down on the Tube and ten per cent down on buses compared to the same week last year. Ridership this week fell further as people followed Government advice to work from home and selfisolate. Tourist numbers in the capital are massively down.

London has by far the largest number of COVID-19 cases in the UK. TfL announced on Thursday (19 March) that it would run a reduced public transport service enabling, London’s critical workers to still make essential journeys.

Up to 40 London Underground stations that do not

Virus could delay launch of CAZs THE LAUNCH of England’s first two charging clean air zones may be delayed by COVID-19.

Birmingham and Leeds city councils are due to implement their CAZs this summer.

The Road Haulage Association has called for councils to defer the launch of CAZs for at least six months.

Birmingham’s scheme covers the city centre within the ring road and will be a Class D zone covering cars as well as buses, coaches, taxis, private hire vehicles, lorries and vans.

In a statement, Birmingham City Council told LTT: “We remain committed to launching the clean air zone in line with the previously-stated estimate of summer 2020. However, we are conscious of the potential economic impact that COVID-19 may have on our plans and will continue to monitor the situation closely.

“Any announcements related to COVID-19 will be made in a structured, regular way rather than responding to ad hoc queries or speculation.”

Leeds City Council’s CAZ is a Class B scheme, applying to buses, coaches, lorries, taxis and private hire vehicles, and covering the city centre and a large

part of inner Leeds.

The council’s executive board was due to approve a report this week recommending that the CAZ go live on 28 September.

The meeting was cancelled because of the virus outbreak.

With road traffic volumes down across the country because of the virus, exceedances of the EU nitrogen dioxide limit values are likely to decline across the country, albeit temporarily.

London mayor Sadiq Khan is keeping the idea of temporarily suspending the central London congestion charge under review.

Asked if it may be suspended, a spokeswoman for the mayor told LTT: “As always, the mayor and Transport for London are focused on the safety of staff and customers. The roads need to be kept clear for essential journeys and whilst charges for driving into London currently still apply, we will keep this under review as the situation develops.

“Some NHS staff are already eligible for reimbursements from the congestion charge in certain circumstances. Patients clinically assessed as too sick to travel by public transport are eligible for reimbursements from both the congestion charge and the ULEZ.”

provide interchange with other lines were closed from Friday [20 March] until further notice.

The Waterloo & City line has closed down, and the Night Tube and Night Overground are withdrawn on Fridays and Saturdays.

From Monday 23 March TfL will gradually reduce the frequency of other services across its network while ensuring it provides a service for critical workers and that services are not overcrowded.

TfL is aiming to run Tube trains every four minutes in Zone 1 but this could be reduced further. Service frequencies on London Overground, TfL Rail, the DLR and London Trams will all be cut.

The bus network will move to Saturday frequencies through the week.

Some Santander Cycle hubs in central London will be closed.

London’s Transport Commissioner, Mike Brown MVO, said: “The advice from Government is clear – people should now only be making journeys that are absolutely essential.”

London mayor Sadiq Khan said: “People should not be travelling, by any means, unless they really, really have to. Londoners should be avoiding social interaction unless absolutely necessary, and that means they should be avoiding using the transport network unless absolutely necessary.”

TfL said it was an evolving situation. The financial impact is difficult to predict, being dependent on the duration and severity of the spread of the virus.

“TfL’s current forecast, based on Government scenarios, suggest that this could be a reduction in passenger income of up to £500m,” it said this week.

TfL said it had the cash to

cope. It is required to keep a minimum cash balance of £1.2bn to provide liquidity to absorb financial shocks. TfL’s current forecast for its end of year cash balance is expected to be more than £2bn.

“This means TfL is able to manage the initial impact of COVID-19,” it said in a statement. “TfL will consider further budgetary flexibility to ensure it maintains its financial resilience but the mayor and TfL will also be looking to the Government to provide appropriate financial support.”

The Government’s decision to delay this May’s London mayoral election by a year will place TfL’s finances under further pressure because it means Sadiq Khan’s partial fares freeze will continue for another year.

Khan pledged earlier this month to end the freeze if elected for a second term.

London Councils suspends lorry control scheme LONDON COUNCILS has suspended enforcement of the London Lorry Control Scheme until at least the end of April.

The borough association said the decision would “help keep London’s shop shelves filled with essential supplies such as food, toilet rolls and hand sanitiser”.

It added that the decision was made “in response to freight industry concerns and Government calls on local authorities to lift night-time restrictions on deliveries”.

The news was welcomed by the Freight Transport Association and Road Haulage Association, which had both called for relaxations.

David Wells, the FTA’s chief executive, said: “This is a vital step forward in the industry’s response to the challenges posed

by COVID-19. By extending the hours in which deliveries can be made, it strengthens the resilience of the supply chain and helps businesses to keep supermarkets stocked with the essential items consumers need.”

RHA chief executive Richard Burnett said: “Suspension of the LLCS is just one of the points that we highlighted with officials and one of the radical measures needing implementing during

Panic-buying has caused supermarkets to run out of foods

these uncertain times; we are pleased that our voice has been heard.

“The suspension will provide operators with greater flexibility to ensure the supply chain is resilient enough to deliver the food, medicines and other goods London needs.”

London Councils said the suspension could be extended beyond the end of April if necessary.

The London Lorry Control Scheme helps to control the routes the largest lorries use overnight and at weekends to minimise noise disturbance for Londoners. It applies to vehicles over 18 tonnes and operates between 9pm and 7am during the

week and from 1pm Saturday to 7am Monday over the weekend.

Once a vehicle has a permit, the driver can make a delivery or collection anywhere in London at any time, as long as they follow a compliant route in accordance with the rules of the scheme.

In 2018/19, nearly 5,000 freight operators and more than 800 drivers received penalty charge notices (PCNs) for breaching the rules of the LLCS. London Councils said it would continue to work with the freight industry to ensure quiet delivery good practice is observed, so that any temporary changes in delivery routes and times lead to as little disruption to residents as possible.

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COVID-19 Pandemic 5

In Brief

Bus and coach operators need £1bn emergency aid, says CPT

COVID-19

THE CONFEDERATION of Passenger Transport has called for £1bn of Government emergency support for bus and coach operators over the next three months because of COVID-19.

The CPT said the official advice for people to work from home and avoid social interaction was likely to cost bus operators £50m a week in revenue. Patronage on scheduled bus and coach services was “set to fall 75 per cent”.

“As further measures are introduced to help protect the over-70s, concessionary travel is also likely to drop to near zero,” it said.

The CPT said bus operations needed to continue because many people still had essential journeys to make. This included workers in the health service, emergency services, shop workers and schools.

The Government should provide bus operators with the ability to temporarily remove, reduce or alter services with immediate effect, it said.

Said the CPT: “The industry would keep customers and local authorities up to date on its plans but running ghost buses to universities where studies are taking place remotely or empty workplaces is a pointless exercise.”

A statutory notice period requires operators to register service changes 70 days in advance in England and 56 days in Wales.

The Traffic Commissioner can waive notice periods and allow short notices in certain circumstances such as “in order to meet an urgent and exceptional public passenger transport demand or change in circumstances”.

Dave Harrison, Oxfordshire County Council’s senior public transport officer, told LTT: “Some form of clarification from the Traffic Commissioner would be welcome. No one will want to give 70 days notice to change.

We will support short notice applications where necessary.”

The CPT issued a further statement after this week’s decision by the UK Government and devolved administrations to close schools.

“Home-to-school transport provides local coach operators across the country with £4.5m of revenue daily which is now under threat,” it said. “The Government needs to commit now to ensuring that local authorities continue to pay coach operators, which are predominantly small family businesses, as if these services were still running, to help maintain short term cash flow.”

The coach sector has witnessed a collapse in revenues.

Operators were losing £500,000 a week because of cancelled football fixtures, said the CPT, and April to June was traditionally the peak season for coach demand.

Chief executive Graham Vidler said the bus and coach industry might be able to play a vital additional role in combat-

ting the virus: “It may be possible for the industry to provide special services to community hubs such as shops and potentially make deliveries to those who need them. We would be happy to work with the Government to discuss whether this is feasible and how we can make this happen.”

Operators cut services Transport operators have announced cuts to service levels in response to the COVID-19 outbreak.

Reading Buses said most services would, from Monday 23 March, run to their Saturday timetables during the week, with Sundays remaining normal.

Stephen Rhodes, customer director at Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM), said: “We have already seen a reduction in the number of people using public transport. With that number expected to fall further, a reduction in frequency of bus, train and tram services is expected in the coming days.”

Nexus this week removed its peak-hour additional services on the Tyne and Wear Metro. In all, about 50 of the 450 daily services have been cut.

Nottingham City Transport said it would “continue running our normal advertised timetables and service levels for the immediate future”.

“If driver and employee availability is significantly affected by the outbreak or there is a restriction placed on public transport operators by the Government, then service levels will be reviewed.”

Go-Ahead subsidiaries the Oxford Bus Company and Thames Travel are to temporarily reduce services on several routes. Many services will move to an ‘enhanced Saturday or Sunday’-type service. The operators said they were in “constructive talks with union representatives regarding pay, leave and sick pay”.

Airports need urgent help – trade body UK AIRPORTS have called on the Government for emergency financial assistance to cope with the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Many airlines have grounded the majority of their fleets as governments around the world impose international travel bans to try and control the spread of the virus.

Responding to the Chancellor’s announcements this week that the Government will support businesses, Airport Operators Association (AOA) chief executive Karen Dee said: “The Chancellor’s unambiguous statement of support for UK businesses is welcome and measures such as the unlimited loans to support businesses manage cashflows provide reassurance.

“However, with passenger numbers declining rapidly in recent days, airports want to hear the details of the specific support package for the aviation industry

as soon as possible. We urge the Chancellor to be as bold in this aviation support package as he was on some of the measures announced today to ensure airports can reassure staff and passengers that they will be there to provide the connectivity the UK needs after the COVID-19 pandemic has receded.

“We are clear that airports will shut down in weeks unless urgent action is taken to support the industry.”

Dee said airports were taking “immediate and drastic action to cut costs and are scaling back investments”.

“Due to the fixed costs of operating airports, the Government will need to provide additional support.”

The AOA also wants the Government to suspend Air Passenger Duty for six months after the pandemic is brought under control, to help restore demand.

Gatwick Airport said this week that it was now closed between midnight and 0530.

Two of its six piers have shut.

“Further action is also likely to be announced in coming days to reduce the airport’s ‘operational footprint’,” it said.

The airport’s owners said they were “deferring spending on its investment programme for the foreseeable future”. It is unclear if this affects the £150m project to double capacity at the airport’s railway station. This was given the go-ahead last summer and the airport is contributing £37m.

Gatwick has terminated the employment of 200 staff on temporary fixed term contract and contractors. It is exploring options such as unpaid leave or temporary salary cuts for staff.

Stewart Wingate, Gatwick’s chief executive officer, and his executive team are taking a 20 per cent salary cut and have

waived any bonus for the current financial year. “Significantly reduced passenger numbers are likely to be sustained, at least in the short to medium term, and I need to prepare people for the news that other serious measures are likely,” said Wingate.

“We strongly urge the Government to provide support in order to protect the business and the contribution it makes to the region and wider economy.”

Gatwick Airport is owned by VINCI Airports (50.01 per cent) and Global Infrastructure Partners (49.99 per cent).

Analyst S&P Global said the impact of COVID-19 could be longer lasting than previous virus outbreaks such as SARS in 2003 and H1N1 in 2009 because of COVID’s rapid spread and the lockdown policies many governments have implemented.

It predicted full recovery not until 2022 or 2023.

Local elections delayed a year The virus outbreak has prompted the Government to postponed this May’s local elections by a year.

Elections were due to be held for 184 councils in England plus some for directly elected mayors.

No elections were scheduled in Scotland or Wales. The mayoral elections due to be held were for: London; the combined authorities of Greater Manchester, Liverpool City Region, Tees Valley, and West of England; and the councils of Bristol, Liverpool and Salford. The postponement may affect the formation of the new unitary authorities for Buckinghamshire, West Northamptonshire and North Northamptonshire. Elections to these councils should have taken place this May, ahead of the councils’ formal launch next April.

Council decisionmaking hit Council decision-making is being disrupted by COVID-19. Kirklees Council in West Yorkshire said this week it was cancelling all committee meetings for the next month with the exception of cabinet, planning and licencing committees. Officers and councillors would be focused on supporting local people to deal with the virus, it said. Leeds City Council has cancelled many of its meetings, including this week’s executive board that was due to sign-off details of the city’s clean air zone.

Suspend air quality zones, say hauliers The Road Haulage Association wants councils to suspend a range of regulatory measures covering the freight sector. It has asked for: at least a six-month deferral of clean air zones; a similar length of deferral for London’s direct vision standard for safer lorries; suspension of London’s low and ultra-low emission zones. In addition, it wants the Government to cut fuel duty and tolls to be reduced on the M6 Toll in the West Midlands.

Rail freight asks for track charge waiver The Rail Freight Group is calling on the Government for financial assistance to help operators continue to deliver goods during the pandemic. One of its requests is a change to the Mode Shift Revenue Support grant scheme to ensure the viability of services, in particular where services are not able to be fully loaded but still convey vital supplies. The RFG also wants track access charges suspended to enable freight operators to quickly respond to customer priorities and support critical services that may not be viable in their own right.

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6 News

NI-Scots link ‘will be a tunnel’

INFRASTRUCTURE

THE UK Government is investigating building a tunnel between southwest Scotland and Northern Ireland, not a bridge, a minister has revealed.

The Prime Minister has championed the idea of a new fixed link to Northern Ireland and has spoken about it being a bridge (LTT 21 Feb). But Scottish secretary Alister Jack told a committee of the Scottish Parliament earlier this month: “I am very keen on the idea. However, I am not keen on building a bridge; I am keen on building a tunnel.

“The tunnel – we are not talking about a bridge – is at the discussion stage, and it may move to the feasibility stage.

“It would be the same distance as the Channel Tunnel – 22 miles,” he said, and “no different to the tunnels that connect the Faroe Islands or the tunnels that go under the fjords [in Norway]”.

“A tunnel would remove the problem of Beaufort’s Dyke and the munitions dumped there – allegedly, one million tonnes of World War Two munitions were dumped there – and it would deal with the problem of weather. If there was a bridge, because of the weather or the wind, there could easily be 100 days a year when that bridge would not operate.

“If there is to be a tunnel, before that is completed, the A75 and A77 would have to be upgraded,” said Jack.

The A75 connects Stranraer to the A74(M), which becomes the M6 south of the Scottish border.

The A77 connects Stranraer with Ayr and Kilmarnock where it feeds into the M77 to Glasgow.

Jack went on: “If the Prime Minister decides to press the button, as it is entirely his decision, we would engage with Stormont and Holyrood in order to get a better understanding of the benefits and challenges.

“We would not ride in roughshod and slam a tunnel in, by the way, under the devolution settlement, nor can we.”

MSPs did not ask Jack if the investigations were of a road tunnel or a rail tunnel. Greengauge, the organisation that helped put HS2 on the political map, has championed a tunnel and said it should be rail-based, carrying intercity trains, freight trains, and shuttles for road vehicles (LTT 24 Jan).

Welsh Government publishes Bill to reform bus industry BUSES

by Andrew Forster

THE WELSH Government has published its long-awaited Bus Services (Wales) Bill, which will give councils the powers to deliver strengthened partnerships, franchising, and set up new municipal bus companies.

Presenting the Bill to the Assembly, transport minister Ken Skates said: “It’s clear that de-regulation of bus services in the 1980s has been an abject failure.

Passenger numbers are falling and it’s clear that the free market model simply does not work.

This legislation helps us take action to end that free market model.”

The Welsh Partnership Scheme powers will allow local authorities and operators to agree: • routes, timetables and service frequencies • what facilities should be available on buses, such as Wi-Fi and USB ports • ticket prices and the different offers available • investment in facilities such as bus lanes • traffic management measures such as bus lane enforcement Under the franchising powers,

The franchise powers are unlikely to interest Cardiff because the council owns Cardiff Bus

councils will have to prepare a business case considering different delivery models, which must then be checked by an independent auditor, and then presented for public consultation. This appears similar to the Bus Services Act 2017 franchising legislation for England.

Although the idea of franchising has traditionally been popular with Labour, it seems unlikely that the powers will appeal to two of the biggest urban authorities in Wales, Labour-controlled Cardiff and Newport. Both councils own bus companies – Cardiff Bus and Newport Bus respectively – and their operating territories would be put at risk under a franchise model.

The Bill paves the way for

more local authorities to run bus services either as an in-house service or through an arms-length company (like Cardiff and Newport).

The legislation will allow council companies to provide subsidised services directly through an in-house operation; compete for subsidised contracts; and operate services to make a profit in the same way as any other commercial operator.

This puts Wales on a very different path to England where the Bus Services Act 2017 prohibits the formation of new municipal bus companies.

The Bill also contains information-sharing provisions. On open data, it will allow ministers to make regulations on providing

information about bus services by operators, local authorities and Traffic Commissioners.

This could include: routes and stopping places; timetables; fares and ticketing; and live information, such as about how busy a bus is and its time-keeping.

The Government says the data should be easily accessible to the public. It also wants public transport app developers to use the information in their products.

On service information, the legislation will require operators to provide councils with information about revenue and patronage when commercial bus services are withdrawn or varied.

If a council decides to tender for a subsidised replacement service, it will be able to provide aggregated annual information about the service to other bus operators. “Bus operators can request for the information not to be disclosed and the local authority would then need to assess whether disclosure would damage the commercial interests of the operator,” says the Government.

Bus Services (Wales) Bill is available at https://tinyurl.com/utuvv6y

Wales asks Turner for road pricing advice

ROADS

THE WELSH Government has commissioned an investigation of road user charging options from the man who masterminded the introduction of the central London congestion charge in 2003.

Transport minister Ken Skates has appointed Derek Turner to conduct the review. Turner was TfL’s managing director for street management from 2000 to 2003, leaving soon after the congestion charge was successfully implemented to set up his own consultancy. He subsequently worked for the Highways Agency from 2005 to 2013 as deputy chief executive and director of network delivery and development. He now lives in Shropshire.

Said Skates: “Derek has considerable experience of providing strategic transport policy advice and his expertise includes road user charging.

“It is intended that the review will report this autumn and it will help inform our national and regional policy on this issue in the context of the ongoing work of

the South East Wales Transport Commission and the consideration of congestion charging by Cardiff Council.”

The South East Wales Transport Commission is developing a new transport strategy for the area following the Government’s decision to abandon the M4 relief road project round the south of Newport.

Turner’s review will consider all feasible road charging methods, including distance charging, congestion charging, and workplace and retail parking levies. The work is expected to inform future detailed work.

His assignment was criticised

by Russell George AM, the Conservative’s transport spokesman.

“We’ve already seen plans for a tourism tax, a vacant land tax, and a possible social care tax, from the Welsh Government so it should come as no surprise that Labour ministers are paving the way to clobber motorists too.

“While we Conservatives have been cutting costs for motorists by scrapping the Severn Crossing Tolls, we've seen Labour politicians in Wales seeking to increase

them.

“In many parts of rural Wales cars are a necessity, not a choice, and public transport is not a viable alternative. On top of this an electric vehicle revolution now underway, and it is clear that roads are becoming a greener mode of transport than they once were.”

Turner will report to ministers on: • the potential rationale for different types of road user charging in Wales • the options for implementation of different charging types, including a broad SWOT assessment of the options and the different technologies available; their costs; and who charges might be borne by • the case for an over-arching national framework to be applied to any local or sub-regional road user charging policies in order to avoid undue adverse wider effects, such as impacts on drivers affected by more than one charge, and to preserve and incentivise the option of subsequent incorporation into a national policy • what other policies or transport

interventions might be required to successfully implement road user charging in Wales, and at what stage in the implementation timeline (for example, to offset any adverse distributional implications). This should have particular regard to the interaction with motoring taxation in order to consider the fiscal impact on driving in the round. Such policies need not be currently devolved • an assessment of the likely acceptability of any such scheme, and the political, social and economic issues that will have to be addressed by anyone wishing to take forward such a scheme at local, regional or national level.

This includes potential uses of revenue, including arguments for and against hypothecation • the wider economic, social, environmental and behavioural implications of road user charging in the Welsh context, including issues arising from the border with England • the evidence of effectiveness and any lessons learnt from implementation of road user charging schemes in the rest of the UK and internationally.

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News 7

Transforming Cities Fund grant awards announced

FUNDING

THE LEEDS City Region has won the biggest share of the Government’s latest round of Transforming Cities Fund grant, which was announced in last week’s Budget.

The Government has awarded £317m to the Leeds City Region covering the council areas of Leeds, Bradford, York, Wakefield, Calderdale, Kirklees, Craven, Harrogate, and Selby.

Bradford receives £30m for active travel schemes and Calderdale receives £39.9m for transport improvements in Halifax, including a new bus station. A 700-space secure cycle parking facility is planned for Leeds station and a new bus rapid transit scheme will connect East Leeds to the city centre. The front of York railway station will be reconfigured, with more capacity for pedestrians, cyclists and an improved bus and taxi interchange.

The other Transforming Cities

Leeds: hit the right notes

Fund awards are: • £198m for the North East, including £95m for frequency and reliability improvements across the Tyne and Wear Metro • £166m for Sheffield City Region, including a new bus rapid transit link in Barnsley and a new tram stop on the tramtrain line to Rotherham at Magna • £161m for Derby and Nottingham, including more than £25m for bus rapid transit in Derby

and more than £10m for a cycle route between Nottingham, Derby and East Midlands Airport • £79m for the new Bournemouth, Christchurch & Poole unitary authority and Dorset Council, including for four new cycle routes and bus priority infrastructure • £57m for Southampton, including new bus priority routes • £51m for Plymouth, including £36m for an iconic new Central Park cycling and walking bridge • £40m for Preston City Region, including £25m for a new station at Cottam Parkway on the Preston-Blackpool line • £33m for Leicester, including £8m for the development of a sustainable transport corridor from St Margaret’s to Birstall The Government said a further £117m could be shared by the Portsmouth City Region, Norwich and Stoke-on-Trent, subject to further business case approval.

Five-year transport deals for CAs

GOVERNANCE

EIGHT OF England’s combined authorities look set to receive five-year transport funding settlements worth a collective £4.2bn under proposals announced by the Chancellor Rishi Sunak in his Budget last week.

The eight combined authorities areas are: West Yorkshire, Greater Manchester, West Midlands, Liverpool City Region, Tyne and Wear, the West of England, Sheffield City Region and Tees Valley.

The settlements will be negotiated between each area and the Government, based on plans put forward by the combined authority mayors. Nevertheless, the Treasury said the Government “would welcome the opportunity to support a range of schemes,

such as the renewal of the Sheffield Supertram, the development of a modern, low-carbon metro network for West Yorkshire, and tram-train pilots in Greater Manchester”.

The settlements are expected to run from 2022/23. The comprehensive spending review in July should include resource funding for the areas to develop their plans.

The Treasury said it would open discussions with just three of the eight areas, Greater Manchester, Liverpool City Region and the West Midlands in the coming months.

Capital funding for the other five areas is subject to them “putting in place appropriate governance to agree and deliver funding, including an elected mayor for their city regions and

transport networks”.

West Yorkshire does not yet have a mayor but will hold a mayoral election next May (see below). The Sheffield City Region has a mayor and is currently finalising new governance arrangements to release the funds and powers in the Sheffield City Region devolution agreement. The Tyne and Wear conurbation has a complex administrative geography, being split between two combined authorities: the North of Tyne CA has a mayor but the North East CA does not.

The West of England CA has a mayor but the CA only covers three of the four unitary authorities in the Bristol area, North Somerset having refused to join.

The Tees Valley already has a mayor.

Elected mayor for West Yorkshire CA

GOVERNANCE

VOTERS IN West Yorkshire will go to the polls next May to choose an elected mayor for the conurbation.

The Government last week announced a devolution deal for the area that will see the West Yorkshire Combined Authority move to a mayoral model of governance.

The deal, which has to be ratified by the five West Yorkshire districts, would provide £1.1bn of investment for the area over 30 years, as well as new transport and other powers. The mayor would have the power to implement bus franchising.

The deal also opens up the possibility of a five-year capital transport funding settlement

commencing in 2022/23.

The Government last week announced up to £500,000 for Bradford Council to support its regeneration and development plans around a proposed Northern Powerhouse Rail central station.

The five West Yorkshire districts are Leeds, Bradford, Wakefield, Kirklees and Calderdale.

Future Mobility Zones named

GOVERNANCE

SOLENT TRANSPORT, the West of England Combined Authority, and Derby and Nottingham councils will receive a share of the Government’s £90m Future Mobility Zones funding pot to trial new transport technologies.

Drone deliveries will be trialled by Solent Transport, which covers Portsmouth, Southampton, Isle of Wight and Hampshire councils (LTT 22 Nov 19). The drones will transport medical supplies between hospitals on the mainland and the Isle of Wight.

In all, Solent has been awarded £29m for a three-year programme that also includes smartphone apps for planning and paying for sustainable journeys demand; an e-bike share scheme; and other new approaches to freight distribution.

The West of England Combined Authority has received £24m for a £28m programme. The DfT said it includes a proposed trial of self-driving cars to transport people between Bristol Airport, central Bath and the Northern Arc, though this was missing from WECA’s press release. It said the programme would feature trials of e-scooters – which are not yet legal on UK roads – and new booking platforms, giving people access to book one journey across multiple modes of transport through the click of a button.

Derby and Nottingham have been awarded £16.7m. The councils will create electric mobility ‘hubs’ in neighbourhoods, campuses and depots, offering electric car club hire, electric bike sharing, vehicle charging points, digital information screens and real-time public transport information.

A data platform will pool various transport data sources owned and collected by the council into a single place to help traffic management.

The three areas join the West Midlands Combined Authority, which the Government chose to pioneer the Future Mobility Zone concept in October 2018.

Local Transport Today provides fortnightly coverage of the total urban and regional UK transport scene from the viewpoint of planners, policy makers, traffic engineers, analysts, investors and managers of resources involved.

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8 News

Net Zero ‘the next Brexit’

NET ZERO

THE UK’S net zero greenhouse gas legislation has the potential to divide the country just as Brexit did, critics of the law have said.

Former Conservative and UKIP MP Douglas Carswell tweeted this month: “I wonder if this net zero commitment will replace Europhilia as the delusion of the governing classes? Like EU integration, the elite obsesses about it, uses it to press an agenda on the public. And the public won’t wear it.”

Commentator James Delingpole wrote on the Breitbart website last week: “Net zero is going to destroy Boris Johnson’s administration in the way that Brexit destroyed David Cameron’s. None of Boris’s clever advisors and colleagues – not Dom Cummings, not Michael Gove – appears to have understood this yet. But others can see it coming a mile off.”

Delingpole quoted an article

by Daily Telegraph columnist Sherelle Jacobs who wrote: “Beyond the Red Wall [traditional Labour-voting constituencies] are rumblings of a new revolt, utterly unanticipated by No 10 and overlooked by a liberal media.

With its drive to ‘green’ the economy at any cost, the Tory party has seemingly decided to celebrate its populist landslide by bogging down the country in zero-carbon paternalism.

“And so we career towards another People vs Establishment conflict that could be more explosive even than that sparked by the referendum.”

A petition demanding a referendum on the UK’s net zero commitment has been started on the No 10 Downing Street petitions website.

Instigated by Paul Biggs of the Alliance of British Drivers, the petition says the policy has been “waved through parliament without any meaningful debate, proper costings or cost benefit analysis”.

It quickly amassed more than 5,000 signatures but has since stalled at just over 6,000.

It needs 10,000 for a Government response and 100,000 for a debate in Parliament. It closes on 6 September.

We must halve CO emissions by 2025, says Manchester 2

NET ZERO

by Andrew Forster

MANCHESTER’S CARBON dioxide emissions will have to be halved by 2025 in order to stay within the council’s self-imposed carbon budget. Surface transport accounts for 32 per cent of all emissions in the city.

The Labour-controlled council has set a budget for direct carbon dioxide emissions of 15 million tonnes for the period 2018 to 2100, based on advice from the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research at Manchester University. The council says the figure is consistent with the Paris Agreement objective to keep global temperature increases to well below 2C, pursuing efforts for 1.5C. “At our current rate of carbon consumption (2.1 million tonnes

per year in 2017) we will run out of budget in 2025,” says the council’s climate change framework. “In order to remain within our budget we will need to reduce our direct emissions by at least 50 per cent between 2020 and 2025.”

The council’s proposed fiveyearly emission budgets are: • 6.9 million tonnes of tCO 2 2018-22 • 3.6 mtCO2 2023-27 • 1.95 mtCO2 2028-32 • 1.10 mtCO2 2033-37 • 0.64 mtCO2 2038-42 • 0.38 mtCO2 2043-47 • 0.59 mtCO2 2048-2100 The above figures cover only direct emissions from homes, workplaces and surface transport.

“If we overspend our budget at any point, that means we will have less CO 2 remaining for future years,” says Manchester.

Public buy-in to Net Zero target ‘essential’

NET ZERO

HUGE EFFORTS will have to be made to engage society if the UK’s statutory net zero greenhouse gas emissions target is to be met, says a report by the Energy Systems Catapult.

“So far, decarbonisation has mostly relied on ‘upstream’ changes in the electricity mix and reduced energy use in industry. net zero requires society-wide adoption of low carbon heating and transport technologies. It may also mean limiting growth in aviation demand and changing diets.

“Our early public engagement suggests a general willingness to adopt new technologies (such as new heating or mobility) as long as these can deliver the same experiences as before.

“However, approaching the subject of dietary change or aviation often elicits a more resistant and emotional response. Serious societal engagement is therefore essential to the UK’s ability to meet net zero given the nature and pace of the changes required.”

The Catapult says achieving net zero much before 2050 would likely prove impossible.

“Even if demand for aviation and livestock products were eliminated by 2050, and

technology deployment raised to even more ambitious rates, net zero could only be brought forward to 2045.

“Achieving an earlier target date would require non-linear reductions in demand (or breakthrough technologies for carbon removals). Our early public engagement around net zero makes us cautious of pathways that rely on widespread, rapid adoption of such changes.”

The Catapult’s report studies different scenarios for moving to a net zero economy.

For road transport, it sees electrification as “the most likely route, with hydrogen fuel cell vehicles playing an important role especially in heavier vehicles”.

Innovating to Net Zero is available at https://tinyurl.com/tudzyx3

“In order to address this we would need deeper cuts than the 13 per cent year-on-year reductions that are currently required (50 per cent during 2020-25).”

The budget excludes flights taken by Manchester residents, which in 2017 were estimated to amount to a further 0.2 MtCO2 as year (from all airports).

Flights from Manchester Airport by non-Manchester residents emit a further 3.4 million tonnes. “We want the emissions from all flights from Manchester Airport to be fully aligned with the Paris Agreement,” says the council. “We believe this means operating within a limited carbon budget for UK aviation, as part of a wider international budget.”

A Tyndall report on aviation says: “To be consistent with the 15 million tonne carbon budget for Manchester's direct carbon

dioxide emissions, UK aviation emissions need to stay below 1,200 million tonnes CO2 for the period 2020 to 2100. This is 37 per cent of the total Paris Agreement aligned UK carbon budget, a much larger allocation than for other sectors of the economy.

“A limited carbon budget of 6.6 million tonnes for carbon emissions from [Manchester] residents’ flights from all airports in the period 2020 to 2100 is proposed. Emissions are currently estimated to be 0.2 mtCO2 (2017 data) so the budget is equivalent to this remaining static between 2020 to 2030, then declining to zero by 2075.”

Manchester’s budget also ignores emissions from products consumed in the city but produced elsewhere. These are estimated to amount to a further 3.4 mtCO2 each year.

Halve fossil fuel trips by 2024 – Haringey

NET ZERO

THE LONDON Borough of Haringey wants to halve the number of journeys in the borough made by petrol and diesel vehicles by 2024 as part of its ‘climate emergency’ plan.

Haringey has brought forward its target for the borough becoming net zero from 2050 to 2041.

To achieve the proposed sharp reduction in transport CO2 emissions, the council proposes policies such as controlled parking zones; reallocating road space from vehicles; adjusting parking permit pricing; more electric vehicle charging points; a bike hire scheme; and zero emission zones. It also wants Transport for London to help fund 30-60 kilometres of dedicated cycle routes.

Haringey also suggests TfL should end the bidding process for borough funds and instead award each borough long-term funding for active travel infrastructure.

After listing the transport actions, Haringey says: “It is therefore technically easier to mitigate these [transport] emissions than in other sectors and actions, such as retrofitting homes.”

Haringey says 20 per cent of the borough’s emissions come from transport and more than 50 per cent from housing.

It estimates the cost of achiev-

ing net zero will be £1.6bn but says most of the cost will fall outside the council.

“Although this is a large figure, much of this will be spent anyway as existing equipment needs replacing, and new buildings are constructed. The costs will be shared between public and private organisations, and private households.”

Haringey says councils that have set a 2030 date for becoming net zero carbon will find that impossible to achieve.

“Although many local authorities have committed to this timeframe [2030], the council’s evidence suggests that this timeframe is not deliverable, even with new powers and increased funding for councils.

“This timetable would, for example, require over 10,000 full retrofits of homes in Haringey each year. This figure has never been achieved at a national level.

“It would therefore be close to impossible to deliver this in the borough, especially as there is limited funding to do this, and there are only a few companies and workers in the UK currently that could deliver this level of retrofitting.”

To show leadership, Haringey is considering setting 2027 for the council itself to become net zero.

Consultant Arup has helped Haringey draw up its ‘climate emergency’ plan.

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News 9

Sunak sends mixed messages on decarbonising road traffic

MOTORING

THE DIFFICULT task of decarbonising the road transport sector was highlighted in last week’s Budget as the Chancellor kept the freeze on fuel duty for a tenth year in a row.

Rishi Sunak said he was “mindful of the fiscal cost and the environmental impacts” of a further freeze on duty but added that “many people still rely on cars”. Fuel duty has now remained at 57.95p per litre since March 2011.

The Treasury’s Budget report states: “Future fuel duty rates will be considered alongside measures that are needed to help meet the UK’s net zero commitment.”

Sunak did announce a number of measures to encourage uptake of electric vehicles. He provided £403m to extend the Plug-in Car grant to 2022/23, and £129.5m to extend the Plug-in grants for vans, taxis and motorcycles to the same year.

The Treasury said the Government was “considering the long-term future of consumer incentives to support the transition to zero emission vehicles, alongside the consultation on bringing forward the phase-out date for the sale of new petrol and diesel cars and vans from 2040.”

That consultation was launched last month (LTT 06 Mar).

The Chancellor also announced a £500m fund over

Sunak: support for EVs

five years to support the roll-out of a “super-fast” electric vehicle charging network.

A Rapid Charging Fund will help chargepoint firms with the cost of connecting high-powered charge points to the electricity grid, when the costs would prevent the private sector making the investment.

“To target spending from this fund effectively, the Office for Low Emission Vehicles will complete a comprehensive electric vehicle charging infrastructure review,” said the Treasury.

It also promised legislation in the Finance Bill 2020 to prepare for a UK Emissions Trading System (ETS), which could be linked to the EU’s scheme. “The Government will also legislate for a carbon emissions tax as an alternative carbon pricing policy

and consult on the design of a tax in spring 2020.”

Commenting on the fuel duty freeze, Steve Gooding, director of the RAC Foundation, said: “The Chancellor clearly recognised that the coronavirus is creating unprecedented health and economic uncertainties and that because transport is the single biggest area of household expenditure any move to increase this burden would hit drivers’ wallets hard, especially those on lower incomes.”

Howard Cox, founder of the Fair Fuel UK campaign, gave a different interpretation, saying the Chancellor had chosen to freeze fuel duty “due to our intensive lobbying and backbench Tory pressure”.

“Rishi is hailed with a huge sigh of relief, by our 1.7 million supporters, motorists, motorcyclists, van drivers and hauliers,” said Cox. “But to all the antiinternal combustion engine over-reported voices, even with this insightful freeze, UK drivers remain the highest taxed in the world.”

Motoring groups such as Fair Fuel UK are increasingly concerned about the multitude of policies coming forward to restrict or charge drivers, such as clean air zones, parking levies and so on. Cox hinted at the possibility of motorists taking action in protest. “Any thought of future tax increases on hard pressed

motorists, will result in a Drivers Rebellion,” he said. “Well done Chancellor, that for the moment is postponed.”

Claire Haigh, the chief executive of bus lobby group Greener Journeys, criticised the Government’s failure to put up fuel duty.

“We are extremely disappointed that the Chancellor missed this golden opportunity to end the freeze in fuel duty, especially given the sharp drop in the price of oil,” she said. “As hosts of this year’s COP26 UN Climate Summit, the UK must show leadership on reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Ending the freeze in fuel duty would have sent a clear signal that the UK is serious about meeting its net zero target.”

Mike Childs, Friends of the Earth’s head of policy, was even more critical of the Budget generally, which saw Sunak announce a £27.4bn five-year budget for Highways England (see pp12-13). “This Budget contains a massive road-building programme that completely destroys any pretence of UK Government leadership ahead of this years’ crucial climate summit.

AA president Edmund King said the Government should have gone further to encourage electric car sales. “Had he followed our calls to scrap the VAT, it would have had an influential impact on drivers looking to change their car.”

Treasury considers fresh revamp for VED MOTORING

THE TREASURY has invited views on how the Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) system should be reformed to encourage the take up of zero and ultra-low emission vehicles.

VED rates for cars have been based on the carbon dioxide emissions of vehicles since 2001.

For vehicles registered between 2001 and 2017 the VED rate is based on a system of emission bands.

Since 2017 a new regime has applied to new car registrations.

This sees the first year registration rate based on a car’s CO2 emission band, with significantly higher rates for cars with the highest emissions. In subsequent years, however, the price moves to a standard flat rate.

“The average carbon emissions of new cars have fallen significantly over the last two decades,

with reductions every year until 2016,” says the Treasury. “That average increased for the first time in 2017, by 0.8 per cent, and by 2.9 per cent in 2018. Initial data for 2019 suggests the upwards trend is set to continue, despite modest growth in the sale of battery electric vehicles.”

The increasing popularity of sport utility vehicles has contributed to the rise.

The existing banding system has two disadvantages, the Treasury believes. “First, the bands create a ‘cliff-edge’ system that does not reward manufacturers for improving their vehicles’ efficiency within bands. This potentially leads to perverse incentives for manufacturers to produce vehicles with carbon emissions at the top end of VED bands.

“Second, the differentials between band rates are uneven, meaning any given gram of

carbon at the lower end of the tax bands is treated differently to a gram of carbon at the higher end of the bandings.”

The Government thinks a granular system could address both issues, because it would reward every gram of carbon efficiency.

A vehicle that emits 129gCO2/km) would pay less VED than a vehicle that emits 130gCO2/km).

“A granular system would eliminate the ‘cliff edges’ that currently exist between VED bands.

It would provide continuous incentives for manufacturers to produce lower emitting vehicles, and for car buyers to make lower emitting choices through reduced VED liabilities.”

The Treasury is also interested in linking VED rates and carbon emissions in years after first registration. It suggests: • introducing multiple standard rates after first registration, such

as a zero-rating for zero emission vehicles; a lower rate for vehicles with emissions from 1 to 150 g/km; and a higher rate for vehicles with emissions exceeding 151 g/km; • extending first licence VED for an additional few years, e.g. one to three; or • abolishing the standard rate, and instead linking annual VED liabilities to the first licence charge.

RAC Foundation director Steve Gooding said: “The trick will be in ensuring any revised system dovetails with company car tax and lease plans, given how few new cars are actually bought outright upfront by individual motorists.”

Responses are invited by 11 June.

Vehicle Excise Duty: call for evidence is available at https://tinyurl.com/s5j9oho

New petrol blend will push up costs

MOTORING

DRIVERS OF petrol vehicles will see their costs rise under Government plans to increase the proportion of bioethanol in standard petrol from a maximum of five to ten per cent next year.

The DfT’s consultation says the change will reduce a vehicle’s CO2 emissions by 1.8 per cent. But the impact assessment shows it will also make driving more expensive.

Petrol with five per cent bioethanol is known as E5 and that with ten per cent, E10.

“Moving from E5 to E10 is estimated to reduce pump price petrol costs by 0.2 pence per litre,” says the DfT. “However, as the energy content of the fuel will also decrease, motorists will have to buy more litres of fuel. Overall fuel costs for petrol cars are therefore estimated to increase by 1.6 per cent as a result of moving from E5 to E10.”

Petrol blends supplied in the UK currently contain no more than five per cent ethanol but the Motor Fuel (Composition and Content) Regulations 1999 allow it to contain up to ten per cent. The DfT says petrol retailers have been reluctant to introduce E10 for fear they will lose trade if other retailers continue to sell E5.

“A significant number of vehicles on the road now are optimised to use E10 petrol, as E10 has been the reference fuel for new car type approval for fuel consumption and emissions standards since 2016,” says the DfT. The DfT estimates that E10 is unsuitable for about 700,000 petrol cars in the UK – about 300,000 classic cars and a further 400,000 cars produced before 2011.

It proposes forcing retailers to make the standard petrol (95 octane) on sale E10. They would also have to continue offering E5 petrol for sale in the premium (98) grade.

In practice, the ethanol content in E10 could be significantly below ten per cent because the DfT intends to specify that standard petrol has a minimum of 5.5 per cent ethanol. “Given current market conditions, we expect this would ultimately lead to higher proportions of ethanol being blended,” it says.

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News 11

Leeds’ Clean Air Zone could outlive city’s air quality breach

ROAD CHARGES

by Andrew Forster

LEEDS CITY Council is considering if its clean air zone (CAZ) could have a long-term function after the city’s air becomes compliant with EU limit values for nitrogen dioxide.

The possibility was referred to in a report setting out the council’s response to a recent citizens’ jury on the ‘climate emergency’.

Officers said the council was currently reviewing different road user charging options such as a workplace parking levy, carbonbased charging, and “progressively increasing standards on engine emissions via the clean air zone”.

“The council is clear that high quality low carbon transport alternatives are necessary to achieve our mode shift and climate emergency emission targets,” they said. “Charges to encourage behavioural change to, and fund, the alternatives are likely to play a part in achieving our ambitious targets.”

Councillors this week received a separate report proposing the 28 September this year as the CAZ go-live date. The meeting was cancelled, however, because of

Leeds: September launch for CAZ?

the COVID-19 outbreak.

The CAZ will cover central and inner Leeds bounded by the A6120 outer ring road and the motorways in the south of the city. It is a Class B scheme, applying to buses, coaches, HGVs, taxis and private hire vehicles. The daily charge for non-compliant HGVs, buses and coaches will be £50. Non-compliant taxis and PHVs will pay £12.50, or £50 a week for vehicles licensed by the city council.

Updating councillors about the CAZ this week, officers said many businesses in the city had started upgrading their fleet in readiness for the scheme.

“The benefits of this step-

change are already being felt on key corridors in the city. Air quality on the A660 has improved since compliant buses have been introduced on to the route.”

The city’s taxi and private hire fleet now has 2,246 petrol hybrid/electric/LPG cars compared to 1,037 last February.

The current composition of the Leeds taxi and private hire fleet is: 2,669 diesel (52.8 per cent); 2,136 petrol hybrid (42.3 per cent); 133 petrol (2.6 per cent); 91 LPG (1.8 per cent); 20 fully electric (0.3 per cent); and diesel hybrid five (0.1 per cent).

The installation of automatic numberplate recognition cameras to enforce the CAZ began in the middle of last year and will be completed this month. Siemens has the ANPR contract.

The Government is responsible for three digital systems to support all CAZ schemes: the vehicle checker; the payment portal; and the national taxi and private hire database.

The vehicle checker was launched in February, allowing users to check if their vehicle is compliant.

The database that sits behind the user interface for the vehicle checker interacts with the ANPR cameras to enforce the CAZ.

Testing of the integration work has commenced and is due to conclude in the summer.

Officers said the Government’s payment portal had been developed and was currently being tested.

The portal, which will accept payment from individual vehicle owners and those with fleet accounts, deposits funds directly into the relevant council’s accounts.

The national taxi and private hire database was launched and tested at the end of 2019. “All neighbouring local authorities have started the submission of fleet data, and testing of the database integration with the vehicle checker has concluded successfully,” said officers.

The Government has also set up a ‘central service’ call centre, which provides a first point of contact for all CAZ enquiries. It will be responsible for resolving enquiries such as fleet account support; digital assistance; and technical support.

Some enquiries will be passed to the relevant council, such as Penalty Charge Notices; local exemptions; payment cancellation / refund requests; CAZ financial support; and local air quality enquiries.

CAZs will ruin More CNG filling businesses – hauliers stations for trucks

CLEAN AIR ZONES

THE ROAD Haulage Association is calling on the Government to reform clean air zone (CAZ) rules, claiming the restrictions are putting companies out of business.

Responding to the All Party Parliamentary Group for Road Freight & Logistics’ inquiry into CAZs, the Association said the current CAZ framework was “expensive, inflexible and ineffective”.

“The current policy is seeing hard-working and long-established firms go out-of-business,” said chief executive Richard Burnett. “Of course we want to decarbonise our industry but it is vital that ministers and policymakers learn lessons so that the right framework is in place to address climate change. It must also supports jobs and economic growth.”

Euro VI is the minimum vehicle emissions standard for

CAZs and the Association says this is reducing the resale value of non-Euro VI trucks.

“With as much as £1.2bn wiped off the value of the Euro V fleet, CAZs are a grievous body-blow for hauliers,” said Burnett.

“If this wasn’t bad enough, we see the policy as being counterproductive as more vans transport the freight otherwise carried by non-compliant lorries.

This will lead to more congestion and a corresponding rise in emissions.”

As a first step, the RHA wants the Government to amend the policy framework by introducing “intelligent phasing” to negate the “stranded asset” effect.

In the medium-term, the Association said the CAZ policy framework should be redesigned “with a more proportionate response that targets the mostpolluting vehicles across all vehicle types”.

EMISSIONS

BIOMETHANE COMPRESSED natural gas (CNG) fuelling stations for lorries have opened in Warrington and Northampton.

The facilities are operated by CNG Fuels, which already has stations at Leyland in Lancashire and Crewe in Cheshire. It plans to open a further six to eight stations in the next 12 months.

The Warrington facility is located at the Omega South business site beside junction 8 of the M62. The facility can refuel 12 vehicles simultaneously and up to 800 HGVs daily.

The Northampton station is situated at the Red Lion Truckstop, close to junction 16 of the M1. It can refuel more than 350 HGVs a day.

The gas is currently sourced from waste feedstocks, such as food waste, and from 2021 will also be produced from manure.

CNG Fuels said the John

Lewis Partnership had already committed to phase-out all dieselpowered heavy trucks from its fleet and replace them with over 500 vehicles running on biomethane by 2028. Parcel company Hermes was replacing its 200-strong fleet of diesel trucks with CNG, it added. Other firms investing in CNG vehicles include Home Bargains, ASDA, Argos, Royal Mail, DHL and Cadent.

CNG Fuels said the locations of the next facilities would include Erdington near Birmingham, which is under construction; Knowsley near Liverpool; and Euro Central in Scotland.

The Warrington, Northampton and Erdington stations have been supported by fund manager, Ingenious.

CNG Fuels is considering how the stations could also accommodate low-carbon hydrogen and battery electric technologies for HGVs when they become commercially viable.

Essex first stop for EV filling stations

EMISSIONS

THE FIRST of a network of electric vehicle charging ‘forecourts’ is under construction near Braintree in Essex.

Gridserve, the company behind the plan, plans to deliver more than 100 such facilities across the country.

The Electric Forecourt® near Braintree is supported by a £4.8m grant from Innovate UK and will allow up to 24 electric vehicles to charge simultaneously at speeds of up to 350kW, amongst the fastest commercially available in the UK. The facility will include a retail forecourt, housing a coffee shop, supermarket, and airport-style lounge with high-speed internet and meeting rooms.

Gridserve said it was in discussions with a number of local authorities around the UK and had secured 100+ sites on busy routes and near powerful grid connections close to towns, cities and major transport hubs.

The company aims to have the full UK-wide network operational within five years.

In Brief

ULEZ raises £130m in ten months The central London ultra-low emission zone has generated revenue of £130.1m between its launch last April and 1 February, according to Transport for London. The figure is £1.2m below budget. The number of non-compliant vehicles detected in the zone since launch stood at about eight million at the end of February.

TfL says about 76.4 per cent of vehicles circulating within the zone meet the standards.

£300m more grant to tackle NO2 The Chancellor Rishi Sunak has announced an extra £304m to help local authorities in England take immediate steps to reduce nitrogen dioxide emissions. The funding was announced in last week’s Budget. Further details are awaited.

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Highways England in the money with £27.4bn five-year plan

T

The Government’s second five-year Road Investment Strategy allocates Highways England a huge amount more money than the first RIS. Funding now comes from the new National Roads Fund of ringfenced Vehicle Excise Duty here are road improvement plans aplenty in the Government’s new five-year Road Investment Strategy (RIS) for England’s Strategic Road Network. Overall, the RIS, covering the years 2020/21-2024/25, provides expenditure of £27.4bn to cover Highways England’s needs – operations, maintenance and enhancements.

This is the second RIS period (known as Road Period 2, RP2) and the DfT says the size of the funding pot is about 60 per cent greater than the £17bn of RIS1, which ends this month. The big increase coincides with an important change in how Highways England is funded. From next month, Vehicle Excise Duty paid in England is ringfenced into a National Roads Fund (NRF) that will pay for all of HE’s activities. There will be money to spare too for improvements to the Major Road Network of the most important local authority roads (additional to the £27.4bn).

“The funding settlement of a RIS is fixed, and defended

The statement of funds available for Road Period 2 in law, to ensure that long-term infrastructure plans are not sacrificed to fill short-term budget gaps,” explains the DfT. “Unexpected financial pressures would necessarily have to be managed through the scheduling of work. Should the

Government decide to specify new tasks for Highways England to deliver, this would need to be covered by additional funding.”

Publication of the RIS is the culmination of an exten-

DfT’s strategic road studies struggle to find solutions RIS2 includes an update on the five strategic road studies launched in RIS1. All appear to be struggling to develop practical proposals.

M60 Manchester North West Quadrant: “Working closely with Transport for the North and Transport for Great[er] Manchester, our study has so far supported the importance of the Simister Island Interchange in mitigating some impacts and there is now a committed scheme in RIS2. However, the transformational options identified by the study would have significant adverse impacts on local people and communities, and overall would not provide value for money. The study will therefore continue to identify packages of smaller schemes that can be developed through RP2. Working closely with Transport for Greater Manchester, we will complete a parallel local study which has sought to identify if meaningful relief can be delivered through improvements to public transport or to the local road network.”

Trans-Pennine Tunnel: “The presence of the Peak District National Park means any action to correct this must take full account of potential environmental consequences. We will work in partnership with Transport for the North, local highways and national park authorities to finalise whether high-quality but cost-effective connections can provide an appropriate balance between the levelling up of the economy and the environmental impacts on a valued and protected landscape.”

A1 East of England: “The A1 in Bedfordshire is some of the oldest dual carriageway on the SRN, and has profound impacts on the people who live on or near to it. Our existing study shows that congestion and safety issues on the route are not substantial enough in their own right to justify the full costs of moving the road to a new, more appropriate location. Substantial plans for local development (as proposed by the National Infrastructure Commission) has the potential to change this, and further work on the project will be considered if development becomes likely.”

Oxford to Cambridge Expressway: “The Government has investigated the potential for a new high-quality link road between the M1 and M40 which could support growth and examine the costs and benefits of a range of options, taking account of the views of local authorities and residents in the Arc. We are now pausing further development of the scheme while we undertake further work on other potential road projects that could support the Government’s ambition for the Oxford-Cambridge Arc, and benefit people who live and work there, including exploring opportunities to alleviate congestion around the Arc’s major economic centres such as Milton Keynes. We will work with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and local partners on the proposed spatial framework to identify the role transport can play alongside the proposed economic and housing growth ambitions for the Oxford-Cambridge Arc. M25 South West Quadrant: “The M25 between Junctions 10 and 16 is the busiest section of road in the UK and our study has considered how congestion can be relieved on this route. The study recommends against conventional widening of the existing road and has sought to find other ways of reducing pressure on the motorway. It assessed whether wider transport measures could have a role to play in easing congestion on this section, but has indicated that these are insufficient to meaningfully improve the road’s performance. We have identified options for getting more capacity out of the existing M25, but in the long-term it may be that to reduce congestion significantly new infrastructure off the existing line of route would prove necessary. We will now look to review and consider these options further taking full account of any effects on surrounding communities.”

New studies to commence in Road Period 2: Central Pennines: “This new study was announced in March 2019 to consider how road connections from the eastern end of the M65 in Colne could be

improved. The study is considering if there may be potential to better connect communities in east Lancashire and West Yorkshire, provide more resilient links to Leeds Bradford Airport and between the M6 and the A1(M), relieving the M62. The study is looking at what the issues are before assessing if there are plausible, cost effective options.”

M4 to Dorset Coast: “There are few north-south connections across the southwest of England. The present strategic road for this area is a mixture of the A36 and A46, via Bath, Warminster and Salisbury.

Local authorities in the area have suggested that there is a strategic case for adopting an alternative corridor – the A350 – as the main strategic route for the area; and then beginning a coordinated programme of upgrades to provide a high-quality route linking the M4 to the Dorset Coast including Bournemouth and Poole, with its economically-important port facilities.

This raises a number of related questions, which are best considered together as part of a strategic study.

We expect that this study will identify which corridor provides the main strategic route for the area; may recommend the trunking and detrunking of key routes; and may identify priority investments in the area that can be taken forward after the dualling of the A303/A358 is complete.”

Role of the Urban SRN: “As mayoral and combined authorities develop strategies and working arrangements for their transport and environmental activities in many of our urban centres, an important question emerges about how the SRN and Highways England can play their part most effectively in those places. In RP2, Highways England will undertake a study into the role of the urban SRN, balancing the desire to better integrate these roads with local planning and transport operations while not adversely impacting on their national strategic role. This study will consider options such as improved collaboration on operations and changes in road ownership.”

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News 13

RIS2: new enhancement schemes North of England Committed for RP2: • A1 Morpeth to Ellingham; • A19 Down Hill Lane • A1 Birtley to Coal House • A66 Northern Transpennine • M6 South Lancaster Growth Catalyst J33a • A585 Windy Harbour to Skippool • M60/M62/M66 Simister Island • A61 Westwood Roundabout • A5036 Princess Way • Mottram Moor Link Road and A57 Link road • M6 junction 19 Smart motorways, subject to stocktake*: • M62 J20-25 • M6 J21a-26 • M56 J6-8 RIS 3 pipeline: • A19 North of Newcastle junctions • A64 Hopgrove • M1 Leeds Eastern gateway • M1/M62 Lofthouse junction • A1 Doncaster to Darrington • M1 J35a-39 Sheffield to Wakefield capacity • M62 J22 • M6 J19-21a • Manchester South East junction improvements Midlands Committed for RP2: • A46 Newark bypass • A38 Derby junctions • M54-M6 link road • A5 Dodwells to Longshoot • M42 Junction 6 • A46 Coventry junctions Smart motorways, subject to stocktake*: • M40/M42 interchange

sive work programme, including Highways England’s route strategies, the Government’s area-based strategic road studies (see panel), Transport Focus’s research into road user priorities; a consultation on Highways England’s Initial Report, and a draft RIS published in October 2018, which set the Government’s objectives for the period.

England’s sub-national transport bodies (STBs) have played a part but the DfT recognises they want a bigger role. “We recognise the aspirations of these bodies as they progress in maturity to work even more closely on the development of the next RIS and that is something we will explore with them in the coming months.”

The strategy was also informed by Highways England’s regional traffic models and the DfT’s road traffic forecasts of 2018 (‘RTF18’). Says the DfT: “Traffic growth on the Strategic Road Network (SRN) is forecast to be strong and positive in all scenarios considered by RTF18, ranging between growth of 29 per cent and 59 per cent by 2050, driven by forecast increases in the number of car trips and trip distances, as well as increasing light goods vehicle traffic.” Traffic growth on the SRN between 2013 and 2018 was about 11 per cent.

The Department accepts that overall trip rates for the majority of trip purposes are declining and there is a trend of more young people not learning to drive. “However, these changes that would reduce demand are outweighed by the increase in journeys made by older drivers, and the expectation of a continued rise in total population. In addition, holiday trips are forecast to more than double by 2050, resulting in longer average distance car trips. As longer trips are more likely to be routed on the SRN, demand is likely to continue to grow faster than on local roads.”

A large chunk of expenditure will be needed to complete

RIS 3 pipeline: • M6 junction 15 Potteries southern access • A483 Pant Llanymynech bypass • M1 North Leicestershire extra capacity • M1 Leicester Western access • A5 Hinkley to Tamworth The East Committed for RP2 • A47 North Tuddenham to Easton • A47 Blofield to North Burlingham • A47 Great Yarmouth junctions • A47 Thickthorn Junction • A47 Guyhirn Junction • A47 Wansford to Sutton • A428 Black Cat to Caxton Gibbet • A5 Towcester Relief Road • A120 Tendring/Colchester Borders Garden community • A12 Colchester/Braintree Borders Garden community • M11 Junction 7a • M25 Junction 25 • M25 Junction 28 • Lower Thames Crossing Smart motorways, subject to stocktake*: • A1(M) Junctions 6-8 RIS3 pipeline • A47/A1101 Elm Road Junction • A11 Fiveways Junction • M11 Junction 13 Cambridge West • A12/A14 Copdock Interchange • A120 Braintree to A12 • A404/M40 junction 4 High Wycombe • Tilbury Link Road South and West Committed for RP2: • M5 Junction 10 and link road

enhancements that have been started in RIS1, as well as some RIS1 schemes that have yet to commence. The DfT acknowledges that slippage could hit schemes programmed to start in RIS2. “Whereas RIS1 promised that its projects would start by the end of the period, we now wish to be clear that there is a possibility that external factors could delay the start of some projects beyond 2025.”

The full list of new enhancements is in the accompanying table. Among the biggest are: dualling the A66 Transpennine route between the M6 and the A1(M); building a new Lower Thames Crossing between Kent and Thurrock (Essex); dualling the A303 past Stonehenege; and improving the A46 ‘Trans-Midlands trade corridor’ between the M5 and the Humber Ports, with work in RP2 completing a continuous dual carriageway between Lincoln and Warwick.

During RIS2, preparatory work will also begin on 32 schemes for start in RIS3 (also listed in the table).

Four ring-fenced funds will operate in RIS2, covering: environment and wellbeing (£345m); users and communities (£169m); innovation and modernisation (£216m); safety and congestion (£140m).

Maintenance will see three areas receiving a substantial increase in expenditure because of the age of assets: • Structures – bridges, underpasses, retaining walls and similar – will need more extensive renewal works • Safety barriers will require replacement at a faster rate to make sure that they remain effective • The oldest type of concrete road surface (“pavement”), with its distinctive ridged construction, will need to be phased out entirely over several road periods, says the DfT. It will take around 25 years to complete the task in full; the process begins in RIS2, with around £400m.

A further £2bn is expected to be spent on more tradi-

• A417 Air Balloon • A2 Bean and Ebbsfleet • A249 Swale Transport Infrastructure • M2 Junction 5 • M25 Junction 10 • A303 Amesbury to Berwick Down • M3 Junction 9 • A303 Sparkford to Ilchester • A358 Taunton to Southfields • M27 Junction 8 • A31 Ringwood • A27 East of Lewes package • A27 Arundel bypass • A27 Worthing and Lancing improvements • A30 Chiverton to Carland Cross Smart motorways subject to stocktake*: • M25 J10-16 • M3 J9-14 RIS3 pipeline: • A404 Bisham Junction • Severn resilience package • A2 Brenley Corner • A3/A247 Ripley South • A2 Dover Access • A303 Phase 2 upgrade • A21 safety package • M27 Southampton access • A27 Lewes to Polegate • A27 Chichester improvements • A38 Trerulefoot – Carkeel safety package

* Smart motorways subject to stocktake – the sequencing of smart motorway projects will be revisited in light of the smart motorway stocktake when it is concluded. Those that have yet to start major works or which are still in development may have to be rescheduled subject to the findings of the stocktake. Highways England will provide more detail on the status of individual projects later this year.

tional aspects of renewing and maintaining the network, including about £1.4bn on resurfacing.

The RIS sets a number of key performance indicators against which Highways England will be assessed. These include: • Safety: a 50 per cent reduction in killed or serious injuries against a 2005-09 average baseline, keeping Highways England broadly on the same trajectory as RIS1.

• Performance: Average delay at the end of RP2 to be no worse than at the end of RP1. During RP1 so far, average delay on the SRN has grown from 8.9 seconds per vehicle mile to 9.5 seconds per vehicle mile. The measure takes the difference between the observed travel time and the speed limit travel time.

• Incident clearance rate: 86 per cent of motorway incidents to be cleared within one hour.

• Air quality: the HE must bring links agreed with the DfT and based on the Pollution Control Mapping model into compliance with legal nitrogen dioxide limits in the shortest possible time.

• Highways England’s carbon emissions: reduce them as a result of electricity consumption, fuel use and other dayto-day operational activities during RP2 to levels defined by baselining and target setting activities in 2020/21.

• Road user satisfaction: achieve an 82 per cent road user satisfaction score in 2020/21 and 2021/22, with year-onyear increases in the following years.

• Total efficiency: the RIS sets an efficiency target of £2.304bn on capital and operational expenditure to be achieved by the end of RP2.

Road investment strategy2: 2020-2025 is available at https://tinyurl.com/ulh5xxl

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LTT794 20 March - 02 April 2020

14 News

In Brief

TfGM speaks out on rail freight capacity Transport for Greater Manchester is calling for “pragmatic discussions” with the rail freight sector over the latter’s use of scarce rail capacity in the conurbation. The call comes after Transport for the North’s request to look at removing freight trains from the congested Castlefield corridor through Manchester Piccadilly (LTT 06 Mar). That request, thought to be backed by Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham, would appear to imply the closure of the Trafford Park container terminal.

Asked to clarify its position on Trafford Park, TfGM provided LTT with the following statement: “TfGM is currently reviewing and subsequently refreshing its freight strategy, due to complete this summer, and this will lead to recommendations on how rail freight in Greater Manchester can be optimised to help meet economic and environmental objectives. We want to work with the industry and have the pragmatic discussions with them to strike the right balance, to understand how to support the maximum movement of passengers at peak times, while still retaining capacity for the level of freight required to support the economy.”

Doncaster prepares freeport bid The Sheffield City Region Combined Authority is working with Doncaster Sheffield Airport on a bid for Freeport status that may also feature the town’s two rail freight terminals, iPort and Doncaster Rail Hub. The airport and combined authority have appointed construction firm Mace to advise on response to the Government’s freeport consultation.

New owners for Weardale Railway A heritage railway in northeast England has been bought by a local charity. The Weardale Railway between Stanhope and Bishop Auckland, a distance of 18 miles, was put up for sale last year after the US firm Iowa Pacific Holdings entered insolvency last year. Iowa Pacific, through its subsidiary BARS, had a controlling stake in the Weardale Railway Community Interest Company.

Local regeneration charity the Auckland Project has bought the railway and wants to work with a train operator to reinstate direct trains over the line from Darlington. The Darlington to Bishop Auckland line passes two railway heritage sites, the Darlington North Road museum and the National Railway Museum’s Locomotion museum at Shildon. The Auckland Project hopes to capitalise on 2025 being the 200th anniversary of the Stockton and Darlington Railway.

We must have seat at table for new rail plan, TfN tells Shapps RAIL

by Andrew Forster

TRANSPORT FOR the North is demanding a major role in preparing the Government’s new integrated rail plan for the North and Midlands, and a key role in subsequent project delivery.

Doug Oakervee’s review of HS recommended the new plan and the Government published terms of reference for the exercise last month (LTT 21 Feb & 06 Mar).

These say the plan will advise on the “scoping, phasing and sequencing delivery of HS2 phase 2b, Northern Powerhouse Rail (NPR), the Midlands Rail Hub and other proposed rail investments”.

The National Infrastructure Commission is to prepare a report to inform the plan and, based on the Commission’s assessment, the Government said it would consider “how to take account of the views of local leaders, consistent with delivering on the objectives of the scheme [sic] and value for money”.

Transport for the North’s board considered the Government’s proposals last week. Board members agreed to issue statutory advice to transport secretary Grant Shapps, emphasising that the North and Midlands “must play a full and decisive role in the development of the plan”.

David Hughes, TfN’s director of strategy and programme, told the board: “In early discussions with ministers, Transport for the North has emphasised that whilst positive engagement is welcome, a meaningful role in decisionmaking is essential.”

TfN must also have a role in delivering the plan’s recommendations, he added. “The North should insist on a TfN co-sponsor role at a minimum, alongside Government, in all major Northern rail projects.”

Hughes said the rail plan represented “a clear opportunity to now plan all major rail interventions in a coherent, phased 20-year pipeline of investment, avoiding further delay and uncertainty”.

“The absence of any such plan has hindered effective decisionmaking and left projects such as the Castlefield corridor [the through lines at Manchester Piccadilly LTT 06 Mar] and Transpennine route upgrade in limbo for too long.”

Hughes said TfN “should ensure that the Government’s

commitment to delivery of the full Y-network [of HS2] is maintained, whilst engaging positively in the review of specific alignment issues.

“Consideration of capacity/speed/cost trade-offs on both legs of HS2 phase 2b should reflect the journey time benefits to the North West, North East, as well as Scotland and Wales of a high-speed line through the Midlands.”

A review of the design of Phase 2b, covering Crewe to Manchester and the West Midlands to Leeds, should continue “at pace”, said Hughes, but “there must be time to consider new evidence and incorporate changes to HS2 plans”.

“This includes the significant issues of connecting Liverpool, Lancashire and Cumbria to the

high-speed network, as well as the key HS2/NPR interface questions at Manchester Piccadilly, including addressing the recommendations of Richard George’s independent review of Piccadilly, and to the south of Leeds [see story below].”

George’s unpublished report on Piccadilly considered both a surface station for NPR and HS2 or an underground station. The latter would cost much more but is favoured by Manchester City Council and Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham. George’s work left the question open.

Hughes said TfN should press for a Government commitment to deliver the full Northern Powerhouse Rail network, said Hughes, and “accelerated delivery timelines for both HS2 Phase 2b and NPR”.

HS2 and NPR access to Leeds probed FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS are underway into how HS2 and Northern Powerhouse Rail services should access Leeds and Bradford.

West Yorkshire Combined Authority has been working with Transport for the North, Network Rail and the DfT to examine options in an exercise that will inform the new integrated rail plan for the North and Midlands.

WYCA’s head of rail James Nutter, told councillors that work had looked at “whether or not the proposed touchpoint between the HS2 and classic rail networks south of Leeds at Stourton – not part of the current design scope for the HS2 Phase 2b Hybrid Bill – is required to deliver the vision”.

“Earlier work by TfN showed that Stourton Junction is not required to achieve the agreed outputs of the HS2 and NPR programmes when considered in isolation,” he said.

“The study has taken an integrated

approach building on Transpennine Route Upgrade, HS2 and NPR to consider the connectivity needs based on future economic, social and environmental trends. The work suggests that a combination of a Clayton North Junction and other infrastructure may deliver better outcomes than Stourton for West Yorkshire and the wider north of England.

“Following completion of the study, further work is being commissioned by the NPR coclients [TfN and the DfT] to investigate the case for a Clayton North Junction that would allow northbound trains from HS2 to access an upgraded Doncaster to Leeds route via Wakefield, and with a re-instated Wortley Curve to enable direct access to Bradford.

“Until this further work is satisfactorily concluded, Stourton Junction remains in play as a clear West Yorkshire priority,” said Nutter.

TfN sets out thinking on long-term funds FUNDING

TRANSPORT FOR the North may seek a three-year spending review settlement from Government worth £250m to fund development work for its strategic transport priorities. The subnational transport body has also spelt out its thinking on becoming the budget holder for major road and rail projects in the longerterm.

Details were presented to last week’s board meeting by Iain Craven, TfN’s finance director, and James Mills, its corporate engagement lead.

They said a submission prepared to the Government’s

aborted 2019 spending review had sought £244m for project development work over three years, including circa £40m of irrecoverable VAT. “Between now and the spending review, TfN will both further refine the ask of Government and at the same time plan for how this step-up in activity could be managed into 2021/22 and beyond,” said Craven and Mills.

TfN ultimately wants to be the budget holder for strategic transport projects in the north of England.

Craven and Mills said the Government should establish a Northern strategic transport budget, funded by general taxa-

tion rather than specific transport revenue streams.

“Neither Vehicle Excise Duty nor access to [rail] franchise surpluses would provide Transport for the North with any kind of multi-year funding certainty and may in the case of the former be in long-term decline,” they said.

“Therefore, they should not be prioritised by TfN and they should only be considered as ‘in addition to’, and not ‘in place of’ existing funding sources.”

TfN should be given a share of “centrally collected national funds... as that is where the major tax-raising powers to fund such activity are held at this point in time”. “This could take the form

of periodic spending review ‘asks’ that would be derived from the [TfN] investment programme or from a longer-term Barnetttype formula.”

Any settlement should cover road and rail and be multi-year and should feature a ‘double / triple-lock’ style guarantee from central government to safeguard a minimum increase of budget growth over the medium to longterm.

“This does not require Transport for the North to be a delivery body for now – work would continue to be carried out by national agencies or Transport for the North partners / local authorities,” said Craven and Mills.

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News 15

In Brief

Council reveals vision for how HS2 could transform Crewe RAIL

by Andrew Forster

CHESHIRE EAST Council has published its vision for redeveloping Crewe station and its surroundings, but says the proposals depend on the Government funding works to increase the number of HS2 services that stop in the town.

The council envisages Crewe station being remodelled with a transfer deck above the platforms and a new station canopy.

Consultation on the proposals for the station and surrounding area took place last summer (LTT 19 Jul 19), and the final version of the Crewe Hub area action plan was presented to councillors this month.

A new station entrance would be built on Weston Road on the east side of the station, incorporating bus interchange and a multi-storey car park nearby.

The only station access is currently from Nantwich Road, which crosses the station. In future this would be for only pedestrians and cyclists, with extensive public realm works to the road proposed.

A third station entrance, for

Crewe: transformed station

pedestrians and cyclists, would be built on Gresty Road on the west side of the station.

The Government is committed to building Phase 2a of HS2, which will extend the high-speed line from the West Midlands to Crewe.

At present, however, only two HS2 trains are expected to call at the station in each direction each hour, using lengthened platforms.

Cheshire East wants this increased to seven each way.

The area action plan says that if the additional works necessary to allow seven trains an hour are not delivered “there would not be the step-change in connectivity at Crewe to support the level of

regeneration and growth within the council’s ambitious plans.

“In this scenario the council would unlikely be able to afford a local contribution towards the station, resulting in Government delivering a sub-optimal solution for Crewe.”

Other features of the plan include a £40m Southern Link Road Bridge spanning the south end of the station is proposed, connecting Gresty Road to Weston Road (LTT 19 Jul &22 Nov 19). This will remove traffic from the Nantwich Road corridor.

Land around the station will be redeveloped: • the area east of Mill Street, northwest of the station, will be residential • land west of Macon Way and around the Crewe Arms roundabout northeast of the station will be mixed use, with housing in the north and employment in the south • commercial development will be built on land east of Weston Road on the east side of the station • a mixed use development will be built on the west side of the station east of Gresty Road, with a new public plaza and entrance

to the station at the site of Rail House Existing car parking near the station will be removed and consolidated into new multi-storey car parks off Weston Road.

“It is expected that in the order of an additional 1,200 car parking spaces will be required to satisfy demand for rail travel in the next ten years,” Hayley Kirkham, the Cheshire East’s HS2 programme director, told councillors.

The council wants station car parking passed from the control of the West Coast Partnership franchise to the council. This would give the council a revenue stream to help provide the local contribution to the overall plan.

Cheshire East is also pressing for a Government commitment to building a new Crewe North Junction, which would allow trains to call at Crewe and then join the proposed HS2 line to Manchester (Phase 2b).

Other requests being made to the Government are allowing 100 per cent retention of business rates growth in areas around the station, and a funding contribution to new road infrastructure, including the Southern Link Road Bridge.

HS2 noise barriers worry the Chilterns HIGH-SPEED RAIL

THE CHILTERNS Conservation Board wants HS2 Ltd to design bespoke noise barriers and fencing for use in the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

Large parts of the London to West Midlands high-speed line will be built in tunnel but passengers may also find views of the countryside on surface sections obscured by noise barriers.

HS2 Ltd has just consulted on three standardised elements of the design – bridge and viaduct parapets; bridge and viaduct pier (the support structures); and noise barriers. The company says all will be made of concrete in order to last 120 years. Noise barriers will be of varying height, including in excess of three metres above the railway track in places.

Responding to the consultation, the Chilterns Conservation Board says standardised designs of noise barrier and fencing will be unacceptable through the AONB and could also be unlawful.

“We are concerned that elements like noise barriers will be highly visible and create visual clutter over the length of the

How the noise barriers could look, according to HS2

railway,” it says. “A rash of standard fencing and noise barriers could undermine efforts to design the main structures in a sympathetic manner to their rural location.”

The board says taking a standard approach to noise barriers and fencing in the Chilterns “could leave HS2 open to challenge about whether it has demonstrated the statutory duty of regard to the AONB enshrined in Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 Section 85”.

Section 85 of the Act says that “in exercising or performing any functions in relation to, or so as to affect, land in an area of outstanding natural beauty”, public bodies must “have regard to the purpose of conserving and enhancing the natural beauty of the area”.

This issue also arose with Network Rail’s Great Western electrification programme, which passes through the Chilterns and North Wessex Downs AONBs between Reading and Didcot.

Critics said Network Rail ignored the legislation by installing standard masts and booms, which are widely regarded as ugly, through the AONBs (LTT 05 Feb 16). A legal action was threatened but Network Rail eventually settled the dispute by paying the AONBs £3.75m for environmental projects, including £750,000 to plant trees to hide the railway (LTT 02 Aug 19).

In the case of HS2, the Chilterns Conservation Board says noise barriers in the AONB will need to be of bespoke “design, height, colour and mate-

rials ... to integrate with its particular context.”

The conservation board’s HS2 Detailed Design Principles document published in 2018 recommended the use of timberclad noise barriers on a steel or timber structure.

On fencing, the board has told HS2 Ltd: “We support the approach of having no fencing if the noise barrier can also fulfil the security function. Where [fencing is] essential, ensure it [should be] of a minimum height, simple design (e.g. mesh not palisade), locally appropriate colour for the landscape, and low visibility.

Where possible screen fencing with native hedges.”

HS2 Ltd says fencing may not be necessary where noise barriers are installed, though fencing may prevent the noise barriers being covered in graffiti.

Graffiti is a common problem on noise barriers in parts of mainland Europe such as Italy, where their use is more commonplace.

HS2 common design elements is available at https://tinyurl.com/vpm32j8

Airport ruling delays infrastructure plan The Government has delayed publication of its national infrastructure strategy because of the Appeal Court’s ruling that the Airports National Policy Statement failed to take into account the Paris Agreement on climate change (LTT 06 Mar). The Treasury says the strategy will be published this spring.

Virgin withdraws open access rail bid Virgin Trains has withdrawn its application to run open access services between Liverpool Lime Street and London Euston. In a letter to the Office of Rail and Road, Neil Micklethwaite, Virgin’s business development director, says: “We consider that with the Williams Review [of rail] still not having been published, there remains considerable uncertainty that at this time, we had originally hoped would have been much clearer. Consequently, and after much consideration, we have decided to suspend our application. At the same time, we remain committed to this railway and would look to consider re-applying in the future, once we have seen the outcome and understand the impact of the Williams Review.”

Virgin relinquished the West Coast franchise (operated as a joint venture with Stagecoach) last December.

New Cambridge rail station accelerated The mayor of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough James Palmer has welcomed the Chancellor’s announcement that funding will be provided to deliver a new station at Cambridge South by 2025, five years ahead of the original schedule. “We are pleased that our case to disentangle Cambridge South station from East West Rail, which is not planned for at least another ten years, has been listened to and that the time it will take to deliver a train station for the increasingly important Biomedical campus has been halved as a result,” said Palmer.

East West Rail is not forecast to reach Cambridge until 2027 and is currently only in the planning stage, with no timetabling confirmed or a chosen route into Cambridge established.

£20m for Midlands Rail Hub The Government has announced £20m to develop the Midlands Rail Hub plan for a major programme of improvements to rail services in the region. The proposals include 24 extra train services every hour on commuter and inter-regional services services between towns and cities such as Coventry, Birmingham, Leicester, Nottingham, Derby, Lincoln, and Hereford.

LTT794_p10,16,26,28,33-39.qxp_LTT_ads_master 19/03/2020 15:32 Page 16

Updated event schedule 9 - 10 JUNE Edgbaston Stadium, Birmingham

NEW DATE 15 SEPTEMBER STEAM: Museum of the Great Western Railway, Swindon

2020

8 - 9 JULY Examination School, Oxford

The 2nd SWHA conference

NEW DATE 23 SEPTEMBER Council House, Birmingham

NEW DATE 4 SEPTEMBER City Hall, Bristol

25 SEPTEMBER Fairfield Halls, Croydon

Liveable THE

NEIGHBOURHOODS CONFERENCE 2020

Plus more, for further information visit:

www.TransportXtra.com/events

LTT794 page 17.qxp_LTT759_pXX 20/03/2020 10:21 Page 5

TransportXtra.com/ltt

News 17

In Brief

Traffic demand management is unavoidable, says Reading

POLICY

by Andrew Forster

ROAD TRAFFIC demand management measures will have to be introduced in Reading because of the council’s declared ‘climate emergency’, poor air quality, and forecast road traffic growth, says the unitary authority.

“Continuing with the status quo is not an option,” says the Labour-controlled council’s new draft 2036 transport strategy, due to be issued for consultation next week. “Alongside providing sustainable alternatives we must manage demand. This will involve making difficult choices.”

It says “some or all” of the following measures may have to be implemented: a clean air zone; emissions-based charging, such as for parking; road user charging; and a workplace parking levy.

“We acknowledge that a demand management scheme cannot be delivered without reasonable alternative travel provision, such as public trans-

port, in place,” says Reading.

“Therefore, we will implement demand management through a phased approach that can adapt to changing travel patterns (for example a shift towards electric vehicles) and also allow the delivery of sustainable transport infrastructure in tandem.”

Road user charges will provide a revenue stream for “sustainable transport options”.

Some of the demand management measures could only be implemented in partnership with neighbouring Wokingham and West Berkshire councils.

“Whilst we will deliver demand management within Reading borough, it should be noted that the administrative boundaries of Reading mean key employment sites, such as the University of Reading and Green Park, will be split across boundaries.

“In the case of Thames Valley Business Park and Arlington Business Park, these will be entirely outside of the borough.

Given the large number of trips that are generated by these sites,

we will commence discussions on the proposed options with Wokingham Borough and West Berkshire councils at an early stage.”

The strategy outlines a range of investment proposals, including a major road scheme north of Reading – the North Reading Orbital Route – that would connect into the proposed new Thames crossing to the east of the town. The bridge was the second highest priority scheme submitted by sub-national transport body Transport for the South East to the DfT’s Large Local Majors funding round last summer.

The orbital road would connect the A4074 to the A4155, and remove traffic from the bridge over the River Thames at Caversham in north Reading. The new road would also facilitate the construction of a park-and-ride site in north Reading.

Other plan proposals include Fast Track Public Transport (FTPR) bus corridors. These include along the A33 from the south; from the soon-to-open

STBs to bid for statutory status GOVERNANCE

SOME OF England’s non-statutory sub-national transport bodies are preparing applications to the Government for statutory powers, undeterred by the DfT’s message last year that it had no plans to authorise further statutory STBs at this stage.

Transport for the South East (TfSE) will seek a range of powers, though it has dropped a request for bus franchising.

England’s Economic Heartland is also to apply for statutory status but will seek a more limited set of powers, keen to only hold those it has a clear need to use.

TfSE’s proposed powers cover: • preparation of a transport strategy • being consulted on rail franchising and setting the overall objectives for the rail network in the TfSE area • jointly setting the Road Investment Strategy (RIS) for the TfSE area with the Government • obtaining certain highways powers that would operate concurrently and with the consent of the current highway authority, to enable regionally significant highways schemes to be expedited • securing the provision of bus services and entering into quality

bus partnerships • introducing integrated ticketing schemes • establishing clean air zones with the power to charge high polluting vehicles for using the highway • the power to promote or oppose Bills in Parliament • incidental powers to enable TfSE to act as a type of local authority Many of the proposed powers would operate concurrently to those of the constituent authorities. Where exercised by TfSE they would need the consent of the constituent authority or authorities.

Glastonbury bypass plan ditched

ROADS

SOMERSET COUNTY Council has withdrawn a funding bid for a bypass of Glastonbury because of local opposition.

Peninsula Transport, the nonstatutory local transport body for the far South West, included an A361 Glastonbury bypass and Pilton scheme as the fifth priority in its Major Road Network (MRN) submission to the DfT

last year.

In January the DfT requested that all MRN scheme promoters confirm local community and political support for schemes.

Officers told Peninsula Transport’s meeting this month: “Recent correspondence with Glastonbury Town Council, the local MP and other residents regarding the scheme has shown that there is now local community and political concern about the

notion of bypass solutions for the pinch points on this route.

“The council considers that it is highly unlikely that the scheme can realistically progress any further or be deliverable without a high level of community and political support.”

Two bypass options for Glastonbury had been identified (long and short) (LTT 15 Mar 19). As of last spring no options had been identified for relieving Pilton.

park-and-ride site at Thames Valley Park in the east; from a new West park-and-ride on the A329 corridor; and from a new P&R in the southwest at junction 12 of the M4.

Some of these P&R proposals are also dependent on collaboration with neighbouring authorities because the unitary council’s boundaries are tightly drawn around the Reading urban area.

More active travel routes are proposed and the council is keen to re-establish a bike hire scheme to serve Reading and the wider area.

Targets include: • reducing traffic to, from and through the town centre by 20 per cent by 2036, from 22,100 vehicles a day (2017-2019 average) to 17,600 • growing bus use by 25 per cent from 22.5 million in 2018/19 to 28.1 million trips by 2036 • doubling park-and-ride use from 530,536 in 2019 by 2036.

• growing public transport trips into the town centre from 50,700 a day (2017-2019 average) to 73,500 by 2036

Changes to SRN network?

ROADS

THE DFT is considering alterations to Highways England’s Strategic Road Network through detrunking and trunking.

The following local highway authority roads could transfer to Highways England: the A453 from the M1 to East Midlands Airport, and the A13/A1014 from the end of the trunked A13 through to the recently-opened London Gateway Port.

The following HE roads could transfer to local highway authorities: the A585 from the M55 to Fleetwood in Lancashire; the A40 from the Gloucester Ring Road to Boxbush in Gloucestershire; and the NEC Eastway in Solihull.

Discussions about other changes are at an earlier stage, including trunking the M65 between junctions 10 and 14 pending the findings of the Central Pennines study.

The details are revealed in the DfT’s second Road Investment Strategy.

S Oxon ordered to continue local plan The Government has ordered South Oxfordshire District Council to take its emerging local plan through public examination and adoption by the end of the year. The decision could safeguard £218m of Government Housing Infrastructure Fund grant for new roads in and around Didcot. Communities secretary Robert Jenrick intervened in the local plan process last October, preventing the council from withdrawing its emerging local plan from examination (LTT 25 Oct 19). The document was drawn up by the Conservative administration that lost control of the council last May and the new Liberal Democrat/Green administration opposes some of the plan’s housing proposals. In accepting Jenrick’s direction this month, South Oxfordshire has asked him to finalise the funding package for the Didcot Garden Town HIF bid as soon as possible “and ensure it includes appropriate sustainable walking and cycling infrastructure”.

Hereford road schemes reviewed Herefordshire Council is commissioning consultants to assist in a review of the proposed Hereford western bypass and the southern link roads. The Western bypass would connect the A49 trunk road north of the city to the A465 to the southwest. The southern link road would connect the A465 to the A49 south of the city. The road projects are core elements of the Hereford and South Wye transport packages promoted by the Conservative administration that lost control of the council last May. The council is now under no overall control. Independent council leader David Hitchiner said: “It is incumbent on the council to ensure that projects are consistent with the council’s declaration of a climate emergency and will contribute to reducing the carbon output of the county whilst also addressing the transport problems of the city and supporting economic growth.” The review will consider actions such as removing traffic signals on the A49 in the city; new roads to the east of the city; park-and-ride; electric buses; very light rail; and active travel.

The consultancy contract runs to the end of June.

M54-M6 link road examination The Planning Inspectorate has accepted for examination Highways England’s development consent order application for the M54 to M6 link road in the West Midlands.

£ f p T a E £ to

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LTT794 20 March - 02 April 2020

18 News

Smart motorways: here to stay but with extra safety features

T

Highways England is to implement a programme of additional safety measures on England’s smart motorways following a study into their casualty record ransport secretary Grant Shapps has announced a package of reforms to improve the safety of England’s smart motorways following an in-depth review of their safety record. Shapps ordered the review amid longstanding concern that the smart motorway design puts drivers who breakdown in live lanes at risk of having their vehicles struck from behind at high speed. The concerns reached the nation’s living rooms at the end of January when the BBC Panorama’s investigation of smart motorways was aired (LTT 07 Feb). The programme broadcast harrowing accounts of people who had lost loved ones in such incidents.

The changes announced by Shapps include more frequent emergency refuge areas (ERAs) on new schemes; the possibility of additional ERAs on existing schemes; the accelerated introduction of stopped vehicle detection equipment; and the scrapping of dynamic hard shoulders, where the hard shoulder is open to traffic only at peak periods. The full list of actions appears in the panel opposite.

In an informative foreword to the DfT’s final report into smart motorway safety, Shapps pointedly emphasised the value of the motorway design. “Smart motorways keep the country moving. They help us cope with a 23 per cent rise in traffic since 2000. They save motorists thousands of hours sitting in jams. They reduce the disruption and destruction, which would otherwise be needed to widen our busiest roads.”

But they must also be safe, he said. “Though all motorways – smart or conventional – are far safer than A roads, I have been greatly concerned by a number of fatal incidents on smart motorways.”

The action plan will be delivered by Government company Highways England. Jim O’Sullivan, its chief executive, said: “Every death in any road accident is tragic, and we are determined to do all we can to make our roads as safe as possible. We will be taking forward the measures the secretary of state for transport has set out, and we will be improving further our information to drivers to help them be safer on all of our roads, including our smart motorway network.”

The design of smart motorways has been of concern to a number of bodies, including police forces and the AA, the latter having campaigned on the matter for a decade.

AA president Edmund King said Shapps’ announcement was a “victory for common sense and safety”. “The original M42 managed motorway pilot in 2006 with ERAs every 500 metres worked well but after that the goalposts were moved and the roll-out began with ERAs at every 2,500m (1.5 miles),” he said. “We have campaigned ever since to double the number of ERAs. Today we have the commitment that moves their spacing from the original of 1.5 miles to three-quarters (0.75) of a mile where feasible. Together with stopped vehicle detection, more resources to monitor the motorways and a highprofile information campaign this should help make these motorways even safer.”

Road user watchdog Transport Focus also welcomed the announcement but called for two detailed further actions: a commitment that stopped vehicle detection will be in place on the M4 between Reading and Heathrow before it opens as a smart motorway, and a commitment to review whether smart motorways have enough

gantries on which a red ‘X’ can be displayed to indicate a land closure because of a breakdown.

DHS and ALR

Smart motorways come in two forms, dynamic hard shoulders (DHS) and all-lane running (ALR). The key difference between the two is that on DHS the hard shoulder is only open for traffic at certain times, such as peak periods. The first DHS scheme was installed in 2006 on the M42 J3a-7. At the end of 2018, DHS covered 66 miles of the network: • M1 J10-13 • M4 J19-20 • M5 J15-17 • M6 J4-10a • M42 J3a-7 • M62 J26-28, 29-30 (eastbound) ALR has been the standard for new smart motorways since 2012. On these schemes the hard shoulder has been converted to a permanent running lane.

The first ALR scheme was implemented in 2014 on the M25 J5-7 and J23-27. By the end of 2018, ALR motorways covered 123 miles of the network. At the end of 2019, ALR covered: • M1 J16-19, 24-25, 28-31, 32-35a, 39-42 • M3 J2-4a • M5 J4a-6 • M6 J11a-13, 16-19 • M25 J5-7, 23-27 • M62 J18-20, 25-26, 29-30 (westbound)

Casualty data mining

The report analyses casualty data on smart motorways for the four-year period 2015-2018. The data is presented in a number of ways and a mixed set of findings emerge.

In all four years, the share of motorway fatalities on the DHS and ALR was lower than their share of motorway traffic. For instance, in 2018, DHS and ALR accounted for 12.8 per cent of fatal casualties on the motorway network, whilst carrying 13.8 per cent of motorway traffic.

The percentage share of serious casualties on DHS and ALR was lower than their share of traffic in 2018 but the reverse was true for each of the previous three years.

“Looking at slight casualties in 2018, DHS and ALR accounted for 15 per cent of slight casualties, compared to 13.8 per cent of motorway traffic,” the DfT reports.

“The share of slight casualties was also higher than the share of traffic for the three years prior (2015-17).”

Highways England produced a separate assessment Smart Motorway All Lane Running Overarching Safety Report, which provides a ‘before and after’ assessment of the first nine ALR schemes, including a counterfactual scenario. This used one year of post-opening data for the majority of the schemes, and three years for some.

It reports a 28 per cent reduction in the all-casualty rate, from 16.8 per hundred million vehicle miles (hmvm) to 12.1 per hmvm when comparing the ‘before’ and ‘after’ period. The counterfactual scenario indicates that a 12 per cent reduction in the casualty rate, from 16.8 per hmvm to 14.7 per hmvm, might otherwise have been expected.

“Overall, there has been a statistically significant reduction of 18 per cent in the all-casualty rate from 14.7 per hmvm to 12.1 per hmvm when compared to what might otherwise have been expected,” reports the DfT. Summarising the results, the DfT states: “The high level statistics suggest that fatal casualty rates on the ALR network as it stands are lower, while injury rates are slightly higher. The risk modelling suggests that when converting conventional motorways to ALR, many risks decrease, while some increase. For example, the risks of a vehicle being driven too fast, and of a vehicle drifting off the carriageway, reduce whilst the risks of unsafe lane changing and of a vehicle stopping in a live lane increase.

Overall, the evidence shows that in most ways, smart motorways are as safe as, or safer than, conventional motorways, but not in every way.”

Highways England’s data shows that for 2017 and 2018 the average annual number of breakdowns in live lanes was 9,206 on ALR sections of motorway a year and 3,837 on DHS sections. Live lane breakdowns accounted for 40 per cent and 27 per cent of all breakdowns on these types of motorway respectively. In

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TransportXtra.com/ltt contrast, there were 25,663 live lane breakdowns on conventional motorways. These made up 20 per cent of the 129,991 breakdowns on these sections of road.

“As expected in the risk modelling, the likelihood of [personal injury] collisions involving a vehicle stopped in a live lane has increased,” the DfT reports. “Looking at the first nine ALR schemes before and after their introduction, total live lane collisions have increased from an

News 19

average of three per year before the ALR was introduced to an average of 19 per year after the motorway had been converted to ALR. “This is broken down into: 2.3 slight, 0.3 serious and zero fatal live lane collisions on average before; and 9.1 slight, seven serious, and 2.8 fatal live lane collisions on average afterwards. This confirms the expectation in the risk modelling that there would be increased risks asso-

ciated with vehicles stopping in a live lane.”

The DfT emphasises that the figure of 19 needs to be seen in the context of 9,206 live lane breakdowns per year across the ALR schemes.

Smart motorway safety: evidence stocktake and action plan is available at https://tinyurl.com/tsz3kcg

Making smart motorways safer: the action plan The following is an abridged version of the DfT’s action plan.

Ending the use of dynamic hard shoulders This type of smart motorway has the potential to cause confusion for motorists because the hard shoulder is sometimes in use for traffic and sometimes not. Also, as time goes on and the motorway becomes busier, the hard shoulder is in use for longer periods of time. The simple solution to end this potential for confusion is to convert the hard shoulder permanently into a traffic lane. We are announcing that we will convert all existing dynamic hard shoulder smart motorways into all lane running by the end of March 2025 so there will be only one type without a permanent hard shoulder. This will provide a more consistent experience for motorists.

Faster rollout of stopped vehicle detection Highways England has been asked to deliver this in three years, bringing this programme forward by several years. All smart motorways already include a system called MIDAS (Motorway Incident Detection and Automatic Signalling) that uses sensors to monitor traffic volumes and automatically set signs and signals as the motorway becomes more congested. Highways England has also trialled and implemented a separate radar-based stopped vehicle detection (SVD) system on two smart motorway sections of the M25 and is in the process of installing it on a smart motorway section of the M3. The advantage of the SVD system is it is specifically designed to detect a stationary vehicle, typically in 20 seconds, set a message automatically on electronic signs, and alert a control room operator who can see the incident on camera, close lanes and dispatch an on-road Highways England traffic officer to attend to the stopped vehicle. Smart motorway schemes completing design in 2020 will be the first to have the SVD technology as standard.

While Highways England is committed to rolling out SVD to every existing ALR smart motorway, until now there has not been a public timetable for this work.

As a result of this evidence stocktake, Highways England has been asked to accelerate its plans and install the technology on all lane running smart motorways within the next 36 months.

Highways England has been investigating other technologies for detecting stopped vehicles and has run a small-scale trial of a system that analyses CCTV images. As a result of this evidence stocktake, Highways England will launch a large-scale trial of this technology. This will make greater use of the full CCTV coverage on smart motorways, providing another option alongside current radar technology.

Faster attendance by more Highways England traffic officer patrols We are committing to introduce additional traffic officer patrols on smart motorways where the existing spacing between safe places to stop in an emergency is more than one mile. We aim to reduce the attendance time from an average of 17 minutes to ten minutes.

Committing to a new standard for spacing of places to stop in an emergency

Design standards have been amended to reduce the distance between safe places to stop in an emergency to a maximum of one mile. In practice, across the first four schemes for which designs have been prepared to this one-mile maximum spacing standard, the average distance between places to stop in an emergency is 0.75 miles. Going forward, we will commit to a maximum spacing of one mile apart and look to, where feasible, provide them every 3⁄4 of a mile.

Delivering ten additional emergency areas on the M25 We are re-confirming the commitment to install ten extra emergency areas on the M25 on the section of smart motorway with a higher rate of live lane stops and where places to stop in an emergency are furthest apart.

Considering a national programme to install more emergency areas on existing smart motorways We will consider a national programme of retrofitting additional emergency areas on existing smart motorways where places to stop in an emergency are more than one mile apart, drawing on evidence from the programme to deliver additional emergency areas on the M25. The roadworks for the M25 programme have involved closure of the left- hand lane which has caused congestion and delays.

Consideration of a national programme needs to look in detail at how to minimise the impact on motorists during construction, such as coordinating the work with other planned improvements and maintenance activity.

Investigate M6 Bromford viaduct and sections of the M1 We have heard the concerns about clusters of incidents on specific sections of the M6 and M1 smart motorway. This includes the M6 Bromford viaduct between Junctions 5 and 6, where places to stop in an emergency are furthest apart. Though Highways England traffic officers are stationed at each end of the viaduct so they are close by, we know that some people remain worried. Concerns have also been raised about sections of the M1 where multiple collisions have occurred. These include M1 Junctions 10 to 13 (Luton) and Junctions 30 to 35 (Sheffield). We have also seen evidence of multiple incidents on the M1 Junctions 39 to 42 (Wakefield). We are committing to investigate urgently what more could be done on the M6 Bromford viaduct and on these sections of the M1.

Making emergency areas more visible We are committing to ensuring that all existing emergency areas will have a bright orange road surface, dotted lines on the surfacing showing where to stop, better and more frequent signs on approach to the emergency area showing where it is and new signs inside giving information on what to do in an emergency. These improvements will be installed by the end of spring 2020 More communication with drivers We are committing to £5m on national and targeted communications campaigns to further increase

awareness and understanding of smart motorways, how they work and how to use them confidently.

Displaying 'report of obstruction' messages The stopped vehicle detection system sends an alert to a control room. It can also automatically display a message on an electronic overhead sign. We are committing to rolling out the automatic display of a 'report of obstruction' message on overhead signs to warn oncoming drivers of a stopped vehicle ahead, which has begun being trialled on the M25 Junctions 23 to 27 and Junctions 5 to 7 - and then to begin on the M3 Junctions 2 to 4a.

Places to stop in an emergency shown on your satnav Many motorists use a satnav device to follow a route to their destination and we want information on where to stop in an emergency to be easily available.

In addition to the new signs, we are committing to work with satnav providers to ensure that places to stop in an emergency, such as motorway services, emergency areas and remaining areas of hard shoulder such as on slip roads, are shown on the screen of the device when needed.

Making it easier to call for help if broken down Increasing numbers of new cars come with an eCall or 'SOS' button which can be used to call for help.

We are committing to work with car manufacturers to build greater awareness and understanding of this function in newer cars.

We have changed the law to enable automatic detection of red 'X' violations and enforcement (three points, £100 fine) using cameras Smart motorways have overhead signs that can display a 'red X'. A 'red X' means the lane is closed to traffic and vehicles must not continue in that lane beyond the 'red X' sign. Where a vehicle has broken down, a control room operator can switch on the 'red X' sign to close the lane behind, reducing the risk of a collision between the stopped vehicle and oncoming traffic. To help the police bring compliance closer to 100 per cent, we have changed the law to enable automatic detection of red X violations and enforcement using cameras.

Closer working with the recovery industry Recovery vehicle operators are never required to recover a broken-down vehicle from a live lane on a smart motorway, unlike on other types of road. On a smart motorway, Highways England traffic officers or the police either close the lane first before recovery takes place, or they tow the vehicle to an emergency area or another place to stop in an emergency before the recovery operator begins work. Despite this existing work, we recognise that there is more we could do. We are therefore committing to closer working with the recovery industry on improving training and procedures.

Review of use of red flashing lights to commence immediately We have listened to the calls for recovery vehicles to be allowed to use red flashing lights. We will commence work immediately on a review.

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LTT794 20 March - 02 April 2020

20 News

In Brief

English devolution paper this summer The Government is to publish an English Devolution White Paper in the summer. The Treasury says the document will explain how ministers intend to meet their “ambition for full devolution across England”.

Treasury funds tail of Local Growth Fund The Treasury has announced £387m to fund the delivery of Local Growth Fund schemes whose delivery will run over the official end of the fund this month. The Treasury said the funding for 2021/22 would “provide certainty for local areas that they will be able to continue with existing priority Local Growth Fund projects that require funding beyond this year”. A decision about the future of the Local Growth Fund will be announced in July’s comprehensice spending review.

Four more growth deals approved The Treasury has confirmed four more growth deals in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. It will provide £25m for Argyll and Bute in Scotland; £55m for the Mid Wales deal; £126m for Mid, South and West of Northern Ireland; and £36m for Causeway Coast and Glens, also in Northern Ireland.

Budget cheer for devolved bodies The devolved administrations of the UK will all receive additional funding in 2020/21 as a result of last week’s Budget under the Barnett Formula that ensures spending increases in England are reflected in increased block grant payments. Scotland’s block grant will increase by over £640m before adjustments for tax devolution. The Welsh Government’s block grant will increase by over £360m before adjustments for tax devolution.

The Northern Ireland Executive’s block grant will increase by over £210m.

Oxford-Cambridge Arc framework The Government is to work with councils and others in the Oxford-Cambridge Arc to develop a long-term spatial framework for the area’s development, including thousands of new homes. The Government will examine the case for up to four new development corporations in the arc at Bedford, St Neots/Sandy, Cambourne and Cambridge, which includes plans to explore the case for a New Town at Cambridge, to accelerate new housing and infrastructure development.

Treasury launches spending review and Green Book revamp POLICY

by Andrew Forster

THE TREASURY has set out the terms for the comprehensive spending review and also a review of the Green Book that sets the framework for how departments conduct appraisal.

Both reviews will report in July.

Details were contained the document published alongside Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s Budget statement last week.

The comprehensive spending review will set Government departmental resource budgets for the three years 2021/22 to 2023/24 and capital budgets for four years, 2021/22 to 2024/25.

The Budget set the overall level of public spending within which the spending review will be delivered, although that may be affected by the cost of dealing with the COVID-19 virus.

The comprehensive spending review will prioritise: • ‘levelling up’ economic opportunity across all nations and regions by investing in infrastructure, innovation and people, to drive productivity and spread opportunity • improving outcomes in public services, including supporting the NHS, taking steps to cut crime, and ensure every young person

Green Book: rewrite

“receives a superb education” • strengthening the UK’s place in the world • reducing carbon emissions and improving the natural environment The DfT’s capital budget rises from £14.6bn in 2019/20 to

£17.6bn in 2020/21. Much of its expenditure from 2021/22 onwards is set outside the comprehensive spending review process. Funding for Network Rail’s operations and maintenance is set through NR’s five-year regulatory control period. The Government also last week announced that Highways England’s budget for the five-year period 2020/21-2024/25 will be £27.4bn (see pages 12-13). This is funded from the new National Road Fund, using Vehicle Excise Duty revenues in England.

The Treasury’s Green Book sets the framework for how all spending departments conduct project appraisal. A number of commentators and groups have called for it to be reviewed, alleging that it favours projects in London and the South East.

Barry White, chief executive

of Transport for the North, said last week: “Recognition that the Treasury Green Book way of making investment decisions does not work is nothing new to the people of the North.”

The Treasury said the review would “make sure that government investment spreads opportunity across the UK”.

It will assess “how the design and use of project appraisal affects the ability of all areas to achieve their economic potential”.

In addition, it will “consider how to assess and present local impacts, and look to develop new analytical methods for transformative or place-based interventions”.

The Treasury said the Government would engage users, academics and others in the process of reviewing the Green Book.

Local transport supply chain probed The Government’s Infrastructure and Projects Authority (IPA) is to lead an investigation into the supply chain’s capacity to deliver local transport infrastructure projects.

The ‘local transport supply chain study’ will inform the

Treasury’s comprehensive spending review, which will report in July.

Says the Treasury’s Budget report published last week: “The comprehensive spending review will set out further plans for investment in local transport spending.

“To inform these plans, the Infrastructure and Projects Authority will lead a study, working with departments, into supply chain capacity, to assess how industry can best deliver the Government’s ambition.”

Ministers study reform of planning system

DfT advances twelve local major road plans

GOVERNANCE

ROADS

THE GOVERNMENT is to launch a review of national planning policy in England.

“Land availability, as constrained by the planning system, is the most significant barrier to building more houses,” said the Treasury this week.

Robert Jenrick, the secretary of state for housing, communities and local government, will “shortly set out proposals for comprehensive reforms”.

This will be followed by a Planning White Paper in the spring.

“These reforms will aim to create a simpler planning system and improve the capacity, capability and performance of local planning authorities to accelerate the development process,” said

the Treasury.

“Where local planning authorities fail to meet their local housing need, there will be firm consequences, including a stricter approach taken to the release of land for development and greater Government intervention.

“The Government will also explore long-term reforms to the planning system, rethinking planning from first principles, to ensure the system is providing more certainty to the public, local planning authorities and developers.”

Meanwhile, the Treasury it is to merge the two funding streams of the Housing Infrastructure Fund into a single long-term funding pot to unlock new homes in areas of high demand across the country. HIF is funding numerous transport projects.

THE TREASURY has announced the second round of successful local authority Major Road Network and Large Local Major road schemes that can now proceed to the next stage of development.

The schemes announced in last week’s Budget are: • Suffolk’s junction improvements to the A12 east of Ipswich • Wiltshire’s improvement to the A350 at Junction 17 of the M4 • Devon’s single carriageway bypass on the A39 Atlantic Highway • Warwickshire’s junction improvements to the A426/A4071 Avon Mill/Hunters Lane, and a short dual carriageway • Derbyshire’s link road from Chesterfield town centre to the A6192 and A619 at Staveley • Suffolk’s carriageway dualling and roundabout improvements on

the A12 in Woodbridge • junction improvements on the A127 growth corridor • Hampshire’s capacity enhancement on the A326 in the Waterside area of the New Forest • Someset’s plan to alleviate congestion pinch points through the villages of Walton and Ashcott on the A39 • Essex’s junction improvements at the Army and Navy roundabout near the centre of Chelmsford • Transport for London’s refurbishment of the flyover structure carrying the A232 • Cambridgeshire’s plan to improve the Ely to Cambridge A10 junction • TfL’s refurbishment to the Hope and Anchor flyover which carries the A316 Twickenham Road • TfL’s refurbishment of Kew Bridge • Gloucestershire’s upgrades to M5 Junction 9 and a bypass on the A46 Ashchurch

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News 21

In Brief

TfL triples general reserves for ‘unprecedented challenges’

FUNDING

by Andrew Forster

TRANSPORT FOR London is more than trebling the size of its general reserves to £500m in response to “unprecedented financial challenges” that predate the COVID-19 pandemic.

TfL’s general reserves fund cushions the impact of uneven cashflows and acts as a contingency for the impact of unexpected events or emergencies. Historically it has been held at £150m.

“As TfL now faces unprecedented financial challenges against a background of political and economic uncertainty, it is an appropriate time to review the adequacy of this target level,” Antony King, TfL’s interim group finance director and statutory chief finance officer, told the finance committee this month.

A TfL spokesman said King’s report was written before the impact of COVID-19 and reflected wider economic uncertainties.

TfL alluded to these in its statement about the virus this week. “An underlying softness in demand and passenger revenue, largely caused by economic uncertainty, had been

Buses: softness in demand

experienced by TfL since October 2019, with both Tube and bus revenues trending at around two per cent below the previous year,” it said. “During February, TfL’s revenue was further affected by three significant storms and a period of prolonged bad weather.”

TfL reports that 2019/20 yearto-date bus patronage up to 1 February was down 38 million on the same period of 2018/19.

“Recent softness in journey demand appears to be driven from discretionary travel at weekends and evening,” it says.

London Underground demand

is up 1.2 per cent but the trend for the 12 weeks to 1 February was down 1.0 per cent.

TfL’s expenditure in 2019/20 is forecast to be £9.9bn, of which £6.4bn is operating costs. Expenditure is covered by: £5.0bn of passenger revenue, £2.2bn of grants, £1.2bn other, £1.0bn Crossrail, and £0.5bn of borrowing.

In his report to the finance committee, King said data from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government showed that councils in England held, on average, general fund reserves of 4.60 per cent of their annual revenue expenditure.

“For TfL, given the unique size and long-term nature of its capital investment programme, it is considered appropriate to include not only revenue expenditure in this calculation, but also to incorporate annual capital expenditure,” he said. “A significant proportion of TfL annual capital expenditure relates, in any case, to renewals of existing infrastructure – required to maintain current levels of service provision.”

King said it was also prudent, “particularly in terms of the difficulty in accurately estimating the total project costs and timing

of major infrastructure projects, such as Crossrail, to set the target level at the higher end of the range of local government experience”.

He outlined a reserve of five per cent of TfL’s total gross expenditure (operating expenditure, debt servicing costs, and capital expenditure) for each year of the business plan covering the five years to 2024/25.

The figure fluctuates between £478m and £513m. “It is therefore recommended that the target level for the general fund be set at a figure of £500m from 2020/21 to 2024/25.”

In a separate paper, Shashi Verma, TfL’s director of strategy and chief technology officer discussed how robust TfL’s finances were to an economic shock.

“Even in the 2008 recession during a seven per cent reduction of GDP, the Tube only saw a 2.3 per cent drop in demand. If this were applied to all TfL income next year this would equate to a £120m reduction in revenue.

“Our processes have shown themselves capable of dealing with much larger pressures, such as with Crossrail, the immediate costs of the Four Lines Modernisation programme and even the collapse of Metronet in 2007.”

Crossrail could need even more money

Review of consents process for Crossrail 2

RAIL

RAIL

CROSSRAIL MAY need more public money to complete.

The latest status of the eastwest rail project was reported to Transport for London’s programmes and investment committee this month by Andy Lord, managing director London Underground and TfL engineering, and Howard Smith, chief operating officer – Elizabeth Line.

In December 2018 the Government agreed two additional funding packages for Crossrail, increasing its estimated cost from £14.8bn to £17.6bn. Crossrail Ltd last year reported that an extra £400m to £650m would be needed (LTT 22 Nov 19).

The DfT and TfL, as joint sponsors, commissioned consultant KPMG to provide an independent view of Crossrail Ltd’s forecasts. “As part of this work, KPMG considered more pessimistic scenarios that sit

beyond CRL’s current cost forecast,” said Lord and Smith.

“Discussions continue with the HM Treasury, the DfT and the Greater London Authority regarding how funding of these additional costs will be resolved.”

They said the Crossrail Limited (CRL) board had confirmed on 27 February that it remains on schedule to open the central section of the Elizabeth Line between Paddington and Abbey Wood in summer 2021.

Intensive operational testing is due to begin this autumn.

Said Lord and Smith: “The [Crossrail] board discussed the risks to the start of trial running with the joint sponsors along with possible mitigations should they be required.”

Following opening of the central section, full Elizabeth Line services from Reading and Heathrow Airport in the west to Abbey Wood and Shenfield in the east are planned to commence by mid-2022.

THE GOVERNMENT is reviewing how powers to build Crossrail 2 should be secured if the spending review in July authorises the project to proceed.

Crossrail 2 will connect the Network Rail lines in southwest and northeast London via a tunnel. The 2015 route map shows that the tunnel would commence at Wimbledon in the southwest, with trains then calling at Balham, Clapham Junction, King’s Road Chelsea, Victoria, Tottenham Court Road, Euston St Pancras, Angel and Dalston. North of Dalston, the line would split to join the existing rail network, with a route to Seven Sisters and Tottenham Hale.

Transport for London and Network Rail submitted a strategic outline business case for the project to the Government last summer.

Officials have accepted this as the basis for informing the spending review. A revised cost for the project will be finalised this spring.

Michèle Dix, managing director of Crossrail 2, told TfL’s programmes and investment committee that a Hybrid Bill was the assumed route for gaining powers to build the line. But she said the DfT had initiated a “review of the consents strategy to understand the potential to use an alternative consenting route”. “The integrated [Crossrail] project team [of TfL and Network Rail] has considered a range of scenarios to test the impact of the various consenting routes on delivery timescales.”

Said Dix: “Before starting the next stage of development – the consents application stage – a route-wide consultation on any proposed first phase of Crossrail 2 will be undertaken.”

TfL to recruit road and rail directors Transport for London is creating new posts of director of road transport and director of rail devolution. The director of road transport will be a permanent position.

The rail devolution position could be a fixed term contract or a secondment. Both posts will have remuneration of over £100,000.

I’ll end fares freeze if re-elected – Khan Sadiq Khan has said he will end the capital’s partial public transport fares freeze if re-elected mayor for a second term. Khan made the announcement before the Government’s decision last week to postpone the mayoral election by a year, until May 2021, because of the COVID-19 virus pandemic. The freeze applies only to single fares, with Travelcard and Oyster caps being set nationally.

Ben Rogers, director of the Centre for London, welcomed Khan’s announcement. “Abandoning the partial fares freeze is a welcome move. The freeze on Tube travel has disadvantaged regular travellers and commuters while benefiting less regular travellers and visitors.” Rogers said the current fares freeze was estimated to cost Transport for London around £640m over his four-year term.

The postponement of the election appears likely to add to TfL’s financial problems. Its business plan for 2020/21-2024/25 is based on the assumption that, from January 2021, fares will rise by around the retail price index plus one per cent.

Temporary bridge for Hammersmith Transport for London plans to build a temporary walking and cycling bridge across the Thames at Hammersmith to speed up repairs to the Hammersmith Bridge. The Hammersmith Bridge had handled 22,000 vehicles a day but has been restricted to pedestrians and cyclists only since April last year after microfractures were discovered in its cast iron pedestals. The temporary prefabricated steel bridge would cater for the 16,000 pedestrians and cyclists who currently cross the river here. TfL has engaged with residents about the crossing and intends to submit a planning applicatio to Hammersmith & Fulham and Richmond councils. Construction of the bridge could start this summer with opening this winter. TfL has committed £25m to the cost of restoring the existing bridge and building the temporary structure.

Hammersmith & Fulham and TfL have submitted a bid to the DfT to fund the full restoration of the bridge. The costs last autumn were reported as £120m (LTT 25 Oct 19).

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22 News

Hydrogen double deckers for Aberdeen BUSES

THE WORLD’S first hydrogenpowered double decker buses will arrive in Aberdeen this spring and should be operational this summer.

First Aberdeen is introducing 15 vehicles through an £8.3m project funded by Aberdeen City Council, the Scottish Government, and the European Union (The Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking initiative, FCH JU)).

The UK’s first hydrogen production and bus refuelling station was opened in Aberdeen in 2015.

The vehicles will be operated by First mainly on routes 19 (Peterculter to Tillydrone) and X27 (city centre to Aberdeen International Airport via Dyce station).

Scottish energy minister Paul Wheelhouse, said: “We are currently undertaking a wide-ranging project to assess the potential for hydrogen and hydrogen fuel cells for use in transport and heating across Scotland.

Hydrogen could well play an important role in the energy transition that’s required in order to meet our 2045 net zero emissions target.”

The buses are being manufactured by Wrightbus based in Northern Ireland.

Refuelling the vehicles takes less than ten minutes.

In Brief

SPT to trial 5G on Glasgow Subway Strathclyde Partnership for Transport is to pilot 5G connectivity in part of the Glasgow Subway in what is described as the first trial of 5G in a subterranean system. The 18-month project is funded by the Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. Partners include Cisco, the University of Strathclyde and the South Korean Transport Agency, which is conducting a similar trial. “The parties are keen to engage on what passengers’ benefits there could be in the form of infotainment and advertising opportunities,” says SPT. The trial will take place on the section between Buchanan Street and St Enoch.

Councils finalise proposals to spend DfT’s £30m bus support

BUSES

LOCAL AUTHORITIES in England are finalising how they plan to allocate their share of the £30m one-off DfT funding for supported bus routes.

The funding was announced at the beginning of February and has been allocated between authorities on the basis of their supported bus mileage in the years 2004/05 to 2018/19 (LTT 07 Feb). Twenty per cent was set aside as a top-up for rural authorities.

The DfT has said the funding should be spent in 2020/21 if possible but can be spent over a longer period of time to ensure a service is maintained in the longer term.

Hampshire County Council’s £709,912 award is equivalent to about 37 per cent of its current annual spend on supported services of £1.9m.

The council is working with operators to identify the services that stand the best chance of becoming commercially viable.

“There is a risk that if previously withdrawn services are simply reinstated, then once this funding is used up, these services will be withdrawn again, a situation which is not helpful in building a stable, long-term finan-

cially sustainable local bus network,” said officers.

They said the funding was likely to support “additional evening and weekend services, extending the span of the day of some services, and services that are currently supported but could become commercially viable with some pump-priming”.

Hampshire may also fund services lost during previous bus subsidy reductions if operators think they would “now stand a reasonable chance of being operated with a small subsidy and thereby becoming a viable part of a commercial network after the funding has expired”. Officers said there are likely to be fewer of these.

In what may be an unusual approach, Hampshire plans to award the funds to operators via a competitive challenge fund.

“Operators would be expected to demonstrate how the funds would be used to boost frequencies, extend the operational day, extend routes, and provide evidence of how the services could become commercially viable at the end of the funding period,” officers explained. “They would also be asked to demonstrate any added value that they would bring in terms of vehicle quality, air quality improvements, ticketing

schemes or other passenger benefits.”

Under the Transport Act 1985, the Service Subsidy Agreements (Tendering) England (amendment) Regulations 2004, local authorities can award up to 25 per cent of the local bus budget in any one year without the need to competitively tender.

Oxfordshire County Council has used up its 25 per cent allowance and so will be awarding all of its funding through tenders.

Oxfordshire has not had a budget for supported services since withdrawing funding for 118 routes in July 2016. Of these, 48 remain in existence through commercial operation, community transport provision or Section 106 from planning obligations.

The council plans to spend its £588,403 allocation between September 2020 and August 2021 and will incorporate it into an existing Section 106 bus tender programme that will be published next month. Dave Harrison, Oxfordshire’s senior public transport officer, told LTT this week that the COVID-19 outbreak was not affecting these plans.

Contracts for the additional services will be issued for one year, with an optional additional year if

the Government’s forthcoming national bus strategy identifies further funds for supported bus services.

Oxfordshire will allocate £253,400 to restore lost bus routes, providing 87,000 additional bus miles. These include a peak hour rail link service to/from Chipping Norton and Kingham; a broadly two-hourly service between Southmoor and Oxford via several villages remote from a main bus service; and a broadly two-hourly service between Abingdon, Berinsfield and Cowley that could be further enhanced with developer funding.

A further £210,000 will extend existing bus services, providing 89,600 additional bus miles. This includes evening services on the S4 between Oxford and Banbury; a new Sunday service on the X38 between Wallingford and Henley (that will be extended to Oxford using developer funding); and better Saturday services on the X9 between Chipping Norton, Charlbury and Witney.

The remaining £125,000 will provide 77,935 additional miles on existing supported services.

Transport for the West Midlands plans to use some of its funding to bring vehicles used on its supported bus network up to Euro VI emission standard.

Edinburgh bus stop closure plan on hold

Double deck electric buses for Manchester

PLANS TO speed up a cross-city bus route in Edinburgh by closing 26 stops have been put on ice.

Councillors were supposed to consider the pilot scheme on the 44 route between Balerno and Wallyford at the beginning of this month but the item was withdrawn from the agenda of the transport and environment committee at the last moment.

The paper had been expected to be presented to the meeting at the end of this month but this will not happen.

Conservative transport spokesman Nick Cook said the SNP/Labour administration’s handling of the proposals was “nothing short of shambolic”.

A council spokesman told the Edinburgh Evening News: “Following extensive consultation with those concerned we’re going to take a little more time to explore the next steps for the pro-

STAGECOACH MANCHESTER has taken delivery of a fleet of 32 electric double deck buses, the first in the conurbation. The vehicles can travel 190 miles on a single charge and will operate on routes 111 and 43, connecting Manchester city centre and Manchester Airport via hospitals and universities.

The investment has cost £16.5m. Elisabeth Tasker, managing director of Stagecoach Manchester, said: "The introduction of the new electric double-decker buses is a significant milestone in the history of transport in Greater Manchester and represents one of the biggest single investments in electric buses anywhere in Europe.”

BUSES

posed trial, before bringing a report to the committee for discussion and decision on whether to go ahead with this evidencegathering pilot project. ” The paper said the council’s Labour Group was unhappy with the proposal. “We were particularly concerned about the potential impact on vulnerable people who rely on bus services and the lack of consultation,” said Labour councillor Scott Arthur. “We would prefer a more bottom-up and holistic approach where community groups are at the very heart of how the service is improved.”

Balerno Community Council has objected to the two closures in the village. It says one stop is close to a sheltered housing scheme. The other stop proposed for closure is the last stop before the terminus on a one-way village loop. The community council says it has few boarders but is popular with people alighting.

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News 23

More car parking needed in new housing estates – Wigan

PARKING

by Andrew Forster

HOUSEBUILDERS WILL have to provide more car parking spaces in new developments in Wigan under proposed reforms recommended by councillors.

A council scrutiny committee says poorly designed and inadequate parking provision in recent residential developments has led to an increase in on-street parking that obstructs traffic and poses problems for the emergency services and refuse vehicles.

It recommends adopting minimum parking standards for future developments.

Wigan’s current parking standards were set in 2006 as maximum standards. They are no longer treated as such after the Government abolished maximum standards in 2011.

For houses with up to three bedrooms they recommend one parking space. For houses with four or more bedrooms they recommend two spaces.

The committee proposes that the council adopts new standards that would specify that, as a minimum, developers should provide two spaces per house for up to three bedrooms, and three spaces per houses with four or more bedrooms.

Wigan has separate standards for flats/apartments and these are recommended to remain largely unchanged.

To inform the report, the

One of the housing estates surveyed

council studied parking after 9pm in nine developments built in the last nine years, all with between 70 and 225 new properties.

Says the scrutiny report: “Of the 1,076 houses surveyed across the nine sites, 1.55 parking spaces have been provided per house on average. Given the predominance of properties with less than four bedrooms, this suggests that car parking is generally provided in excess of the standards.

“However, the over-provision of car parking does not deter parking on-street. Of the 246 vehicles observed to be parked on-street, 40 per cent were obstructive. Surveyors noted obstructions including parking close to a junction, pavement parking, parking in a turning head and double parking.”

The prevalence of on-street parking was despite only 67 per cent of off-street parking being occupied.

“This may provide some insight into the demand for onstreet parking,” says the report.

“Drivers parking on-street may choose to do so as the off-street

provision is unsuitable for the size of their vehicle. Alternatively, when car parking is end-on, it means that any vehicle parked subsequently obstructs the car parked previously on the driveway.

“In these circumstances it is anticipated some people choose to park on-street rather than block somebody else’s car in.”

The report says too much parking provision in new developments is of poor quality, with driveways that are too small or the wrong shape. “Larger cars compared to 20 years ago, higher car ownership and children staying at home longer increases the probability of more cars at one address,” it adds.

“For families in three bed+ properties we must consider the long-term implications of children acquiring cars and parents requiring a car each to commute and complete school runs.”

The report says “car ownership is set to rise”. “If we increase social mobility then there is a probability that more people will commute to job opportunities via

car or mixed transport, which includes car use.”

People would need to take multiple bus services to access many job opportunities, says the report. “Even if Greater Manchester gets full transport controls devolved [such as bus franchising] we will at best move to a German model of high car ownership with lower car usage for full commute, but still a high usage for domestic and pleasure or part-commute.”

The report says the council cannot leave it to housing developers to determine how much parking to provide, because the evidence shows they do not provide enough. “Contrary to the Conservative Government statement [of 2015 that it was for the market to decide if additional parking spaces should be provided], we believe the market is not best placed to determine parking allocations.

“The market only provides for the short-term. Hence, there is a role for local authorities to intervene to ensure developers build for an inclusive economy based on long-term sustainable growth for the future.

“In this respect it has to be acknowledged that there is significant outward commuting from the borough. Similarly, the quality of the borough’s environment and housing are attracting residents from the core cities to live here but they often commute out of the borough to higher order jobs.”

Cars ‘undercharged for parking permits’

PARKING

CAR OWNERS are underpaying for their on-street residential parking space across London, according to a new report by think tank Centre for London.

The report says the annual cost of operating residential parking spaces far outstrips the price that drivers pay for residential permits, with even the most expensive permits falling short.

“On average it costs councils £336 to operate a parking space in inner London (compared to average resident permit costs across councils between £51£230), and £295 in outer London (compared to average permit costs between £29-£154).”

The yearly operating costs per parking space were calculated by dividing the estimated total operational spend on parking in each

borough by an estimation of the number of parking spaces within Controlled Parking Zones in each borough (using AppyWay data).

This was then averaged for Inner and Outer London.

The Centre for London also looked at data from the JustPark technology platform where residents can rent out their parking space to motorists. This found that spaces were being rented out at a yearly average of £2,740 in inner London, and £1,587 in outer London, up to ten times more than the annual cost of a council permit to park on-street.

The Centre for London says councils should develop kerbside strategies that allocate road and kerb space to high priority uses such as cycleways, electric vehicle charging, disabled bays and green space, and reallocate road space gradually through

introducing a cap on the number of permits issued, and using waiting lists or limited eligibility for new residents.

It also recommends that boroughs: • set residential permit charges at a level that fully covers operating costs; • review the coverage, size and operating hours of Controlled Parking Zones regularly; • move towards an emissionbased charging structure for resident permits, and escalate charges for additional vehicles The report was funded by AppyWay and the boroughs of Enfield, Hackney, Barnet, Camden, Hounslow, Waltham Forest and Westminster City Council.

AppyWay began life as AppyParking an app-based system to help drivers find parking spaces.

It but has grown into a company that specialises in kerbside management, including providing services to local authorities.

Ben Boutcher-West, head of mobility, at AppyWay said: “Of note in the report is the very static way in which Traffic Management Orders are managed with a bay allocated to a single purpose.

To succeed with mobility, to deliver social and environmental good, and to unlock additional value from a cities assets, the report suggests a fresh look at parking is required with local authorities considering a percentage of dynamic bays.”

Reclaim the kerb the future of parking and kerbside management in London is available at https://tinyurl.com/yx2z99qt

TfL scores telecoms bids

TELECOMS

TRANSPORT FOR London is assessing final bids for a commercial partner to fund, build, operate and monetise telecommunications infrastructure on TfL assets.

The arrangement will deliver a long-term revenue stream for TfL subsidiary Transport Trading Ltd. The concessionaire will: • deliver cellular coverage on the London Underground to all four UK mobile network operators (EE, O2, Vodafone and 3), covering all technologies they require and are prepared to pay for (2G, 3G, 4G and 5G); • deliver an enhanced public Wi-Fi service on the London Underground to replace the expiring Virgin Media concession; • deliver a new fibre network throughout the London Underground; • use streetscape assets such as lighting columns for small cells and other radio technology to improve current 4G mobile services and support 5G; • deliver connectivity to public buildings using grants; and • deliver the Home Office’s emergency services network on the London Underground (and certain other specified locations on the Docklands Light Railway and the London Overground).

Final tenders from the three bidders were submitted on 6 March and TfL plans to sign the final contract in late May. Shashi Verma, TfL’s chief technology officer, told the finance committee that the initial contract duration would be for 20 years, with an option for TfL to extend for a further five.

He said 20 years was “the minimum period of time a concessionaire would need to recoup the considerable investment required, anticipated to be in the region of £350m to £450m, and make a reasonable rate of return”.

TfL’s business plan assumes it will receive £25m from the concessionaire in the first five years. Revenues will be in the form of fixed and variable payments, with the fixed fee starting at £1.5m and rising to £5m in year five, and thereafter index-linked to RPI.

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In Brief

£160m for WMCA Metro and Sprint The Treasury has awarded West Midlands Combined Authority £160m from the Local Growth Fund to accelerate progress on the Birmingham Eastside Metro light rail extension and phase one of the Sprint bus rapid transit network, covering the A34 and A45 (see right).

DfT backs Metro capacity project The Government has awarded £95m towards the £104m cost of a project to improve Tyne and Wear Metro service frequencies.

The key part of the Metro Flow project will see three sections of single track on the Metro network totalling three kilometres dualled between Pelaw and Bede Metro stations. This will be achieved by electrifying an existing freight line that parallels the Metro line by September 2022, making it capable of carrying Metro services. The line will be open for dual use by the Metro and freight trains, similar to how the Sunderland line operates. The works will enable frequencies across the network to be raised from every 12 minutes to every ten. In order to deliver the extra frequencies, Nexus will use some of the funding to buy four extra new trains on top of the 42 new trains that have already been funded by the Government in a £362m programme of investment.

Nexus launches rail corridor studies Nexus, the Tyne and Wear PTE, is commissioning consultants to explore the feasibility of introducing new rail-based passenger services in South Tyneside and Wearside. The work will examine: direct passenger services to the International Advanced Manufacturing Park from South Shields and Sunderland; a rail link to Doxford in Sunderland; and rail services from Sunderland to Washington. The North East Joint Transport Committee instructed Nexus in January to undertake feasibility studies into ten potential Metro and local rail extensions identified in the 2016 Metro and local rail strategy. Nexus has grouped the extensions into four geographically-bound packages, with work to be undertaken over the next 18 to 24 months. The studies will develop the plans up to the equivalent of Network Rail GRIP2 level.

Bus franchising could ‘save planet’ Bus franchising is one of the recommendations of an all-party climate change task and finish group set up by Milton Keynes Council. The group also calls for investigations of low emission zones and clean air zones.

TfWM reveals the details of its bus Enhanced Partnerships BUSES

TRANSPORT FOR the West Midlands is preparing to consult on a proposed Enhanced Partnership (EP) for bus services.

The partnership is one of the first to be prepared using the EP powers of the Bus Services Act 2017. Hertfordshire County Council became the first local authority to approve an Enhanced Partnership (EP) last month (LTT 06 Mar).

EPs have two components, an EP plan and an EP scheme.

The EP plan will explain the objectives for buses for the whole conurbation, excluding the three areas covered by Advanced Quality Partnership schemes (Birmingham city centre, Solihull town centre, and Wolverhampton city centre).

The EP scheme covers the A34 between Birmingham city centre and Walsall and the A45 between Birmingham city centre and Birmingham Airport/Solihull. It outlines the detailed commitments of the West Midland Combined Authority, the four highway authorities (Birmingham, Sandwell, Walsall and Solihull) and the operators.

The A34 and A45 are the first two corridors on which TfWM’s Sprint bus rapid transit will operate. TfWM wants to deliver improvements to all services using the corridors in time for Birmingham hosting the Commonwealth Games in 2022. The athletes’ village and the Alexander Stadium lie on the A34 corridor.

TfWM consulted operators on the EP late last year and received no objections.

However, a further review of the EP scheme has been undertaken since then and operators have until 28 March to lodge a formal objection. If none are received, a six-week public consultation should commence on 11 May. The EP scheme will cover four opera-

Bus lanes will be installed on the corridors

tors’ routes on the A34 corridor: West Midlands Travel, Diamond Bus, Claribel Coaches, and the Green Bus Company. The A45 scheme covers the same four operators plus a fifth, Silverline Landflight.

A big programme of bus priority investment is proposed for the corridors. The EP scheme lists 26 sections of bus lane and four bus gates that will be introduced by 30 June 2022 and a further ten bus lanes and one gate by the end of December 2024.

Seventy-eight bus stops are listed for enhancement, and there are 22 traffic signal upgrades and 17 pedestrian crossing improvements.

Bus lanes will be enforced by CCTV. District councils will enforce moving traffic offences such as yellow box junction infringements on the corridors if the Government grants these powers to councils.

Councils will also introduce permits for

road works and investigate introducing lane rental charges for works (in Birmingham these are both subject to the council resolving contractual issues with its current highways service provider).

TfWM may introduce a slot booking system at bus stops if they are unable to accommodate all scheduled departures.

Bus operators in the EP scheme area will only be allowed to change timetables on dates agreed with TfWM, except in exceptional circumstances and with its agreement.

From April 2021 all double deck buses must be Euro VI or better and have CCTV, automatic vehicle location equipment, and contactless payment. From 29 May 2022 they must also have next stop audio visual announcements.

New double deckers must be non-diesel after 25 May 2025 and all double deckers must be non-diesel from 26 May 2030.

For single deck vehicles owned by operators with fewer than 21 vehicles, the Euro VI, CCTV and contactless payment dates are the same as above. But the next stop audio visual announcements requirement doesn’t apply until 25 May 2026 (new vehicles have it equipped from new). For small operators, new single deckers must be non-diesel after 25 May 2026, and all their single deckers must be non-diesel after 29 May 2033.

The single decker requirements are more onerous for operators with more than 20 buses. Audio visual equipment must be installed by 29 May 2022, new vehicles must be non-diesel by 25 May 2025, and all vehicles must be non-diesel by 26 May 2030.

The Birmingham and Solihull AQPSs expire in July 2022 and November 2027 respectively. TfWM will begin a review of them later this year, which could see these areas brought within the EP scheme boundaries in due course.

Don’t revinvent mass transit wheel, WYCA told

PUBLIC TRANSPORT

WEST YORKSHIRE Combined Authority has summarised key findings from its market testing exercise for a new mass transit system in the conurbation.

About 120 organisations responded to last year’s call, including vehicle manufacturers, operators, and consultancies.

“Respondees advised to avoid the temptation to innovate for innovations sake – ‘don’t reinvent the wheel’,” WYCA policy manager Tom Gifford told the CA’s transport committee last week. “It was suggested to look to purchase an existing bus or light rail chassis, which can be ‘customised’ to meet local

needs (for example the design of the front end, colours, seat layout).”

On propulsion: “In the shortto medium-term, respondees suggest battery technologies are likely to be the most viable option, and it is increasingly realistic to plan for end-to-end systems that do not require overhead wires for many routes.” Nevertheless, overhead wires still provide “an effective, proven technology and contributors suggest that it may have other advantages such as reducing carbon and reducing cost”.

“Responses suggested that hydrogen is at the early stages of being utilised in mass transit systems and it is a possible solution, if: it is readily available

as a by-product of industry; the hydrogen does not need transporting to the mass transit vehicle depot; and if costs of producing/using hydrogen can be addressed.

“Unless there is a really significant change in central government policy, the challenges associated with hydrogen will continue to present a significant barrier to it becoming a realistic solution over the next decade.”

On autonomous operations, rail-based systems already exist, such as the Docklands Light Railway.

“Respondees suggest that transit systems that require some interface with cars/ pedestrians are very likely to move towards greater

autonomy (through provision of driver aids) but the vehicle will continue to require a driver over the next decade due to standards, safety and certification challenges.

Legislation could change, but there remain challenges over acceptability.

“Several technology and manufacturer contributors suggested that with 5G technology there is the opportunity over the next decade for the mass transit vehicle to be driven/controlled by a driver located in a control centre, rather than in the vehicle cab. This would potentially save on numbers of drivers but there remain significant safety certification challenges.”

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In Brief

Borough action against idling expands despite legal doubts

AIR QUALITY

by Andrew Forster

A NUMBER of London boroughs are issuing tougher penalities against motorists who leave their engine idling, even though there appears to be some uncertainty about the legality of the approach.

The City of London Corporation this month became the latest authority to approve plans to enforce against idling using a Traffic Management Order (TMO). The Corporation says at least seven other boroughs are already using the approach.

The traditional method to enforce idling is widely regarded as ineffective. Regulations made in 2002 under the Environment Act 1995 allow councils to issue £20 fixed penalty notices to motorists who leave their engine idling. Enforcement officers must first, however, ask the motorist to switch their engine off.

“Over the past 12 months the City’s environmental officers have not issued any fixed penalty notices as motorists have either complied with their instructions or driven off,” Carolyn Dwyer, the Corporation’s director of built

environment, told members.

She said DfT officials had acknowledged that the Environment Act 1995 powers were ineffective and that it had announced plans last June to consult on proposals to impose tougher penalties on idling motorists. Nothing had happened since, however.

Because of the current unsatisfactory arrangements, Dwyer said at least seven boroughs in the last two years had made a TMO under the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 to prohibit idling.

Westminster City Council is among them.

The TMO allows civil enforcement officers to issue penalty charge notices of £80 against idlers. She indicated, however, that there were questions about the legality of the approach.

“For a TMO to be valid, adequate information on the prohibition or direction through signage is required. However, the DfT has not yet approved standardised signage and discussions with the DfT have so far indicated that there is a lack of appetite for a new sign at this stage.

“To overcome this when

enforcing TMOs, the approach of some authorities has been to first request that the motorist switch their engine off and only if they fail to comply with the request, is a PCN issued.

“Given the absence of signage and the fact that this is an untested and new approach, it is expected that challenges may follow.”

A private report was presented to Corporation members discussing the legal aspects of the proposal.

LTT asked the DfT why it had not approved signage to support TMOs. In a statement it said: “The DfT has not been contacted to authorise anti-idling signs to advise of Traffic Management Orders.”

On the question of the legality of the TMOs, the DfT said: “The current Traffic Management Order system that some London councils operate to prevent unnecessary idling is separate from the Road Traffic (Vehicle Emissions) (Fixed Penalty) (England) Regulations 2002.

“It is the responsibility of individual councils to determine the use of Traffic Management Orders, dependent on their indi-

vidual circumstances.”

LTT also asked the DfT if it still planned to consult on raising the level of penalty charge for idling from £20. It did not reply to this point.

Dwyer described how the Corporation planned to carry out enforcement under the TMO: “Civil enforcement officers [would] first issue a warning notice to a non-exempt vehicle idling. This warning would be held on record against the [vehicle] registration to ensure the motorist has been made aware of the prohibition.

“Any subsequent idling observation of the same vehicle would result in a PCN being issued by a civil enforcement officer without further warning. If signage is agreed with the DfT, these will then be installed across the City to further improve awareness and compliance.”

The City will exempt certain vehicle types, including taxis waiting on a rank and vehicles that require their engine to be running to operate machinery such as refrigerated units, hydraulic doors / lifts and cement mixers.

Notts scraps bus gate permit plan First zero emission street to launch

TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT

MOTORISTS LIVING in a Nottinghamshire housing estate have rejected the county council’s proposal to exempt them from a bus gate restriction if they purchase a permit.

The camera-enforced bus gate in Nuthall currently operates only between 1700 and 1800 Mondays to Fridays. It provides westbound buses with direct access to the A610 Nuthall roundabout from a junction at the edge of the Horsendale residential estate. All other vehicles leaving the estate during this time have to

take a longer route and join the rear of a queue of traffic on the A610.

Nottinghamshire proposed making the bus gate operate 24 hours a day but exempting residents of the Horsendale estate from the restriction if they purchased a permit, likely to cost £25 a year (LTT 13 Sep 19). The exemption could have applied to about 1,500 vehicles.

The council sent 974 questionnaires out to addresses eligible for a permit. Of the 566 responses, only 21 per cent supported the scheme.

The council was unclear

whether its proposal was legal.

The law on traffic regulation prescribes that any exemptions enabling vehicles other than buses to use a bus lane (or gate) requires the vehicles to be “defined or described by reference to any characteristic of the vehicles or traffic or to any other circumstances whatsoever”.

Nottinghamshire’s legal advice suggested the definition could be extended to include activities such as loading and unloading but there was a risk that “it may not be able to be extended to the address at which a vehicle is registered”.

TfL progresses active travel ferry ACTIVE TRAVEL

TRANSPORT FOR London has confirmed plans for a new ferry service for pedestrians and cyclists between Rotherhithe and Canary Wharf in east London.

Plans for a pedestrian and cycling bridge across the Thames in the same location were dropped last summer after the

estimated cost soared £120m£180m in November 2017 to £463m in March 2019.

The ferry would connect the borough of Southwark on the south bank and Tower Hamlets on the north.

Consultants are assessing pier locations, ferry design and operational models. Consultant Steer is assessing the operating models,

including whether sponsorship and subsidy of the service could be used to make it free to customers.

Public consultation on the final proposals should take place this summer and the intention is to launch the service next year.

TfL says the ferry would link directly into wider walking and cycling routes.

ROADS

THE UK’S first 24/7 zero emission street will be launched next week by the City of London Corporation.

The restriction will apply to Beech Street, a covered street that runs alongside the residential Barbican and Golden Lane Estates (LTT 16 Aug 19). During the 18month trial, only zero emission vehicles will be allowed access, though exceptions will be made for emergency vehicles, access to the car parks off Beech Street, and vehicles engaged in rubbish collection and deliveries.

Bus route 153 that uses the street is already fully electric.

The restriction will be enforced with automatic number plate recognition cameras.

Compliant vehicles must have a maximum 75g CO 2 /km; a minimum 20 mile zero emission range; and be at least Euro 6 emission standard.

Diesel surcharges for Haringey parking The London Borough of Haringey plans to introduce an £80 diesel surcharge on residential parking permits and a 25 per cent diesel surcharge for parking on-street and in council-owned car parks.

Haringey currently issues about 7,800 parking permits for diesel vehicles and 44 per cent of vehicles using on-street and car parks are diesels. The council has rejected exempting the cleanest diesels, Euro 6. “Several cities are taking steps to ban all dieselfuelled vehicles from city centres, and our policies support the view that the use of all diesel fuelled vehicles should be discouraged.”

The surcharges for on-street and car parking are subject to the council finalising arrangements for the delivery of contactless payments and moving to a new Pay

by Phone provider. “Whilst technical capabilities exist, the business case, taking account of all associated costs, needs further development, which can only be done once both contracts have been awarded and implemented,” said officers.

1.5-metre exemption for footway parking?

Councils in Scotland are likely to be able to exempt streets from the country’s new pavement parking ban if the width of unobstructed footway with a vehicle parked remains at least 1.5 metres wide.

The prohibition on footway parking features in the Transport (Scotland) Act 2019 but the precise details will be set out in regulations being drafted. John Berry, Dundee City Council’s parking and sustainable transport team leader, told councillors: “The Act will prohibit pavement parking unless an exemption order is in place. The regulations that support this part of the Act will determine minimum footway widths, level of penalty charges and a national implementation date. It is anticipated that exemption orders will only be permitted where a minimum footway width of 1.5m is retained.” Berry said Dundee had a high level of demand for on-street parking because much of its housing was in tenements. “There has been an historic acceptance of pavement parking in some parts of the city, and we will need to work with local communities to determine where exemption orders may be appropriate.”

Pavement parking ban for England?

The Government is to consult on introducing a nationwide ban on pavement parking in England, with the offence decrimininalised.

Local authorities in London can already use civil enforcement for but outside the capital obstructing the pavement is a police responsi-

bi to

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Dear Colleagues, At this difficult time, we, like you, are working through the implications for our business, particularly given the high number of events that we run across the UK. Our forward schedule has seen some revisions with new dates secured. Our up-to-date list of events, including those that have been rescheduled, is available here: www.TransportXtra.com/events However, we want to assure you that we remain open and will continue to support our clients, colleagues and friends. At a time where many are required to work from home and are potentially unable to travel, with meetings and events postponed or cancelled, our talented team of communications professionals can provide many services to help you and your business in the coming months.

You will be aware of many of our services – news, publishing, and recruitment – but we can also offer much more.

We are now all working remotely and can serve you remotely.

As the need to move business conversations, networking and knowledge-sharing online increases, and in lieu of meetings and events, our skilled and creative designers, journalists, copywriters, marketing and sales professionals are set up to deliver engaging online seminars, talks and workshops to ensure your activity can continue remotely and your networks can continue to connect. We are also experts in webinars, digital communications / marketing and editorial / media support.

During the coming months Landor LINKS will provide: l A direct route to market via our authoritative print portfolio of Local Transport Today magazine and Parking Review magazine – including editorial, display and recruitment advertising – reaching over 30,000 readers every month l Interactive and engaging digital media support tailored to these changing and challenging times on the UK’s most read specialist transport website www.TransportXtra.com including editorial and display advertising opportunities l Recruitment advertising on the UK’s No1 jobs board for specialist permanent and freelance transport recruitment www.jobs-in-transport.com l Webinars and digital conferencing services – if you have a message that you wish to deliver, please get in touch l Solus email campaigns and highly targeted mailings to specific audiences across the transport, parking and urban realm sectors l Specialist communications projects in print and online, including themed magazines, extended features and online publications This uncertain period will be challenging for us all, but whatever you decide to do, we are here to help, and will be on hand to give you any support you need. If you just want to talk and explore your thinking that is fine and our time is free.

Please contact us, we are here to help.

Stay safe, and stay in touch.

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www.landor.co.uk

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News 27

BUSINESS

FirstGroup abandons plan to sell its UK bus businesses BUSES

by Andrew Forster

FIRSTGROUP IS to retain its UK bus businesses after announcing a complete U-turn in its strategy. It will now sell its North American interests instead.

FirstGroup announced a strategy to sell all of its UK bus businesses last summer and concentrate on its North American markets of First Student snd First Transit, while also retaining its UK rail franchises (LTT 07 Jun 19). In December, however, the company indicated it was having a rethink, saying it was also drawing up options for selling the North American businesses.

Updating the market last week, First said it had now commenced the sale process of First Student and First Transit and there had been “significant interest expressed by a range of potential buyers”. The sales should complete in the second half of 2020, it said.

The decision means First will become solely focused on its bus and rail businesses in the UK and Ireland.

The change of thinking follows the appointment of David Martin as the company’s new chairman last September. Martin is a former chief executive of Arriva.

Martin said this month that the board believed selling the North American businesses was “the best way to unlock material value for all FirstGroup shareholders”.

“I’ve a very clear steer as to the

impatience of our shareholders,” he said. “And when we reflected on it, the jewel in our crown, let’s be honest, is our North American business.

“Clearly there are no synergies between the two [the UK and North American businesses].

That’s been made quite apparent.

And the more we looked at it and with appointed independent advisers, the more they looked at it, it became apparent that the way of realising maximum shareholder value was to unlock that value in our North American businesses.”

FirstGroup chief executive Matthew Gregory said: “In First Student and First Transit we have well-invested long-term contract businesses with excellent customer relationships, strong management teams and opportunities for growth. We look forward to seeing these characteristics being reflected in the outcome of the formal sale process.”

The two North American businesses had combined revenues of $3.8bn in 2018/19 and earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of $558m.

Gregory said First was in “very advanced negotiations” for the sale of First’s third North American business, the Greyhound coach network.

Martin said he was excited by the prospects for public transport in the UK, pointing to the new Government’s proposals for a

national bus strategy and pledge of a £5bn five-year funding package for buses (and cycling) in England (LTT 21 Feb).

Disussing the bus business specifically, he said: “At the moment, in my experience, this is one of the most exciting times, with potentially real deliverables there and money standing behind it. For the first time in my 30 years, I actually believe it’s going to happen, and society needs it, environmentally we need it and we’ve got a business here that could actually deliver.”

First’s investigations into selling its UK bus interests generated interest not only from other bus operators but from councils too. Glasgow, Aberdeen and the West Yorkshire Combined Authority had all held talks with the company to explore the possibility of purchasing their respective local subsidiaries.

First said last week that its priority for the UK bus businesses was to improve financial perfomance.

“We continue to actively address our cost base through our comprehensive efficiency programme, the benefits of which we expect will be more evident in our next financial year.”

It will continue to prioritise investment where stakeholders “support our ambitions to deliver thriving and sustainable bus services”.

First has four rail franchises: Great Western; West Coast (with Trenitalia); TransPennine

Amey fails TfW’s financial tests CONTRACTORS

AMEY UK has failed three out of four financial tests applied by Transport for Wales ahead of the Core Valley Lines (CVL) asset transfer, but the company told LTT its order book is healthy and its cashflow is positive.

The transfer is due to occur on 28 March. Amey Keolis Infrastructure Ltd will become the licensed infrastructure manager for the CVL, comprising routes north of Cardiff Queen Street and two local lines in Cardiff.

Minutes of the December meeting of TfW’s board reveal that TfW had repeated the “financial standing tests” which it previously conducted on

Amey and Keolis before it awarded them the Operator and Development Partner contract for Wales and Borders rail services in 2018.

“Amey UK plc now fail three of the four tests based on their 31 December 2018 financial results,” say the minutes. After a redacted sentence, they continue: “TfW has an additional risk management mechanism in place through the Infrastructure Management of Last Resort (IMLR) monitoring activities throughout the infrastructure management contract term. TfW and its advisors continue to actively monitor and analyse the financial standing of Amey UK.” TfW’s board was also concerned about the potential

impact of Amey being put up for sale by its Spanish owner, Ferrovial. Chief executive James Price was due to update the board on the subject last month.

An Amey UK spokesman said: “Amey looks to the future with confidence. 2018, whilst challenging, saw Amey grow both organically and through acquisition. Our order book remains healthy at £7.7bn and our cashflow is positive.”

Ferrovial is selling its services division, which includes Amey.

The sale of Amey is being managed separately from the wider services business. As is standard practice, Amey’s auditors had to record that the business was for sale in Amey’s results, and this affected Amey’s credit rating.

WSP and AECOM to merge?

Express; and South Western (with MTR).

The latter two are in financial difficulties, with South Western still suffering from a long-running industrial dispute.

“We believe the best way forward for SWR is a new contract ... that has an appropriate balance of risk and reward for our shareholders, and we are currently negotiating on this basis with the DfT,” said FirstGroup last week.

Martin described the solution as a management contract.

The current Great Western Railway management contract is due to expire at the end of this month but First and the DfT are understood to be close to agreeing another extension.

The West Coast Partnership includes planning for HS2.

With a new agreement for SWR, the GWR extended, and HS2 proceeding, Martin said: “We could find ourselves with a rail business that’s actually pretty robust and will actually generate cash.”

First also has open access rail operations with Hull Trains and is preparing to launch open access between Edinburgh and London.

Asked if First might one day explore opportunities abroad, Gregory said: “The UK businesses of today will be the core of our business, but that doesn’t rule out growth opportunities as we move forward, whether that is geographically, whether that's different modes of transport.”

CONSULTANCY

Scots traffic HQ tendered

Transport for London has alerted the market to a forthcoming tender for a concession contract to administer, operate and develop its Fleet Operator Recognition Scheme (FORS) that promotes best practice in road freight safety and environmental performance. TfL established FORS in 2008 and awarded a contract for its management to consultant AECOM in 2015. The new contract will include a requirement to “improve the scheme’s economic sustainability through the diversification of revenue streams so it is not solely reliant on operators”.

FORS can be embedded in procurement contracts, enabling operators to compete on quality as well as cost. There are more than 5,000 accredited operators today across 17 countries, with over 105,000 vehicles. The tender should be launched at the end of May.

ROADS

TRANSPORT SCOTLAND is inviting expressions of interest for the operation of the Traffic Scotland national control centre and the maintenance and replacement of intelligent transport systems-related equipment used for the service.

Tenderers can bid for both lots but will only be awarded one.

The contracts will run for five years with the option to extend for a further two. The estimated contract values of the lots are £21m and £49m respectively (including the extension period).

NORTH AMERICAN engineering consultancy giant WSP is reported to be in talks with rival AECOM about a possible merger.

Financial news service Bloomberg says Canada-based WSP initiated the discussions with its US-based rival. It reported on 4 March that a deal could be announced “as soon as next week”, adding that WSP was valued at $7bn and AECOM at $8.1bn.

Neither firm has made a statement since and the impact of the COVID-19 virus on the global economy could affect matters. Construction Dive on 6 March reported a source saying current market volatility could lead discussions to “drag on further or fall apart”.

Glenigan told New Civil Engineer that the firms had won £951.8m of work in the UK in 2019, enough to put a combined group in first place in the league table for engineering and surveying services.

Both firms have a huge presence in the UK transport sector.

The firms have grown organically and through acquisitions. WSP acquiring Parsons Brinckerhoff in 2014.

In Brief

TfL prepares new FORS contract

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Comment 29

MOBILITY MATTERS

Life after COVID-19

Richard Dilks CoMoUK

N

ever waste a crisis. This was sage advice given to me by a colleague a few years ago.

We are suddenly, in the space of just a few days, tipped into a grand experiment across the UK – we’ve been told not to move around unless we ‘have’ to (and much else besides).

There are of course far more serious things at stake than transport in the COVID-19 outbreak. But I thought it would be interesting to muse on what may transpire for transport out of it.

Many have already asked what the difference is between this crisis and the climate crisis. Part of the answer is of course that COVID-19 is more time-limited than climate change.

This reminded me of my experience in a former life working on the margins of making deliveries and collections more efficient in London.

Often at some point in a conversation a misty look would come into someone’s eyes and they would remember the Olympics as an example of what proved to be possible. The Olympics are time-limited too, of course, and the person with the misty look would always acknowledge this. But they would then go on to say that if only someone had given their business some framework, guidance, perhaps financial incentives to carry on some of what had been done during the Olympics then they felt that could have worked as the new way of doing things.

What struck me wasn’t so much that someone should say this, but the high percentage of people involved at the time who said it. Of course this is all just anecdotage but I feel there is a lesson here: in any system there is a latent capacity for change that can be converted into actual change.

The question is how much. Without the crisis or extraordinary event it lies dormant and untapped, a voice

decision-makers can’t hear because it isn’t audible.

For the Olympics it turned out to be very feasible to run London’s logistics and collections in a much more co-ordinated way than normal, which drastically reduced the burden on the road network. Creating limo lanes and enabling nighttime deliveries and pickups across the capital are examples of things that would not and did not survive the Games. But versions of them could have perhaps endured: changes to the London Lorry Control Scheme allowing targeted, worked-through relaxations of nighttime rules; financial incentivisation of consolidation centres; requirements for first/last mile deliveries by e-cargo bikes; the client side of businesses could have been incentivised to procure differently. The list goes on. Waste collections were after all cut on Bond Street from over 50 per day to under five long after the Olympics finished. And in a TfLbacked retiming programme, deliveries at more than 530 sites were retimed to more anti-social hours without a single complaint being raised.

The relevance to COVID-19 is obvious. We are not in the long-term going to operate with empty skies, roads, trains, buses, offices and so on. But what behaviours can we retain from the radical changes we are experiencing as I write? This is surely something Government could dwell on, bringing together its COVID-19 response and support measures with its own transport decarbonisation plan in the light of the legally binding target of net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 and its desire to improve air quality.

Improving air quality and cutting greenhouse gas emissions have turned out to be things that can happen at scale and more or less overnight thanks to COVID-19 response. Will we be able to retain some portion of our changed behaviour once the outbreak abates?

My sense is we can – but not if we are left to our own devices. The reason people looked misty-eyed about Olympian logistics was that things had regressed back to the preGames norm after the athletes had gone home. Lots of what is currently not happening is vital for us and our society: schooling and non-urgent operations to name but two. Yet some we would do well to leave behind: do we need that meeting?

Does it need to be face to face? Do we need to fly to it or wherever else?

Do we need to commute so much?

Drive so much? Will owning our transport take a hit as a notion if for a while we just can’t use it as much or, for those in self-isolation, use it at all? Will a more considered approach to each journey mean we are more likely to mix and match our transport rather than defaulting to the private car?

Let’s not repeat that regression mistake this time. Lots of the drastic measures being implemented now about travelling less are national emergency versions of the shifts we will need to see if net zero is to be a reality.

We will have found new ways of working online. Some of this will have been painful: the tech will break; the connections won’t hold up; there are many in society for whom this is not an option. Nonetheless, we will have found new ways of engaging with each other online for work – and we should all look to ourselves to embed some of those

campaigners have long pointed out and transport policy-makers at best grudgingly acknowledged – reducing the need to travel. Not just drastically cutting aviation consumption, but all forms of travel that aren’t walking and cycling. COVID-19 is, strictly in mobility terms, a near-perfect match for a climate change campaigner’s ultimate dream.

The drops in pollution and rises in air quality in particularly affected spots have been remarkable.

Wouldn’t we like to keep some of that? To be able to see the fish in Venice’s canals every day?

We will of course go back to old behaviours. The trick will be to only go back to some of them. This is for Government to think about and act on; it is for all of us to do. We have responsibility and agency, and we also need guiding by those that govern our society.

The Second World War is being cited very often at the moment.

What behaviours can we retain from the radical changes we are experiencing as I write? This is surely something Government should dwell on. We will have found new ways of engaging with each other online for work and we should all look to embed some of those long-term.

long-term.

Employers will inevitably review their office spaces and other places of work and reassess their value.

Events that would have as a matter of course happened face-to-face are now defaulted the other way – and we will learn from that. Web conferencing software will surely see the sort of rates of development that weapons do during wartime. (And about time, too.) Economists have noted in recent years the power of agglomeration to overwhelm the technological ability to work from home. We do seem to really like being together as a species.

Perhaps COVID-19 will be the acid test of remote working – if this doesn’t radically shift our behaviour on that, will anything?

We will surely discover more about our immediate neighbourhoods and neighbours. Conversely, lots of family contact will have to be much more online than hitherto. All sorts of life events are going to be experienced at a distance in a way that was unthinkable in the UK even a week or two ago.

All of this means many things, including something climate change

Perhaps it can guide us here a bit. We did not as a country keep on growing anything like the amount of food we did during the war itself. But we did engender in several generations the importance of importing less food, growing more of our own. We did not keep millions within our armed services after demobilisation, but we did accept – indeed vote for – a much greater role for the state in our society on some aspects of life.

So perhaps when (events are moving so fast and far as I write I am almost tempted to write ‘if’) the COVID-19 outbreak recedes we won’t just get misty-eyed about the difference it made to our air or roads, but we’ll be able to say that it was that crisis that made us do less of this, that brought in the policy to do that, or the regulation that stopped the other.

Richard Dilks is chief executive of CoMoUK, the charity that promotes the social, environmental and economic benefits of shared transport. He was previously programme director for transport at the capital’s business lobby organisation, London First. Email: richard@como.org.uk

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30 Comment

VIEWPOINT

LTT794 20 March - 02 April 2020

Lots of things happen at the kerbside, so we should be smarter in how it’s managed Nicola Kyle & Eliza Shaw Burges Salmon & AppyWay

A lot happens at the kerbside. Kerbs are the critical link between what happens on the road (transport planning) and what happens within public space (urban design and land-use planning). Think – carhailing ‘kerb kisses’ lasting less than a minute; pedestrians swiftly crossing junctions; dockless bicycles scattered around the footpaths; and delivery vehicles double-parked. Kerbs are inherently dynamic, transient, and multi-modal spaces. Unfortunately, they are not optimally managed to reflect their dynamic uses and this is largely due to the policy instruments used to control them and the lack of digitised data about parking assets.

Local highway authorities are responsible for planning and managing on-street parking. They have the power to implement Traffic Regulation Orders (TROs) that limit or prohibit the movement of traffic within set geographical boundaries. The current TRO process is paper-based, which means authorities lack holistic datasets of their own parking assets. TROs are also costly: £10,000-£15,000 per implementation and time consuming, taking on average 12-18 months to implement.

Many emerging trends in the new mobility landscape are ‘smart’ and inherently seeking to connect the road ecosystem, for example, Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (CAV), electric vehicle charging, and ridesharing – whilst the kerb remains disconnected and lacking in digital maturity. This puts local authorities in a predicament. How can they have more control in shaping these new mobility technologies and ensure their kerbside provision complements

Kerbs are inherently dynamic, transient, and multimodal places. Unfortunately, they are not optimally managed to reflect this.

In Passing

COVID-19 is wreaking havoc across the globe and events companies are not immune, with conference calendars being wiped out. But one enterprising soul came up with the idea of a hastily arranged private breakfast at London’s exclusive Ivy Club this week to discuss the topic: ‘COVID-19 – a catalyst for change? How the technology sector can strengthen the transport industry's resilience.’ LTT was quite looking forward to sampling the Ivy’s Full English breakfast, washed down with a pot of The Ivy 1917 breakfast blend. Alas, with one day to go, an email arrived: ”For obvious reasons, we have had to cancel the breakfast we had planned for Thursday morning.“

local transport strategies? We believe the answer lies, at least in part, in ‘digitising the kerb’. But what does this actually mean?

The first step for authorities is to focus on digitising the basics: building a baseline dataset of the relevant kerbside rules and pricing mechanisms. The information can be fed into a Geographic Information System (GIS) tool/platform that creates and manages mapbased TROs – essentially providing authorities with an interactive map showing all of the TROs, parking charges, and rules currently placed across their local geographic area. Many authorities have already partnered with technology suppliers such as Appyway or Buchanan to achieve this critical step. But not many have experimented with integrating these GIS tools with Internet of Things (IOT) parking data from a range of sources including sensors, Automatic Number Plate Recognition or existing CCTV cameras.

Digitising TROs and integrating IOT parking data are important foundations that would enable local authorities to experiment with more advanced demand management tools. This could include dynamic pricing such as charging more during peak hours to ensure a certain percentage of occupancy. Another option could be experimenting with dynamic bays that change in use throughout the day based on demand.

For example, a loading bay in the early morning becomes a ride-hailing ‘kerb-kissing’ bay in the evening to support the nighttime economy. These demand management techniques would give authorities more power to prioritise certain modes of travel and to restrict/allow access based on real-time flows to manage congestion.

The benefits of digitising the kerb are clear – with access to enhanced data authorities are able to better understand and therefore manage more productively the kerbside as an asset. However, the industry can only move as fast as regulation, which we believe needs urgent review on both a national and local level.

Luckily, central government has recognised that the current TRO process is onerous, costly and time-consuming and the DfT is now undertaking a review under ‘Project Alpha’. Project Alpha is tasked with identifying and developing a legislative process for making TROs that meets current and future needs.

It is vital to ensure that local authority digital maturity develops consistently across local boundaries. To

facilitate this, a digital platform or numerous interoperable digital platforms will be needed to manage the kerbside. The procurement of these should be carefully considered including the possible viability of an innovation partnership. Interoperability should also be considered in relation to payment parking systems and depending on the platform procured and used additional regulation may be required.

Local authorities will need flexible powers to manage their local kerbsides and maximise the benefits available. Alongside the suggested digital TROs, authorities may also need charging powers similar to those used for the congestion charge or ultra-low emission zones (ULEZ). These powers could allow them to introduce micro-payments (or a nominal charge) for ‘kerb-kisses’.

Digital signage is also likely to be required in the future. Current regulations in relation to variable signage are both prescriptive and restricted in use and therefore to enable digital signage for dynamic kerbside management additional changes to the regulation would be needed.

The Law Commissions’ second consultation paper on autonomous vehicles has also been looking at innovative ways of using TROs. In particular it explored how TROs could assist local authorities to control the implementation of CAVs. This creates further need for digitalisation of both the process and management of TROs. Digital kerbs can offer a range of benefits to councils and road users alike. Digital kerbs are about blending the physical and digital realms to integrate on- and off-street infrastructure – but they are not a panacea. They must be matched with visionary local transport strategies, a desire to use the kerb as a tool to manage demand, and national regulatory changes.

One story you won’t read about in the news pages is Transport for London’s bid for the contract to operate New York’s proposed road user charging scheme. The forward plan presented to last week’s TfL finance committee meeting contained this intriguing line: “Cubic and NY RUC Bid.” A web search revealed that New York State last March authorised the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority, an affiliate of New York City’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority, to establish a congestion pricing system for Manhattan’s central business district. Implementation of what will be the United States’ first such charging scheme is apparently proposed for 2021. Eager to learn more, we gave TfL a buzz. And there the story loses a little fizz. After

checking things out, the spokesman came back to say that TfL did indeed review this opportunity with Cubic last year but the parties chose not to pursue it. “We’re not sure why this is still showing on this list to be honest,” he added. “Thanks for flagging, it’s a good job someone is keeping an eye on our reports!”

Nicola Kyle is an associate in the transport team at independent UK law firm Burges Salmon. She is passionate about the benefits transport technology and intelligent mobility can have on the way we move people and goods. Eliza Shaw is a strategic partnerships associate at AppyWay. She supports its mobility team in launching proof of concepts, building out existing services and forging strategic partnerships.

She has an MSc in transport and city planning.

In grim times like these, even a minor mistake in the DfT’s Road Investment Strategy 2 raises a momentary smile. In one passage the DfT explains that is “working closely with Transport for the North and Transport for Great Manchester.” Mancunians know that already, of course.

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Appraisal and decision-making are not the same thing

As a long-time critic of the DfT’s appraisal system, I sympathise with Edward Leigh’s points about the Cambridge Autonomous Metro busway project (‘If politics don’t sink this CAM route, perhaps economics will’ LTT 21 Feb).

However, the civil servant responsible for appraisal (a while back) suggested I was perhaps barking up the wrong tree: he claimed that the Department’s WebTAG appraisal guidance is actually the most rational part of the decision-making process, as ministers can and do make decisions on political grounds regardless.

The ‘Wednesbury principle’ (which dates back to a 1947 decision about cinema opening times by this long-defunct council) protects public authorities from judicial review unless their decision or reasoning is “...so unreasonable that no reasonable person acting reasonably could have made it”.

You couldn’t limbo dance under a bar set that low, but it is a mountain to climb for anyone seeking judicial review of political decisions.

Like war and diplomacy, politics can be regarded as appraisal conducted by other means. I suspect we are going to see the Wednesbury principle frequently deployed by the present Government, as schemes such as HS2 and the Oxford - Cambridge road corridor struggle to make a case with WebTAG. I don’t suppose that this will stop the appraisal bandwagon from continuing to roll, as it provides a useful distraction from the real politics as well as a healthy income for consultancies and m’learned friends.

Alan Wenban-Smith Birmingham B13

Closing bus stops won’t solve route’s reliability problems

I read your item regarding the plan to remove some bus stops on Edinburgh’s cross-city 44 route (Balerno to Wallyford) in order to speed up the buses (‘Edinburgh reveals bus stop closure plan’ LTT 06 Mar). This is not really tackling the problem.

The 44 is supposed to run every ten minutes from the city centre to Balerno, but as everybody in Balerno knows, for most of the day there are two buses every 20 minutes. This is because it is a cross-city route and two buses arrive in the city centre from Wallyford about three to five minutes apart instead of ten minutes apart, and sometimes together.

The situation is then compounded by the first of the two buses filling up and needing to stop at every stop on the outward journey. The second bus, having far fewer passengers stops less frequently and usually passes the first one on Kingsknowe Hill, mid-way between the city centre and Balerno.

Some years ago, on Sundays the service was halfhourly, but in the middle of the day (1000 - 1700) there was an additional bus on the intermediate 15 minutes that only ran from St Andrew Square in the city centre to Balerno and back. It was always on time whereas the other one that came from Wallyford ran the usual ten minutes late.

The obvious answer to the problem is to have all the buses start and terminate in the city centre instead of running cross-city. I have written to Lothian Buses pointing this problem out on several occasions.

On a practical point it really is not a good idea to leave elderly people standing at the bus stop outside the doctors’ surgery for 20+ minutes (often in very cold weather), which has happened to me and many others on more than one occasion.

Terry Nicholson Balerno Edinburgh EH14

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Comment 31

Give cities a bigger say in the planning of HS2

The idea of accelerating the construction of HS2 to Manchester presented by the DfT may at first seem quite reasonable (LTT 06 Mar). However, I wonder if this is more of a soundbite than a proposal that has been carefully assessed in the light of current urgent transport needs.

A rail plan for the Midlands and North that will better take advantage of HS2 is certainly needed.

HS2 has been conceived as a London-centric project because this produces the most favourable business case to be effective in persuading the Government to back high-speed rail. At the time this was a valid way to proceed. Unfortunately, as we have seen by the excessively strong public criticism of HS2, it is not effective in giving us the transport improvements that we need.

On speed, HS2 gives faster journeys on routes that are already very fast, whilst doing very little for the inter-city journeys that are currently rather slow, such as Liverpool to Nottingham, Stoke to Leicester or Sheffield to Bradford.

On capacity, HS2 succeeds in saving about six West Coast Main Line paths from London to the North West and should save only one path (London to Sheffield) on the Midland Main Line. According to the West Midlands’ 30-year rail plan, three fast West Coast Main Line paths will remain from London to Coventry and only one less train will serve Birmingham New Street.

London to Derby and Nottingham will always be faster via the Midland Main Line than using HS2 when real-life interchange times at Toton are included. And HS2 does little to relieve the train path congestion at Manchester Piccadilly as the services from Stoke willl just need shorter trains when London passengers use HS2.

The new plan for HS2 is a real opportunity to use HS2 to deliver a railway much better integrated to the needs of passengers. However, when I read: “The new plan will consider how to take account of the views of local leaders...”, I am not impressed.

Based on the past record of the DfT and HS2 Ltd, this will mean, “We will ask leaders of the cities along the route to offer their suggestions but will not accept them unless they agree with the Government’s preferred option.”

Leeds City Council made some very sensible proposals for the development of Leeds station for HS2, but HS2 Ltd still insisted on their terminal platforms for HS2 trains.

Sheffield offered a very ambitious solution but HS2 rejected it and diverted all HS2 trains (except those serving Sheffield) on an alignment through the Shimmer housing estate – a PR disaster.

Why is there no mention of listening to the views of rail passenger organisations who are very well informed of the limitations of the services they use?

The only way that rail services in the North and Midlands can be improved effectively is by challenging each city to develop its own long-term rail plan to meet the doubling of passenger traffic at their city centre stations over the next 30 years.

This will involve defining the rail corridors for HS2 and other intercity trains to be separate from local lines and to develop new cross-city lines.

Obviously these cannot be fully worked up in the time required for the HS2 plan, but basic work can be done on high-speed corridors.

> CONTINUED ON P32

SEND letters to be considered for publication to: Local Transport Today, Apollo House, 359 Kennington Lane, London SE11 5QY Email: ed.ltt@landor.co.uk (Letters may be edited)

Today - and tomorrow LTT’s mission and that of our audience must, by the nature of our subject matter, embrace matters of the short, medium and long terms. Sometimes all brought together in trade-offs and analyses about the best plans and policies, and decisions on the allocation of resources and investment etc.

This month, the only national perspective that matters is the short-term. Getting through the COVID-19 pandemic without too much loss of life, and social and economic disruption and damage is rightly everyone’s number one priority.

And through the measures that the Government has taken, and now reflected in those of transport service providers in both the private and public sectors, it has meant a huge upheaval in the transport world with likely enormous ongoing consequences. It’s a struggle for survival across businesses in all modes – road, rail, and, of course, air – not to mention the management challenges of providing essential mobility and freight distribution where survival is the priority, and personal enjoyment, human experiences and interactions are put on hold. The pandemic is dramatically upending our world, as it surely is yours.

It may seem odd to seek to comment beyond that frightening and challenging scenario of getting through the next few months. But we do feel that the wider context of all this upheaval and its longer-term consequences must properly be put on the radar amongst our audience of professionals responsible for planning and delivering our transport and mobility systems going forward.

At the risk of a cliché, the world after the pandemic – which we must all believe will be a temporary disturbance – is unlikely to be just like the one before. The implications of not only the factors that have made COVID-19 bite so hard, and our responses to it be so initially ineffective, will resonate for many years ahead. As will discussion about how we might all benefit from living differently and adopting alternative ways of connecting across, and experiencing, our planet.

It’s already being pointed out how the shutdown of human activity is cleaning up the air and reducing the human carbon footprint in ways no other actions could contemplate.

The world has truly been turned upside down these last few weeks, but whether that is a shortterm or permanent upheaval is yet to be clear.

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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR (continued)

32 Comment

What is important is that cities, with public support, should decide these plans and not the DfT who do not possess the detailed local knowledge.

The routes outside the cities can best be connected

by Transport for the North and Midlands Connect.

The re-examination of HS2 should look seriously at the option of serving Stoke on Trent rather than Crewe as the interchange for Northern services. Certainly this should be on the agenda for both TfN and Midlands Connect. I have very carefully studied the debate that occurred when Stoke City Council made their proposal and it is obvious to me that HS2 Ltd did not seriously consider the benefits of greater economic growth from the much larger city and did their best to discourage Stoke.

The political advantage to the Government of rewarding voters in Stoke who supported the Conservatives for the first time should not be under-estimated.

Graham Nalty Derby DE24

Ten points that expose the big railway lie

I see, a little belatedly, that you cited my calculation that it would take the PM’s aide Dominic Cummings 6,000 hours to find the ideal genius or weirdo if he were to spend ten minutes on each of the 35,000 applications, of which I am one (In Passing LTT 7 Feb).

So far so good but I am then cited as applying as a genius. That is a mistake. I applied as a weirdo – so weird that I believe that applying the rules of arithmetic to national statistics should inform policy.

Doing that produces the following startling results,

(references are on www.transport-watch.co.uk): 1. If all London’s crushed surface rail commuters were seated in 75-seat express coaches then, in the am peak hour, those coaches would occupy only one-seventh of the capacity available if the network were paved (See the calculation in Topic 15).

2. If the railway function were discharged by express coaches and lorries, using rail’s right of way, then the average flow per track would amount to a trivial 450 vehicles per day – enabling countless other lorries and vehicles to divert from the unsuitable city streets and rural roads which they now clog (Fact Sheet 1).

3. The nimble bus would use terminal space far more efficiently than does the cumbersome train (again, Fact Sheet 1).

4. If the railway function were discharged by express coaches and lorries using rail’s rights of way there would be a 30 to 40 per cent reduction in energy consumption (Fact Sheet 5).

5. If trespassers but not suicides are included then rail kills more people per passenger-mile than does the strategic road system (Fact Sheet 2).

6. It costs the taxpayer seven to ten times as much to move a passenger or tonne of freight by rail as it does by road. Furthermore, tax taken from road users exceeds expenditure by a factor of five (Topic 2).

7. Widths and headroom on double track railways are wide and high enough to accommodate the carriageway of a two-way trunk road but of vastly superior alignment (Fact Sheet 3).

8. Replacing the tracks with asphalt would cost between £20bn and £30bn (Fact Sheet 12). In comparison rail has cost the nation £80bn over the past decade (Topic 2).

9. Except for the longest journeys, the express coach

LTT794 20 March - 02 April 2020

would match the train for speed. For instance, the train takes 77 minutes to cover the 77 miles between London and Southampton. Railway enthusiasts will note that an express coach motoring at 60mph would match that time while offering a service frequency four to 12 times higher than the train.

10. Nearly half of us use a train less than once a year.

If the Poorhouse of the North wants to become a Power House – take the tracks off its vast, costly and substantially disused rail network and convert them to roads. It’s obvious. Despite that, and the fact that rail carries less than two per cent of the region’s passenger journeys (Topic 35), Transport for the North expects to spend tens of billions of pounds on rail.

All very weird, but Frances Cairncross, writing as the economics editor of The Guardian in 1974, had the answer as to why the railway bandwagon rolls on. She wrote “...when trains are still the theme of nursery rhymes and children’s stories, it is small wonder that the railways have a romantic fascination for most adults. Only years of nursery conditioning can explain the calm with which the public has accepted a bill of £3,000m (£24bn at 2016 prices) to subsidise British Rail over the last decade.”

Railway enthusiasts will be relieved to know that Dominic has not contacted me yet.

Paul Withrington Director Transport-watch Northampton NN2

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Consultants, Researchers & Suppliers

33

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LTT794 20 March - 02 April 2020

The LTT Directory

34 The LTT Directory

Learning Intelligence Networking & Knowledge Sharing

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LTT794 20 March - 02 April 2020

36 The LTT Directory

The next issue of LTT will be published: Friday 03 April Advertising booking deadline: Tuesday 31 March

For recruitment advertising please contact Jason on: 020 7091 7895 or email: jit@landor.co.uk

For display and directory advertising please contact Jason on: 020 7091 7895 or email: jason@landor.co.uk

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LTT794 20 March - 02 April 2020

38 Recruitment

The best jobs for transport specialists start here Below is a selection of the top vacancies currently advertised on the UK’s leading transport jobs board: www.Jobs-in-Transport.com

Principal Transport Planner £42,684 - £45,585 We are looking a fantastic new transport planner to lead a crucial section of the Transport Strategy Group’s work. We need someone to create the innovative policy and strategy the Royal Borough needs to meet its Transport objectives. We need someone to ensure this strategy is put into practise, by acting as the ‘sponsor’ for a number of high-profile programmes.

The Royal Borough is committed to an ambitious vision for transport: an attractive, accessible, healthy and sustainable transport network. This will help make Royal Greenwich a brilliant place to live, work and play – opening up the great opportunities it offers to all of its residents.

Royal Greenwich will be on-track to help realise the Mayor of London’s aim for 80 per cent of all trips in London to be made on foot, by cycle or using public transport by 2041.

Closes: 1st April

APPLY NOW: http://bit.ly/33sHF56

Principal Transport Planner – Major Schemes Development £40,449 - £45,524 Our Major Schemes Development team is growing, and we're looking for enthusiastic and experienced transport planners / client managers to develop major transport schemes and deliver a substantial portfolio of infrastructure investment.

You’ll join an ambitious and forward-thinking team that has increased funding for transport fourfold in recent years.

You’ll have a broad transport planning background, including experience of developing large transport projects and co-ordinating multiple professional disciplines and contractors. You’ll also have a strong understanding of transport scheme development and the Government business case and bidding processes.

Transport Planning Officer

Closes: 29th March

Grade H-I ( Grade H £32,878 - £36,876) – (Grade I £37, 849 - £42,683) per annum

Senior Transport Planner – Major Schemes Development

As a result of the level of inward investment from the private sector we are looking for an experienced Transport Planning Officer to join our small yet dynamic team. Your primary responsibility will include assessing and providing advice on major pre-application’s and planning application consultations for a variety of new development proposals within the City.

The role will also include taking responsibility for the drafting, co-ordination and delivery of Highway Legal Agreements in order to secure new highway infrastructure through Sections 278 and 38 of the Highways Act 1980. You will assess the impact of development on the operation of the highway and transport network throughout the City ensuring that such development can be delivered in a sustainable manner and where appropriate, suitable mitigation can be secured.

You will need to have a degree or equivalent in a transport-related discipline or be able to provide demonstrable experience of working within a Transport Planning environment either within the public or private sector. You should also be working towards professional accreditation with an appropriate professional institute.

Closes: 5th April

APPLY NOW: http://bit.ly/33x8Lb2

APPLY NOW: http://bit.ly/2TS5te2

£32,752 - £36,862 You’ll join an ambitious and forward-thinking team that has increased funding for transport fourfold in recent years.

You’ll have a broad transport planning background, including experience of developing large transport projects and co-ordinating multiple professional disciplines and contractors. You’ll also have a strong understanding of transport scheme development and the Government business case and bidding processes.

Hampshire is a beautiful place to live and work, with vibrant cities, miles of coastline and two National Parks. We look after our staff and will enable you to reach your full potential through structured training programs, coaching and mentoring. We offer a competitive salary and benefits package and a range of family-friendly policies including flexible working and generous annual leave.

Closes: 29th March

APPLY NOW: http://bit.ly/2Qf2GuP

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LTT794 20 March - 02 April 2020

News

People

Northern Ireland studies Welsh electrification model PUBLIC TRANSPORT

NORTHERN IRELAND’S state public transport operator Translink is considering whether it can electrify Northern Ireland’s railways by applying the Core Valley Lines model in South Wales.

Until recently, rail electrification was not on Translink’s agenda. Its latest rolling stock order comprises 21 more vehicles to lengthen its Class 4000 diesel units. However, Translink chief executive Chris Conway recently told MLAs: “With the decarbonisation of public transport, we will have to consider some electrification.

“New technologies on trains mean that they can now operate in bi-mode. They can have batteries and electrification, which means that they need only partial electrification of the network.”

Conway recently visited Transport for Wales and learnt about its

electrification programme for the Core Valley Lines. “It has bi-mode trains and is looking at partial electrification. We are keen to find out how well that would work and whether it is technology that we could use to decarbonise our entire local public transport network.”

Most of the Core Valley Lines will have overhead power supply but the trains will switch to batteries to pass under bridges and through a tunnel, avoiding the cost and disruption of rebuilding bridges to provide headroom for live equipment.

Conway said Translink and Irish Rail were appraising improvements to the Enterprise service between Belfast and Dublin, to provide hourly frequency initially but also journey time reductions and ultimately electrification.

The Republic of Ireland’s National Development Plan for

2018-2027 includes electrification from Malahide, where electric DART trains currently terminate, to Drogheda, approximately half way between Dublin and the border.

Translink operates some hybrid diesel/electric buses, including its Belfast Glider articulated buses. In January, it ordered three hydrogen buses, part-funded by the Office for Low Emission Vehicles.

Conway said: “Queen’s University is going to do a piece of collaborative work with us to assess which routes are best used for hydrogen and electric or even whether to maintain diesel for a longer time.

“We plan that our future procurement for Metro in Belfast and Foyle Metro will all involve either a hybrid or a full electric fleet. We will then start the transition for Ulsterbus [services outside Belfast] and Goldline [scheduled coaches] beyond that.”

£37m for electric transport R&D

ELECTRIFICATION

THE GOVERNMENT has announced £30m for four new centres of excellence to study how to accelerate electrification in transport, including cars, aviation and shipping.

Newcastle University is the lead partner for the Driving the Electric Revolution (DER) initiative that isfunded by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. DER includes 21 universities and 13 research and technology bodies.

The four centres are: • DER Centre North East – CESAM (Centre for Sustainable Advanced Manufacturing) at the International Advanced Manufacturing Park, Sunderland • DER Centre Scotland – University of Strathclyde – located in NMIS (The National Manufacturing Institute Scotland) and PNDC (Power Networks Demonstration Centre) • DER Centre Midlands – distributed facilities, with a focus on the Power Electronics & Machines Centre at the Jubilee Campus, Uni-

versity of Nottingham • DER Centre South Wales & South West – distributed facilities, coordinated by the Compound Semiconductor Application Catapult Innovation Centre, Newport The Government has also awarded £6.7m to 14 projects through the DER challenge. These projects, involving 38 firms, will boost supply chain efficiencies in industries affected by electrification, such as aerospace, automotive, energy and rail. Participants include GKN, Jaguar Land Rover and Rolls-Royce.

Ward is DfT’s DG for roads and places Emma Ward joined the DfT this week as director general for roads, places and environment group. She was director general for domestic planning and implementation at the Department for Exiting the European Union. Previously, she was the first director of the cities and local growth team that is jointly sponsored by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG). Ward succeeds Tricia Hayes who joined the Home Office last month as director general of the crime, police and fire group. She had been director general since 2016, and had worked for the DfT and its predecessor departments since 1987.

McMullan leaves City for Kent Rory McMullan is Kent County Council’s new casualty reduction manager. He joins from the City of London Corporation where he was road danger reduction and behaviour change manager.

Land joins Gloucestershire David Land has joined Gloucestershire County Council as a principal transport planner. He was previously a project manager with Causeway Intelligence Ltd.

Elliott joins SYSTRA from MJM Rachael Elliott has joined consultant SYSTRA in Leeds as a principal consultant. She moves from MJM Consulting Engineers where she was also a principal consultant.

Clarke leaves Gnewt for Gridserve Sam Clarke, founder of electric vehicle logistics firm Gnewt, is leaving after ten years to become chief vehicle electrification officer at sustainable energy firm Gridserve. Gridserve has just started construction of its first Electric Forecourt® for electric vehicle charging, in Braintree, Essex.

Parsons joins Kapsch from Siemens Steve Parsons has joined Kapsch TrafficCom as head of UK sales. He was head of sales for Siemens UK.

DfT ministerial responsibilities The responsibilities of the DfT’s new ministerial team are: Secretary of state Grant Shapps: responsible for oversight of all areas and minister for the Northern Powerhouse.

Chris Heaton-Harris, minister of state: rail, East West Rail, cycling and walking, Crossrail and Crossrail 2, accessibility, and corporate.

Andrew Stephenson, minister of state: HS2, Northern Powerhouse Rail, and the Transpennine route upgrade.

Baroness Vere, parliamentary under secretary: roads and motoring, buses and taxis, devolution, housing and light rail.

Rachel Maclean, parliamentary under secretary: EU transition and future relationship, future of transport, transport decarbonisation and environment, and secondary legislation.

Kelly Tolhurst, parliamentary under secretary: aviation, maritime, security, civil contingencies, and roads in the Commons.