Issue - meetings

Cllr Dick Tonge, Cabinet Member for Highways and Transport presented a report regarding the Council’s Local Sustainable Transport Fund (LSTF) project, ‘Improving Wiltshire’s Railway Offer.’  This followed the award of £4.250 million by the Department for Transport (DfT) on 27 June 2012 with a local contribution of £1.500 million planned to be made up of a mixture of in-kind contributions, Local Transport Plan (LTP) funding and developer contributions  as detailed in the report presented.

The LSTF project had three main elements and a projected total cost of £5.750 million (funded through the grant and a local contribution of £1.500 million):

(i)            Support for improved rail services on the Westbury to Swindon line.

(ii)          Interchange improvements at a number of Wiltshire’s railway stations.

(iii)         Supporting smarter choices measures.

Cllr Tonge thanked officers for all their efforts and hard work on this project and in ensuring a successful bid for funding. He commented that this Council had received the highest percentage of grant funding applied for.

The report detailed the options considered in drawing up the proposals.

Resolved:

That Cabinet:

a)            welcomes the full grant award (£4.250 million) for the Council’s Local Sustainable Transport Fund bid by the Department for Transport;

b)           approves the commencement and delivery of the package of complementary sustainable transport measures (£4.550 million) and delegates the management of this project to the Service Director for Highways and Transport in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Highways and Transport;

c)            approves the contribution of £0.300 million from the Local Transport Plan Integrated Transport Block allocation for 2012/13 to 2014/15, the contribution of circa £0.100 million ‘in-kind’ officer time and the allocation of up to £1.100 million developer contributions;

d)           reiterates its in-principle support for an improved TransWilts rail service and

e)            notes the uncertainties and risks associated with the implementation of the improved train service and requests that officers further liaise with the Department for Transport, Great Western franchise bidders and other relevant parties regarding the improved Westbury to Swindon train service, and submit a further report to a future Cabinet meeting.

Reason for Decision:

To enable the LSTF project to commence so ensuring that the programme of measures and required spend can be made in accordance with the grant award.