Agenda item

Chairman’s Announcements:

a) Local Transport Plan (LTP) Scheme Selection Process.

b) Local Transport Plan Car Parking Strategy.

The Chairman welcomed everyone to the Westwood social club, and requested that the Wiltshire councillors who made up the board introduced themselves, including Stuart Wheeler, (Wiltshire Council cabinet member) who was in attendance for this meeting, as well as the Community Area Manager and Democratic Services Officer.

All town, parish and partner representatives in attendance were welcomed by the Chairman.

Terry Biles, Westwood Parish Council welcomed everyone to Westwood.

Chairman’s Announcements

Local Transport Plan (LTP) Scheme Selection Process

The establishment of Area Boards presents an opportunity for decisions on small-scale transport and highway improvement schemes to be taken locally. 

In response to this there are plans for the Area Boards to be allocated a discretionary budget to assess and select small-scale transport schemes to be progressed in their community areas. The amount of funding available to the Area Boards will be confirmed in due course.

The allocation will be for capital funding and can only be used to provide new and improved infrastructure.  It is to be used for schemes that improve safety, increase accessibility and sustainability by promoting walking, cycling and public transport, and improve traffic management.  It cannot be used to fund maintenance schemes or to pay for revenue functions such as passenger transport.

Due to the complexity of assessing and selecting a scheme from the many requests, and the potential time that such an agenda item would take, it is proposed that recommendations are made to the Area Board by a Community Area Transport Group (CATG).

Members of the CATG will be identified by the Community Area Manager in conjunction with the Chairman, and agreed at the Area Board.  It is requested that the number on each Group should not exceed ten and that the meetings take place during the day. Meetings will be attended by relevant officers from Wiltshire Council and will be chaired by the Area Board Chairman.

It is envisaged that the first meeting of the CATG would include a half day workshop covering the following matters:-

·        Background to the Council’s transport policies and transport funding.

·        Review of requests received in the community area.

·        Assessment of schemes.

·        Discussion on the need for a feasibility study

·        Discussion on future funding

·        Selection of scheme(s)

·        Recommendation to Area Board.

Individuals from each parish council who were interested in taking part in this workshop should contact the Community Area Manager, elly.townsend@wiltshire.gov.uk. It is hoped that there will be good representation from across the community area.

Local Transport Plan Car Parking Strategy

The council’s current car parking strategy dates back to 2000 and now needs to be reviewed to reflect the move to Wiltshire Council and to ensure that parking charges and standards are broadly consistent across the whole of the county.

A parking strategy can be one of the most useful tools available to local authorities in helping them achieve their objectives.  In particular, it can:

·        support the local economy;

·        encourage the use of sustainable travel modes;

·        enhance the look of streetscenes;

·        meet residents’ needs for car parking;

·        raise revenue for the council to reinvest in transport measures; and

·        provide essential access for the mobility impaired.

The council commissioned its consultants Mouchel to undertake the review.

Consultation on Mouchel’s report is open from 12 July to 3 September 2010.

Our preferred method of communication is for comments to be submitted on line at http://consult.wiltshire.gov.uk/portal. A reference copy of the report is also available from all libraries.