PART 1
(OPEN TO THE PUBLIC)
ITEM NO.
REPORT OF THE STRATEGIC DIRECTOR FOR HOUSING AND PLANNING
TO THE LEAD MEMBER PLANNING
ON APRIL 4th 2005
TITLE : Sustainable Transport IN Salford: A New Direction.
RECOMMENDATIONS: That the principle within this report be taken to Cabinet in
order to ensure that:
1. Salford Travel partnership be recognised as a sub group of
the Living Environment Forum.
2. Salford City Council formally adopts the Charter for
Sustainable Travel outlined at Appendix 1.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: This report considers the delivery of sustainable transport
choices within Salford and notes the fragmented way with which they are currently
delivered.
It recognises the good work currently carried out across the City Council and the
initiatives being introduced through the Salford Travel partnership.
It concludes that the Partnership should be granted full recognition by the Council
and co-opted as a sub group of the Living Environment Forum.
It proposes a Charter for Sustainable Travel for adoption by The Council.
BACKGROUND DOCUMENTS : Local Transport Plan, Draft Unitary Development
Plan.
ASSESSMENT OF RISK: Failure to reduce vehicle emissions will have a detrimental
effect on the future of the world.
Failure to reduce traffic congestion will have a detrimental effect on the future of
Salford, both in terms of its environment and its ability to bring about regeneration.
SOURCE OF FUNDING : N/A at this time.
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COMMENTS OF THE STRATEGIC DIRECTOR OF CUSTOMER AND SUPPORT
SERVICES (or his representative):
1. LEGAL IMPLICATIONS
Provided by : N/A at this time.
2. FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS
Provided by : N/A at this time
PROPERTY (if applicable):
HUMAN RESOURCES (if applicable):
CONTACT OFFICER : Steven Lee – 793 3822
WARD(S) TO WHICH REPORT RELATE(S) ALL
KEY COUNCIL POLICIES: Pledge 7: Enhancing life in Salford
DETAILS (Continued Overleaf)
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1.0.
Background
1.1.
When Cabinet considered responses to its consultation on the new
governance structure there was a suggestion that greater emphasis be given
to the promotion of sustainable transport in Salford. The recommendation of
the Leader was to establish a Cabinet sub-committee to address this issue.
Concern was expressed that this might duplicate the work of the Salford
Travel Partnership and that a strategic direction for sustainable transport
would be more effective if developed with partners in Salford. It was agreed,
therefore, that the Lead Member for Planning would produce a paper to
review the governance arrangements.
1.2.
It is important in establishing the scope for this policy issue to have a clear
understanding of what is meant by sustainable transport. Too often
‘sustainable’ is attached as a buzz word rather than a means of clarifying the
aims of policy. The British Government defines sustainability in this way:
At its heart is the simple idea of ensuring a better quality
of life for everyone, now and for generations to come.
A widely used international definition is 'development
which meets the needs of the present without
compromising the ability of future generations to meet
their own needs'. The concept of sustainable development
has been around for a number of decades.
1.3.
Although the idea is simple, the task is substantial. It means meeting four
objectives at the same time, in the UK and the world as a whole:




1.4.
social progress which recognises the needs of everyone;
effective protection of the environment;
prudent use of natural resources; and
maintenance of high and stable levels of economic growth
and employment.
These objectives may be applied to transport policy. For example, transport
policy seeks to address social progress by improving accessibility for groups
excluded from the use of transport, by reducing the health risks of pollution
and injury which are greater among certain groups and by positively
promoting health through healthy transport choices. Effective environmental
protection requires the choice of transport options that minimise the impact of
air pollution, noise pollution, and damage to the urban fabric. For transport
policy to be sustainable, it must prudently use natural resources by
encouraging the efficient use of energy and recycling of land and construction
materials. Investment in transport and efficient transport systems help to
create jobs and remove congestion, thus helping to maintain employment
and economic growth.
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2.0.
Transport Policy
2.1.
Current national transport policy is directed towards ensuring that the traveller
can choose the most suitable mode for the trip in question, for example it is
generally agreed that:


2.2.
Improvements in pedestrian and cycling infrastructure will
encourage more people to walk or cycle.
Improvements in public transport facilities, for both buses
and trains, coupled with greater “reliability” (both in terms
of arrivals and journey times) should encourage more
people to adopt these modes.
In terms of the four objectives listed above, it can be seen that within Salford
sustainable modes of transport have the following contributions to make:
Social progress and According to the latest census figures there are still
recognising the needs roughly 40% of households which do not have
of everyone.
access to a private car.
Without alternative
transport modes these families will suffer from
social exclusion.
Effective protection of Air quality health base targets are exceeded along
the environment.
Salford’s main transport corridors.
Prudent use of natural
resources.
Maintenance of high
and stable levels of
economic growth and
employment.
2.3.
Walking and cycling do not require the use of
valuable fossil fuels.
With fossil fuels at a premium it makes sense to
use systems of mass transit rather than rely on
single occupancy private cars for many trips.
The availability of suitable public transport is
essential if accessibility and connectivity is to be
maximised. As noted above there are many
households within the City that do not have access
to a private car and hence are often not in a
position to maximise employment opportunity.
Consequently, they may be excluded from the
growth that the rest of the City enjoys.
As noted above, national policy is directed towards allowing people to make
suitable travel choices, a need which underpins the draft Unitary Development
Plan ie
Aim 3
“TO MINIMISE THE NEED TO TRAVEL AND DEVELOP A SUSTAINABLE
AND INTEGRATED TRANSPORT NETWORK”
2.4.
As well as supporting environmental objectives by reducing the need for car
use, minimising the need to travel also saves people time, contributing to a
better quality of life. However, where people do need to travel it is important
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that they have access to high quality transport networks, which support both
social inclusion and economic development.
2.5.
Within Greater Manchester overall policy delivery comes via the Local
Transport Plan and the aims and objectives of this, along with further details
of how Salford embraces the major elements of this strategy are as follows:
“Improving public transport – to widen travel choice and bring about a
shift from car use.”
2.6.
Policies A3, A4, A5 and A6 of the draft UDP all relate to public transport
provision and policy A2 considers not only the needs of pedestrians and
cyclists, but also the travel needs of the disabled. The City Council was the
first Council in Greater Manchester to complete a quality bus corridor, and of
course, was amongst the first to gain Metrolink. Disabled access is a major
feature on these corridors which seek to encourage travellers to utilise public
transport by ensuring that the bus stop environment is of an extremely high
quality and that there is adequate information to give passengers the
confidence that a bus will actually arrive. Real Time Passenger Information is
shortly to be installed on most corridors so that travellers will know exactly
when the next bus will arrive and hence travelling by bus should become a lot
more attractive. As noted above, one of the main contributory factors to a
successful public transport network is journey time reliability and most
corridors contribute to reliability through the installation of bus priority
measures. The main players in this role are The Housing and Planning
Directorate, The Chief Executive and Community and Social Services.
2.7.
Housing and Planning staff are the first point of contact for GMPTE and are
responsible for the highway infrastructure. Their remit ensures that traffic
moves easily around the network. Not only do they look after the needs of
traffic in the conventional sense, they also cater for sustainable modes such
as cyclists and pedestrians. The Directorate also feeds into the Local
Transport Group, which seeks to ensure that the needs of public transport
users are recognised and served by the various operators. Bus services
themselves are also influenced by the Economic Development Team who
have been successful in bidding for Urban Bus Grant that has led to the
establishment of a subsidised service within the New Deal Area. They have
also worked on other projects such as “Local Link” (Pendleton to Salford) and
“Action for Jobs” which created a link between Little Hulton and the Trafford
Centre.
2.8.
The Community and Social Services Department have primary responsibility
for Community Transport (Salford) who currently received around £66,000 per
annum from Salford City Council. This money is used to deliver a variety of
services some of which are detailed below.
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ACTIVITY
MONITORING FOR PERIOD
SEPT 2003-MARCH 2004
Door to door and group transport for local 700 trips
people
Collecting and redistributing at low cost – Collect 3431 item
re usable furniture
Re distributed 3104 items
Low cost removal/transport service
260
Provides opportunities for New Deal
Placements
4
Training for volunteers MIDAS
22 volunteers trained
Total Volunteer hours
3370
“Encouraging more use of public transport, cycling and walking – by
changing peoples’ attitudes to travel and developing Travel Plans for
schools and workplaces.”
2.9.
The “Hearts and Minds” campaign is administered through a mixture of the
Housing and Planning Directorate and Education and Leisure. Within
Housing and Planning, for example, strong work by the travel co-ordinator has
ensured that 18 businesses have either adopted, or are in the process of
adopting, a travel plan. The former Development Services Directorate drafted
a Council Travel Plan which is currently being reviewed by the Personnel
team.
2.10. Planning policies dictate that many new developments are also required to
agree a travel plan before permission is granted (draft UDP policies A1 and
ST6). Air quality is a material consideration under the planning regime and
The Environmental Services Environmental Protection Team work closely with
Development Control to ensure that new developments will have minimal
impact on current air quality, through a range of mitigation measures. Further
work by the Road Safety Team has also led to the introduction of a number of
walking buses across the City.
2.11. Turning to the Education and Leisure Directorate, recent initiatives by central
government now allow schools to bid for additional monies in order to
implement measures that will increase sustainable travel and reduce the
morning “school run”. The grants available are currently:


£3,750 plus £5 per pupil for a primary school, and,
£5,000 plus £5 per pupil for a secondary school.
2.12. One of the precursors for obtaining these monies however, is the introduction
of a sustainable school travel plan at that particular establishment and again
the school’s travel co-ordinator (a post administered by Housing and Planning
but with strong links to Education) is doing useful work in this area with the
following schools now having adopted a travel plan:
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Primary Schools
Christ the King RCPS
Boothstown methodist
Fiddlers lane
Broadoak
James Brindley
Christ church CofE
Charlestown primary
Secondary Schools
The Albion
Canon Williamson
Colleges
Eccles College
Salford College
2.13. In addition to the above, The Education and Leisure Directorate is also
responsible for the provision of free school travel for those children who live in
excess of three miles from the nearest suitable school and the provision of
school transport for those children with special needs whose statement
specifies transport.
“Reversing decentralisation – by making town centres more attractive
and using planning policies to ensure new development takes place at
locations accessible by public transport.”
2.14. As noted above, planning permission for many new developments is only
granted on the proviso that a sustainable travel plan is introduced. By
definition this usually means that the site must enjoy strong public transport
links (draft UDP policies ST6 and ST7).
“Improving safety, security and accessibility – with measures to reduce
road casualties and give more priority and confidence to public
transport passengers, pedestrians and cyclists.”
2.15. Principal responsibility for road accident casualty reduction lies with the
Housing and Planning Directorate who are currently involved in piloting
innovative new ideas within the Inner wards. Overall, work by the City in
accident reduction, has been singled out within the AGMA authorities and the
DfT have suggested that some of the other Districts could benefit from our
ideas. Casualty reduction is also a key driver in our developing car parking
strategy which, amongst other things, seeks to:



Promote pedestrian safety.
Influence travel demand and promote the increased use of
public transport.
Promote accessibility by effectively managing the parking of
cars on the footway.
2.16. Security at railway stations and interchanges is currently managed through
GMPTE with input from the Council’s crime reduction team and again Housing
and Planning are, in the main, responsible for improvements to accessibility.
It is anticipated that this area give the needs of the most vulnerable, elderly
passengers, high priority, in order to ensure that they feel secure and
confident enough to travel freely.
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3.0.
Other Ways in Which The Council Contribute to Sustainability Within
The Transport Field.
3.1.
The Department for Health has reported that there are 8,000 deaths per year
in the UK attributable to air pollution from road traffic. The National Air Quality
Strategy lays down objectives for several pollutants which must be met by
local authorities by prescribed dates. Where the standards will not be met, Air
Quality Management Areas must be declared and action plans publicised to
show how local authorities will take actions to meet the standards. Because
road traffic is the single largest source of air pollution, the majority of our
actions relate to road transport, which, when implemented will lead to more
sustainable transport.
3.2.
Air Quality is a major consideration for the second round of Local Transport
Plans. Within Environmental Services the Environmental Protection Team are
working closely with the GM LTP team and colleagues in Environmental
Health across Greater Manchester on this issue. The Directorate operates
and maintains an air quality monitoring network across Salford and the data
from this network is used to predict Salford’s air quality in the future which is
crucial to the process of air quality management.
3.3.
The council operates approximately 350 vehicles, so it is important that we
look to minimise the emissions from these vehicles at the same time as
looking to secure value for money for the council tax payers. The new tender
for the provision of the light vehicle fleet has specified Euro 3 engines which
will mean a reduction in the emission of pollutants to Salford’s environment.
In addition to this, we have a programme in place to fit particulate traps to the
larger diesel engine vehicles.
3.4.
The Environmental Services Directorate also plays an active role in two
Greater Manchester wide campaigns

The Dirty Diesel campaign encourages the public to report to us
vehicles they have seen emitting black smoke. Such reports are then
submitted to the Department for Transport who may require the vehicle
to be submitted for an emissions test.

The Roadside emissions testing programme has been funded by the
Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) and
is run by the Environmental Protection Team.
Both campaigns include publicity/promotional work stressing the importance
of maintaining vehicles correctly so as to minimise the harmful emissions to
air.
4.0
Policy Co-Ordination
4.1
From the above it can be seen that sustainable transport policy objectives are
implemented in a fragmented way. This is not how it should be. All council
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directorates and partner agencies should be embedding sustainable transport
policy in their operational practices. Furthermore, policy development is
coordinated at a variety of levels. Regional planning guidance approved by
the Regional Assembly provides a framework and major infrastructure works
are often determined at a regional level through Government Office North
West. The Local Transport Plan is produced at a sub-regional level. Within
Salford City Council the Lead Member for Planning has responsibility for
spatial aspects of transport policy but, as section 2 shows, many directorates
contribute to the objectives. Various forums established by the Local
Strategic Partnership – notably those on health and the environment – also
include sustainable transport within their remit. It could be argued that there is
little need for yet another coordinating body.
4.2
It is, however, clear that there is an enormous amount of good practice and
cultural commitment to sustainable transport. What is needed is a body that
can ensure that the shared vision is clearly articulated, establish targets
against which to measure progress and agree a co-ordinated way forward.
5.0
Salford Travel Partnership
5.1
Fortunately such a forum may already exist. In Autumn 2002 the Salford
Travel Partnership was set up as a joint initiative between Salford City
Council, Salford University and the Hospital Trust. Within a short space of
time they were joined by the Primary Care Trust, GMPTE, First Group and
GMAS Patient Transport and associate membership was adopted by GMP,
Salford Community Safety Unit, Chapel Street Regeneration Group and
British Transport Police. In total, through its member organisations, the
Partnership represents over 60,000 staff, students, local authority and
healthcare workers and other stakeholders.
5.2
The aims of the Partnership are:





5.3
to reduce car usage across Salford,
to promote the use of sustainable transport,
to develop relationships with transport providers,
to encourage Travel Audits in all member organisations, and,
to give out clear information regarding transport alternatives.
Whereas its objectives are:





to raise the profile of public transport services,
to develop and implement Best Practice,
to promote all transport initiatives,
to act as a forum for discussions, and,
to develop an effective working relationship with all
transport providers.
in short, in terms of travel choice, to make Salford a truly sustainable City.
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5.4
To date, the Partnership has achieved the following:







2003 Conference on Transport and Crime – attendance of
over 100 people with good response from delegates to the
idea of the Partnership working on these issues
2004 Conference on Transport and Health – attendance of
120 people with top speakers including the Director of
Public Health for the Northwest and the Deputy Chairman
of FIRST.
Three of the main partner organisations have held full
Travel Audits which have set strategies for their
organisations.
Four of the Partner organisations have set Travel Plans in
operation.
Worked together to promote “In Town Without My Car” for
two years, acting as a group, to gain the greatest
initiatives.
Worked with the Social Needs Integration Pilot Project and
Salford Community Transport in assisting with research
etc.
Assisted in the research carried out by the Mark Dooris
report on PCT Initiatives for the Future, including
Transport.
and it’s reputation as a centre of good practice has spread across the
Country.
6.0
What the Partners COULD Be Doing For Sustainable Transport.

Providing an established, recognised forum through which
the City Council can enjoy rapid access to all major
stakeholders that influence sustainable transport in
Salford.

Assisting in the promotion of sustainable transport
initiatives in the field of Education, namely in supporting
School Travel Plans and to specifically aim messages
regarding sustainable transport to all those pursuing
further education within the City of Salford.

Providing expertise and advice to Salford based
companies on Travel Plans, Staff Travel Audits, route
planning, transport information services as well as
facilitating communications with major transport operators.

Developing integrated, sustainable transport solutions to
enable Salford citizens to enjoy more convenient access
to health and social care providers by making more
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effective use of the transport resources currently available
within the partner organisations. This will also include the
increased take-up of the Hospital Travel Scheme.

Assisting Regeneration programmes by supporting the
development of transport services to access job interviews
and employment, healthy food shopping as well as the
transport needs of hard to reach groups.

Provide co-ordination across all partner organisations to
promote the annual European "In Town Without My Car
Day".
7.0
Option for Governance
7.1
It is therefore proposed that the Travel Partnership be recognised as a sub
group of the Living Environment Forum, charged with seeking and coordinating all opportunities to develop sustainable transport services within
Salford by the encouragement of transport providers to target these services
in the most effective way to all stakeholders.
7.2
In order to ensure that this Partnership works most effectively, it is envisaged
that the City Council will be represented at Member level, and will report
directly back to the Cabinet on all proposed actions and activities. The
Partnership will further be a voice for the City Council on Travel issues and
will assist the Council in seeking funding opportunities and grant aid to further
promote sustainable transport opportunities and initiatives.
Malcolm Sykes
Strategic Director of Housing and Planning
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Appendix 1.
Proposed Charter for Sustainable Travel.
Salford City Council will:
1. Recognise the Salford Travel Partnership as a sub group of the Living
Environment Forum feeding directly into both the Local Strategic Partnership
and The Cabinet.
2. Continue to work with its partners on the Salford Travel Partnership in order to
ensure that sustainable travel is a realistic option within the City.
3. Adopt a Sustainable Travel Plan in 2005.
4. Continue to assist schools and businesses with the development of their own
sustainable travel plan.
5. Only allow major developments to take place ion areas well served by public
transport.
6. Continue to give road casualty reduction the highest when considering the
effects of highway schemes.
7. Continue to work towards improving the air quality across the conurbation.
8. Seek to ensure that all vehicles within its vehicle fleet comply with Euro 3
standards or better.
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