Hertfordshire's Local Transport Plan

Introduction

The Local Transport Plan is important to everyone who lives or works in Hertfordshire. Transport is part of all our daily lives, whether we drive, walk, cycle or catch a bus or train. It helps to determine the lifestyles we are able to pursue, and affects the environment in which we live. This Local Transport Plan sets out a five year programme towards achieving the vision of a better transport system for all.

1.1 Background

Key Facts

1 million residents
12 urban areas with a population of over 25,000
0.5 cars per head (4th highest in Britain)
22% of homes have no regular use of a car
23 million journeys made per week
69% of all journeys are made by car
Traffic flows 35% higher than the national average
6700 road casualties per year
25% of A Roads are in need of major reconstruction
29 bridges require strengthening

Transport is one of the biggest issues facing Hertfordshire today. With over 6700 road casualties every year, traffic flows up to twice the national average and a rail network running at capacity, the solution to the transport problem is an imperative for the County Council and its partners.

Hertfordshire is the 6th most populated highway authority area in England with over 1 million residents. With 0.522 cars per head (the 4th highest car ownership in Britain), these residents make over 4 million journeys every day, contributing to the severe capacity problems on the road and rail networks.

Hertfordshire's geography has a significant effect on local transport. The settlement pattern is that of many medium sized towns separated by only a few miles. There is no dominant settlement which acts as the core of the transport network, and as a result there are complex transport interactions between all of the towns. The consequences of this is that it is difficult to meet these needs by commercially viable passenger transport services, and therefore most inter-urban journeys are made by car. Given these circumstances, it is likely that the car will remain the dominant mode of transport for these journeys in the foreseeable future.

Although there is no main core settlement within the county, transport patterns are heavily influenced by neighbouring London. The county provides major north-south corridors between the capital and a large part of the Midlands and northern Britain. The county's road and rail networks are heavily influenced by long distance through traffic, with large volumes of through movements on roads including the M1, A1(M) and M25, and the East Coast, Midland and West Coast Main Line railway routes. Passengers and employees travelling to and from the two major airports just outside of the county's borders (Stansted and London Luton) and Heathrow provide an additional strain, in particular for Hertfordshire's radial road and rail network. A lack of east-west links in northern Hertfordshire and increasing airport passenger numbers will push Hertfordshire's transport network to its limits.

Hertfordshire's transport network is thus based on north-south routes, many of which are dominated by national rather than local traffic. The lack of east-west links is a major problem, and is a significant barrier to encouraging passenger transport journeys. The County's role in providing radial corridors to London is best illustrated by the fact that there are seven separate rail franchises in Hertfordshire.

The East of England Development Agency (Regional Economic Development Strategy) identifies the importance of the distribution industry in Hertfordshire, an industry whose success has no doubt been aided by the county's location near London and its major road and rail through routes. The numbers of Heavy Goods Vehicles using Hertfordshire's Primary Route Network, encouraged by signing and lorry restrictions, have steadily been increasing over the past few years, and as a result 2.1 million vehicle kilometres were covered in 1998.

Hertfordshire is an affluent county with low unemployment figures, and so people are more easily able to afford cars, and more importantly are more willing to pay for the convenience they provide. The County Council therefore needs to further develop the TravelWise initiative and come up with some radical changes to encourage people to use their cars less and switch to alternative modes of transport.

1.2 Public consultation

Throughout the development of Hertfordshire's Local Transport Plan, the County Council has involved and sought the views of the general public, and organisations with transport interests. Groups were set up for users of particular modes, and for transport operators and other major organisations who affect or are affected by transport policy. Conferences were held by the County Council in November 1999 and February 2000 to give people the opportunity to hear about the development of the document, express their views and ultimately help the County Council develop this published plan.

As well as involving the general public the County Council has worked in partnership with the ten district councils in developing the Local Transport Plan, along with other County Council departments including Education and Social Services, and the health authorities. The 122 parish councils were also given an opportunity to have an input into the development of the document.

Throughout the development of Hertfordshire's Local Transport Plan the availability of the document for the public has been publicised through local newspapers and radio stations, libraries, council offices and on the Hertfordshire Webpages on the Internet. Examples of how the document has changed in response to the consultation comments are given in Table 1(1). A full report on the consultation undertaken is available as a separate document in Volume 2.

Table 1(1) Examples of how the Local Transport Plan has been amended in response to consultation comments

Consultee	Comment	Changes Made To Document
Resident	The fifth objective is weaker than the DETR's equivalent.	Objective re-worded.
Resident	LTP says little about horse related policies.	Strategy towards horse riding included.
Parish Council	Little or no reference was made to the needs of walkers.	New strategy included in final document.
Resident	Pedestrians prefer to cross roads at ground level rather than by subways.	Preference against subways for new facilities now included in walking strategy.
District Council	Safety and Health section should be entitled just Safety as the health content is limited and overlaps with a later section on health.	Section deleted and contents moved to appropriate other sections.
District Council	Sections dealing with the development west of Stevenage should be expanded to highlight the impact on local transport facilities.	This section is expanded in the final document.

1.3 Local Transport Plan Process

The Local Transport Plan arises from the Government's White Paper ‘A New Deal For Transport' published in July 1998, and sets out a five year programme for maintaining and improving transport provision. The plan directly covers all road based schemes and ties into rail and waterway programmes, whilst providing links with wider policy issues including health, education, social inclusion and community safety strategies. The role of the Local Transport Plan is to address all of these key issues, and then to deliver, at a local highway authority level, a better and more integrated transport system which leads to less congestion, less pollution, more transport choice and less dependency on the car. Whilst the responsibility for producing the plan rests with the County Council, ensuring a comprehensive plan requires partnership working with districts, parishes, transport operators, user groups, health authorities and many other organisations. Many of these organisations have transport roles in their own rights as illustrated by Table 1(2).

Table 1.2 Examples of Transport Roles

Authority/Organisation	Responsible For
Hertfordshire County Council	Maintenance and development of road network (excluding motorways and trunk roads). Promotion of road safety. Supporting passenger transport services. Providing school transport services. School crossing patrols. Administration of ‘Orange Badge' scheme.
Highways Agency	Maintenance and development of motorways and trunk roads.
Police	Enforcement of road traffic law, including Traffic Warden Service.
District/Borough Council	Management of public off-street car parks. Management of on-street parking enforcement in Special Parking Areas (SPA's). Licensing of taxis and private hire vehicles.
Traffic Commissioner	Licensing of HGV operating centres.
Bus and Rail Companies	Determine passenger transport timetables and fares.

The Local Transport Plan sets out an overall vision for the future with clear objectives for improvements to transport over the next 15 – 20 years, delivered by the long-term strategies. The plan is the first step towards achieving the vision by setting out a detailed programme up to March 2006. Development of this plan has taken 18 months and has involved as many people as possible to ensure that everyone's needs are considered.