2 Vision and objectives

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1 14 Vision and objectives 2 Vision and objectives Summary This chapter outlines the local context set by the Community Strategy and the Council s own priorities for developing the long-term vision for local transport in East Sussex, and the objectives that will assist in delivering this vision. It has also set out how the LTP2 will contribute towards the achievement of the Community Strategy objectives, the Council s departmental priorities, and the Local Area Agreement for East Sussex. 2.1 Introduction A typical response to a travel need is too often to make a journey by private car when other means may not only be healthier but kinder to the environment. However, the cost of public transport is often perceived as too high, and walking and cycling are seen as unsafe. This perception can restrict the opportunity to access employment, and services such as education, healthcare and healthy affordable food. This can increase social exclusion, particularly in areas of deprivation and rural areas, and stifles improvement to people s quality of life. The response to these sorts of problems must be wide reaching and involve the actions of many agencies and partners in the provision of solutions, not all of which will be transport solutions. Transport solutions should facilitate the shortest journeys increasingly being undertaken by foot or cycle and longer journeys by buses and trains in preference to the private car. The scope of LTP2 means that its components need to meet a range of objectives, recognising that transport is a means to an end and not just an end in itself, within a wider agenda. Not only is it important to provide means of transport to access these opportunities, but to enable people to choose different transport modes at different times for different types of journeys, as well as locating and providing the services where, and in ways which reduce the need to travel and increase accessibility. Therefore, the achievement of the vision and objectives of the East Sussex LTP2 requires that local transport improvements in the County contribute to corporate and community objectives, and in doing so give added value. This process demonstrates the County Council s joined-up thinking at a corporate level and with other partners on local policy development and implementation. This chapter sets out: the local community vision for the County and how LTP2 will contribute to their objectives; the links between the Local Area Agreement for East Sussex, and LTP2; the long-term vision for local transport in East Sussex within the community vision for the County; and the objectives that will assist in delivering this vision.

2 Vision and objectives The Communities Vision for the County East Sussex Community Strategy The East Sussex Community Strategy, Pride of Place, provides a framework for the Council and its partners to take action in delivering a sustainable county with an improving quality of life, recognising that East Sussex is a wonderful county to live, work and spend leisure time in. The Strategy makes clear the benefits of working in partnership across the public, private, voluntary and community sectors, to provide joined up action that improves quality of life. Its Vision for the county is built around a number of core elements encouraging prosperity, ensuring participation, and protecting our environment as outlined below: East Sussex Strategic Partnership Community Strategy Objectives Making East Sussex a Place to Prosper Based on a desire to create a robust, healthy and successful economy where high quality employment opportunities are available for local people and where the needs of business are effectively balanced with the need to protect the environment. Want economic development based on sustainable principles that encourages local businesses to develop. Making East Sussex a Place to Participate Where our local communities in towns and villages can enhance their sense of community that sense of belonging and identify which engenders support and consideration for others. Where people feel they have a part to play in shaping the future of their communities and can actively participate in doing so. Where local communities have access to essential services in order for them to thrive as well as to feel empowered to influence the services available to them. Making East Sussex a Place to Protect Where the needs of the present are met without compromising the needs of future generations and where the environmental impact of all activities are minimised. (Source: Pride in Place A Community Strategy for East Sussex, 2003)

3 16 Vision and objectives The priorities for achieving the Community Strategy vision and improving the quality of life in East Sussex, focus on the following objectives: Building a prosperous economy by: regenerating local communities; tackling the problems of the most deprived communities; raising educational aspiration and achievement; and modernising communications (transport and broadband) Improving support for older people; Creating faster and easier access to services for all citizens; Improving community safety; and Protecting and promoting the environment The formulation of these objectives has taken into account the County Council s priorities, highlighted in section 2.4. Transport plays a crucial role in helping to achieve all of these priorities; ensuring people have the opportunity to fulfil their full potential and tackling social exclusion issues, particularly in deprived communities. It helps provide people, of all ages, with the measures to access opportunities in work, education and healthcare as well as providing the infrastructure that contributes to communities sustainability and vitality. In particular, transport will be an important element in developing the local economy whilst balancing this against protecting the natural and built environment. County Council Priorities The newly elected County Council has developed the following draft overarching statement which encapsulates what the authority wants to achieve over the next four years. Pride of Place The East Sussex County Council Commitments We will be a modern, efficient, accountable authority leading work with partners to deliver to all our customers and communities: Increased prosperity and security for East Sussex Affordable, quality core services at lowest possible council tax We will make a positive difference to local people s lives by making best use of resources, being clear about the choices involved and encouraging local communities to thrive. This statement provides the context for the policy steers of each portfolio and the targets set out in the Council Plan. The Council Plan joins together the separate strands of the departmental service action plan and priorities, so as to maximise synergy between all the County Council s service areas and ensures that resources are reconciled to reflect those priorities. As with the East Sussex Community Strategy (section 2.2), transport can play an important contributory role in achieving the Council s Pride of Place commitment and the departmental service action plans. Annex 1 shows how the LTP2 will contribute towards the achievement of the departmental service action plans, and in turn, the Pride of Place commitment. This is particularly relevant and useful for LTP2 as it engenders the multi-disciplinary approach needed to fully consider the complex relationships between the demand for transport and other policy areas. Throughout the development of the provisional LTP2, there has been strong corporate ownership and engagement at all levels with other key service areas, and at a political level through the cross-party LTP Panel and the Cabinet. The Panel acted as a steering group responding to progress

4 Vision and objectives 17 reports during the development of the LTP2, to ensure a broad political ownership of the process and the document. This approach has informed the LTP2 vision and objectives, detailed in section Local Area Agreement for East Sussex The Local Area Agreement (LAA) for East Sussex has links with LTP2 and, many of the outcomes are aligned with the targets and objectives of LTP2, reflecting the Council s corporate approach to delivering key services. LAA s are a new Government initiative designed to tackle, with key partners, the top shared priorities of the Local Authority s area. East Sussex County Council began development of the LAA for the County in July 2005 and there have been ongoing consultations including two wider partnership events hosted by the East Sussex Strategic Partnership. The East Sussex LAA will include some Local Public Service Agreement (LPSA) type targets which seek to stretch performance over the three years of the LAA. If these more challenging targets are achieved, there will be a financial reward at the end of the three years. These reward targets will attract pump priming funding (equating to approximately 1.2million over 3 years) and, if delivered, performance reward grant in 4 years time. The first draft of the LAA was submitted to Government Office South East at the end of September 2005, with a second submission made at the end of November. Negotiations are still ongoing and a final draft was submitted at the end of January It is expected that the LAA will receive Ministerial sign-off early in 2006 and will be implemented from April A copy of the final draft of the LAA can be found on the East Sussex Strategic Partnership website (www.essp.org.uk). Links between Local Area Agreement and LTP2 The table in Annex 9 demonstrates the links between the County Council s Local Area Agreement (LAA) and LTP2. It sets out which of the LTP2 strategies will help contribute to delivering the LAA outcome targets, as well as making the links between the targets. The LTP2 Targets are numbered and colour-coded according to the target table set out in Chapter Vision and Objectives for Transport in East Sussex This LTP s vision and objectives provides the framework for improving local transport and access to local services and employment in East Sussex. The Local Transport Plan s vision and objectives is set into the context of the County Council s Pride of Place commitment and the East Sussex Community Strategy objectives discussed in sections 2.1 and 2.2. Vision As identified in section 2.2, the County Council has established its Pride of Place commitment for East Sussex. The contribution of transport to this commitment is set out in a long term vision for improving local transport and accessibility in the County: LTP2 Vision To make East Sussex a thriving County where every resident enjoys an enhanced quality of life with improved travel choice and access to employment opportunities and local facilities; safer and healthier communities and a cleaner environment that is valued, protected and improved for future generations. The key component of this vision is to ensure that the transport needs of those people who live in, work in and visit East Sussex - from the villages in the High Weald, to the market towns in the Low

5 18 Vision and objectives Weald, and the seaside towns, such as Hastings and Eastbourne - are catered for in a sustainable way, and addresses social need. Regeneration, through sustainable economic development, is also core to achieving the vision. For business, a high quality transport network can help resolve the competitive disadvantage of the area and promote economic development in the less prosperous parts of the County. The Council aims to improve the quality of life for all residents by: facilitating the growth of the local economy, improving access to jobs, healthcare, education and healthy affordable food, so to reduce social exclusion; and providing a genuine choice as to how they travel whilst improving safety within their communities. This will be balanced against protecting, promoting and enhancing the County s unique environment and countryside so that it can be enjoyed by all and remain a valuable asset to the local economy The Council has developed effective partnerships with local communities and a range of organisations in implementing LTP1. Its partners have played a major part in helping to shape this vision through the development of the community strategies and specific consultation on this provisional LTP2. The Council will continue to develop joint working and funding opportunities with local communities, business groups and other stakeholders during the life of LTP2. Objectives To help in its delivery, the long term vision for the provisional LTP2 has been translated into the following objectives: LTP2 Objectives Improve access to services by providing greater travel choices and influencing land use decisions Manage demand and reduce the need to travel by private car Improve road safety and reduce fear of crime in communities Reduce congestion and improve the efficiency of the transport network Protect, promote and enhance the environment Improve maintenance and management of the transport network These objectives are closely aligned with the national shared priorities for transport: delivering accessibility tackling congestion safer roads better air quality other quality of life issues. The County Council does not have a priority order for the LTP2 objectives. It will therefore give equal priority towards achieving all of these over the period of LTP2. The LTP2 objectives are summarised below. Objective: Improve access to services by providing greater travel choices and influencing land use decisions The Council recognises that transport, as part of the delivery of a wider and diverse agenda, should be seen as a means to an end and not an end in itself. Accordingly, maximising accessibility rather than mobility is central to our approach to transport, recognising that access to services and facilities such as education, jobs, health facilities and food shopping are vital to improving people s quality of life. In particular, accessibility issues will need to be addressed in areas where people are

6 Vision and objectives 19 socially excluded eg. young people, older people, women, unemployed or low paid and where there is social deprivation. Improving accessibility will reduce social exclusion, enhance the economy and can improve personal health through the availability of essential facilities. In improving accessibility, the Council aims to: Rebalance preferred choice of transport towards non-car modes; Promote and improve facilities for walking, cycling and public transport, so that these modes are safe and attractive options; Implement demand management strategies, such as decriminalised parking enforcement with on-street parking charges; Improve transport and travel information, so people know about the travel choices available; Change how services may be provided ie. bringing services into local communities to reduce the need to travel; Exert influence to ensure: development is appropriately and sustainably located; the way that developments are planned is improved; and ensure appropriate transport infrastructure is designed in at an early stage; Minimise congestion on our road network through a combination of all of these measures, but also by tackling congestion hotspots; and Improve road maintenance and coordination of roadworks to minimise disruption. Objective: Manage demand and reduce the need to travel by private car Reducing the dependence on the private car will contribute to the aim of widening social inclusion by improving access to work, learning, health and shops, because it will require employers and providers of services to look at other means to facilitate access. The County Council, with its district and borough council partners, will seek to manage demand and reduce the need to travel by car outside local communities to access these facilities. This will be achieved by ensuring integration of land use planning and transport, with development appropriately located with the appropriate infrastructure through the emerging Local Development Frameworks. The implementation of demand management measures - parking management and enforcement and workplace parking charges - are seen as providing important mechanisms in broadening travel choices and reducing the need for private car travel. Demand management measures will be complemented by an approach which seeks to make other forms of transport, such as walking, cycling and public transport, more attractive alternatives. Objective: Improve road safety and reduce fear of crime in communities This objective is focussed on reducing the number and severity of road accidents, and improving personal security, in order to reduce the fear of crime, particularly for users of public transport, pedestrians and cyclists. Local transport authorities have a central role through LTP2 in reducing the impact of road accident casualties by addressing the number of reported injured accidents for all road users pedestrians, cyclists, horse

7 20 Vision and objectives riders, motorcyclists and occupants of motor vehicles. Road safety improvements contribute towards Community Safety. The Council s regeneration and accessibility strategies can only be effective if people can move around in safety; consequently strategies for changes in travel behaviour include safer travel behaviour. The LTP2 has a key role to play in creating safer environments, by designing in safety to new developments and through addressing difficulties, both on the road network and with particular modes of transport, where safety is an issue. For example, enhancing street lighting in communities can improve personal security, encourage more journeys on foot, by bicycle or public transport and reduce the perceived fear of crime. Objective: Reduce congestion and improve the efficiency of the transport network Road congestion affects all traffic, but particularly affects the reliability of buses and increases passenger journey times. Congestion impacts on the punctuality of freight deliveries; detracts from the general accessibility of the coastal towns as locations for business and contributes towards pollution and air quality problems. It has a negative impact on overall economic performance and quality of life. The causes, nature and patterns of congestion differ according to area, and there is no single solution. Therefore, the right balance needs to be struck between demand management parking charges and improvements to sustainable travel choices such as travel planning, provision of services in a way that reduces the demand for travel, and supply measures to tackle congestion and improve the efficiency of the transport network. Objective: Protect, promote and enhance the Environment All of our activities have an impact on the environment. The LTP2 will take account of the County Council s own environmental policies and responsibilities as well as those of other agencies and partners, and where possible, contribute to the environmental improvement programmes. The Council has undertaken a Sustainability Audit/ Strategic Environmental Assessment (SA/ SEA) in parallel with the development of LTP2 which assesses the environmental impact as well as social/economic impacts of the LTP2 Strategy. Further details on the SA/SEA are outlined in Chapter 4. The protection, promotion and enhancement of the environment will be achieved by improving air quality, enhancing the public realm and addressing the impact of traffic on landscape and biodiversity, climate change & greenhouse gases and noise pollution within the built and natural environment. A key element to achieving this will be through continued partnership working with other agencies and stakeholders.

8 Vision and objectives 21 Objective: Better maintenance and management of the transport network The further development of our Transport Asset Management Plan will inform investment to improve the condition, life and appearance of the County s highways (roads, bridges, footways drainage, and street lighting), thereby ensuring a transport system that is safe, efficient, and clean. This includes keeping the County s existing main road network in good condition for road users and making significant improvements to the condition of the County s, B, C class and unclassified roads through a local Public Service Agreement with Central Government between 2003 and Performance against this objective will be measured against residual carriageway life, safety records and numbers of claims and complaints. 2.5 Delivery of LTP2 Vision and Objectives The linkages between the Vision, Objectives, the Wider Context, Strategy, Delivery Framework, Programme and Targets are demonstrated in Figure 1.1. The achievement of the LTP2 objectives and, in turn, the vision for local transport in East Sussex is set within the wider national, regional and local agendas set out in Chapter 3. The achievement of these objectives links with those set for local spatial planning by national and regional government, as well as the key elements within the Local Development Frameworks (LDF). The achievement of these objectives will be significantly influenced by LDF policies and their implementation. Specific issues and opportunities facing the County (sections 3.6 and 3.7) will also be addressed through the achievement of the LTP2 objectives. The delivery of the vision and objectives will be through the implementation of a long term LTP2 strategy, outlined in Chapter 4. Details of how the LTP2 Strategy will deliver the LTP2 objectives and the implementation programme are highlighted in Chapters 5 & 6 respectively. Success in achieving these aims will be assessed through a series of outcome based targets. This means targets which measure real outcomes such as improved journey times, reduced congestion and increase in bus usage, rather that measuring outputs such as the number of pedestrian crossings or number of bus shelters installed. The LTP2 Targets are covered in more detail in Chapter 7. The delivery of the East Sussex Strategic Partnership and the Local Strategic Partnerships local theme and area based objectives will also contribute towards achieving these objectives and targets that are directly reflected in the LTP2. Annex 2 outlines the transport priorities of the East Sussex Strategic Partnership and the other Local Strategic Partnerships and explains how the LTP2 will contribute towards their delivery.