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Local Transport Plan 2

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Introduction

The second Wiltshire LTP (LTP2) covers the period 2006/07 – 2010/11. A provisional LTP2 was produced in July 2005 and was assessed as ‘promising’ by the Government. The County Council sought to build on this position in developing its final LTP2 which was published in March 2006. The first of the progress reports dealing with the LTP2 will be produced in July 2008. Electronic copies of the LTP2 are available here.

Context

Nationally, transport continues to be a major policy and investment issue. In July 2004, the Government published its second transport White Paper, the ‘Future of Transport: a network for 2030’ which sets out its overall transport strategy to 2030. The Government issued its 'Full Guidance on Local Transport Plans: Second Edition' in December 2004 - local transport authorities were required to have regard to this guidance when drawing up their LTP2s.

A central aim of the Government’s guidance is the Transport shared priority of:

“Meeting local transport needs more effectively through improved access to jobs and services, particularly for those most in need, in ways which are sustainable: improved public transport; reduced problems of congestion, pollution and safety”.

In order to provide a workable policy framework, this shared priority has been divided into four themes that encompass the range of transport related outcomes that local authorities are expected to deliver:

Tackling Congestion
Better Air Quality
Delivering Accessibility
Safer Roads

Accessibility planning is a particularly important theme in LTP2s, especially for predominately rural areas like Wiltshire. Given this, the Government has issued separate guidance to assist local authorities in developing their Accessibility Strategies 'Guidance on Accessibility Planning in Local Transport Plans'.

In addition, a number of other quality of life issues, such as neighbourhood renewal, community safety and noise are related to transport and need to be considered in LTP2s.

In terms of producing a good LTP, the Government’s guidance puts emphasis on four key themes:

setting transport in a wider context
locally relevant targets
identifying the best value for money solutions to deliver the above targets
setting indicators and trajectories

As well as putting forward local strategies, policies and targets, the LTP also serves as the means of obtaining the three elements of transport funding:

major schemes (+£5 million cost)
integrated transport block
capital maintenance

Significantly, while there is no change to the way in which capital maintenance funding is to be determined during the LTP2 period, in future 75% of the government funding for integrated transport schemes (i.e. cycling, walking, bus and traffic management schemes) will be based on a formula (called the ‘planning guideline’). Therefore, only 25% of the County Council’s capital transport funding allocation will be determined by the quality and delivery of the LTP2.

In terms of major schemes, the County Council resolved that it would not incorporate bids for any major scheme proposals in its LTP2 beyond those currently submitted.

Consultations and Partnerships

The County Council understands that a good LTP cannot be developed and produced without extensive consultation. Therefore, a range of consultation methods have been and will continue to be utilised in the development and implementation of the LTP2 to successfully engage with the general public, stakeholders, district councils and neighbouring authorities.

The consultation programme used for the submission of the final LTP2 in March 2006 is shown below:

Period	Consultation Event
July 2004 and ongoing	Meetings with Government Office, neighbouring authorities and District Councils
September 2004 - October 2004	Community Area consultation events
April 2005 - May 2005	Consultation Issues Paper
May 2005	LTP Forum
May 2005	Accessibility Planning Partners Forum
August 2005 - September 2005	Consultation on the Provisional LTP and SEA Environmental Report
September 2005	Strategic Accessibility Planning Partnership
January 2006	Accessibility Planning Partners Forum
January 2006 - February 2006	Consultation with Local Strategic Partnerships
February 2006	LTP Forum

The Community Area events held during September and October 2004 provided the opportunity for communities, local businesses and other key local organisations to give their views on the local transport issues likely to face them in the period to 2011, and to explore and identify local priorities and areas of concern.

The summaries of these 20 Community Area LTP consultation events are listed below:in PDF format:

The Council is committed to building and maintaining partnerships to ensure that the LTP and transport services deliver community needs.

A LTP Forum comprising key stakeholders, reviews progress on the development and implementation of the LTP, encourages wider ownership of LTP objectives and provides advice to the Council’s Cabinet on spending priorities and proposed revisions to LTP strategies and targets. Members include business and environmental interests, transport operators, community groups, transport user groups and bus operators. View the LTP2 Forum Notes from the last meeting here.

Similarly, an Accessibility Planning Partners Forum has been set up to engage with key stakeholders more widely. The notes of the last Accessibility Planning Partners Forum are available here. Overall, the LTP Accessibility Strategy is guided by the Executive of the Wiltshire Strategic Board (WiSBEx).

Further details on LTP consultation and partnerships are contained in Chapter 4 of the LTP2

Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA)

To comply with the requirements of European Directive 2001/42/EC (the SEA Directive) and the Environmental Assessment of Plans and Programmes Regulations 2004, the County Council undertook a SEA process alongside the production of its LTP2. The SEA Scoping Report was produced in April 2005, the SEA Environmental Report in August 2005 and the SEA Statement in April 2006. The executive summaries of the SEA Scoping Report and the SEA Environmental Report, and the full SEA Statement are available from from the Publications page.