Agenda item

(Report by Head of Transport and Development)

(1)     Smarter Choices was about improving sustainable travel options and encouraging people to use alternatives to the car to help tackle congestion and reduce pollution. Initiatives included travel planning with schools and businesses, improving public transport, marketing, car sharing, car clubs and tele/flexible working.

(2)     Research had shown Smarter Choices contributed cost effectively to national and local priorities improving accessibility and social inclusion, encouraging regeneration, reducing pollution and carbon emissions and increasing levels of physical activity.  For Kent the initiative was a key part of delivering statutory duties and policies in Travelling to School; Choosing Health, Every Child Matters, the Education and Inspections Act 2006 and our Local Transport Plan (LTP2).

(3)     The report provided an update on the initiatives reported to the Board on 1 May 2007 and sought continued member support for their implementation. With the recent substantial increases in fuel prices, the report was especially timely.

(4)     The Education and Inspections Act 2006 placed a duty on local authorities to promote the use of sustainable travel and transport on the journey to school. Kent’s Sustainable Travel to School Strategy was duly published as a consultation draft on 31 August 2007 and was due to be published in its final form on 31 August 2008.

(5)     Good progress was being made on the delivery of the Strategy and its development had led to improved joined-up working between directorates involved in co-ordinating travel to school, including KHS, CFHE and Commercial Services.

(6)     As part of its Area Based Grant, Kent received £112,865 per annum (5 years from 2007/08) from Government to support the delivery of the strategy. Core work areas currently included:-

·               An infrastructure audit, highlighting sustainable transport provision at all Kent schools

·               A Sustrans Bike IT officer promoting cycling to schools in Ashford

·               Partnership funding for the Kent and Medway Walking Bus Group Charity

·               Improving web based travel information for schools, pupils and parents

·               Additional project staff to support the promotion of sustainable travel to schools

(7)     2007/08 had been another very successful year for improving travel to school, with a further 87 schools developing travel plans. This brought the total to 413, and equated to approximately 68% of all Kent schools. We were on target to achieve 100% of Kent schools by 2010. School Travel Plans had now secured over £2.5 million of additional capital grants for Kent schools to spend on infrastructure in the school grounds.

(8)     This year Government funding was being supplemented by funding through the Local Transport Plan with schools invited to bid for additional grants on the basis of their delivery against Travel Plan objectives and targets.  Kent’s School Travel Plan initiative was funded by Government through to March 2010 as part of its “Travelling to School Initiative” and from 2008/09 this funding would form part of the Kent Agreement 2 and contribute to delivering against National Indicator NI 198:?”Children travelling to school – mode of transport usually used.”

(9)     All Kent schools were now required to complete information relating to mode-share on the journey to school as part of their annual census returns. Data from 2006/07 provided evidence of a 5% increase in walking to school at primary schools for the first time in several decades.

(10)   As part of funding secured to support statutory duties in the Education and Inspections Act, a Bike IT officer had been appointed in a match funding arrangement with the sustainable engineering charity Sustrans. Bike IT officers worked with schools to encourage cycling through training, teaching basic cycle maintenance skills and projects to enthuse children about cycling.  The emphasis was on safety, but there were plenty of fun activities to get the message across that cycling had both health and environmental benefits. Bike IT, had seen a ten-fold increase in cycling levels in participating schools in other UK towns and cities – bucking the trend in declining numbers of children cycling to school. Early indications were that similar results were starting to be achieved in Ashford. A bid had been made to Sustrans for a second officer covering schools in Kent Thameside.

(11)   KCC’s partnership with the Kent and Medway Walking Bus Group Charity (including Medway Council) continued to deliver outstanding results on walking to school. Kent had some 50 buses, the most walking buses of any local authority in the UK. A new  risk assessment procedure and the appointment of a part-time co-ordinator had helped to ensure that the buses, which relied on parent volunteers, continued to be properly managed and monitored.  The partnership had also delivered two new Walk to School initiatives as part of the KM Green Footsteps Challenge, namely the Walking Bug and Walk on Wednesday (WOW). Over 140 schools across Kent and Medway had taken part in WOW and The Walking Bug during 2007/08. This had involved some 35,000 pupils and their parents. It was estimated that between October 2007 and May 2008, the schemes had taken over 110,000 school-run journeys off Kent roads.

(12)   In 2006 Government announced a £15 million fund to provide grants of £1,000 to state funded infant/primary schools wishing to establish or expand a walking bus scheme. Grants were available for 3 years, subject to an annual review of progress. As a result over 131 schools were supported with successful applications, levering in a further £95,500 for Kent schools to spend on supporting walk to school activities. Approximately two thirds of the schools had met the obligations of their funding and retained funding for the second year of funding in 2008/09.

(13)   National, regional and local planning policy required that assessment was made of the impact of new development on the highway network, that consideration was given to the accessibility by all transport modes and that Travel Plans were produced for developments that generated significant demand for travel.

(14)   The number of Travel Plans secured through the planning process had increased substantially in recent years leading to a requirement for improved tracking, monitoring and enforcement. Unlike the preparation of a Transport Assessment, developing a Travel Plan was not a one off exercise which could be carried out to secure planning consent and then ‘shelved’. Commitment was required on an ongoing basis to deliver against the targets within it.  Guidance on Transport Assessments and Travel Plans had been developed and we were working with the Kent District Councils to improve practice and support the emerging Kent Regeneration Strategy.

(15)   In January 2007 the Maidstone Car Club was launched in partnership with Streetcar, the largest operator of car clubs in the UK. The scheme currently operated with two VW Polo Blue Motions in designated bays outside Sessions House and utilised web-based and Smartcard technology to book and use the cars. The key objective was to provide County Hall employees and Members requiring adhoc use of cars during the working day, with an alternative to driving to work at congested peak times, thus helping to alleviate congestion and parking pressures at and around County Hall as well as for nearby residents and businesses.

(16)   The scheme had been very successful as a pool car initiative for KCC employees and excellent feedback had been received concerning the quality and cleanliness of the vehicles and the reliability of the service. The scheme effectively now paid for itself, albeit with usage of the vehicles recharged to the relevant business unit.

(17)   In recent months, the concept of the pay-as-you-go car had gradually gained credence among local residents and businesses, leading to a marked increase in use by nearby residents. A major promotional push in April 2008, culminated in the potential for a third car to be located centrally to support the Travel Plan for the new Maidstone Borough Council offices. Discussions were also taking place with other districts regarding the possible expansion of the scheme to other parts of the County.

(18)   Kentcarshare was KCC’s web-based journey matching facility, developed in partnership with Liftshare. It continued to be a flag-ship initiative for sustainable transport in Kent and had expanded rapidly since its launch in September 2005.  Kentcarshare was a free, secure, internet-based service that was easy-to-use. The service allowed you to register your journeys, and find passengers or drivers to share regular or one-off journeys. With rising fuel prices, the potential cost savings of sharing a journey just once or twice a week were substantial, not to mention the benefits for rush hour congestion.  To date, it was estimated that the scheme had saved over 1.5 million miles and 481 tonnes of CO2, the equivalent that would be absorbed by 160,000 trees.

(19)   KHS were supporting a number of national and local events during the summer highlighting sustainable travel and transport and the wider ‘green agenda’. These included:-

National Liftshare Day – 9 June

Promotion of Kentcarshare to all KCC employees and a competition to win tickets for the Hop Farm Music Festival.

National Green Transport Week – 16 - 22 June

The week involved the promotion of sustainable transport to all KCC employees as part of the development of a KCC wide travel plan. Communication via the Directorate Team Briefings encouraged managers and their teams to discuss ways to improve efficiency and reduce the environmental impact of their business travel. This included the publication of a manager’s checklist and a number of green travel tips. Free breakfast vouchers for cyclists at a number of KCC offices were also very popular.

Maidstone Goes Green Week – 23 to 30 June

The development of an exciting new partnership between KCC, Maidstone Borough Council, The Maidstone Town Centre Management Group and Maidstone’s three main shopping centres (The Mall, Fremlins Walk and Royal Star Arcade) led to opportunities to promote sustainable transport in the town under the umbrella of ‘Maidstone Goes Green’. Free space was made available in all three of the shopping centres to promote KCC led ‘green’ initiatives and it was hoped that the activity would prelude a major event on ‘In Town Without My Car Day’ on 22 September. This was traditionally the culmination of European Mobility Week (13-21 September).

European Mobility Week – 16 to 21 September

Plans were currently being developed to build on ‘Maidstone Goes Green’, leading to activities promoting sustainable transport and travel, culminating in a fun family oriented event to celebrate ‘In Town Without My Car Day’ on 22 September.

(20)   The success of Smarter Choices relied on developing partnerships with people and organisations across Kent.  A fundamental principle of Smarter Choices was to develop and deliver highway schemes and services, which were aligned with people’s travel needs. This could be achieved by continuing to engage with the public and other stakeholders to raise awareness and ownership, leading to the development of effective schemes that delivered real behavioural change.

(21)   Smarter Choices gave Kent an opportunity to make good progress towards improving access, tackling congestion and delivering sustainable development as defined in the LTP2.   The plan built on good practice and was achievable and cost effective.

(22)   The Board noted the good progress being made and continued to support the delivery of the programme.

The Chairman agreed to take the following Item in addition to those on the agenda.