Issue details

The Cabinet Member for Highways & Transport is asked to give approval for KCC to accept the capital grant from Ebbsfleet Development Corporation (EDC) and to take the UTMC project through the stages of development and delivery.

Specifically, to provide:

i. Approval for KCC to enter into a funding agreement with EDC subject to the approval of the Corporate Director of Finance, Corporate & Strategic Services

ii. Approval to undertake the design and surveys for the UTMC project. The design work will be undertaken by the KCC Traffic & Network Solutions Team.

iii. Approval to progress all statutory approvals or consents required for the schemes, including transfer of land and rights;

iv. Approval to carry out any additional consultation required for the schemes;

v. Approval to enter into construction contracts as necessary for the delivery and future maintenance of the schemes:

Approval for any further decisions required to allow the schemes to proceed through to delivery to be taken by the Corporate Director of Growth, Environment & Transport under the Officer Scheme of Delegations following prior consultation with the Cabinet Member.

Reason for the decision:

This fully funded scheme proposes to upgrade the existing Urban Traffic Management and Control (UTMC) system by ensuring the traffic signal junctions within or adjacent to Ebbsfleet Garden City are utilising the latest traffic control systems.

UTMC enables traffic signals to react to traffic conditions and incidents by adapting traffic signal timings to ease congestion. The UTMC system will integrate real time traffic information informing road users of conditions via Variable Messaging Signs (VMS).

The purpose of the scheme is to improve journey times for all road users and ensure that the transport infrastructure across Ebbsfleet and the surrounding area is used as efficiently as possible.

·     Options (other options considered but discarded)

EDC and KCC have considered options for the scale of UTMC implementation within the business case for the UTMC project. The following options were considered:

·       No implementation of the UTMC across all junctions

·       Scaled back, partial implementation of UTMC on some of the identified junctions only

·       (Chosen option) Implementation of UMTC on the identified 41 junctions

For UTMC to effectively work the scheme coverage needs to include groups of junctions coordinated through UTMC. This means there is no practicable option that would reflect a scaled back version of the preferred option, without eroding the coherence of the overall intervention.

·     How the proposed decision meets the objectives of ‘Increasing Opportunities, Improving Outcomes: Kent County Council’s Strategic Statement (2015-2020)’

Implementation of the scheme will support the Council in meeting its Strategic outcome for “Kent Communities to feel the benefits of economic growth by being in work, healthy and enjoying a good quality of life”. This will be achieved through the projects supporting continued operation of key transport networks in Dartford and Gravesham, as well as helping support growth by enabling new residential and commercial development.

The key priorities set out in the County Council’s Integrated Transport Strategy ‘Delivering Growth without Gridlock’ in terms of providing additional highway capacity, improving accessibility, and reducing congestion are also delivered . The scheme will set out to provide improved growth and economic prosperity through having an efficient highway and transport infrastructure.