Agenda item

The Solent Transport Manager presented the business plan update to the committee and highlighted key areas from the report. Recruitment to the Future Transport Zone programme during the pandemic had caused challenges and took longer than expected, but most positions had now been appointed and the team were working well.

Thanks were given to Portsmouth City Council for the work on procurement that they assisted with, which has been key to mobilising some projects. 

The Solent Transport Strategic Vision Statement work had slipped although some work had been undertaken so far this year and more work with partners is planned to be undertaken in the later part of the year, although it was believed this may slip further if there are other calls on resources.

The Sub-Regional Transport Model (SRTM) has been used for 13 studies this year so far, and work to carry out interim updates the model to maintain performance/ compliance for the next 2 years had gone well which was good news.

Profile raising, marketing and branding was going well and an invite to attend and present at COP 26 had been received from the Department for Transport.

National Highways had previously provided funding for a Travel Demand Management project to try to offset some impacts of the M3 smart motorway scheme roadworks; this project is being progressed and is looking (amongst other things) to deliver two mobility hubs to help improve connections between rail and other transport modes in locations where rail may offer a good alternative to motorway journeys.  A detailed design guide on how to deliver mobility hubs and created a model to look at likely sites for these facilities in the Solent area, two sites had been identified (Cosham and Winchester) and further work was being undertaken.

Concern was raised regarding the call on resources within the team versus delivery of some parts of the work programme, as the Committee had identified a priority to deliver the Future Transport Zone programme this has been prioritised ahead of the Strategic Vision work.  

The Committee were advised that the Strategic Vision work would aim to stitch all the key local transport plans and policy documents across the four authorities together. Work had been undertaken with the University of Southampton utilising the National Infrastructure Systems Model (NISMOD), to test interventions identified in various policy documents and the effect these would have on net carbon emissions and traffic levels if applied in Solent, this would enable some prioritisation of potential actions within the Vision Statement. 

In response to a question from Cllr Galton regarding future development of the SRTM, it was stated that government required a certain quality/ rigour standard for transport modelling, and the current SRTM, despite being based on relatively old software & data, allows us to meet that standard.   There are plans for a major update in 2023 once a stable Post-Covid “new normal” had been established, and that this may provide an opportunity for a “new generation” model platform - some new platforms available however these have not yet been accredited by the DfT.  In the meantime, the SRTM model continues to be kept up to date and funding is spent were necessary to maintain short term viability.

It was also noted that work with bus companies regarding incentives to get people back on public transport, some work had been paused during the pandemic. It was a joint piece of work between Solent Transport and Local Authorities to promote incentives.