Somerset County Council Environment Directorate Environment Let’s make a difference Local Transport Plan 2006-2011 March 2006 APPENDIX 1 - DETAILED ACCESSIBILITY STRATEGY Somerset Local Transport Plan 2 (2006-11) Detailed Accessibility Strategy Somerset County Council Second Local Transport Plan (2006-2011) Appendix 1: Detailed Accessibility Strategy March 2006 Contents Section Page Introduction 5 The Accessibility Planning Processes 5 Partnership Working 6 Countywide Accessibility Issues 6 Prioritising Local Accessibility Assessments 7 Programme of Local accessibility Assessments 7 The Accessibility Strategy 8 Targets and Monitoring 15 1. Introduction 17 Introduction 17 Developing the Strategy 17 Structure of Report 17 2. Accessibility Planning Processes 19 Background 19 Why is Accessibility Planning Important in Somerset? 19 What are the Processes Behind Accessibility Planning? 23 3. Policy Review 31 Introduction 31 National Transport Policy 31 Regional Planning Policy 32 Local Planning and Corporate Policy 32 Local Transport Policy 35 Access to Health 40 Access to Life Long Learning 42 Access to Employment 44 4. Socio Demographic Review 47 Introduction 47 Local Geography and Population 47 Draft Final Strategy_V1 1 Appendix 1 Accessibility Strategy.doc Somerset County Council Second Local Transport Plan (2006-2011) Appendix 1: Detailed Accessibility Strategy March 2006 Age Profile 48 Indices of Multiple Deprivation 49 Car Ownership 55 Journey to Work Patterns 56 Rurality and Social Exclusion 57 Market and Coastal Towns 57 5. Existing Transport Provision 59 Introduction 59 Passenger Transport 59 Walking and Cycling Provision 66 6. Countywide Accessibility Issues 68 Introduction 68 Access to Health and Food 68 Access to Employment 78 Access to Lifelong Learning 88 Summary 97 7. Prioritisation of Local Accessibility Assessments 99 Introduction 99 Outcomes of Local Accessibility Mapping 99 The Geographical and Thematic Priorities 104 Local Accessibility Assessments 107 Summary of Each Proposed Local Accessibility Assessment 109 Reviewing the Priorities 122 8. The Strategy 123 Introduction 123 Mainstreaming Accessibility Planning 123 Tackling Rural Exclusion 129 Improving Public Rights of Way 135 Strengthening the Role of Market Towns 137 Improving Urban Accessibility 139 Information and Ticketing Strategy 140 9. Performance Indicators, Targets and Monitoring 144 Draft Final Strategy_V1 2 Appendix 1 Accessibility Strategy.doc Somerset County Council Second Local Transport Plan (2006-2011) Appendix 1: Detailed Accessibility Strategy March 2006 Introduction 144 Accessibility Performance Indicator 145 Appendix A – Letters of Support 147 Appendix B – Bridgwater Action Plan 155 List of Tables Table 2.1 - Summary of Links between Policy Guidance and Somerset Accessibility Strategy 23 Table 3.1 - Variation in Strategic ‘Accessibility’ in Somerset 39 Table 3.2 - Key Priorities and Themes to Enhancing Economic Opportunity for Somerset Residents 44 Table 4.1 - Somerset Population Age Profile (Census, 2001) 48 Table 1.2 - Summary of Car Ownership Trends in Somerset between 1981 and 2001 54 Table 6.1 - Summary of Wards with Highest Health and Social Needs (HSNAG, 2004) 69 Table 6.2 - Summary of Missed Hospital Outpatients Appointments (DNA’s) in Somerset 71 Table 6.3 - Summary of Benefit Claimant Counts in Somerset (2003/04 80 Table 6.4 - Key Employment Indicators for Somerset 81 Table 6.5 - Number of Incapacity Benefit Claimants in Somerset (2003/04) 89 Table 8.1 - Links Between Accessibility Planning and the LAA Priorities 127 Table 8.2 - Rights of Way Network Characteristics 135 Table 8.3 - Summary of Rights of Way Consultation Results 136 List of Figures Figure 2.1 - Adopted Accessibility Planning Process in Somerset 23 Figure 1.1 - Somerset Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD 2004) 51 Figure 4.2 - Somerset IMD 2004 – Education, Skills and Training Domain 53 Figure 4.3 - Somerset IMD 2004 – Access to Housing and Services Domain 54 Figure 4.4 - Summary of Journey to Work Origin/Destination Patterns 58 Figure 5.1 - Map of Existing Demand Responsive Transport Schemes in Somerset 64 Figure 5.2 - Map of Existing Community/Voluntary Transport Schemes in Somerset 65 Figure 6.1 - Percentage of Somerset Residents Finding Access to Health and Food Services Difficult or Very difficult 70 Figure 6.2 - Access to General Hospitals in Somerset (07:00-10:00) 76 Figure 6.3 - Access to Community and General Hospitals in Somerset (07:00-10:00 77 Figure 6.4 - Summary of Unemployment Trends in Somerset and the South West 78 Figure 1.1 - Number of Incapacity Benefit Claimants in Somerset (2003/04) 81 Figure 6.6 - Access to Major Centres of Employment in Somerset (06:30-09:30) 86 Figure 6.7 - Access to Job Centres in Somerset (06:30 09:30) 87 Figure 7.1 - Geographical Areas Used for Analysis of Local Accessibility Mapping 100 Draft Final Strategy_V1 3 Appendix 1 Accessibility Strategy.doc Somerset County Council Second Local Transport Plan (2006-2011) Appendix 1: Detailed Accessibility Strategy March 2006 Figure 7.2 - 20% Least Accessible Services by Zone 107 Figure 7.3 - Five Year Programme of Local Accessibility Assessments 108 Figure 8.1 - Summary of Core Passenger Transport Improvements that will Enhance Urban and Rural Accessibility 124 Figure 8.2 - Transport and the LAA Structure 127 Figure 8.3 - Summary of Existing and Proposed SLINKY Routes 130 Figure 9.1 - Summary of Accessibility Performance Indicators and Targets 144 Draft Final Strategy_V1 4 Appendix 1 Accessibility Strategy.doc Somerset County Council Second Local Transport Plan (2006-2011) Appendix 1: Detailed Accessibility Strategy March 2006 Executive Summary INTRODUCTION This document presents our Accessibility Strategy as summarised in the second Local Transport Plan (2006-2011). A summary of the processes and work undertaken to date by Somerset County Council and our partners is given in order to demonstrate how specific issues associated with access to key services across Somerset have been identified and prioritised for inclusion within the final Accessibility Strategy. The executive summary provides a summary of the following points: ♦ The Accessibility Planning Processes; ♦ Partnership Working; ♦ Countywide Accessibility Issues; ♦ Prioritisation of Local Accessibility Assessments; ♦ Programme of Local Accessibility Assessments; ♦ The Accessibility Strategy; and ♦ Targets and Monitoring. THE ACCESSIBILITY PLANNING PROCESSES Background The formal concept of accessibility planning first originated from the ‘Making the Connections: Final Report on Transport and Social Exclusion’ published by the Government’s Social Exclusion Unit in February 2002. The aim of the process is to improve and promote social inclusion for individuals in both rural and urban communities. Social inclusion relates to the extent to which individuals and communities have access to essential services such as employment, education, healthcare, food shops, leisure facilities and other key services. Following the submission of the Framework Accessibility Strategy in July 2005, we have continued to strengthen our strategy through ongoing mainstreaming, partnership working, assessing other data sources and a closer analysis of data emerging from accessibility mapping software (Accession). Specific tasks that have been completed since July 2005 include: ♦ Stakeholder consultation on the Framework Accessibility Strategy, as part of the overall LTP2 consultation; ♦ Further strategic and detailed partnership working; ♦ Strengthening partnerships through the Local Area Agreement Process (LAA); ♦ Data collection and analysis to build upon the existing evidence base and identification of issues; ♦ Development of a geographical area prioritisation matrix for undertaking local areas assessments; and Draft Final Strategy_V1 5 Appendix 1 Accessibility Strategy.doc Somerset County Council Second Local Transport Plan (2006-2011) Appendix 1: Detailed Accessibility Strategy March 2006 ♦ Development of a five year programme of actions based on local accessibility assessments and action plans. Accessibility Planning in Somerset Accessibility Planning will have a significant role to play in delivering against the accessibility related targets and objectives of both local authorities and other key stakeholders such as Jobcentre Plus, Learning and Skills Council and the Primary Care Trusts. This document sets out how accessibility planning in Somerset will assist in achieving following: ♦ The delivery of local authority corporate responsibilities and policy objectives; ♦ Inform the operational aspects of work carried out by our Integrated Passenger Transport Unit (IPTU); ♦ Tackling issues of rural and wider social exclusion; ♦ Helping strengthen the role of market towns across the county; ♦ Improving opportunities to access employment, compulsory age schooling, post 16 education, healthcare and healthy food, tourism and leisure; and ♦ Informing the development of Local Area Agreement and Local Development Frameworks. PARTNERSHIP WORKING Partnership working is critical to ensuring that an integrated approach is taken to solving accessibility issues in Somerset. Making improvements to accessibility does not necessarily just involve improving transport provision, but also requires influencing the way in which key partners from education, industry, health and retail deliver their services. A significant amount of different partnership working is ongoing, both corporately and with neighbouring authorities and external organisations and service