Local Sustainable Transport Fund - Application Form

Local Sustainable Transport Fund - Application Form Guidance on the Application Process is available at: www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/regional/ Bids for both small projects and initial proposals for large projects should be no more than 20 pages long. Applicant Information Local transport authority name(s)*: Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council *(If the bid is a joint proposal, please enter the names of all participating local transport authorities and specify the co-ordinating authority) Senior Responsible Owner name and position: Nick Bubalo, Area Director – Regeneration and Economy, Sandwell MBC Bid Manager name and position: Andy Thorpe, Senior Transportation Planner, Sandwell MBC Contact telephone number: 0121 569 4261 Email address: [email protected] Postal address: Regeneration and Economy Sandwell MBC PO Box 42 Development House Lombard Street West Bromwich West Midlands B70 8RU Website address for published bid: www.sandwell.gov.uk/travelwise SECTION A - Project description and funding profile A1. Project name: Smoothing the Path for Walking in Sandwell A2. Headline description: (100 words max) Our bid aims to bring about healthy connectivity for particular areas of Sandwell by creating continuous good quality walking routes that connect residential areas to public transport routes and local/town centres. Parts of the public rights of way network would be improved and work would be undertaken with residents to promote the journey possibilities enabled by better walking routes and short-cuts. LSTF funding would enable routes to be improved in a shorter timescale than stated in Sandwell’s Rights of Way Improvement Plan and therefore help to widen the opportunities for walking, thereby addressing sustainable travel, accessibility, health and economy issues. A3. Geographical area: The bid comprises 16 sections of public rights of way or proposed public rights of way situated in residential areas of Sandwell that are within 800 metres of main public transport corridors. The 16 sections require work which could include their creation as public rights of way, other legal work, surfacing, signposting, clearance of vegetation or being brought back to a fully accessible standard through maintenance work. Zones have been established around each of the sections (at 400 metres distance) in which it is proposed to carry out promotional and personalised travel planning work to residents. Approximately 15,000 households lie within the zones and around half of this number would be targeted to participate in this exercise. The zones, some of which are clustered together, are within public transport corridors specified in the proposed large bid being prepared by the Integrated Transport Authority (Centro) for the West Midlands Metropolitan Area. The Sandwell bid would therefore support the Centro bid. A plan showing the public rights of way and proposed public rights of way in relation to the Centro corridors can be found in Appendix 1. A4. Type of bid (please tick relevant box): Small project bids Tranche 1 bid Expression of interest for Tranche 2 (please complete sections A and B only) Tranche 2 bid Large project bids Key component bid Large project initial proposals A5. Total package cost (£m): 0.568 A6. Total DfT funding contribution sought (£m): 0.306 A7. Spend profile: Details of the funding sought over the period 2011-12 to 2014-15, broken down by financial year and split between revenue and capital. Details of any local contribution should also be included. Please enter figures in £000s (i.e. £10,000 = 10). £K 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 2014-15 Total Revenue 48.600 40.500 40.500 129.600 funding sought Capital 24.137 121.745 30.987 176.869 funding sought Local 56.321 81.163 123.948 261.432 contribution Total 129.058 243.408 195.435 567.901 A8. Local contribution Please provide details of the source of any local contribution to the overall cost of the proposed package. Where the contribution is from external sources, a letter confirming their commitment to contribute to the cost of a specific package element(s) will be required. Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council – Integrated Transport Block Programme (Measures to Improve Walking Budget for the financial years 2012-13, 2013-14, 2014-15) A9. Partnership bodies Details of the partnership bodies (if any) you plan to work with in the design and delivery of the proposed package of measures. This should include a description of the role and responsibilities of the partnership bodies such as Civil Society Organisations, Private Sector bodies and Transport Operators, with confirmatory evidence of their willingness to participate in delivering the bid proposals. Most of the capital work would be carried out by Sandwell MBC and involve resolving land ownership issues along the course of public rights of way and proposed public rights of way, carrying out improvement works (such as surfacing, removing vegetation overgrowth, signposting) and carrying out the necessary legal work required to dedicate the routes. A sum for future maintenance of the routes would also be included in the capital cost. The revenue work would mostly be carried out by a consultant in terms of engaging with residents about the journey possibilities created by the improved routes and encouraging use of the routes for health, cost and environmental reasons. Sustrans have already been approached to give their views on the likely cost of such activities. (Sustrans have also prepared a letter of support for the project which is contained in Appendix 2.) It is envisaged that a light-touch personalised travel planning project delivered to half of the households in the zones around the routes would be appropriate. In addition, residents would be made aware of the travel card and bicycle related discounts associated with the Sandwell Company TravelWise initiative so that they could ask their workplaces to affiliate to the initiative. Bus operators would also be made aware of the project so that timetable and ticket information could be made available to residents and workplaces. Some in-kind contributions of Sandwell MBC officer time and marketing materials from local authority and health related (currently Primary Care Trust) partners would be made to both the capital and revenue aspects of the project. Sandwell Primary Care Trust’s health walks programme could be developed further for this project. Liaison with the Integrated Transport Authority (Centro) has already taken place in terms of how the project would support the large LSTF project being developed for the West Midlands metropolitan area. Since the Sandwell project involves the improvement of walking routes within some of the corridors identified for the Centro project, the increased use of sustainable modes in such corridors would be expected to take place. SECTION B – The local challenge B1. The local context A brief description of the economic environmental and social issues in the geographical area, including plans for housing and jobs growth, and the role of transport in addressing those issues . This should draw on the contextual factors identified in preparing the Local Transport Plan. Sandwell is part of an area known as the Black Country and adjoins with Boroughs of Dudley, Walsall, the City of Wolverhampton and the City of Birmingham. Sandwell is therefore an intensely urbanised area at the centre of the main West Midlands conurbation, which itself is centre of the national rail and road networks. It is home to approximately 270,000 people with 125,000 households and, along with an ageing population, is one of the most ethnically and culturally diverse areas in the UK. The project would concentrate mostly on areas in the north east of Sandwell because this is where most of the opportunities to improve or create public rights of way in relation to main public transport corridors exist. Combined with two areas in the south of Sandwell, the project as a whole would cover approximately 15,000 households that are within 400 metres of the 16 sections of public rights of way or proposed public rights of way. The West Midlands Local Transport Plan (WMLTP) and the Black Country Core Strategy (BCCS) are the main policy documents that will form the future direction and development of Sandwell, particularly in terms of economic growth and the provision of housing to stem the loss of the local population to other areas. The WMLTP and BCCS will address a range of major economic, social and environmental challenges which have largely resulted from a long period of industrial decline resulting in unemployment and low levels of skills in the workforce. High levels of deprivation are prevalent in large parts of Sandwell and some parts are amongst the most deprived areas of the UK. As with other parts of the country, car ownership has risen although not at the same rate, mostly due to economic and deprivation issues. In 2001 the average percentage of households with no car in UK conurbations was 32%, compared with 37.4% in Sandwell. Despite this, the issues with rising car ownership are evident in Sandwell, such as high levels of obesity due to sedentary lifestyles and poor air quality due to nitrogen dioxide and particulate emissions from transport. The latter situation in many parts of Sandwell means that the whole area is designated as an Air Quality Management Area. The role of transport in addressing the above issues could be significant. The aim of the BCCS and LTP is to develop a transport network that enables people to make realistic sustainable transport choices and maximise accessibility to jobs, education, health, retail and services. The development of physical infrastructure to achieve this is necessary in terms of cycling, walking and public transport. There is also a need to improve awareness about why choosing less environmentally damaging and healthier transport modes can make a positive difference to people.

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