Transport in - it affects you!

Councillor Terry Fox Shaping Sheffield’s Cabinet Member for Transport Transport Future This newsletter explains what your Council Our Transport is doing to make all types of transport better in the City. South Yorkshire Councils have Vision for recently produced their second Local Sheffield Transport Plan which sets out transport improvements within South Yorkshire. Based on this, the Council has produced a Plan for Transport specifically for Sheffield that sets out the transport to provide safe and solutions for the City over the next five years and beyond. reliable choices of In this newsletter, we provide a summary of the transport issues transport that help the in the that you regularly ask us about. These are the areas you “ City’s economy and job want us to address and here we say how we will deliver them. The topics covered include:- opportunities to grow, without damaging the • Residents parking environment. • Congestion • Road accidents • Your views on the issues raised in this newsletter and through ” individual scheme consultations are valued and will inform how we deliver our current and future transport programmes. We look forward to hearing from you! The City Council Plan for Transport

The City Council aims to ensure that the City’s Reflecting the nine themes set out in the Plan transport systems can provide for the needs for Transport, our key aims in delivering our of everybody in Sheffield. In order to do this transport vision for Sheffield are:- the Council works in partnership with others, in particular the South Yorkshire Passenger • to assist with the City’s economic growth Transport Executive, but also national and • to keep people and goods moving regional government (the voluntary sector), efficiently health sector, environmental organisations and • to improve local neighbourhoods the private sector. • to contribute to improving public health through more walking and cycling We realise that there are important issues we • to make travel safer on all types of have to address, the recent ‘Your Council Your transport and to reduce road casualties Say’ consultation has highlighted those most • to improve access to jobs, services, shops important to residents. Congestion is increasing and leisure interests particularly by foot, with growing economic prosperity, so we need bike or public transport to ensure there are good alternative transport • to help ensure that public transport meets options to the car for residents of Sheffield. the needs and expectations of users There are still too many people killed on our • to improve air quality roads, whilst we know we need to improve the • to maintain the road network to an physical state of the street scene. appropriate standard.

Our plan aims to deal with these issues and In this newsletter we outline our actions on many more to develop high quality transport some of the key issues, but more detail on our networks to support the people of Sheffield. transport policy and how we will go about achieving our aims is contained in the Plan for Transport in Sheffield. Did You Know? Although car ownership in Sheffield is increasing, 38% of Sheffield residents still do not have access to a car. Sustainable This is lower than the national average. Access for All!

What do we mean by a sustainable transport system? Making transport decisions now that won’t create problems in the future.

Many people tell us that if realistic alternatives We regularly consult on the design of new to using their car were available they would be schemes to ensure that, as well as complying happy to use them! with basic design guides, schemes will actually meet the needs of local people. We There are alternatives to using the car for also have an ongoing programme of street many journeys. Awareness campaigns and improvements, for example - the installation of information provision are important in dropped kerb crossing points. promoting travel choices such as walking, cycling and public transport and sensible use If you are interested in improving transport for of the car e.g. Car Sharing. Information on disabled people you could apply to join the some of these is provided below. City Council consultation group. For more information contact Transport Planning on We encourage people using all types of 0114 2734192 or by e-mail to: transport@ transport to visit the Travel Wise website for sheffield.gov.uk more information: www.sytravelwise.net Information for buses and times is also available from the Travel line on 0870 608 2 608 or on the website: www.yorkshiretravel.net Travel beyond Sheffield YourNextBus For real time information Text Sheffield is an important economic centre 370 + five digit code of bus stop/shelter to at the heart of its wider City Region that 64422. Minutes later you will find out when the includes towns in the rest of South next bus is due at that stop. Yorkshire and beyond into Chesterfield, North East , the Derbyshire The Council takes its responsibility under the Dales and the National Park. Disability Discrimination Act very seriously and works closely with people with a wide range of Many people visit Sheffield for its cultural disabilities to ensure that transport barriers are and sporting attractions as well those tackled to meet their needs. Improved access who travel daily into Sheffield to work. It is also about helping everyone to get about is therefore crucial that Sheffield has more easily and gain reasonable access to good connections by road and rail for facilities that they need. both visitors and business. Road Safety at the top of the agenda! We are often asked why the Council waits for road accidents to happen before taking any action. Tackling road accident hotspots, particularly where accidents to children occur, is one of the Council’s top priorities, but we don’t have enough money to deal with every safety problem. What we do is use the money available for road safety work where there is the highest risk of accidents occurring. We also carry out safety checks on new schemes to ensure that we are not creating any future accident problems and are increasing our efforts to provide more education, training and publicity on road safety issues. Fares Fair!

What is the Council doing about poor bus services and increasing fares in Sheffield?

Bus services in Sheffield are provided by a number of independent companies. The Passenger Transport executive (PTE) is the Government approval to set up bus ‘Quality main public body that promotes and Contracts’, which would enable us to have more coordinates public transport in Sheffield and control of bus services in the City. the rest of South Yorkshire. However fares, service frequency and the quality of the Make sure you are getting the best value on vehicles are all controlled directly by the bus your bus journeys. For regular users, weekly or operators. The Council is working in partnership monthly tickets give better value. As a starting with the PTE and bus operators to make it point, contact the PTE for information on many easier for buses to get through traffic in return of the ticket options available, drop in to a for more stable and reliable bus services. We Travel Information Centre, contact travel line or do this through Quality Bus Corridors which check the website www.travelsouthyorkshire. improve facilities for bus users (e.g. bus com/your_tickets shelters, bus lanes, real time information) and ensure that bus journeys are quicker and more reliable along a whole bus route. The PTE and Did You Know? The City Council maintains the Council are deciding whether to seek around 2,000 km of highway and 3,400 km of footpaths and will re-surface around 30km of highway this year. The state of our roads... Repairs of the road network are programmed made using the funding given to the Council by the Government and money raised through Council Tax. The Council has to prioritise maintenance work on roads and pavements on the basis of their importance and the level of traffic using them. The Council is always looking for new ways to improve road maintenance. We have now submitted an expression of interest to the Government for a Private Finance Initiative (PFI) to increase the amount of money available for maintenance, which, if successful, would transform the condition of our roads over the next 20 years. Tackling congestion

Like all cities there are times when the roads As part of the Local Transport Plan, a number of in Sheffield are busy. Car ownership has ‘Key Routes’ in Sheffield have been identified traditionally been low, but with growing and will be the focus of traffic management prosperity it is growing by 2% a year and spending in future years. The routes include: - impacts on congestion. However compared to *A57 Manchester Road *A61 Penistone Road other cities of similar size congestion in Sheffield *A61 Chesterfield Road *A621 Road isn’t so bad. Congestion occurs when the *A6102 Orbital Ring Road *A6178 Don Valley number of vehicles exceed the capacity of the Link *A57/A630 *A6102 road network. However, illegally parked vehicles, Middlewood Road. vehicle breakdowns, road works and accidents all add to congestion problems. The Council has Information to help you get about on the roads set up a responsive traffic management system in Sheffield is available on the City Council called ‘Traffic Watch’ to improve our responses website on www.sheffield.gov.uk/roads-and- (and those of our partners) in dealing with transport/travel-information temporary and unforeseen obstructions of the highway, for example, by towing away illegally ‘Traffic Watch’ works better with your help. parked vehicles. ‘Traffic Watch’ also allows us Contact us with your suggestions by e-mailing: to manage traffic lights more effectively. [email protected] Residents’ Parking...

Commuter parking can make it difficult for residents to find a space near their property, as well as increasing local traffic and safety issues. To solve this issue the Council is implementing Residents’ Parking Zones in areas surrounding the City Centre. The first zone, implemented in Broomhall and The Groves area, has successfully tackled the problem and further zones are being phased in over the next two years for:- • Broomhill launched in September 2006; • Sharrowvale (local consultation); and • Crookesmoor (design). To find out more about the development of residents parking zones, contact our Transport Planning Team on 0114 273 4479 or by email to: [email protected] Why are walking and cycling often overlooked as important forms of transport? The importance of cycling and walking goes beyond them being a cheap, convenient and energy efficient way of getting from A to B. We are working hard to encourage physical activity through cycling and walking to improve health. Not only are we investing in cycling and walking facilities (e.g. new routes and cycle parking) we are also producing regular programmes of cycling activities, including free cycle training, and have recently produced a new walking map for the City. Some change from car use to these ways of travelling is very realistic considering 25% of all car journeys are less than 2 miles and 59% less than 5 miles. Visit our one stop shop at www.sheffield.gov.uk/cycling for more information on cycling, including free adult cycle training. The new Sheffield walking map is available at local libraries or contact transport planning on 0114 273 4479 or by e-mail to: [email protected] Why aren’t the Council building more roads to accommodate increased levels of traffic?

It is a myth that if we build more roads and provide more road space that congestion will disappear. In fact experience shows that additional road space creates additional demand. Given the layout of the City, it is not possible to widen main roads without knocking down buildings. Investing in other forms of travel (e.g. improving conditions for buses) are better ways of managing our existing road space. We are however, spending £60 million to complete the Inner Ring Road which will improve traffic flow around the City Centre. To view progress on the Inner Relief Road check the City Council website www.sheffield.gov.uk/irr

How is the Council tackling air pollution problems around the City? The Council has designated an Air Quality Management Area and has drawn up an Air Quality Action Plan to tackle this problem. Traffic emissions have been identified as the main source of air pollution in Sheffield that can affect human health. Many of the actions identified are aimed at reducing traffic emissions by supporting the use of cleaner travel modes, better management of the road network and encouraging more efficient use of vehicles. The designation of Low Emission Zones, which would mean limiting access to certain areas for very polluting vehicles, is being investigated as a potential solution for some parts of the City. We are working to improve air quality across the City and transport issues are only part of the issue. Why not find out what you can do to improve air quality by visiting the Care4Air website at: www.care4air.org We are often asked how transport schemes are chosen and why they can take so long to happen.

We receive many more requests for transport improvements than we can afford to build, so we prioritise all potential schemes by assessing them against our overall transport aims and key priorities. Once Councillors have approved this assessment work, project requests are prioritised and then each project will go through consultation with local residents and businesses.

This process often results in changes to schemes to accommodate your needs and concerns. The whole process can be lengthy meaning it can sometimes take a long time before project designs are finalised and can be built.

Funding Our Transport Programme • built 29 Danger Reduction and School Entrance Schemes, 46 Accident Saving, Plan for Transport in Sheffield shows broadly Local Safety and Safer Routes to School how we will deliver our transport programme Schemes and 80 School Travel Plans. over the next four years. About £6million per year will be available for transport projects and about £5million per year for Highways maintenance through the Local Transport Plan. This is as well as money that we receive from Other transport the Government to build major schemes such as the Northern Inner Relief Road (£56m funding Government grant towards costs). There are a number of funding sources, As a general indication of what can be about a further £9m per year, in addition to achieved through the LTP with this level of the Council’s Local Transport Plan funding funding, over the last 5 years we have: to deliver transport related schemes across the City, for example, the PTE also receives • improved 3 major bus corridors LTP funding, the Council receives a • built 25 traffic management schemes, eg. significant sum of European funding as part junction improvements of Objective 1 and negotiates significant • developed 3 Child Safety Zones access and contributions from new • increased road safety education in schools development are also obtained. Improved through ‘Crucial Crew’ and assemblies with transport infrastructure is also provided as over 2000 children receiving pedestrian part of local area regeneration. training If you want to know more... This summary can only give a quick flavour of the issues. If you want to know more about the overall direction of transport policy and our implementation programme, read the Plan for Transport document or any of the detailed policies, strategies and Action Plans that have been developed for specific parts of our transport programme. All of these documents are available on the Council’s website at www.sheffield.gov.uk and paper or emailed copies are available on request by contacting us at the address or email below.

Remember to tell us what you think! If you have further questions you would like answering or would like to make suggestions on how we can improve our programme to meet our transport vision more effectively then please contact us.

Rotherham, South Yorkshire, S61 1TF Contact us: Telephone: 01709 566000 Website: www.firstgroup.com/ukbus/ yorkhumber/southyorkshire/ For general enquires email [email protected] Stagecoach In writing Customer Services team, Stagecoach John Bann. Head of Transport and Highways Sheffield, Green Lane Depot, Sheffield City Council, Howden House , Sheffield, S35 9WY. 1 Union Street, Sheffield S1 2SH Telephone: 0114 247 0777 By telephone Website: www.stagecoachbus.com/sheffield 0114 273 4479 Travel Information Contact Sheffield City Council Travel South Yorkshire Parking Services - Website: www.travelsouthyorkshire.com Street Force Contact Centre - Traveline - 0870 6082608 Olive Grove Depot Olive, National Rail Enquiries - 08457 484950 Grove Road, Sheffield, S2 3GE Website: www.nationalrail.co.uk Telephone: 0114 273 4567 Cycling Website: [email protected] Pedal Pushers, Sheffield Cycle Campaign Useful Contacts 26 Greenhow Street, Sheffield, S6 3TP. South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive Telephone: 07855 194238 SYPTE Customer Services, PO Box 801, Email: [email protected]: Exchange Street, Sheffield, S2 5YT. www.pedalpushers.org.uk Email: [email protected] Cyclists Touring Club (CTC) South Yorkshire Telephone: 0114 276 7575 Secretary: Barry Raynor Website: www.sypte.co.uk Telephone: 0114 237 2630 Public Transport Operators E-Mail: [email protected] First Group Website: www.syndda.org.uk Customer Services Team, First Midland Road,

This document can be supplied in alternative formats, please contact:

Development, Environment & Leisure Directorate Transport Planning Tel: 0114 723 4192 www.sheffield.gov.uk

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