Transport Panel 22 March 2005 Item 3 Appendix A

TRANSPORT PANEL – 22 MARCH 2005 – ITEM 3 APPENDIX A

HERTFORDSHIRE’S LOCAL TRANSPORT PLAN 2006/7 – 2010/11

LONG TERM STRATEGY

CONSULTATION DRAFT

MARCH 2005 TRANSPORT PANEL DRAFT (MARCH 2005)

CONTENTS

1. Introduction 2

2. Area Plans 3

South West Hertfordshire Area Plan 3 Lea Valley Area Plan 10 Mid Hertfordshire Area Plan 15 Northern Hertfordshire Area Plan 19 Eastern Hertfordshire Area Plan 21 West Hertfordshire Area Plan 24

3. Maintaining Existing Service Levels 27

Highway Network Maintenance 27 Bridges 35 Passenger Transport 41

4. Countywide Themes 49

Safety 49 LEARN 56 Rural Transport 64 Cycling 71 Urban Plans 74

5. Supporting Policies 78

Taxis 78 Walking 80 Powered Two-Wheelers 83 Parking 84 Integration with Development Plans 88 Company Travel Plans 91 Travel Awareness 93 Airports 96 Social Inclusion 100 Air Pollution and Noise 104 Transport Issues for Disabled People 108 Sustainable Distribution 113 Horses 116 Health 118 Road Hierarchy and Network Development 122 Road Traffic Reduction 127

Hertfordshire’s LTP 2006/07 - 2010/11 Page A1 TRANSPORT PANEL DRAFT (MARCH 2005)

1. INTRODUCTION

The County Council’s longer term vision is contained within 30 policies/ strategies which cover a 15-20 year period. These policies/strategies can be classified into four categories, and have been set out in this document in this order:  Area plans (covering 10-15 years);  Maintaining existing service levels;  Countywide themes;  Supporting policies

Area Plans These have been adopted for groups of inter-related towns where significant capital investment is needed to make improvements to the local transport system. Hertfordshire has two well established area plans being South West Hertfordshire and Lea Valley. Under development are the Mid Hertfordshire, Northern Hertfordshire and Eastern Hertfordshire Area Plans. A West Hertfordshire Area Plan is due to be developed in 2006/07 – 2007/08.

The area plan approach has the added advantage of providing greater opportunity for local consultation on issues and schemes and for the establishment of effective joint steering groups.

Maintaining Existing Service Levels It is important to maintain both the existing infrastructure to ensure the best use of previous investment and the levels of service for pedestrians, cyclists and passenger transport users.

The maintenance of existing service levels also play an integral part of the area plans wherever possible.

Countywide Themes The County Council and its partners have a number of investment programmes which will be delivered across Hertfordshire. In many cases these investment programmes will be dovetailed with the area plans, but there will also be the need to deliver these programmes in other parts of the county.

Supporting Policies There are a number of policies that do not fall into the above categories but are essential in achieving the overall vision and objectives.

The 30 policies/strategies contained within this document were originally within LTP1, and have been subsequently revised to incorporate recent events such as major housing growth proposals, airports white paper etc. The following sections set out the policies and strategies that will be delivered by the local transport plan.

2. AREA PLANS

South West Hertfordshire Area Plan

The South West Hertfordshire area borders North West London and is based around the urban centres of Watford, Bushey and Rickmansworth. It has a population of over 170,000. The conurbation is a mix of high density residential areas and industrial sites, which has created some of the worst transport problems in the county. South West Hertfordshire has provided the test bed for Green Route bus priority measures and decriminalised parking within Hertfordshire.

The strategic location on key radial road and rail routes into London has resulted in a number of commercial and retail re-developments replacing older engineering and printing industries in the last 30 years. Watford is now a regional shopping centre with the Harlequin Centre competing against Brent Cross and Milton Keynes. The area continues to experience strong pressures for economic growth and more recently, urban renaissance - with them the need for accessibility. To help tackle these problems Hertfordshire County Council and the three local councils jointly appointed Steer Davies Gleave to help develop a robust and balanced strategy prior to the previous Local Transport Plan. The strategy will be reviewed in detail and relaunched early in the life of the second Local Transport Plan for Hertfordshire.

The current transport strategy is based on nineteen local objectives which are to: • Assist economic development; • Improve the quality of life and environment; • Meet transport requirements efficiently in a sustainable manner.

Five main strategies were adopted to meet the objectives: • Make modest improvements to existing rail network and maximise use of existing network; • Improve bus operations and passenger facilities with extra priorities and detection; • Develop a comprehensive cycle network; • Control urban traffic through traffic management, calming and parking management; • Undertake minor highway improvements to selectively reduce congestion and improve access.

The local objectives for the area are complemented by a group of more strategic objectives: • To enhance east-west passenger transport links across Hertfordshire and make journeys more seamless; • To provide more sustainable links between Watford and north west London; • To address pressures for orbital movement around London in a sustainable manner.

Following the adoption of the broad strategy in 1997, a series of local urban plans were developed with the local communities to identify the necessary measures to support the overall strategy. The programme for South West Hertfordshire is a continuation of the package bid developed under the previous Transport Policies and Programmes system and through the previous Local Transport Plan 2001/02 – 2005/06. Funding for the South West Hertfordshire package was first awarded in 1996/97, with the DfT having contributed £4.1 million to date.

The South West Hertfordshire Area will continue to benefit from investment from countywide themes and programmes to maintain existing service levels as appropriate.

The reductions in expenditure in the latter years of the programme represent the implementation of the current South West Hertfordshire strategy nearing completion. The cost profile assumes that full funding is assigned to the programme. Any shortfalls will necessitate the requirement to be rolled over into subsequent years.

(a) Bushey Local Transport Plan

The Bushey Local Transport Plan has previously,  regenerated and enhanced the local shopping centres along the A411 and in Harcourt Road an adjacent residential area;  implemented a green route from Bushey Heath to Bushey Arches;  created routes and safer environments for pedestrians and cyclists.

Future schemes will include traffic calming in Greatham Road/Bushey Hall Road which is intended to reduce vehicle speeds and encourage more journeys to be cycled or walked. Local environmental improvements to Melbourne Road are also being considered to reduce the dominance of vehicles on the street scene.

(b) Croxley Corridor (including West Watford Transport Plan, Croxley Green Zone and Cassiobury Triangle)

Access within the corridor between Croxley and Watford town centre is poor by any mode of transport. Although car ownership rates are amongst the lowest in the County, the area suffers severe congestion from 58,000 vehicles running along residential roads into and out of the town centre daily. The residents not only suffer from poor air quality, noise and severance from through traffic, but commuters park their cars adding to the traffic, environmental and social problems. These conditions make it unattractive to walk, cycle or use the bus.

A particular aim of the West Watford Transport Plan is to relieve the residential areas of HGV’s. It is proposed to introduce an HGV and bus only link between the Tolpits Lane and Watford Business parks and introduce an HGV signing strategy.

2005 saw the completion of traffic calming in the Cassiobury Triangle residential area which suffered from rat running and commuter parking associated with the Metropolitan Station. Final proposals are still awaited from the Watford General Hospital expansion and Cardiff Road industrial site redevelopment. The traffic impact assessments for these sites will have to be carefully considered to ensure improvement to quality of transport, life and environment for Watford’s communities.

Regeneration from smaller sites within the corridor will contribute to proposed sustainable initiatives. These include Bus Stop improvements, a Junction Improvement and Car Parking Management Scheme. Action is programmed for 2005/07.

(c) Croxley Rail Link

Croxley Rail Link was first submitted as a Major Scheme bid for funding from 2001/02. Through further bid submissions and through negotiations with London Underground (LU), now part of Transport For London (TfL) it was established that:  The scheme meets all the necessary economic criteria of DfT and TfL has approved the economic appraisal for the scheme.  TfL is prepared to formally enter a promotion agreement with Hertfordshire County Council on the basis that TfL will: - Co-promote the Transport & Works Application with Hertfordshire County Council; - Procure the construction of the infrastructure; - Operate the resulting service.  The scheme is included as a specified right under the PPP Service Contract between Metronet (the PPP contractor) and TfL.

LU supported the final 2003 bid to DfT, which demonstrated the principle of a substantial financial commitment. Whilst DfT recognised the benefits of the scheme it reported that it would like to see a firmer commitment from LU in terms of funding before it could establish whether the amount bid from the LTP programme offered value for money compared to other proposals.

By early 2005 HCC had agreed between LUL and DfT, what was required to satisfy the DfT request. The integration of LUL into the wider TfL organisation did, however, cause some delay to this process as TfL sought to get 'up to speed' with the situation and to integrate the project within both the LUL and wider TfL programme. The July Government Spending Review also had an influence on the background picture against which all centrally funded transport projects were being considered.

 The Mayor of London has demonstrated support for the scheme and it features within the Mayor’s 5 Year Investment Programme (2005/6 -2009/10)  LU has included  The risk adjusted scheme cost at 2001 prices is £49.5m. For DfT appraisal purposes the out turn cost including risk, inflation and optimum bias is £97.2m.

LU is currently completing its own business case re-assessment prior to presenting the evidence of its corporate commitment to the scheme (as shown above) together with a clarification of its financial commitment.

Assuming a positive ministerial decision can be achieved during Summer 2004, public consultation would follow in the Autumn. The Transport and Works Act application would be submitted in Spring 2005 and followed by a public inquiry in Autumn 2005. As previously anticipated, construction would commence in 2007, with scheme opening two years later.

The ‘net’ cost of the scheme has slightly increased since the publication of the 2003 APR, from £53.476 million to £55.17 million. This 3% increase covers the cost of inflation. (It should be noted that the ‘net’ figure quoted in the 2003 APR finance forms was only the total of the columns shown, and not the true ‘Net’ cost of the scheme)

(d) High Street Interchange

The Croxley Rail Link demand studies highlight the importance of quality access between High Street Station and the Town Centre. Currently the ring road creates a significant barrier between the two. As part of their main contribution to the Croxley Rail Link, Capital Shopping Centres are proposing to provide that access, which could cost up to £5million.

(e) Cycling Strategy

The Hertfordshire and the three local councils have developed a comprehensive cycle network strategy which covers both local and strategic routes. The strategic routes were been identified by Sustrans in a commissioned report from Hertfordshire County Council, whilst the local routes have been determined in the district council strategies. The latter also include strategies for secure public cycle parking and for encouraging employers to provide parking and changing facilities for their staff. Delivery of the cycling strategy will continue throughout the life of the LTP. As the more strategic routes come to completion the emphasis will move to implementing the more local routes within the Local Area Transport Plans. Many of these routes will be promoted on-road through the creation of safe cycling environments.

(f) Leavesden Transport Plan

The Leavesden Transport Plan covers the area of Abbots Langley, Woodside and Stanborough. A major objective of the Plan is to address the transport issues surrounding the redevelopment of the airfield and associated industrial area, which is one of the six key employment development sites identified in the County Structure Plan. The current Transport Plan programme of works under investigation is the completion of C88 Horseshoe Lane traffic calming scheme to reduce vehicle speeds whilst enhancing pedestrian bus and cycling facilities. Further schemes are planned to ensure inappropriate alternative routes are not used.

(g) Lower High Street/Oxhey Corridor

The Watford Lower High Street/Oxhey Corridor is a large residential area to the south of Watford town centre. The area also borders the Health Campus regeneration project centred around Cardiff Road. The Oxhey Transport Plan has been developed to deliver a programme of measures to protect local residents from through traffic and site access traffic to provide environmental enhancements in residential streets and to promote sustainable transport links.

(h) North Watford Transport Plan

The St Albans Road Green Route completed in 1999 has continued to be monitored. This led to further improvements being carried out (2005) to take account of public transport patronage and local circumstances.

Measures in Meriden and Tudor areas were also introduced (2005). These form a co- ordinated scheme approach to lower speeds, reduce accidents, rat running, inappropriate HGV use and promote sustainable modes. Measures include traffic calming, bus stop enhancements and pedestrian crossing facilities.

Similar investigatory consultations have been undertaken in Callowland Leggatts and Nascot Wards (2005) with a view to assessing sustainable traffic and environmental needs. The major part of the funding for the Nascot Scheme is dependent on the success of the developing Leavesden airfield development which has a large part to play in the local vision for the area over the life of the LTP

(k) Safer Routes to School

The following are examples of current initiatives in South West Hertfordshire. • Thirteen schools are currently engaged within the Safer Routes to School programme. It is proposed that a rolling programme continues through the life of the LTP and that associated physical works will continue to be integrated with the education and promotional initiatives. Building on the LEARN package and STRAP, the Safer Routes to School programme in South West Hertfordshire will move out towards the more rural schools in the medium term.

(l) Watford Junction Interchange and Access

Watford Junction is the principal station in South West Hertfordshire, served by long distance and local trains on the West Coast Line, and by local trains on the St Albans branch. The station is a main focus for 38 bus routes in Watford, and is served by the new Green Route. The present forecourt arrangement provides unsegregated access for buses, taxis, pedestrians, cyclists and cars, which leads to reduced safety and efficiency. The forecourt area is also too small, with waiting buses over-spilling onto residential roads. To address these current problems the County Council commissioned a study into forecourt improvements in 1997 with its rail industry partners. In Summer 1998 Virgin announced its intentions to double its patronage by Year 2004 and stop all trains at Watford. With the Croxley Rail Link and Airport bus links also arriving at Watford Junction the proposals for the ‘Airtrack’ rail service between Heathrow and Watford, and the longer term possibility of Regional Eurostar, the concept of Watford becoming a major transport hub north of London began to emerge and it became clear that a major review of access and interchange facilities was required. The main objective of the resulting study was to investigate the feasibility of providing more substantial interchange facilities plus road access to the east of the station. This then permits a fresh look at the existing forecourt arrangements. Feasible options have been developed through the study, however the final proposal will be dependent upon the emerging requirements for the West Coast Line upgrade. It is anticipated that the rail industry will be significant funders of the estimated £4.8 million scheme, which is tentatively programmed for 2002/03.

The need for a long term strategy for East/West passenger transport in the County has been clearly identified by local people through the consultation on the Central Hertfordshire Passenger Transit System (CHPTS) project. It is clear that this will need to include Watford Junction. As part of its short term strategy, Hertfordshire County Council is investigating a Community Rail Development Pilot develop the services on the St Albans Abbey Branch Line. Negotiations with Network Rail, Silverlink Trains and the Shadow DfT Rail are under way.

(m) Watford Area Signing

The cumulative effect of major re-development in Watford together with highway network changes and local traffic management schemes has necessitated a review of area-wide directional signing in order to maximise the efficient use of the network.

(n) Rural Plans

South West Hertfordshire includes a sizeable rural area interspersed with settlements such as Bedmond, Sarratt, Chorleywood and Maple Cross. Building on the STRAP experience, local strategies will be developed to tackle the pressures of speed and rat-running whilst improving sustainable access. The Rural Transport Strategy through working locally will identify and tackle local transport issues such as speeding and rat running whilst improving sustainable access.

(o) Long Term Measures

The main elements of the South West Hertfordshire Area Plan will have been delivered during the five year life of this Local Transport Plan, assuming that there is an adequate financial settlement. Once this stage has been reached, the overall strategy will be reviewed to ensure that it has delivered a balance between the safety, economic, access and environmental objectives. The review will also take into account any new issues that have arisen during the delivery of the Plan, and reconsider the possible long-term elements that were identified in the original strategy. This will be done in close co- operation with the local councils, especially Watford Council which is planning a number of major redevelopments during the life of the second Local Transport Plan.

The review will consider the following issues: • long term proposals to modify the traffic circulation on the Watford inner ring road; • the feasibility of park and ride which has already been established in principle in the original strategy: Whilst the principle has been accepted the identification of specific sites has not yet been resolved. • progress on the West Coast upgrade; • measures arising from the London Orbital and London to South Midlands Multi-modal studies; • developments on local rail services, and in particular the Rail Passenger Partnership scheme for the Watford to St Albans Abbey railway line.

GREEN ZONES

A Green Zone is a neighbourhood that has become safer, cleaner and a more attractive place to live for the local community. The success of such initiatives involves partnerships between the County Council, District Councils, the police and residents.

The setting up of a Green Zone can have a number of advantages for local communities, and can achieve the following: safer roads, improved facilities, Safer Routes to School, improved personal safety, a better environment and the involvement of the whole community in the process.

A community led forum was established within the Central Watford Green Zone and is tacked a number of issues which have traditionally created barriers to walking and cycling

Hertfordshire’s LTP 2006/07 - 2010/11 Page A8 TRANSPORT PANEL DRAFT (MARCH 2005) in the area and therefore weigh disproportionately on those without access to a car. A traffic calmed 20 mph zone was introduced, subways bypassed with at-grade pedestrian crossings and local shopping area revitalised. The local form was taken as the model by the borough council for ongoing community engagement by Area Committees in each ward. The final scheme is the enhancement of Clarendon Road as a high quality walking route linking the town centre with Watford Junction railway station. Individual measures have been monitored for success. The whole area will be assessed midway through the life of the second Local Transport Plan to gauge lasting success and the accumulative effect of schemes and measures.

Work on ground in the Oxhey Village Green Zone is nearing completion. A community steering group of residents and elected members has worked with officers from the county and borough councils to steer the implementation of traffic calmed 20 mph zone with environmental enhancement, safety and access features.

A lower key approach is being taken in the Merry Hill area of Bushey where links already established through a local Safer Routes To School project will lead to measures to improve emergency vehicle access.

2.2 Lea Valley Area Plan

The Lea Valley Area Plan was originally based on a package area under the Transport Policies and Programmes system which first received funding for the financial year 1999/2000. The area is a continuous urban transport corridor which is continued into Central London by the London Lee Valley strategy, identified in the draft Regional Planning Guidance (RPG 9) as a ‘Priority Area of Economic Regeneration’. The Lea Valley area covers Hertford, Ware, Hoddesdon, Broxbourne, Cheshunt and Waltham Cross, and has a total population of around 123,000. More recently, it has become evident that the area boundary defined in the original package bid requires updating to reflect changes to political and operational aspirations.

Development of the Area Plan has benefited from joint discussions with East Herts District Council and the Borough of Broxbourne, as well as other stakeholders, primarily through the Joint Member Panel, Transportation Forum and steering group processes.

The Lea Valley Area will also benefit from investment from the countywide themes and programmes to maintain existing service levels as appropriate.

(a) Lea Valley Green Route

The original objective of the Lea Valley Green Route was to provide a step change in the quality and attractiveness of bus services linking the Area Plan towns. It was intended to support the County Council’s TravelWise objectives of giving priority to passenger transport, cyclists and pedestrians and to provide an attractive alternative to the car during peak periods in urban areas. Some of the original aspirations became diluted during the public consultation process, but a number of benefits were delivered. Work continues wherever possible to provide bus priority measures within local schemes.

(b) Bus Station Enhancements

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(c) Passenger Information

Real Time Passenger Information systems are an important ingredient in improving the attractiveness of passenger transport and thus engendering a shift away from the private car. Network Rail and WAGN have a well established system that operates from the train signalling network. By contributing towards the rail RTPI programme the area plan will accelerate and extend the installation of the system at stations in the Lea Valley.

(d) New and Enhanced Bus Services

The Area Plan has been developed in consultation with local bus operators and included discussions to identify the scope for enhancing services on a commercial basis. Where this is not possible local authorities will consider other options for support of services where necessary and subject to the availability of resources.

(e) Station Interchange Enhancements

Proposals have been developed with private partners to improve accessibility and interchange between non-car modes at Ware station. This builds on the success of the Rail Link bus service introduced in 1997, which has been incorporated into a wider network of local town services with improved through ticketing arrangements. The key objectives are to make better use of the limited highway and forecourt space in front of the station and encourage sustainable access to the adjacent employment and housing developments. These developments are ideally located to make use of the station which will be enhanced with bus interchange and cycle route improvements funded by the developers.

(f) WARM Study and Works

Network Rail’s Network Management Statement sets out the options for delivering enhanced capacity through the West Anglian Route Modernisation (WARM) project. These include the possible provision of extra track capacity between Cheshunt and Broxbourne stations.

(g) Cycle Network

The principal cycling strategy within the Lea Valley Area Plan is to provide support for the main County cycling programme. Additionally, every opportunity is taken to improve cycle provision within Lea Valley projects and representatives from both local and national cycling organisations are invited to take part in this process.

(h) Home Zones

Home Zones are designated residential areas where the aim is to create a pleasant environment for residents and substantially reduce the dominance of the car. The first true Home Zone in Hertfordshire was completed in 2003. The Four Swannes Home Zone in Waltham Cross has brought considerable environmental benefits to the area and much has been learned through its planning and implementation.

(i) Parking Measures

The Lea Valley Area Plan has supported the introduction of Decriminalised Parking Enforcement (DPE) in East Herts District and the Borough of Broxbourne. Concerns about illegal and inconsiderate parking has occurred frequently in public consultations and DPE will also bring efficiency benefits for the local highway network.

(j) Station Car Park Security

Research has underlined the importance of security of passengers and their possessions in station areas, particularly in car parks. Whilst this is an area in which the County Council expects the train operator to be the primary source of funding, grants will be made available to accelerate the programme of installation at Hertfordshire stations in the Lea Valley.

(k) Area-Wide Safety and Traffic Calming

The County Council undertakes a systematic programme of investigating hazardous sites and carrying out accident remedial measures as resources allow. However whilst this approach will tend to address localised problems with high accident density it does not lend itself to an area-wide approach to safety where a variety of measures could be employed to achieve a safer highway environment, both in terms of accident reduction and peoples’ perceptions. This is particularly important in residential areas and around schools where the perceived level of danger may discourage walking and cycling trips. A rolling programme of area-wide safety and traffic calming will address this problem.

(l) Safer Routes To School (SRTS)

Two school sites have been taken forward as pilot schemes for ‘Safer Routes to School’ in the Lea Valley - St Marys JM and its co-located feeder school Kingshill Infants in Ware, and Sheredes Primary School in Hoddesdon. These schools are leading the way for a phased programme of SRTS implementation in the area plan. Future schools will be selected using a newly developed ranking system. This system will not only consider basic physical and demographic information but also a schools commitment to the principles of sustainability, measured by involvement in recognised initiatives such as the ‘Walking Bus’, Green Transport Teaching Pack and Walk to School Week.

(m) Pedestrian Accessibility

The Area Plan recognises the importance of walking in a successful integrated transport strategy for urban areas of the Lea Valley. Pedestrians have been given greater priority as an integral part of recent schemes in Hertford and Hoddesdon. Ware and Waltham Cross will be receiving similar treatment in the next 2-3 years.

(n) Waste To Water Transfer Scheme

The River Lea Navigation represents an unused transport corridor linking the Area Plan towns and connecting to wider networks via London and the River Thames. The current ‘Waste by Water’ public/private sector partnership is investigating the use of the river for waste transfer in North London, and the County Council will monitor progress to see if there is scope for extending the scheme to Hertfordshire. The County Council’s emerging waste strategy will provide a framework for developing these proposals further.

(o) Rye House Rail Freight Facility

The Rail Prospectus identifies the site at Rye House Power Station as having potential for rail freight use. It is also located immediately adjacent to the Essex Road Key Employment Area (see box), and shares the same problems of access. The level crossing creating the bottleneck is due to be replaced by a developer-funded bridge by the Spring of 2006.

(p) TravelWise

TravelWise and Business TravelWise are county-wide initiatives to change travel behaviour. Although initially developed by Hertfordshire County Council in 1993, TravelWise has been adopted by many local authorities nationally.

The Area Plan will concentrate on helping companies to develop their own travel plans, including where appropriate the creation of computer-based car-sharing databases.

(q) Air Quality Management Strategy

Objective 1.2 of the Lea Valley area plan is to reduce the transport impacts on health by tackling vehicle emissions. This is in line with the requirements of the Local Air Quality (LAQM) regulations.

Broxbourne and East Hertfordshire are currently assessing local air quality to meet the national deadline. In view of the tight timetable it is impossible to identify precisely the measures required in the area plan, but they are likely to be either air quality monitoring equipment or grants towards the purchase of further low-emission buses.

(r) Key Employment Sites

Two of the six Key Employment Sites identified in the County Structure Plan are located in the Lea Valley Area (Essex Road in Hoddesdon and Cedar Park Plaza in Waltham Cross). Both sites will require new infrastructure and supporting measures such as green travel plans to allow sustainable economic development.

ESSEX ROAD KEY EMPLOYMENT SITE

Essex Road is the County's principal brownfield development site. The 22.5 ha site located within the North East Hoddesdon Industrial Area and adjacent to the Lea Valley Regional Park. The site is of strategic significance lying within the London to Cambridge Growth Corridor. The potential for development at this site is severely restricted by poor access and was previously hampered by a multiplicity of landowners. The development of the site is in two stages. First significant infrastructure improvements are needed (a road bridge over the mainline railway, the closure of a level crossing and re-articulation of the existing Essex Road) enabling the (second stage) employment land to be brought forward for redevelopment for a range of uses (B1, B2-B8).

The County Council secured outline planning permission for a new road bridge in January 2003 and in partnership with the landowners awarded the construction contract to Scott Wilson in February 2005. The County Council has no financial liability for the construction of the project but will be responsible for adoption and the long-term maintenance on completion. An Outside Parties Works Agreement is to be signed with Network Rail along with all other necessary legal documentation (Stopping Up order, s278/38/94) and concluded by June 05. The infrastructure works, which will cost in excess of £4million, are scheduled to commence in the summer with a completion date of December 2005. Planning Permission for the employment land was granted in October 2003 and is scheduled to come forward in 2006.

CEDAR PARK PLAZA KEY EMPLOYMENT SITE

A 26 ha greenfield site located at the junction of the A10 and M25. The site, in two sections, has multiple landowners and is the second Key Employment Site. The main issues with this site have been securing acceptable access to the A10; an appropriate package of passenger transport measures and a comprehensive specialist employment development. In October 2004 News International purchased of the southern part of the site. A planning application was subsequently submitted on 31st Jan 2005 for 116,277sqm consisting of Manufacturing, Office, Warehouse, some Retail and a Hotel. Access will be a new junction north of Little Chef (which closed in February 2005) and there will be no spine road from the round-about as was originally envisaged. The site is expected to commence development early in 2006.

2.3 Mid Hertfordshire Area Plan

The Mid Hertfordshire area links the South West Hertfordshire and Lea Valley areas, and covers the settlements of St Albans, Hatfield, London Colney and Welwyn Garden City. The total population is over 150,000. As well as local transport issues, this Area Plan will also consider the problem of poor east-west links across the county. This area is served by the A414/A405 corridor (east/west) and the A1(M) (north/south). A significant influence on this area is the extensive development at the Hatfield Aerodrome site on the boundary between Welwyn Hatfield and St Albans districts.

The Mid Hertfordshire Area is based around four urban area plans. These are further described below. The Mid Hertfordshire Area Plan, which will integrate all of these elements is been developed.

Mid Hertfordshire will also benefit from investment from the countywide themes and programmes to maintain existing service levels as appropriate.

(a) St Albans Plan

The desire to improve conditions within St Albans is very strong. A key objective of the Transport Plan is to achieve modal shift away from the car, whilst enhancing and maintaining the economic prosperity of the city.

The St Albans plan started development in 2004/05 and will be complete during 2006/07. It will be developed with councillors and local groups through a Transportation Forum, and subsequently local consultation. The key elements of the plan are described below.

(i) Bus Infrastructure

Buses currently experience considerable congestion through the city centre and significant investment is needed to reduce delays, increase passenger comfort and improve service provision. Local bus operators are currently upgrading their vehicle fleets with new low floor buses and widespread infrastructure improvements are needed including junction improvements, new shelters, improved bus stops, real-time information, introduction of bus lanes and the extension of SCOOT further within the city centre. Discussions regarding the development of a Quality Bus Partnership are progressing, which is seen as an important step forward in delivering these much needed improvements.

(ii) City Centre Enhancement

A scheme has been developed through the St Albans Transport Forum and extensive local consultation. The proposals which involve environmental and accessibility improvements in the town centre, together with traffic calming and accident remedial measures are undergoing a phased implementation during 2004/05 - 2006/07.

(iii) Cycling Facilities

A prioritised programme of works has been developed to enable the implementation of much needed cycle routes and parking facilities in the city to make cycling more attractive.

(iv) Parking Management

St Albans City and District Council received decriminalised parking enforcement powers in October 2004.

(v) Pedestrian Facilities

A key strategy of the St Albans Transport Plan will be to encourage walking. The need for improvement of existing routes, provision for new links, additional crossing facilities and improved pedestrian safety are important considerations.

(vi) Safer Routes to Schools

Following the success of the Safer Routes To School project at selected pilot schools within the St Albans area, this initiative is seen to offer significant benefits in terms of combating the environmental and safety problems that have developed as a result of car journeys to and from schools in the St Albans area.

(vii) Traffic Management

Traffic management schemes are needed in various locations around the city and the outlying residential areas. The resulting decrease in vehicle speeds will reduce accidents and improve safety, as well as improving the urban environment. Suitable schemes and area wide measures need to be developed following further consultation with local people.

(viii) Rail Infrastructure

The County Council is lead partner investigating a Rail Passenger Partnership bid to improve the frequency and quality of the rail service on the St Albans Abbey to Watford Junction Branch Line.

(b) Hatfield and Welwyn Garden City Plans

During the period of LTP1 the areas of Hatfield and Welwyn Garden City had schemes progressed around pedestrian improvements, cycling and passenger transport schemes. Exact programmes for the urban plans for Hatfield and Welwyn Garden City for LTP2 will not be known until the area plan has been fully developed for Mid Hertfordshire. However, in the meantime, safety and maintenance schemes will be delivered according to needs, and countywide programmes such as LEARN will take place as appropriate.

The development of the Hatfield and Welwyn Garden City plans will have regard to the following elements:

 the continual development of the Hatfield Aerodrome as a key employment site for local industries: - taking into account the potential of a new hospital with all the transport needs - the potential development of the centralisation of the four campuses of Oaklands College onto one site.  bring focus to the Herts East West Passenger Transport Link;

 Develop continual consultation with the development of the imminent Hatfield Town redevelopment especially with regards to the transport needs;  Continue to add to the development of the Welwyn Hatfield cycling strategy and the Hertfordshire strategic cycle network;  Continue with Traffic Management initiatives with special attention to pedestrian safety and improved bus shelter and passenger transport movements (e.g. improved bus shelters and better taxi access points);  Continue with financial feasibilities and implementation of an SPA and CPZs;  Continue with design and implementation of On and off-street parking;  Develop further links with passenger transport, Intalink, improve passenger transport information for all groups of the community and integrate easier payment methodology between bus and rail modes;

(c) London Colney Plan

The urban plan for London Colney will be developed following on from the St Albans Transport Plan (to be formulated during 2005/06 - 2006/07). The plan will deliver a combination of strategic schemes and site-specific measures developed through local consultation. In the meantime, safety and maintenance schemes will be delivered according to needs, and countywide programmes such as LEARN will take place as appropriate.

Hatfield Aerodrome

The former BAe site at Hatfield, now known as Hatfield Aerodrome, is a key employment site identified in the Structure Plan Review. Welwyn Hatfield District Council have adopted Supplementary Planning Guidance (SPG) to the Local Plan to guide the re-development of the site. It is proposed that the site is re-developed for approximately 2,000,000 sq ft of office, industrial and warehousing units, 1,700 houses, a University Campus with 2 faculties, a learning resource centre and accommodation for 1,600 students, and a mixed use District Centre of retail and leisure outlets and some residential units. This level of redevelopment will generate a significant demand for travel. To meet this demand the following package of measures will be provided by the developers of the site in association with the re-development:

 offsite highway improvements at:- A1(M) junctions 3 Roehyde and 4 Oldings Birchwood Roundabout Comet and Bishops Square Roundabouts Galleria Roundabout  a network of pedestrian and cycling facilities and routes to link the site to Hatfield, St Albans and Welwyn Garden City;  passenger transport infrastructure improvements both within the site and in the surrounding area;  subsidised high frequency and quality passenger transport services between the site, Hatfield, St Albans, Welwyn Garden City and Stevenage;  traffic management schemes on local roads in Hatfield to discourage rat-running;  onsite and offsite parking controls;  a Green Transport Plan for the site.

This package of measures is set out in the SPG and will be reviewed every 5 years as the development progresses. The measures are all consistent with the principles and programmes set out in the LTP.

(d) Herts East-West Passenger Transport Links (formerly Central Hertfordshire Passenger Transit System)

Following the rejection by the government of the CHPTS project in the Provisional LTP, the County Council has consulted on the need for a long term strategy. The short term strategy is detailed below:

 Develop bus services and infrastructure to service the Hatfield Aerodrome development and link it to St Albans, other surrounding towns and villages, the University and the railway stations at Hatfield and St Albans.  Explore a Rail Passenger Partnership for the Watford to St Albans Abbey Branch Line to deliver an increased frequency service.  Develop a new transport strategy for St Albans in conjunction with the District Council.

The consultation process has shown public support for the short term strategy. It has also demonstrated strong recognition from the public in the area for the development of a long term strategy for the provision of east-west passenger transport within and beyond the area.

2.4 Northern Hertfordshire Area Plan

Northern Hertfordshire covers the towns of Stevenage, Hitchin, Letchworth, Baldock and Royston, with a total population of approximately 170,000. There is significant road and rail travel between all of these towns, and in addition the area covers the proposed major housing development of West of the A1(M) at Stevenage East-West road travel is severely hampered by congestion at Baldock, the Baldock Bypass is currently under construction and this will help to solve this problem.

An overarching Area Plan for the Northern Hertfordshire area was adopted in 2004 and sets out the key problems and issues, a vision, objectives and strategies to help address these problems. Fourteen Strategies have been developed under the headings; Walking, Cycling, Passenger Transport, Schools, Car Parking, Accessibility, Complimentary Strategies and Traffic Management. Town Plans are being developed to help deliver these strategies. Four town plans are being developed, one covering Baldock and Letchworth, and one each for Stevenage, Royston and Hitchin. The town plans will include action plans to tackle the specific transport related problems and issues in the towns. The Countywide themes of Safer Routes to School, Cycling, Rural and Quality Bus Stops will also be delivered as part of the area plan.

(a) Hitchin Plan

A transportation plan for Hitchin has been in place for several years and during this time a number of schemes and measures have been implemented. As part of the area plan process the plan will be reviewed and an updated plan produced, this is likely to happen in 2006. The current Hitchin Town Plan has been based upon the work of the Hitchin Vision Transport Action Group set up through the Hitchin Vision processes. Hitchin Vision is a partnership between local residents, the District Council, County Council and other agencies active within the town. The aim is to set a vision of how collectively these organisations would like to see Hitchin develop in the long term.

The County Council is currently working with the rail industry to develop technically feasible options to improve access for pedestrians and cyclists across the east coast mainline which currently creates severance difficulties in the town. Access improvements to Hitchin Station are also being pursued.

(b) Stevenage Plan

The Stevenage Town Transport Plan is currently being developed. Public consultation has been carried out to assist in identifying the transport related problems and issues in the town. Having clarified the problem areas the next step is to develop an action plan of schemes and measures to tackle these.

There are a number of potential challenges in the Stevenage area, particularly the possibility of the large housing development to the west of Stevenage. The County Council's strategy for Stevenage will include the improvement of the town centre bus station and the amalgamation of this with improved facilities at the railway station to create a multi-modal interchange. Stevenage Borough Council has issued draft Supplementary Planning Guidance for a town centre redevelopment and has appointed a preferred developer, to progress this.

The interchange project, which helps to reinforce Stevenage's role as a regional interchange centre in the draft Regional Transport Strategy, will now be taken forward jointly by the developer, the local authorities and the railway industry. The project envisages relocation of the bus station to a site adjacent to Lytton Way, an increase in station car park capacity to support the development of long distance rail travel, and improvements to the station itself.

(c) Baldock and Letchworth Town Plans

The Baldock Bypass is currently under construction and is due to open in 2006. This dual carriageway road on the Primary Route Network links the A1(M) at Letchworth Gate to the A505 to the east of Baldock following a route to the south east of the town. The bypass will help relieve the historic market town of Baldock from the congestion and associated major environmental damage that occurs for large parts of the day.

During December 2004 and January 2005, public consultation was undertaken in both Baldock and Letchworth to assist in identifying the transport related problems in the towns. Following this a transport plan is being developed to cover both towns. The County Council is working in partnership with North Herts District Council to develop proposals for Baldock Town Centre. These proposals will complement the bypass work by discouraging through traffic from travelling through the town centre and enhancing the quality of the streetscape.

In Letchworth, the County Council is working with the Letchworth Heritage Foundation to develop proposals for access improvements in and around the town centre.

(d) Royston Town Plan

Following the development of the Stevenage and Baldock and Letchworth town plans, a plan will be developed for Royston.

The County Council is currently working with the rail industry to develop technically feasible options for a pedestrian and cycle crossing of the Cambridge branch line which currently causes great severance. It is hoped that a solution will be delivered within the next 3 to 5 years.

(e) Inter Urban Links

The links between towns in and around the Northern Herts area will also be considered as part of the Area Plan. Feasibility work is being undertaken on options for improving the A602 between Stevenage and Ware. These improvements may be taken forward in phases.

2.5 Eastern Hertfordshire Area Plan

The Eastern Hertfordshire Area covers the south east part of Hertfordshire including the major settlements of Bishop’s Stortford and Sawbridgeworth. It includes the area north of Ware bordered by the A10 and A120 plus the rural hinterland of Eastern Herts.

The Eastern Herts area is subject to significant pressures arising from the general growth in car use both within and between the major settlements. Added to this are the impacts of any potential development of the M11 corridor and the impacts of the growth of Stansted Airport just over the border in Essex. Rail links are good for London making the area attractive for commuters.

The Eastern Hertfordshire Area Plan started development in 2004/5 and will be complete in 2005/6. It will be developed with Councillors and local groups through a Transportation Forum, and subsequently local consultation. Initial consultation has highlighted many issues across the area that can be categorised as following:

 School Traffic Issues.  Congestion / ease of movement.  Safety.  Parking.  Passenger Transport.  Maintenance.  Access to facilities.  Street scene.  Future Developments.  Pedestrian and Cycle Facilities.

The Area Plan will encompass a review of the existing Transportation Plans for Bishop’s Stortford and Sawbridgeworth and contain action plans to tackle the specific transport related problems and issues in the area.

The Eastern Hertfordshire Area will also benefit from investment from the countywide themes and programmes for Safer Routes to School, Cycling, Rural and Quality Bus Stops and where appropriate schemes will be delivered as part of the Area Plan.

Existing Bishop’s Stortford and Sawbridgeworth Plans

The Bishop’s Stortford Transportation Plan has been in place since 1996 developed through local consultation processes and contains short, medium and long term measures. The plan aims to improve conditions for all users by sustainable transport projects.

The Sawbridgeworth Transportation Plan was developed through a public consultation exercise which concluded in February 1998. The results highlighted a number of transport and road safety problems perceived by those associated with the town, but the principal issue remained that of congestion and its effects on the town centre environment.

A number of possible solutions were proposed, including rationalised parking in the town, improvements to the existing passenger transport services, a linked system of traffic signals located on major junctions on the A1184 through the town to ease flows within its

Hertfordshire’s LTP 2006/07 - 2010/11 Page A21 TRANSPORT PANEL DRAFT (MARCH 2005) centre and a relief road which takes through traffic around the centre to the west of the town.

In November/December 1999 these solutions were put back into the public arena for further consultation and debate. Analysis of the responses indicated that with the exception of the relief road most issues found favour. The relief road was considered by many to be too limited and not far enough away from the town. At the Environment Committee of the County Council on 11 July 2000, Members agreed not to pursue the relief road at this time but develop the other measures through consultation and implement as funds became available. As a consequence of this Sawbridgeworth has been included with the Bishop’s Stortford programme and schemes have been selected and delivered through consultation with a local Forum group.

The Bishop’s Stortfold/Sawbridgeworth Plan will be reviewed during LTP2.

Shared Plan Considerations

The key elements of the existing lans of Bishop’s Stortford and Sawbridgeworth and the emerging issues from the initial research and consultation on the Area Plan are described below

(i) Bus Infrastructure With increasing traffic volumes the existing bus services are suffering from congestion and measures are needed to secure improvements. Improving the attractiveness and reliability of passenger transport will improve its use.

(ii) Cycling Facilities This involves the development of cycle routes and high quality parking facilities to make cycling more attractive. Promoting cycling through the support of Business Travel Plans and supporting the proposals for the National Cycle Network linking Stansted Airport with Harlow.

(iii) Parking Residents in Bishop’s Stortford and Sawbridgeworth suffer from commuter parking in local streets. The plan will support the District Council in the development of controlled parking zones. Schemes will also be pursued that reduce congestion and improve safety. Support will also be given to parking schemes that benefit the commercial areas of the towns.

(iv) Pedestrian Facilities This includes the upgrade of pedestrian facilities, improving provisions for disabled, providing safer crossing points and relieving congested areas. An area highlighted has been the improvement of the railway crossing facility at Kings Court. The present railway bridge has very steep steps and is an effective bar to movement for the mobility impaired. The bridge provides a pedestrian link to the town centre and lies on a proposed Strategic Cycle Network Route.

(v) Safer Routes to Schools As well as educating children about transport and alternatives to car travel, it is important for them to be able to use alternatives. Safer Routes to School aims to empower children and parents through information, network improvements and addressing passenger transport issues. By providing a safer environment for travel, cycling, walking and

Hertfordshire’s LTP 2006/07 - 2010/11 Page A22 TRANSPORT PANEL DRAFT (MARCH 2005) passenger transport become much more attractive for the journey to school than using the car.

(vi) Traffic Management The plan will recognise the need to manage traffic in selected residential areas. The reduced vehicle speeds will improve safety and the urban environment. Traffic calming schemes will be developed in close consultation with local people to ensure that appropriate local solutions are found.

(vii) TravelWise TravelWise and Business TravelWise are county-wide initiatives to change travel behaviour. The Area Plan will concentrate on helping companies to develop their own travel plans, including the improvement of facilities identified as barriers to walking/cycling or bus use and assistance with car sharing databases.

(viii) Air Quality An objective of the developing plan will be to reduce the transport impacts on health by tackling vehicle emissions. East Hertfordshire District Council assess local air quality and are continuing to monitor sites within Sawbridgeworth, one of which was previously declared an Air Quality Management Area but revoked in September 2004. Objectives of the plan will be to reduce the dependence on the car and ease areas congested with motor vehicles.

(ix) Street Scene The Plan aims to provide a safe and attractive environment.

Wadesmill Bypass Project It was recognised that following the opening of the Wadesmill Bypass the villages of Colliers End, High Cross, Wadesmill and Thundridge would all receive a great benefit from the reduction in traffic volume, but without further traffic calming and enhancement work the villages would not gain the maximum benefit. A programme of work has been developed in conjunction with local residents and a Forum Group that aims to improve the safety of the old route and making it more attractive to cyclists and pedestrians. The facilities for the buses will also be improved.

2.6 West Hertfordshire Area Plan

The West Hertfordshire areas covers the Towns of Hemel Hempstead, Berkhamsted and Tring with a total population of 112,000. It is based on a natural transport corridor which includes the A41 Trunk Road the West Coast Main Line and the Grand Union Canal. There is increasing pressure for small development in and around Berkhamsted and just outside Tring, and there is industrial development at Pitstone. Tourism is becoming increasingly a more important industry in the area, with the Grand Union Canal and improved access to the countryside.

During the five year period of LTP1 a number of transport schemes were carried out following local consultation, including pedestrian improvements, cycling and passenger transport schemes, and parking and Park and Ride studies for Hemel Hempstead. Traffic claming also took place along the A4621 and in Kings Langley.

The Area Plan is yet to be delivered. LPT 1 indicated development for the plan would be between 2006 to 2008 and this target is being considered as obtainable if the present planned funding is available.

The West Hertfordshire Area Plan will be developed to tackle both in town sustainable transport challenges in the settlements of Hemel Hempstead, Berkhamsted, Kings Langley and Tring as well as integrating transport needs between settlements with rail transportation. Major consideration will be given to improving all forms transport across West Hertfordshire from the west to the East of Dacorum Borough working with all parties including rail and water transport interests.

Current work has mainly focussed on Hemel Hempstead with minor local schemes being built in Berkhamsted, Kings Langley and Tring The excellent local programmes of work that have been followed to date will be enhanced by having an Integrated Transport Plan. There are transport forums steering groups and other interested groups and partners already formed that are keen and see the need for the integrated West Hertfordshire Plan. This will assist in the detailed consultation processes. The intention is to expand all the work to date to address all the issues raised in this submission for inclusion in the full Transport Plan for the Area of West Hertfordshire.

The Development of the West Hertfordshire Area Plan will concentrate on the following strategies:

Cycling Facilities Continuing to develop a cycling strategy working with Dacorum Borough Council and interested cycling parties so that there is a comprehensive network between Hemel Hempstead , Berkhamsted and Tring.

Passenger Transport Infrastructure There is a need for interconnection between the three towns to open up economic opportunities and improve access to all sectors of the community. Improvements for bus priority schemes will be continued with the aim to providing better public transport for West Herts. Better and safer bus passenger environments and a more efficient facility for operators are required. The use of passenger transport within these market towns, as well as integration with other transport systems will also be investigated.

Parking A parking strategy has been adopted with Dacorum Borough Council, and this strategy will be kept under review.

Pedestrian Facilities The key to the West Hertfordshire Area Plan and the Town Plans is to encourage walking. Improvements to existing routes will continue within the A41 Corridor especially in places of special beauty, and new links will be developed with the towns. Within the towns themselves there will be additional crossing facilities as required.

Safer Routes to School It is essential that children be educated about other alternatives of transport travel other than car transport. Safer Routes to School therefore needs to be an important part of the West Hertfordshire Area Plan, especially as the take up of this initiative to date in West Hertfordshire is poor. With the positive action of bringing the Mid Hertfordshire Area Plan and the town plan on-line it is anticipated a safer environment for travel such as walking and cycling to school will be more attractive to schools, parents and students alike.

Traffic Management The plan will build on the work already carried out under the countywide programmes, and suitable traffic schemes will be implemented in an overall integrated planned manner. Consultations will continue to take place locally as well as bringing wider consultees together for the whole of the area, all working together for the transportation benefit of West Hertfordshire.

Further work will need to take place along the A41 corridor as there is an increase in heavy traffic use through these market towns and it is perceived drivers prefer to use these routes rather than the A41. This is having a marked effect on the environment and there could be future safety issues. A further study with recommendations will need to be carried out.

A number of Town Plans will be developed including: Hemel Hempstead town plan, Berkhamsted town plan and Tring town plan

The development of these plans will include:  Passenger transport links between the three towns (and in particular links with the new and the old town in Hemel Hempstead);  Safety measures with particular urban major road junctions;  Links with other forms of transport especially rail and access to airports;  Review the parking strategy and ensure the Park and Ride strategy is still not feasible on economic argument;  Continue with traffic management initiatives;  Develop links with passenger transport strategies for the area;  Develop transport planning in the areas of major housing and industrial developments in and around the town;  Look at the local market and their development and effects on transport facilities;

(a) Berkhamsted Town Plan

The development of the plan will include:  Passenger transport links with the other two towns in West Hertfordshire;  Links with other forms of transport especially rail (Berkhamsted Station is well used ) and access to airports;  Review the parking strategy and ensure full use is made of all parking areas;  Look at economical development at Gravel Path, and improvements now being carried out to the bridge itself and develop the environment in keeping with the area at present;  Continue with traffic management initiatives especially with regards to the A41 links into the town;  Develop links with passenger transport strategies for the area for passenger transport across the valley rather than the present issue of looking at passenger transport through the town;  Develop transport planning in the area of housing and industrial developments in and around the town;  Develop a positive uptake of safer routes to school with all 11 schools in the area;  Look at the local market and their development and effects on transport facilities;  Design in traffic management with the local tourist attractions such as the Canal and its tow paths in the area;  Develop further cycling initiatives in and around the town.

(b) Tring Town Plan

The development of the plan will include:  Passenger transport links with the other two towns in West Hertfordshire;  Links with other forms of transport especially rail (Tring Station is well used) and access to airports;  Review the parking strategy and ensure full use is made of all parking areas;  Look at economical development with areas of countryside interest and develop the environment in keeping with the area at present;  Continue with traffic management initiatives especially with regards to the A41 links into the town. Heavy traffic is said to be breaking up the High Street itself;  Carry out a regeneration of the construction of the High Street;  Develop transport planning in the area of housing and industrial developments in and around the town;  Continue to develop a positive uptake of safer routes to school with schools in the area;  Look at the local market and their development and effects on transport facilities;  Design in traffic management with the local tourist attractions such as the areas of Countryside beauty;  Develop further cycling initiatives in and around the town.

Long Term

 Improve reduction of the noise level of the A41.  Major public transport integration improvement between all settlements in West Hertfordshire.  Stratify market type in the three towns to achieve better economic integration. Hertfordshire’s LTP 2006/07 - 2010/11 Page A26 TRANSPORT PANEL DRAFT (MARCH 2005)

 Improve tourism in the region.

3. MAINTAINING EXISTING SERVICE LEVELS

3.1 Highway Network Maintenance

This strategy helps to deliver the following objectives:

To obtain best use of the existing network through effective design, maintenance and management.

To ensure that the transport system contributes towards improving the efficiency of commerce and industry and the provision of sustainable economic development in appropriate locations.

To develop a transport system that provides access to employment, shopping, education, leisure and health facilities for all, including those without a car and those with impaired mobility.

The County Council has a statutory duty to maintain most highway assets and the standards it sets are accordingly important. Damage to the highway can arise from a variety of sources and can create hazards for highways users, particularly those on foot or cycle. A well maintained highway network is essential to provide for the economic prosperity of the county, to facilitate safely all modes of travel and to protect past investment in the asset.

The condition of Hertfordshire’s principal road network is slowly deteriorating year on year, as shown by National Road Maintenance Condition Survey information. In 1999, 25% of Hertfordshire’s principal roads had less than zero residual life, the poorest category for structural condition.

Review of Maintenance

The County Council completed a comprehensive review of its highways maintenance standards in 1999. This study was undertaken as a pilot Best Value review. It incorporated considerable consultation with the public (using the Hertfordshire Citizens Panel) and other stakeholders, including local councils, business, staff and elected members. It has drawn out best practice through extensive benchmarking with other authorities in the East of England Region. The existing basis for the maintenance service has been challenged through this benchmarking and tested by external representation from lay advisors, legal representatives and District Audit.

The review concluded that significant changes to service strategies, standards and management practices should be made. These will be introduced over the next 2 – 3 years. The key resulting strategies are outlined below.

The overarching strategies for maintaining the network are:

• to maintain the public highway in a safe condition which ensures the safe and efficient movement of people and goods in line with the hierarchy. • to maintain the asset value of all public highways at optimum cost.

Within this the first priority for action is the safety of highway users. This relates closely to the second priority, that of minimising the risk to the authority as a consequence of its activities. Finally, to safeguard the economic wellbeing of the county there is a need to ensure the long term serviceability of the highway asset.

New maintenance hierarchies are being established which are based on the route hierarchy described in section 5.34 but which give greater priority in all aspects of maintenance to routes carrying the highest volumes of traffic. Higher maintenance standards will be applied to these routes.

The County Council intends to adopt a formalised approach to asset management planning building on its current good practice. The key elements to this approach are:

• planning for future asset requirements based on projected network growth and service levels; • ongoing monitoring of performance and condition of all assets; • working to optimise long term life cycle costs of assets; • cost effective management through improved systems and practices; • improved accountability over the use of public resources; • improved stakeholder satisfaction.

This approach will be developed and implemented with the assistance of private sector partners and a comprehensive Asset Management Plan will be put in place by October 2001. Early activities in development will include an interim operational plan including a new performance review system in 2000. The county HERMIS 2000 maintenance management system is being developed with the assistance of private sector partners into an extensive asset management system to underpin the new asset management strategy. The county is currently pursuing United Kingdom Pavement Management System (UKPMS) Tranche 2 accreditation for this system.

Carriageways

The County Council is responsible for maintaining approximately 4700km of roads of which 405 km are principal roads. The level of investment in maintaining these assets has been reduced in recent years and the recent service review has indicated that first priority for structural maintenance refurbishment should be given to principal roads which carry the greatest volumes and weights of traffic. The intention of the road hierarchy described in section 5.34 is to concentrate volumes of through traffic and particularly heavy goods vehicles onto the main roads. Principal roads comprise 10% of the county highway network by lane length but carry 70% of the heavy goods vehicle traffic.

The amount and composition of traffic carried by the county’s principal roads puts a considerable demand on their strength. The maintenance review emphasised the need to target investment on the roads carrying the busiest and heaviest traffic, essentially the principal road network. The contribution of this network in carrying essential goods and service towards the economic vitality of the county is substantial.

In response to public consultation about the Local Performance Plan, the County Council has set the improvement in maintenance of its busiest roads to promote the prosperity of the county as a key performance promise in the 2000/01 Performance Plan.

National Road Maintenance Condition Survey (NRMCS) information indicates a year on year increase in the length of Principal Road Network with less than zero residual life since 1995. Figure 5.8(1) shows this trend.

During 1999 deflectograph surveys were undertaken across 85% of the principal road network. The current structural condition of the principal road network which is considered eligible for deflectograph surveys is shown in Fig 5.8(2).

There is a clear disparity between these findings and the NRMCS data. The county had been concerned over the suitability of past deflectograph surveys due to the nature of the construction of its network. Coarse Visual Inspection (CVI) surveys are being completed and analysed to validate the deflectograph data. Any modifications will be reflected in future NRMCS data and monitoring reports. The 1999 survey data has been used to develop forward programmes and improvement targets.

To give practical expression to the objectives to improve the maintenance of the busiest roads a structural condition target has been set. The aim is to ensure that no more than 6% of the principal road network will have less than 5 years residual life by 2006 (as measured by nationally recognised deflectograph surveys).

A key transport objective of the county is to improve the safety of highway users. This is reinforced by the findings of the review that safety remains the first priority for maintenance. There is a need to improve surface skid resistance of the busiest roads in Hertfordshire.

Survey information indicates the percentage of the principal road network which is below the investigatory level in the nationally accepted Code of Good Practice. A target for surface skid resistance for principal roads will also be set. This will be based on nationally recognised SCRIM surveys and will seek to ensure that no principal roads will have a SCRIM reading within 0.1 of designated investigatory levels by the year 2006.

To help meet the targets pertaining to structural strength and surface skid resistance, a programme of carriageway refurbishment costing £4.8 million each year for the next five years will be required, and this is shown in Table 5.8(1).

To monitor these targets and other performance indicators network condition will continue to be monitored by a suite of programmed surveys covering structural, surface and visual condition and safety inspections.

The condition of the non-principal network will also be monitored through some of the surveys described above. The maintenance priorities for this network are determined in line with the maintenance hierarchy. All the network will be maintained in a safe condition. Surveys indicate that there is a significant maintenance need of £57 million for non- principal carriageways. As knowledge and experience of UKPMS CVI surveys develops, future asset management plans will seek to set condition targets for the non-principal network.

Footways and Cycleways

The County Council is responsible for maintaining over 4800km of footways and 81km of independent cycleways. The level of investment has led to limited structural maintenance of footways at the lower end of the maintenance hierarchy. There is significant need indicated at £30million for footways and cycleways. The service review has shown that a revised maintenance hierarchy should be developed for footways and cycleways giving greatest priority to routes carrying the most usage but also reflecting increased maintenance importance for routes designated as high priority to promote usage (as described in section 5.19) and high risk which cater for vulnerable users and repeated incidence of defects. This new hierarchy will seek to accommodate the National Walking Strategy and will be introduced in 2001/02.

The footway and cycleway network condition is measured by programmed surveys.

• Visual inspection surveys were undertaken across the entire network in 1999 and will cover 50% of the network each year from now on. • Safety inspection regimes follow national standards and will be adjusted to reflect the introduction of the new maintenance hierarchy.

Improved risk management processes will seek to address the incidence of accidents and consequent claims upon the authority and will be closely monitored and reported upon within the performance review section of future asset management plans.

Street Lighting

Effective lighting is essential to help ensure the safety of everyone using the roads and public areas in Hertfordshire. Well lit roads and public areas play a key role in supporting sustainable transport and community objectives. Well lit roads will reduce accidents and help all road users, including pedestrians and cyclists, while well lit public areas will serve to increase the confidence of the public to walk and cycle during the hours of darkness by helping to reduce the fear of crime.

To this goal the Hertfordshire County Council maintains over 112,000 street lights, 18,000 illuminated signs and over 6000 illuminated bollards through its asset management system which maintains a full inventory of all the assets to facilitate the operation of a performance contract which ensure that performance indicator targets are met. The Highway Asset Management Plan recognises the sustainability of the stock with whole life costing using equipment age as the motive.

The Hertfordshire County Council recognises that we all need artificial light to enjoy our environment during the hours of darkness but also is aware of its duty of care to the environment. To ensure this is meet all new equipment installed has been chosen with environmental issues such as energy and light pollution reduction measures in mind. Modern techniques under trial involve varying light levels and remote monitoring systems to reduce CO2 emissions caused by night-time inspections using fossil fuel.

To ensure the lighting asset is maintained in a holistic manner a ranking system for the prioritisation process has been put in place. The ranking system is designed to give each scheme for lighting improvement a score using weightings for factors such as traffic and pedestrian flows, accident and crime statistics.

The Hertfordshire County Council has a policy of using high economy lamp and gear combinations. This together with designing highway lighting to the current British Standard will enable the most efficient lighting solution for maximum economy while meeting the criteria for

Winter Service

Hertfordshire Highways undertakes winter service as set out in its Winter Service Operational Plan which conforms with the National Code of Good Practice, and aims to assist in reasonably securing expeditious and safe movement of traffic on the road network.

The prioritised system of precautionary salting in anticipation of forecast icy conditions covers 46% of the road network in Hertfordshire, and prioritised hierarchies exist to tackle the remainder of the highway network during prolonged sub zero or snowy conditions.

Operations are carried out from four strategically located depots owned by the County Council. Salt is stored in purpose built barns at each of the depots which maintains the salt at an optimum moisture content and thus allowing more accurate and reduced spread rates reducing possible environmental effects of over-spreading.

To ensure salt is spread on the required roads in the correct treatment times, works team gritters are fitted with Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) equipment and data logging devices.

The Operational Plan is reviewed on an annual basis to consider possible service changes and developments identified during the winter season and to take into account improvements in industry standards and public expectations. The possible inclusion of precautionary salting of footways by mechanical means is likely to be a considered future service development.

Road Signs and Marking

The County Council is responsible for over 52,000 roads signs in excess of 3,000 km of markings and around 93,000 road studs. These features play a critical function in contributing to the safety and convenience of highway users. A comprehensive inventory is maintained on the county’s HERMIS information system. The recent service review has indicated the need to improve upon the current systems of inspection and renewal.

During 2000, the existing safety inspection system will be complemented by the introduction of condition monitoring inspections. For routes carrying over 10,000 vehicles/day, the condition of road marking and studs will be formally inspected annually and renewal programmes instigated where differences are found. On these routes, road signs will have their condition inspected every 2 years and inadequate signing will be replaced. Furthermore, signs will be cleaned twice a year on these busier routes rather than the annual clean on other routes. Any reported safety hazards or those identified through regular safety inspections will be renewed as is presently the case.

Environmental Issues

The maintenance service review has analysed the environmental impact of highway maintenance activities. The Environment Department will be introducing an Environmental Management Scheme (EMS) in accordance with ISO 14001 for its activities by March 2001. The adoption of a whole life costing approach to maintenance will make a significant contribution to the EMS approach. Maintenance methods will be reviewed to minimise waste disposal and increase re-use and recycling and a new internal code of practice will be produced.

The county’s term contract for engineering consultancy also includes for the use of an EMS to ISO 14001. This system is currently in operation and identifies the potential environmental impacts or liabilities that may result from schemes within the maintenance programme. These impacts are considered during the scheme design process and action taking to reduce adverse environmental effects. The environmental effects are assessed against the following factors: • cultural heritage • pedestrian and other community effects • construction impacts • vehicle travellers • ecology and nature • water quality/drainage • landscape effects • geology and soils • land use • impact of schemes on policies • traffic noise and vibration

Changes to street lighting bulk, clean and change programmes will reduce waste and the removal of non-essential road-sign lighting, (replaced with reflective signing) will reduce energy consumption. A trial of recycled plastic road signs will take place in 2000 to assess their suitability against the current aluminium type used.

The existing maintenance systems for ‘heritage’ roadside verges – those exhibiting flora and fauna of particular bio-diversity value – will be improved and extended where possible, an example being the ‘Environmental Guidelines for the Management of Roads in the Chilterns’.

The county guide to new road developers ‘Roads in Hertfordshire’ will be comprehensively reviewed to incorporate revised standards for low maintenance materials and specifications which reduce the environmental impact of new construction and its subsequent maintenance requirements.

Proposed Programmes of Work

The maintenance programme is considered under five categories:

(i) Long term structural maintenance to roads, footways and cycleways e.g. refurbishment work comprising resurfacing, reconstruction, strengthening, drainage schemes;

(ii) Short term structural maintenance to roads, footways and cycleways e.g. surface dressing, patching, pothole repairs;

(iii) Routine Maintenance, comprising safety issues (e.g. signs, road markings, gully emptying and other drainage cleansing) and environmental work (e.g. grass cutting, verge repairs, weedkilling);

(iv) Street lighting maintenance for lighting, illuminated signs and subway lights;

(v) Winter maintenance, which covers precautionary salting and snow and ice clearance.

The delivery of maintenance programmes is channelled through the six area highway offices each covering a district council area. Within each area, much of the maintenance work is undertaken by district/borough councils acting as agent for the county council.

One stop service outlets known as Highway Partnerships operate in the remaining four district areas. These are joint district and county resourced units overseen by joint elected member panels.

All of these arrangements provide a local point of contact and a responsive, effective service to the public in accordance with the County’s Citizen Charter standards.

Principal Roads Maintenance Programme

Clear targets have been set for the improvement of the structural and surface condition of principal roads. These have been derived from a detailed analysis of condition surveys.

There is a recognition that based on the current structural condition, shown in Figure 5.8(2), if no significant strengthening works are undertaken on the sites exhibiting 0-5 years residual life at the end of the period 2001-06 these sites will be exhibiting negative residual life. This would also be the case if all investment were concentrated on a worst first basis to the parts of the network currently demonstrating negative residual life. In general, these routes are likely to need the most significant repairs often full reconstruction and earlier interventions on routes which only require strengthening will be more cost effective in the long term.

Therefore, the programme that has been developed for structural refurbishment focuses on maximising the strengthening of routes exhibiting 0-5 years residual life including associated sections of the negative and 5-10 years life where practicalities dictate. It is anticipated that the extent of negative residual life will also be reduced by this strategy but it is not cost effective to eliminate it. This represents the most effective way of reducing costs over time whilst minimising the proportion of the network with low residual life.

The financial programme put forward in Table 5.8(1) represents similar levels to that in the previous years Local Transport Plan but will effect a clear improvement in structural condition of the network showing less than five years residual life – from 10.8% to 6%. As a measure of its commitment towards this improvement the county council has injected over £1 million of capital expenditure over and above the government funding provided through the provisional LTP settlement.

Should funding beyond that proposed in Table 5.8(1) be made available then it would be directed towards achieving two discrete aims. Firstly, a continuance of the approach described above concentrating on strengthening and secondly an extension of this approach with a greater emphasis on reducing more comprehensively sections of road exhibiting negative residual life. It is estimated that an injection of £1.2m per annum over and above that shown in Table 5.8(1) would enable the proportion of the principal road network showing less than 5 years residual life to be reduced to 3%. Similarly increases of £2.4 m per annum would give reductions to 1%.

However, analysis of the comprehensive deflectograph surveys undertaken in 1999 shows that any investment of less than around £2 million per annum on structural strengthening targeted as described above would actually show a deterioration in condition from current levels in both the negative and less than 5 year bands.

Whilst the refurbishment programme is targeted on improving both the overall structural and surface condition of the network, there will continue to be a need for short term structural maintenance. New monitoring systems have been established to monitor the extent of reactive maintenance which is being carried out. This will be particularly important in monitoring the condition of sections of road exhibiting zero residual life.

The expenditure requirement for short term structural maintenance is £600,000/year. This will cater for continued programmes of surface dressing, patching, localised surfacing and similar preventative maintenance treatments. This cost effective approach will assist in prolonging the life of the asset and reducing the need for more extensive repairs.

This approach gives the environmental benefits accrued by reducing the scale of future works. As schemes within the refurbishment programme are taken forward they will be subjected to environmental appraisals under the Environmental Management Systems described earlier.

3.2 Bridges

To obtain the best use of the existing network through effective design, maintenance and management.

To develop an efficient, safe, affordable and enhanced transport system which is attractive, reliable, integrated and makes best use of resources.

The County Council owns approximately 1500 bridges and other highway structures, and a further 400 are owned by third parties (mainly Network Rail and British Waterways). In addition, the Highways Agency is responsible for 434 structures on trunk roads and motorways. When the de-trunking of the non-core routes is completed during 2005, the County Council will take over responsibility for a further 60 of these structures.

The County Council’s overall strategy for bridges is to: • give the highest priority to completing the bridge strengthening programme; • implement full 40 tonne capacity on any bridge where strengthening works are required; • maintain and improve the condition of the bridge stock through routine maintenance; • give a high priority to completing the parapet upgrading of those structures ranked as high risk; • give priority to safety and durability when undertaking structural maintenance; • incorporate works on bridges within an overall asset management plan; • undertake consultation to minimise the impact on local residents and businesses.

There are 8 County Council bridges which still require strengthening to elements under the carriageway. It is anticipated that this strengthening programme will be completed by end of 2006/07. In addition to the bridges still requiring strengthening to elements under the carriageway there are 43 structures which have understrength elements under their footways and edges which could be subjected to accidental loading. Upon completion of the carriageway strengthening programme the edge protection or strengthening programme will be commenced.

MANAGING THE BRIDGE PROGRAMME

In managing Hertfordshire’s bridge stock and delivering the overall objectives the following key practices are carried out:- a) Planning and Prioritising With limited resources and a growing backlog of required works there is a clear need for systematic prioritisation techniques to be applied in determining programmes of works. In the early-mid 1990’s a Risk Management System (RMS) was developed by HCC to manage the substandard bridge stock. The methodology involves assessing the needs of the site in terms of: Condition/ Capacity, Failure Type, HGV’s Carried, Road/Route Hierarchy, Chance of Load Occurring and Location. These six factors are weighted to produce a ‘prioritisation score’. Hertfordshire’s LTP 2006/07 - 2010/11 Page A36 TRANSPORT PANEL DRAFT (MARCH 2005) b) Consultation The prioritisation of any bridge scheme will, in addition to taking on board the global route hierarchy, reflect the proximity of nearby businesses and residents and their needs. Early consultation is seen to be mutually beneficial.

In terms of reducing the impact on businesses and residents, bridge works are designed to cause minimum disruption by using ‘Site Rental’ type contracts where appropriate. These contracts are developed with the intention of minimising disruption during the construction phase of the project with consideration being given to innovative methods to minimise the construction period. Road closures to carry out strengthening and refurbishment works are only implemented where necessary to protect the safety of the workforce and/or the public. c) Co-operative Working

Apart from those bridges under local authority or Highways Agency ownership, there are three main private bridge owners within the county; - Network Rail, who own over 6% of the bridges stock (131 bridges) - British Waterways Board - Thames Water Utilities.

Network Rail; The proximity of Hertfordshire to London means that there is a high number of main rail routes through the county. A track record of co-operative working with Network Rail has existed for many years, and on the strength of this, early progress was made in establishing one of the first Joint Venture Agreements for the assessment programme. This assessment programme is substantially complete and work has continued on the imposition of interim measures to bridges failing their assessment and the strengthening programme is also underway.

British Waterways; Joint Venture Arrangements between HCC and BWB have been in place for the assessment process since 1996 and HCC have part funded this work. All BWB Bridges have been assessed and we are working closely with them to ensure that strengthening works are undertaken with the minimum impact on the highway network. British Waterways are also a member of the County Council’s LTP Strategic Group.

Thames Water Utilities; A relatively large portion of Thames Water Utilities bridges have failed their assessments. As the Highway Authority (and Technical Approval Authority (TAA) for structures carrying the highway) we have worked closely with Thames Water Utilities with their assessment and strengthening programme.

Where works to bridges owned by outside parties are identified, they are then included in the Integrated Works Programme to ensure efficient use of the network and to ensure they do not conflict with any HCC works. d) Environmental Sensitivity

The need to develop and deliver schemes which are environmentally sensitive is growing and one of the requirements of the term contract with our external ‘consultants’ is the development of an Environmental Management System (EMS) based on the requirement of ISO 14001. The system is aimed at identifying potential environmental impacts or

Hertfordshire’s LTP 2006/07 - 2010/11 Page A37 TRANSPORT PANEL DRAFT (MARCH 2005) liabilities that may result from any proposed scheme, so that they can be considered as part of the scheme design process and appropriate mitigating action taken to reduce adverse environmental effects.

The system calls for a written evaluation of the proposed schemes impact on each of the following headings;

• Cultural and built heritage • Vehicle travellers • Construction impacts • Water quality/drainage • Ecology and nature conservation • Geology and soils • Landscape effects • Impact of road schemes on policies • Land use • Choice of materials • Traffic noise and vibration • Energy • Pedestrian and other community effects

A signed Environmental Audit is produced containing recommendations which might alleviate potential environmental problems. From 1 January 2000 the system has been fully implemented on all new schemes. Full BSI accreditation is being sought for the system in 2000. e) Ensuring Compliance with other Strategies

The bridge strategy was reviewed as part of the overall Maintenance Major Service Review undertaken as part of the Best Value initiative. This exercise challenged the current bridge management strategy and made recommendations to bring it in line with an overall asset management plan.

STRATEGY

The bridge management objective is to economically and effectively maintain the County Council’s bridge stock. This is achieved through a strategy of regular inspections to determine condition followed by routine maintenance works to any element whose condition falls below set intervention levels. Also central to the bridges strategy is the County Bridge Refurbishment programme whose main focus is to upgrade those elements of the County’s medium to large span bridge stock where safety and durability are at risk. The completion of the assessment programme and strengthening of substandard bridges where the imposition of restrictions would have significant effects are also key elements of the bridges strategy.

(a) Inspections

To maintain the County Council’s bridge stock in an economic and effective manner, regular inspections to national guidelines and maintenance to defined standards are undertaken. This work is essentially low cost and has minimal impact on road users.

(b) Routine Maintenance

The County Council is committed to maintaining the condition of the bridge stock and allocated £500,000 from its revenue account for routine bridge maintenance in 2004/05. This revenue funding covers all minor routine maintenance works and also deals with accident repair and emergency works.

(c) Structural Maintenance of Bridges

The need to upgrade to current standards many of the County’s bridges has led to the development of the County Bridge Refurbishment programme. This 10 year programme seeks to carry out steady state maintenance and upgrade substandard features of the County’s medium to large span bridge stock. The main focus of the programme is to upgrade those elements where safety and durability is at risk.

(d) County Assessment Programme

The County assessment programme is complete and a number of further level assessments have been carried out in order to try and improve the ratings of a number of structures to which the technique was considered as likely to yield an improvement in rating.

(e) County Strengthening Programme

Where bridges are found to be inadequate the following courses of action are considered: • The bridge is assessed and given a priority for works • BA79 Appendix E is prepared - and the recommendations implemented which may take the following forms: - the vehicle weight and/or lane restriction applied; - the bridge may be propped; - the condition of the bridge monitored by special inspection at intervals not exceeding two years; - closure of the bridge; - replacement, or strengthening, of the structure to carry the full loading.

Feasibility reports are prepared in order to evaluate the most appropriate option at each site. This is undertaken at each stage of the assessment/strengthening process. Where substantive works are appropriate to improve a bridge’s carrying capacity, the costs are likely to be similar regardless of the desired ‘target’ capacity. This ‘increasing returns’ relationship means that where it is considered that works are required, ‘best value’ is achieved by design and implementing full 40t capacity schemes. By reducing the number of restrictions on the network this enable services such as emergency, public transport (buses), and refuse collection to be implemented with less inconvenience.

(f) Network Rail Assessment Programme

The terms of the Joint Venture Agreement with Network Rail (previously known as Railtrack Plc) for the assessment of their ‘road over rail’ bridges took many years to agree between Network Rail and the CSS. Following agreement in 1995 the County Council were one of the first to enter into such a joint venture to expedite the process. The assessment programme was substantially completed in 2003/04. Of the 61 bridges

Hertfordshire’s LTP 2006/07 - 2010/11 Page A39 TRANSPORT PANEL DRAFT (MARCH 2005) assessed under the joint venture some 40% were found to fail to meet full loading requirements under the carriageway.

(g) Network Rail Strengthening Programme

For those structures failing their assessment a risk assessment has been carried out to determine appropriate interim measures in order to reduce the risk of a bridge being overloaded, pending a strengthening or reconstruction scheme being implemented. The mitigation measures used are dependent on the mode and severity of the assessment failure. Examples of interim measures which have been applied to a number of bridges across the county are weight restrictions and narrowing the carriageway to a single lane and controlling traffic via priority signing or traffic signals.

The first strengthening scheme carried out in conjunction with Network Rail was completed in 2004/05 and there are a number of further schemes programmed for future years. However, due to the significant costs involved in working on the railway and the limited availability of access to the railway network, it is anticipated that this strengthening programme will take a considerable length of time to complete.

(h) Parapet Upgrading Programme

A significant number of highway structures within the county have parapets which do not meet current containment levels and as such may not have sufficient containment capacity to prevent an errant vehicle from penetrating the parapet in the event of a impact.

In order to address this aspect a process of ranking each structure with substandard parapets was carried out to determine the sites with highest risk. This risk ranking looked at such factors as the feature below the structure, type of highway carried by structure, length of substandard parapet, clearance from edge of road to parapet and the degree of shortfall in containment capacity.

There are 2 main methods of addressing substandard parapets and these are replacement of the substandard parapet with a new one to current standards, however this usually involves significant structural modification to the bridge. The alternative is to protect the substandard parapet by installing safety fencing, concrete barriers or safety kerbs in front of the parapet.

There was a total of 73 structures ranked as high priority. At the end of 2004/05 some 19 of these structures have been protected or upgraded.

(g) Weight Restrictions

The inevitable result of adopting BA79 is that there has been a need to impose ‘Full Interim Measures’ at several sites across the county. A number of sites were identified and a process of consultation and diversion route planning carried out in order to best determine the most appropriate set up at each of the sites.

The difficulty with dealing with substandard bridges by imposing a weight restriction is that unlike lorry bans the restrictions are not normally subject to any exemptions. This could result in large detours for public service vehicles such as fire engines, buses and refuse vehicles. In order to enforce these weight restrictions it is often necessary to impose width

Hertfordshire’s LTP 2006/07 - 2010/11 Page A40 TRANSPORT PANEL DRAFT (MARCH 2005) restrictions on the highway either side of the bridge. This can have an environmental impact in the immediate vicinity and can also severely restrict the free movement of light vehicles on the network. The imposition of a bridge weight restriction without a width restriction will increase the risk of failure (due to illegal use) and may require long term monitoring arrangements to be put in place.

2.8 Passenger Transport

To develop an efficient, safe, affordable and enhanced transport system which is attractive, reliable, integrated and makes the best use of resources.

To raise awareness and encourage the use of more sustainable modes of transport through effective promotion, publicity, information and education.

To manage the growth of transport and travel volumes across the county, and thereby achieve improvements in the predictability of travel time.

The County Council's statutory Passenger Transport Policies, contained within the separate subsidiary strategy documents to the Local Transport Plan, set the context and conditions within which services are provided in the county. These subsidiary documents are:

 Hertfordshire's Bus Strategy  Hertfordshire's Intalink Strategy (marketing and information)  Hertfordshire's Rail Strategy

Passenger transport's key roles in this Local Transport Plan are in helping to combat the effects of congestion and ensuring accessibility to employment, education, health services, shopping and leisure for a wide range of the population. These roles reflect directly two of the shared priorities adopted for the second round of Local Transport Plans. However, passenger transport also contributes towards the other two shared priorities – both the bus and rail networks have excellent safety records and have a positive impact on air quality because of the cleaner fuels used.

The bus will be the primary instrument in delivering accessibility and congestion relief in Hertfordshire, but the county's dense network of rail routes, and the importance of London, will ensure that train services also have a critical role in delivering the outcomes identified by our plans and strategies.

In terms of environmental assessment, the combination of the above three strategies make important impacts in:

 Improving modal choice and reducing the need to travel by car  Maintaining levels of economic growth and employment  Creating a vibrant local economy, including the vitality and viability of local centres  Improving access to services and facilities  Improving sustainable use of resources, reducing pollution and fuel consumption

All of this has to be achieved against a background of service provision that is largely outside the direct control or influence of the County Council. In the case of bus services, Hertfordshire’s LTP 2006/07 - 2010/11 Page A42 TRANSPORT PANEL DRAFT (MARCH 2005)

70% of those operated in the county are commercial, requiring no financial support from the local authorities. In the case of rail services, all are provided through separate contractual arrangements with the Strategic Rail Authority (soon to be Department for Transport). This prompts two important features of the County Council's strategies:

 The programmes set out in the Local Transport Plan exist primarily as a support framework that allows commercial or franchised transport operations in the county to be optimised. A healthy commercial sector is essential if the key outcomes of the Local Transport Plan are to be delivered.  The programmes rely heavily on partnership working, with operators, infrastructure providers (including developers where there are major developments), and other local authorities and agencies. Whilst in many cases, the co-ordination of inputs complicates the process of delivery, we believe that the benefits to users are worth capturing. Our programmes will therefore be based on the principles of partnerships that bring together the full range of organisations involved, to deliver as quickly as possible the schemes and services required. Our preference is to deliver these partnerships through mutual consent, wherever possible.

This section sets out the overall framework for passenger transport capital and revenue programmes. Further detail can be found in the three strategy documents listed above.

Capital Programme

The Passenger Transport capital programme is made up of the following elements:

 Bus Priority  Interchanges  Network Access  Passenger Information  Community Rail  Network Ticketing  Vehicles

Parts of these elements will be drawn together as necessary in the establishment of Quality Partnerships at certain locations in the county.

Bus Priority

The objective of this programme is to provide tailored solutions to address local reliability problems. At the centre of the programme will be the procurement and installation of a countywide Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL) system. This will provide a platform for replacement of the first generation bus priority and electronic information systems currently in use. The system will cover the whole county and will be available to all bus operators and possibly the community rail operator. The information received from this system will allow better planning and management of services, as well as the identification of significant hot-spots that require a specific bus priority scheme.

Specific schemes will comprise largely of traffic signal based solutions, where selective vehicle detection is used to give buses priority through early recall or extended green time. However, physical bus priority schemes, such as bus lanes and bus gates, which have been traditionally difficult to implement in Hertfordshire because of congested road Hertfordshire’s LTP 2006/07 - 2010/11 Page A43 TRANSPORT PANEL DRAFT (MARCH 2005) conditions, will continue to be implemented where a more radical response to congestion is required. They will also have a role in new developments, where there is the opportunity to plan dedicated bus infrastructure from scratch. In such circumstances, we envisage a corridor approach, ideally supported by a quality partnership, on which a high quality service can be offered.

AVL system data will be used to measure the performance of these schemes, once they are implemented. The system will be designed to complement other telematics activities on the highway network, sharing communications infrastructure wherever possible to provide a multi-modal response to congestion issues and best value to a wide range of road users.

Interchanges

The strategy for provision and upgrade of interchanges is designed to ensure that users have the best possible access to a wide range of destinations and services. In the case of Watford and Stevenage, proposals in the programme will support the designation of the two towns as Regional Interchange Centres in the emerging regional transport strategy. At many of the county’s railway stations, the enhancement of facilities will improve the integration between the rail and bus networks, and when taken with ticketing schemes being promoted by the Intalink partnership, will reinforce the role of the bus as a local feeder to the rail network.

The County Council has a key role to play at interchanges, both as an owner and manager of infrastructure, and as a representative body working on behalf of users. In practice, interchange facilities across the county are under fragmented ownership, with the various owners having different priorities on provision and maintenance of facilities. The overall aim is to achieve consistency in approach, both in terms of design and on many of the soft issues such as quality of the waiting environment and information, so that customers will be encouraged to make better use of the network. This in turn will help to achieve targets for the mode share for passenger transport.

The programme requires extensive partnership working in order to deliver the required outcomes. Partners will include bus and train operators, Network Rail and the SRA (or its successor), District and Borough Councils, developers and other private landholders. The strategy is to involve these partners fully at all stages of project development and to agree a strategy for funding and delivery of the project. In many cases formal agreements will be required to ensure that the interests of each partner are protected. In the case of new developments, Section 106 agreements will be used to secure the provision of interchange facilities, where these are appropriate.

Inevitably, interchange projects will have common ground with a number of the other themes in the passenger transport programme – in particular bus priority, network access and passenger transport information.

Three main types of scheme will be catered for in the programme:

 Regional Interchange Centres – including Watford Junction and Stevenage Interchanges

 Interchange improvements as part of new town centre developments – including Bishop’s Stortford and Hemel Hempstead, largely or wholly funded through the development package.  Minor improvements at existing interchanges, following audits of facilities related to DDA requirements. Some of these schemes may be wholly are partly funded through the Area Transport Plans, where local planning and consultation has identified them as a particular priority within the agreed programme.

Network Access

As the provider of much of the infrastructure for operation of the bus network, the County Council has a duty under the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 to ensure that the facilities provided make reasonable provision for the needs of the disabled or mobility impaired. In the case of the rail network, this responsibility lies with the train operator and Network Rail, although the prioritisation of access improvements should take account of the services and facilities available beyond the railway boundary.

This programme involves the upgrading of bus stops and interchanges to ensure the best possible access from the infrastructure to the vehicle. The programme is based on the considerable progress already made during the last LTP period. The current target envisages over 1000 stops being fully upgraded by 2007, and further targets will be determined to stretch this commitment beyond this figure.

As part of this programme, the County Council will continue to seek investment from commercial shelter providers linked to advertising revenue. It also includes the completion of audits of existing facilities to determine an ongoing cycle of works.

At railway stations, the programme will focus on those locations agreed as priorities with train operators, and will progress on the basis of joint funding agreements with the industry. Specific priorities have already been identified at St Albans City and Letchworth stations, with further options under consideration elsewhere.

Passenger Information

The strategy for Passenger Transport Information is described in full in Hertfordshire's Intalink Strategy.

The Intalink Partnership, launched originally in 1999, is now established as one of the most innovative local authority / operator partnerships in the UK. The current agreement covers the period up to March 2009. A Business and Marketing Plan for this period now sets out a bold strategy for winning new customers for the network through the basic requirement to provide timely accurate information and more focused marketing activity. We believe this is fundamental to the continued viability of the commercial networks and therefore to the achievement of targets for mode share and relief of congestion.

This increase in marketing activity is being funded through greater financial contributions from partners and from a more targeted allocation of the County Council’s revenue budgets.

A specific commitment in the capital programme relates to the expansion of real-time information systems and the delivery of information to the customer at the “point of sale” (home, office, school, etc.) by a variety of electronic means. Real-time systems will be supported by the AVL system (see Bus Priority, above) and targeted at specific corridors, areas or markets where they demonstrate good value for money. Again, partnership is critical for scheme delivery.

The programme also continues to support the provision of information through national and regional initiatives, such as Traveline and Transport Direct.

Community Rail

This new element of the programme stems directly from the designation of the Watford Junction - St Albans Abbey branch as a Pilot Project in the SRA's Community Rail Development Strategy.

The County Council has a well-established strategy for the route, which supports development of the branch as a viable option to the parallel, congested road corridor. It also aims to improve the accessibility to key facilities and services for each of the smaller communities along the branch.

Components of the strategy are:

 Provision of a passing loop to allow operation of a second train and a minimum half- hourly frequency.  Improvements to stations principally at Watford Junction (through the LTP-funded Watford Junction Interchange scheme) and St Albans Abbey (through potential development promoted by Network Rail)  Integration with bus service networks at each end of the route to improve links with the two town centres.  Formation of a Community Rail Partnership to promote the line and increase its revenue base.

The programme will centre initially on schemes promoted through the CRP, but will also examine the feasibility of elements of the Pilot Project, such as the passing loop, using the principles established in the SRA's strategy. A significant element of the programme in the middle years of this Local Transport Plan will be the funding and construction of the passing loop.

The improvements at Watford Junction, which contribute to the delivery of the strategy, are covered by the major scheme approval received in December 2004. The improvements to bus services will be a component of the revenue programme, to be determined in the context of Bus Network Reviews in Watford and St Albans.

Network Ticketing

This new activity has become an important part of the Intalink portfolio, using powers available to the County Council to promote multi-operator ticketing schemes under the Transport Act 2000.

There are two main elements to this part of the programme:

 Continued expansion of multi-operator ticketing schemes, including Explorer and PlusBus. In particular the latter will be extended to cover more stations.  New opportunities for local travelcards covering the bus and rail networks.

Whilst these are essentially revenue-funded activities, some capital funding will be required for set-up costs and hardware.

Vehicles

There have been considerable improvements to the age and specification of the bus fleet in operation in Hertfordshire over the last 5 years. In particular, the need to provide funding assistance for low-floor vehicles has diminished because this facility is now delivered as standard in many fleets.

However, there is still a need to support the development of innovative local schemes in the community transport sector, where the capital cost of the vehicle is often the biggest hurdle to successful operation. This element of the programme allows capital grants to be made to community transport operations, where they satisfy local needs for accessible transport, or where they provide a more suitable response than the conventional bus service (for example in rural areas where combating social exclusion is important).

Revenue Programme

The County Council's Revenue Programme helps to supplement the services that are provided commercially or through franchise arrangements by a large number of bus and train operators. The programme can be broken down into the following elements:

 Specification and financial support for unremunerative bus services (jointly with District Councils).  Financial support for the Sunday service on the Watford Junction - St Albans Abbey branch line.  Provision of transport for school pupils, both mainstream and special needs.  Provision of printed passenger transport information, through the Intalink Partnership  Administration and funding of concessionary fares schemes for young persons (wholly HCC) and the elderly and disabled (District Council funded).

Strategic Network Planning

Despite the constraints on its powers and influence indicated above, the County Council needs to take a strategic view on development of the bus and rail networks in the county. The immediate issue is that the bus network provides little in the way of fast strategic services between the major settlements, with most inter-urban services filling a local role for communities on line of route. Whilst the rail network is arguably better at providing this kind of strategic service, it is basically aligned north-south, with a strong focus on London.

The County Council will continue to assess strategic options, particularly for east-west travel in the county, through a series of Bus Network Reviews which are due to be completed by the end of 2006.

The Bus Network

The full strategy for the bus network is explained in Hertfordshire's Bus Strategy, which accompanies this Local Transport Plan. It highlights the pressures currently faced by the industry in maintaining the viability of services - principally the rising costs of fuel, staff and premises, and the proximity to London, where the regulated regime and higher wages make for a more stable situation that inevitably places Hertfordshire’s operators at a disadvantage.

There is also an inextricable link between buses and congestion. Congestion causes delays and reliability problems for buses, which impact adversely on their ability to hold their existing customer base. Yet buses should be seen as a principle tool in the fight against congestion, assuming that suitable provision can be made to improve their reliability. In previous years, Hertfordshire has found it difficult to break the downward spiral of bus patronage. Its geography does not help - being close to London and with a structure of a large number of competing smaller market towns, rather than a single dominant settlement. Congestion that is already considerably further advanced than in many locations in the country does not make allocation of increased road space very easy.

The Bus Strategy for 2006-2011 focuses on ways of breaking through this downward spiral, and at least establishing a slight reversal of the trend. The network is currently under review, with options for development being assessed across four quadrants of the county. The opportunity for quality partnerships is being fully assessed, where these are expected to contribute to the overall targets on bus patronage.

The Rail Network

The full strategy for the rail network is explained in Hertfordshire's Rail Strategy, which accompanies this Local Transport Plan. In this case, the pressures are very different, with the industry trying to establish an improved cost base and better reliability against limited investment in additional capacity and the prospect of significant growth, particularly in London commuting.

The County Council has already participated in a number of Route Utilisation Study exercises with the SRA, to investigate capacity and service level issues on routes such as the Midland and West Coast Main Lines. Whilst these exercises are designed to make the best use of existing resources, they inevitably raise conflicts between the requirements of different types of service on the same route. The County Council's objective will continue to be to achieve a balanced solution that does not adversely impact on local services in Hertfordshire. It will also aim to secure development of long distance services from the county’s two major railheads at Stevenage and Watford Junction.

Looking further into the future, the County Council remains very concerned that capacity on the rail network should be sufficient to cater for the significant growth programmed for the region in the next 15-20 years. This is likely to have a serious impact on the levels of London commuting, and all the main radial routes through Hertfordshire will face considerable problems in meeting this demand. On top of this, the expansion of both Luton and Stansted airports will have significant implications for the rail network. We will continue to press for capacity improvements as a precursor to such new developments.

The County Council continues to give financial support for operation of the Sunday service on the Abbey Line. In view of the line’s new status as a Community Railway, this Sunday service remains important, and the County Council’s aim is to see a number of other timetable improvements such as half-hourly services on weekdays and later evening journeys. However, as a point of principle, the County Council believes that all services on the Abbey Line should be included in the franchise specification and funded through the franchise agreement.

The Railways Bill has set out possible new arrangements for the specification and funding of rail services in London, with a greater role for Transport for London (TfL). The County Council has expressed interest in the principle of that role extending into Hertfordshire, subject to sufficient benefits to the county’s rail users being demonstrated. However this should not imply any loss of the County Councils functions and responsibilities as the transport authority for Hertfordshire.

The County Council continues to support the promotion of major rail projects, where they have benefits for Hertfordshire. In addition to the upgrades of our main radial routes, these projects include:

 Croxley Rail Link (promoted by the County Council and LUL)  Thameslink 2000  Channel Tunnel Rail Link  Crossrail (in terms of its potential indirect benefit on the West Anglia route from Liverpool Street)

4. COUNTYWIDE THEMES

4.1 Safety

Objectives

This strategy helps to deliver the following LTP2 objectives:

To improve safety for all by giving the highest priority to minimising the number of collisions and injuries occurring as a result of the transport system.

To develop an efficient, safe, affordable and enhanced transport system that is attractive, reliable, integrated and makes best use of resources.

To mitigate the effect of the transport system on the built and natural environment and on personal health.

Statutory Duties

The County Council has a statutory duty under the Road Traffic Regulations Act 1988 (section 39) that requires authorities to develop programmes to address their known accident problems.

This statutory obligation states that once studies have been carried out on specific accident locations it must, in light of those investigations, take measures that appear to the authority to be appropriate to prevent such accidents recurring.

In addition, Article 13 of the European Convention on Human Rights states that when an individual dies in suspicious circumstances there is a requirement for the police to conduct a “thorough and effective investigation”. As such, when a fatal accident occurs on a public highway, the police treat the incident as an ‘unlawful killing’ until the contrary is proved. The Highway Authority therefore needs to be in a position to work closely with the police to meet this legal requirement.

Targets

In 2000, the County Council adopted the national casualty reduction targets that seek to achieve reductions on all roads, based on 1994-98 averages, by 2010. There is a clear focus on reducing the number of people killed or seriously injured (KSI). For Hertfordshire this means:

 40% reduction in the number of KSI road accidents (1084 reduced to 650)  50% reduction in the number of Child KSI road accidents (113 reduced to 56)  a 10% reduction in the slight casualty rate expressed as the number of people slightly injured per 100 million vehicle kilometres

The County Council also entered into a Local Public Service Agreement (LPSA) that seeks to achieve further reductions in the number of KSI’s on roads excluding motorways, based on 1994-98 averages, by 31 December 2005. This means a stretched reduction from the predicted 2005 total of 770 to 703.

The table below shows our progress to achieving these targets to date:

Hertfordshire Progress to Targets for 2005 and 2010

Actual Target National Target Ave 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2010 1994/98 Overall KSI down 1084 894 814 688 867 650 from an average 1084 per year Child KSI down 113 76 73 68 85 56 from an average 113 per year Slight Casualties 5509 5679 5819 5514 5233 4958

Slight Casualties 49.39 50.68 53.14 50.69 47 45 per 100 mill vehicle Kms (method 1) Slight Casualties 38.96 41.85 42.42 40.70 37 35 per 100 mill vehicle Kms (method 2)

Hertfordshire Progress to LPSA Target for 2005

Actual Target LPSA Target 2003 2004 2005 2005

Reduce KSI casualties on 584 Estimate 703 Hertfordshire roads, excluding 615 motorways

The County Council has the opportunity, during the lifetime of this second Local Transport Plan, to re-set its targets for casualty reduction by 2010. Consideration has been given as to how achievable further stretched reductions might be for total KSI’s and child KSI’s and we propose to set a local total KSI reduction target of 600 by 2010, compared with the original 650. This takes into account the fact that good reductions have been seen in the first three years, but there are concerns that KSI’s might be about to plateau.

With regard to setting a new child KSI target, we propose to remain with the original target of 56 because child KSI collisions are low and scattered, with no obvious clusters or patterns. Hertfordshire’s LTP 2006/07 - 2010/11 Page A51 TRANSPORT PANEL DRAFT (MARCH 2005)

There has been very little change in the number of slight collisions and casualties over the life of the first LTP. It is likely that reductions in fatal and serious collisions have helped to keep slights at a fairly constant level, and high levels of congestion in the county, together with the “compensation culture” where more minor collisions are reported, may also contribute. In the light of this we propose to adopt a new target of “no increase over recent levels” using an average of the last three years. This new target will be to remain below 5615.

Achievements during LTP1

During LTP1 we have achieved considerable success in reducing both our KSI and child KSI casualties, which are now very close to the 2010 targets. We consider this has been achieved through implementing our stated strategy of:  Accident Remedial Measures  Education, Training and Publicity (ETP)  Safety Audit  Enforcement  Encouragement

In addition, the development of a modified ranking system for casualty reduction schemes and the introduction of the Hertfordshire Safety Camera Partnership, to reduce speeds at known casualty sites, have made fundamental contributions to our success.

The ranking system for casualty reduction schemes was modified to provide a greater emphasis on KSI collisions to assist us in achieving our targets. The highways economic note (HEN) is used to give a score to each collision identified, based upon severity. Sites with fatal and serious collisions receive a greater score than slight collisions and subsequently are identified as higher priorities for action. (See 6.1.4)

The Hertfordshire Safety Camera Partnership was formed in October 2002, with the first partnership cameras going live during summer 2003. Early monitoring of the sites where new cameras have been installed indicates a substantial reduction in KSI casualties (54%) together with a 30% reduction in all Personal Injury Collisions (PIC). This compares well with the DfT’s 3 Year evaluation report published in June 2004 that showed a 40% reduction in KSI casualties at camera sites and a 33% reduction in PIC’s.

Strategy for LTP2

As stated in 4.1 above, the strategies employed have successfully reduced KSI collisions and casualties in advance of our targets, and therefore the five main programmes will continue for the life of LTP2.

However, further initiatives will include:  Implementation of a Speed Management Strategy to balance the needs of safety, particularly for vulnerable road users and the need to tackle congestion on the county’s roads  Introduction of Speed Awareness courses, as an alternative to prosecution, to improve driver skills and standards

 Development of a Casualty Reduction Partnership including police, fire and rescue service, ambulance and paramedic service, and Health to provide “added value” to address agreed issues, such as seatbelt wearing rates  Promotion of work related road safety initiatives with local employers and within the county council to manage occupational road risk and reduce collisions that occur when a driver is travelling as part of their work  Focus on motorcycle KSI casualties including working with the police to assess routes with high KSI casualties and the introduction of a motorcycle forum  Further Social Deprivation Studies to investigate patterns that can be identified in disadvantaged areas  Child safety audits to include specific child KSI investigations supported by further development of child pedestrian skills training  Analysis of new data provided by STATS 19 about seatbelt usage and journey types  Work towards meeting the National Cycle Training Standard

Programme Details

As stated in 4.1 there are five main programmes that are explained in more detail below.

Accident Remedial Measures

Engineering measures to address injury accidents can be grouped into five distinct methods:

Area Study: considers geographical areas, not necessarily ward or district areas, with high incidences of severe injury accidents

Route Study: considers routes with high incidences of severe injury accidents

Speed Related: considers routes with high incidences of severe injury accidents that are speed related. Speed related can include misjudgement (the most frequent identified), too fast for the conditions, inappropriate or excessive. Close links are made here with the Safety Camera Partnership.

Cluster Site: identifies collisions that have been clustered closely together. This data is collated in the Hazardous Sites list/report

Mass Action: identifies small clusters where the contributory factors identified have either bend, dark conditions, wet conditions, skidding or bend. This data is collated in the Hazardous Sites list/report

The hazardous sites report is produced each year (July) and provides data with ranking included on the following criteria:

 six or more injury collisions, any severity, in a three year period, in a 75m circle  four or more injury collisions, any severity, in a one year period, in a 75m circle  three or more child KSI collisions, in a three year period, in a 75m circle Hertfordshire’s LTP 2006/07 - 2010/11 Page A53 TRANSPORT PANEL DRAFT (MARCH 2005)

 three or more KSI collisions, in a three year period, in a 75m circle  two or more KSI collisions, in a one year period, in a 75m circle  three or more injury collisions, any severity, in a three year period, in a 75m circle, with a contributory factor identified as a bend, dark conditions, wet conditions, or skidding.

The hazardous sites report for xxxx identified xxxx locations of which xxxx were on motorways and trunk roads, and therefore not the responsibility of the county council.

Ranking of sites uses a weighting system that places a greater emphasis at locations where the accident has been either fatal or serious, on a county wide basis. The weighting process uses the Department for Transport (DfT) Highways Economic Note (HEN), that calculates the costs to the community of the various different severity of accidents. The calculation is directly pro-rated to provide a point scoring system for slight, serious or fatal accidents. The HEN note is calculated by the DfT each year and is also used to calculate the first year rate of economic return by providing the average cost of an injury accident. This process is also explained in the road safety plan.

One of the aspects considered during the investigation process is the economic evaluation of the remedial measures proposed. This is a requirement that determines how quickly the cost of implementing the project is returned in terms of accident and casualties saved.

A first year rate of economic return of 100% is generally sought for most projects with an estimated casualty reduction saving of 40% of those accidents targeted.

There is a three stage process for member consultation, where initially members are advised of the locations under investigation. This is listed in the Integrated Works Programme (IWP) that is circulated in January each year identifying sites for the following year. The second stage is after a preliminary investigation has been completed by officers and reported to members in the form of a spreadsheet for a whole district area. The third stage is by direct letter to the members informing them of the accident investigation/ findings / and proposals. They are invited to meet with officers if desired. Engagement with the public is carried out after contact with members.

Accident remedial schemes are monitored for a period of at least three years after completion to ensure they meet their operational targets. This data is submitted to the DfT’s Molasses database, where it is used to monitor the effectiveness of different approaches to remedial work and to provide guidance on design best practice.

Hertfordshire’s overall transportation policies target a modal shift away from the car. For short journeys this means a switch to cycling and walking. Providing a safe environment for cyclists and pedestrians is important in achieving this change and the safety engineering programme, together with an appropriate education programme has an important contribution to make.

Education, training and publicity (ETP) programmes

Measures are undertaken to:  provide training and/or resources for parents, teachers, playgroup staff and carers to encourage and enable them to implement a wide range of educational programmes for children through to 16+

 provide a school crossing patrol service to encourage parents and children to walk safely to school  encourage schools to include road safety education in the PSHE curriculum, using thoroughly researched and recommended resources  encourage schools to develop a school road safety education policy within their school travel plans  implement child pedestrian skills training programmes in schools, working in partnership with teachers, teaching assistants and volunteers to ensure continued access to training  train cycle instructors and promote cycle training courses for adults and children. Courses are based on Best Practice guidelines and national research. We will also begin working towards the National Cycle Training Standards  develop, implement and promote driver education and training programmes to improve the safety of motor vehicle users, working in partnership with Hertfordshire Constabulary, local driving instructors, health care professionals and other agencies  implement rectification programmes targeted at drivers referred by the police for driving without due care or exceeding the speed limit  support local businesses and voluntary organisations in meeting their duty of care to manage work related road safety under Health and Safety legislation  promote local motorcycle training schemes, and with police, offer advanced motorcycling theory courses and riding assessments as part of the Bikesafe initiative  deliver campaigns with or by partners such as police, health professionals, health and safety managers and fleet managers in businesses, district, town and parish councils, to enable campaign message to be widely distributed and ‘owned’  continue to support the DfT 10 year THINK! campaign that provides a national strapline for any local road safety campaign messages such as:

 Don’t Drink and Drive  Don’t take Drugs and Drive  Always wear your seatbelt (and make sure children are properly restrained too)  Don’t use your mobile phone whilst driving  Keep to the speed limit – it’s there for a reason  Make sure you are visible on the roads  Be aware of other road users

A further breakdown of ETP programmes is given in “Hertfordshire’s Road Safety Strategy (2006 – 2010)”.

Safety Audit

All highway improvement schemes are subjected to safety audits throughout the design process. The new DfT standards are being implemented in the county. Currently the design team has Xxxx Team Leaders Xxxx Team members Xxxx Team apprentices

During the course of a financial year around xxxxx audits are carried out. Each audit is submitted to the design team to review and then approved by the appropriate HCC client.

Attendees for the Stage Three Audit are drawn from the audit team, police, HCC client and road safety officers.

Enforcement

The County Council reviewed its partnership with the Hertfordshire Constabulary (road policing) and the Hertfordshire Safety Camera Partnership came as a direct result of this review (See Section 4). All safety camera enforcement in the county adheres to the national rules and guidance issued by DfT as part of the National Safety Camera Partnership Scheme. The current version of the handbook is available on the Herts Direct website.

In addition, a Speed Management Strategy for Hertfordshire is being developed and Hertfordshire Constabulary (road policing) will be involved.

Encouragement

Government initiatives such as the development of local Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships (CDRP), and the production of Health Improvement Plans by Primary Care Trusts provide an opportunity to draw local partners, communities and individuals into the delivery of road safety objectives, through:

 working in partnership with local communities to identify and address road safety issues raised through district Fear of Crime audits and strategy development, and to encourage community and individual ownership of responsibility for road safety  consultation with local communities and focus groups to identify common issues and objectives, to identify and link budget processes, and to identify their needs and requirements and to gain their views on proposals/measures to improve road safety  work in partnership with local Primary Care Trusts and other health care professionals to develop and implement measures which support Health Improvement Plans  working with District Council planners to ensure that the county council’s objective of ensuring standard 20mph speed limits in new residential housing estates is achieved.

Safety & Health

Consultation and working in partnership with local communities is an established principle in Hertfordshire, enabling road safety issues and concerns to be identified locally, with initiatives being developed to address them. A particular focus centres on our work with Hertfordshire school communities through development of School Travel Plans and ‘Safer Routes to School’ schemes, Walking Bus schemes, and Green Transport Education initiatives including child pedestrian skills training.

4.2 Local Educational Access Route Network (LEARN)

To improve safety for all by giving the highest priority to minimising the number of collisions and injuries occurring as a result of the transport system

To obtain the best use of the existing network through effective design, maintenance and management.

To develop a transport system that provides access to employment, shopping, education, leisure and health facilities for all, including those without a car and those with impaired mobility

To raise awareness and encourage use of more sustainable modes of transport through effective promotion, publicity, information and education.

LEARN (Local Educational Access Route Network) is a continuation of the successful package for delivering Safer Routes to School projects. It will deliver a network of safer and more sustainable transport links to all schools in Hertfordshire by working closely with parents, pupils, teachers and local residents. The schemes to be delivered at individual schools will be based on the models developed in the LEARN programme.

The objectives of LEARN are to:

• reduce the number of child casualties; • promote sustainable transport; • enable schools to develop their own local solutions, including individual school travel plans; • reduce school-related car journeys.

The LEARN initiative will be continued as a major countywide theme in this Local Transport Plan. The LEARN package will deliver a complementary mix of revenue and capital schemes. In addressing their individual problems, schools will be encouraged to devise no/low cost solutions wherever possible. In cases where capital investment is required, the County Council will ensure maximum value for money by implementing schemes which will benefit as many schools as possible.

LEARN is developed from a series of smaller scale projects financed by the County Council. These projects have identified the solutions to particular problems, but more importantly have gained experience in developing solutions in conjunction with local people. LEARN combines all of these projects into an integrated plan for the whole county, enabling the benefits to be maximised. The main projects are:

 School Travel Plans  Safer Routes to School

 Road Safety Education and training  Green Transport Education  TravelWise  Local Safety schemes  Passenger Transport

Development of LEARN Package

Walking and cycling strategies School Travel Safer Routes Plans To School

Road Safety Promotion Education LEARN

Green Transport Education

Passenger Local Safety Transport Schemes TravelWise

The Existing Situation

Hertfordshire’s school population of 178,000 spread amongst 606 establishments (including 56 private schools) creates a major transport requirement across the county. Studies have shown that in Hertfordshire during school term time the level of congestion and traffic is 10 – 12% higher than at other times. The trends in recent years for more children to be driven to school have increased the pressures on the transport network.

The most recent countywide travel survey (Autumn 2002) showed that 40% of children walk to school and 36% travel by car. Two thirds of children travelled three miles or less to school and just under one third travelled less than a mile. The survey also revealed differences between urban and rural school journeys; in rural areas the percentage who walk is lower (34%). Six out of every ten children are accompanied by an adult to school.

School transport encompasses all modes; walking, cycling, buses, trains, cars and taxis. It is therefore important that the strategy covers all these modes. To date, around a quarter of all schools in Hertfordshire have been part of the Safer Routes to School programme.

The overall strategy for school travel is:

(a) To integrate and secure best value.

(b) To encourage more sustainable modes of transport through the promotion of ‘LEARN’.

(c) To develop awareness of health, safety and environmental issues.

(d) To promote the Herts SaverCard for scholars/students.

(e) To develop the Safer Routes to School initiative for wider application.

(f) To encourage schools to develop and monitor School Travel Plans.

(g) To improve accessibility to schools.

THE PROJECTS

(a) School Travel Plans

All schools are encouraged to develop travel plans. Guidelines for developing an effective travel plan are available free of charge for all Hertfordshire schools and government funding for local authority school travel advisers has enabled us to provide additional officer support to assist schools in the development of plans. This is expected to last until March 2006. The DfES have provided small capital grants to those schools that prepare STPs from 2004-2008 to help in the implementation of travel plan issues.

School travel plans encourage safe sustainable travel, inform the development of Safer Routes to School highway engineering measures and provide a means to evaluate changing travel behaviour and promote the use of infrastructure improvements implemented through Safer Routes to School. They include a package of measures to improve safety and reduce car use and are based on consultation with the wider school community. Approved school travel plans include the following elements:  Description of the school, its travel patterns and issues and opportunities to address.  Clearly defined objectives and targets  Details of proposed and existing travel initiatives  Monitoring, reporting and review arrangements

(b) Safer Routes to School

A quarter of all schools in Hertfordshire have been involved in the Safer Routes to School programme to date. Safer Routes to School projects are selected from a ranking list for inclusion within the programme. The ranking list uses a number of factors including accident data around the schools and the schools enthusiasm to take part in sustainable and educational initiatives. Schools will be selected on individual merit or as part of one of the three models for LEARN.

A Safer Routes to School project contains four elements; school travel plan, educational initiatives, practical activities (such as the walking bus, exhibitions and competitions) and physical improvements.

(c) Road Safety Education

The Road Safety Unit covers all aspects of road safety awareness and training. Part of LEARN is to help children to develop their own strategies and the necessary skills to cope with traffic and the road environment. As well as raising the awareness of children’s vulnerability with parents, carers, schools and all road users. Approaches include:-

 Teaching children basic road skills and offering advice to parents and teachers.  Giving advice to parents on in-car safety.  Encouraging parents to walk with their children to help them develop effective pedestrian skills.  Working with teachers to ensure that road safety resources are used in schools.  Providing roadside pedestrian and cycle training schemes.  Developing, promoting and managing the Walking Bus programme.  Providing information to pupils and parents at secondary transfer age.  Managing, promoting and developing the School crossing patrol service.  Developing a programme of publicity campaigns and local events to support national, regional and local road casualty reduction initiatives.  Promoting and delivering driver training programmes with the help of Hertfordshire Constabulary, Institute of Advanced Drivers, the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents and voluntary and commercial organisations.  Promoting the Green Transport Education pack in schools to encourage young people to use alternative modes of transport.

A pilot project “Join The Adventure” has been running in two trial and one observation school to test the effect of longer-term soft measures approaches on school travel. The results confirm that these measures, which concentrate on the health, safety and independence of the children have increased walking and cycling rates. This work is now due to be rolled out to other schools.

(d) TravelWise

TravelWise was established in Hertfordshire in 1993 and has been adopted by over 160 local authorities, leading to the formation of the National TravelWise Association.

Hertfordshire TravelWise works with other local authorities in the county and region to encourage more sustainable transport among a number of target groups and settings. School travel is one of the key settings for this approach both through LEARN and school travel plans and in organising other school transport events and publicity such as Walk To School Weeks and Theatre-in-Education.

Walk to School programmes have now extended from the initial week, started in 1994, to two weeks a year and are due to extend further with local initiatives in schools to promote regular walking over the period of this plan. All primary and nursery schools in the county are invited to take part in each week, and there is generally a high turnout with about 50% of primary schools taking part. The weeks are supported with teacher information and annual competitions, usually on a whole school or class basis. Hertfordshire’s LTP 2006/07 - 2010/11 Page A60 TRANSPORT PANEL DRAFT (MARCH 2005)

(e) Local Safety Schemes

The County Council, in conjunction with its district council agents and partners, implements a safety engineering programme (see Section 5.11). The individual schemes are tailored to the particular accident problem, but include measures such as traffic calming, 20 mph zones, pedestrian facilities and safety cameras through the Hertfordshire Camera Partnership. Accident record data within the vicinity of a school is one of the criteria of the ranking list from which schools are chosen. By taking accidents as an integral part of Safer Routes to School and the LEARN package also contributes to the achievement of road safety targets.

(f) Passenger Transport

The County Council’s considerable experience in providing transport by bus, coach and train for pupils continues to grow. In addition to undertaking its regular activities in arranging transport to school, the County Council has also been pioneering a number of notable passenger transport projects including:

 the continued implementation of the SaverCard scheme which provides half fare travel for 16-18 year olds;  providing specifically tailored transport within the Safer Routes to School project.

There is a need to ensure that pupils can safely and easily access bus services and measures to tackle this have been employed at a number of schools. These include:

 establishing a pupil Bus User Group to help identify issues that need addressing;  provision of bus turning heads in or adjacent to school grounds;  establishing a pilot project under the Community Safety Partnership to raise awareness of the problems of bus shelter vandalism.  Commissioning a Theatre in Education production, offered to secondary schools, to raise awareness of issues associated with behaviour on buses.  Integration of school travel requirements with other bus services.

The County Council has statutory duties in respect of Home to School Transport under the Education Act 1944 (as amended), to provide free transport for certain categories of students/pupils. It also has a duty under the Transport Act 1988 (Section 88) to secure best value for money from their expenditure on passenger transport taken as a whole (including school transport). The County has followed this approach for a number of years, so that the local bus and school contract bus/coach requirements are fully integrated. Over 20% of middle and secondary school pupils are transported to school every day by passenger transport assisting the County Council in meeting its TravelWise aims.

Studies have shown that consistent application of such measures and greater use of passenger transport can reduce accidents and congestion costs justifying further investment in such facilities. However, wider application across Hertfordshire would require considerable sums of money which would have to come from the from the County Council’s revenue budgets. The County Council already spends significant funds on school transport, which is revenue based, approximately £14m pa including Special Schools transport for those with special requirements.

(g)Other Inputs

To support its facilitative role the County Council is updating a Safer Routes to School starter pack to support schools working with us on SRTS projects. The pack is available free of charge to schools in Hertfordshire (including independent schools) and over 260 schools have requested a pack so far. The pack gives the schools the information they need to develop their own safer routes to school project. The pack includes a video; and information on the four elements of a safer routes to school project as well as information on how to access operational services.

Two dedicated web sites have been developed to give inform, educate and promote the project. These provide information not only to Hertfordshire schools but provide information for other authorities, schools and countries and can be found at: www.walkingbus.com www.saferroutestoschool.com

Drama theatre productions have been developed to raise awareness of environmental and safety issues associated with travel choice and to promote LEARN objectives. These include: Driving Miss Daisy a production aimed at promoting proper behaviour on bus journey’s, Car Story and Something Beautiful, an interactive theatre production and workshop.

(h) Walking and Cycling Strategies

Pedestrian and cycle network strategies have been developed within the area plans and urban plans. These are generally aimed to provide high quality walking and cycling links to the main trip attractors within an area, including schools. The LEARN package enables the routes focused around schools to be brought forward and implemented in conjunction with cycle storage facilities at schools and cycle training for pupils.

DELIVERING LEARN

The County Council will continue to initiate projects at the highest priority schools and where there is the need to integrate with other county council transport initiatives in the area. This will help with further research and development. A ranking system has been developed to assist in school selection.

All schools in the county are on the ranking system (including independent schools). The main factors taken into consideration in the selection of potential SRTS projects are severity of injuries in the vicinity of the school, the number of those related to school journeys, the number of schools within a one mile radius, and the willingness of the school to participate in the project. The ranking system will help to identify and prioritise schools which will benefit from the Safer Routes to Schools project.

The ranking list is used to identify high priority schools, and these are then considered in more detail to ensure suitability before making a final selection based on in depth characteristics about each school. Data taken into account in the selection process includes details on school crossing patrols, deprivation, road safety problems, hazardous sites, existing cycle networks, passenger transport provision and census data.

The LEARN package aims to reach out and engage as many schools as possible, as soon as possible. There is much that can be achieved by the schools with assistance from the operational services of the local authorities and constabulary, before capital investment in infrastructure is required (if at all). School travel plans, supported by the county council, enable schools to develop a package of school based measures that are compatible with the objectives of LEARN.

Schools which demonstrate this commitment to the LEARN Package rise within the ranking list for investment in associated infrastructure improvements, if required. This approach engages more schools, assists LEARN to target schools’ unique identified needs and releases resources to deliver the proposed increased investment programme.

MODELS FOR LEARN

Following a series of successful pilot projects the County Council has now developed three basic models which is being tailored for use throughout Hertfordshire:

(a) Secondary/Primary Feeder Model

This model addresses a secondary school and its main feeder primary schools. This model ensures that the benefits obtained in the primary schools can be maintained once the pupils transfer to secondary school. The physical proximity of the school also allows the maximum return to be gained from new infrastructure projects.

(b) Cluster Model

The cluster model is where three or more primary schools are located within the same area. This allows resources to be used effectively, and may allow schools which would otherwise be a low priority because of their small size to be included in the main programme. The benefits of the cluster model approach are:

 achieving best value out of the investment made, because several schools will use the same infrastructure, bus services etc.;  providing a consistent approach for all school children in the area;  developing the ability for schools to learn from each other and to support one another, which will also help to deliver best value;  co-ordinating the travel patterns to the associated secondary schools can be planned;  providing a greater scope to interest other agencies (e.g. health authorities, parish councils) because of the size of the project.

(c) Rural Model

Working with rural schools follows the County Council’s rural strategy. The development of individualised School Travel Plans is linked to the broader development of a Village or Parish Travel Plan. This ensures that the school’s travel patterns and issues are linked with the wider village or parish transport issues. Despite the concentration of schools within larger towns, there are still 69 settlements in Hertfordshire which fall into this rural school category.

The rural model will link with the Rights of Way Improvement Plan, and Rural Transport strategy. Hertfordshire’s LTP 2006/07 - 2010/11 Page A63 TRANSPORT PANEL DRAFT (MARCH 2005)

Partners

The County Council continues to work with partners developing and improving the strategy. With University College London we undertook a three year study to investigate the health benefits of the Walking Bus Scheme and the health consequences of child car dependency.

Monitoring

A key element of a Safer Routes to School project is the School Travel Plan. In order for the Safer Routes to School project to be a long term initiative within a school the school needs to produce its own Travel Plan. The plan will contain targets for modal shift and these will be reviewed on a yearly basis by the schools. The schools carry out their own monitoring exercises and this information will then be collated by the County Council to give a countywide picture.

4.3 Rural Transport

To reduce the need for the movement of people and goods through integrated land use planning, the promotion of sustainable distribution and the use of telecommunications.

To manage the growth of transport and travel volumes across the county, and thereby secure improvements in the predictability of travel time.

Hertfordshire has a significant rural area that accounts for approximately 80% of the land of the county and is home to over 200,000 residents. Hertfordshire villages are no more than 5 miles from a town and this creates complex journey patterns with network services following a north-south direction to London and poor east-west links.

Hertfordshire rural residents have a high car ownership, as shown in the Sustainable Transport in Rural Areas Project (STRAP) where 65% of households in the project area owned two or more cars. In Hertfordshire, 56% of residents in rural areas described themselves as ‘dedicated car users’ compared with 48% in urban areas (County Travel Survey 2002 ). According to the Countryside Agency, traffic increased three times faster on rural A roads than on urban roads between 1981 –1997 and in Hertfordshire this is especially evident at peak times. These traffic and transport issues have a major impact on the rural areas of Hertfordshire and the overall result of circumstances is an overwhelming dependence on the car.

This Rural Strategy responds to the Rural White Paper, ‘Our Countryside: The Future, A fair deal for Rural England’. The Rural White Paper is a key influencing policy document published in November 2000 and seeks to create a living, a working, a protected and a vibrant countryside. The key themes which have been taken into account are to provide local services, a stronger role for communities, recognise the importance of the car, provide quality public transport and co-ordination, improve rural road safety, reduce the impact of traffic in rural areas and encourage cycling and walking. The Hertfordshire Rural Forum

The Hertfordshire Rural Forum is a large umbrella grouping of organisations from the public, private and voluntary sectors that share a common interest in the well being and future of the county’s rural communities and environment. The Forum has produced an ‘Agenda for Action, 2002-2005’ which outlines key rural strands and issues and provides a remit for the Forum. The Forum has identified and endorsed a key rural strand as ‘Transport/Traffic’. Members of the Rural Forum will inform the Rural Programme.

Partnerships

The County Council has undertaken pilot initiatives often with partner support from the Countryside Agency, District, Parish Councils and Voluntary Organisations.

Pilots include the:  Sustainable Transport in Rural Areas Project (STRAP)  Rural Transport Co-ordination Project (now the Hertfordshire Rural Transport Partnership)  Central Chilterns Area Traffic Management Project  Chilterns Integrated Access Project  Hertfordshire Integrated Transport Project

New approaches and a range of rural solutions have been tested through these projects and have involved a high level of consultation and engagement of the local communities across Hertfordshire.

Substantial progress has been achieved through these pilots and the outputs from them are now being co-ordinated and to act as a mainstream approach to transport and traffic issues in rural areas.

The County Council’s Rural Strategy will work with partners to:  Support a stronger role for local communities in identifying local needs and deciding how these needs can be met.  Facilitate cycling and walking and to increase the use of the Rights of Way Network for journeys to work, school, facilities and services.  Increase the range of locally accessible services that people can reach without the need to travel.  Improve the quality of passenger transport, making it more responsive to people’s real needs, being flexible, well marketed, well integrated, stable and reliable, in accordance with Hertfordshire’s Bus Strategy and Intalink Partnership.  Co-ordinate better services to make best use of what is available. Working with bus and train operators and where necessary investing with the community and voluntary transport sector in the provision of services in areas not adequately served by scheduled bus services.  Improve rural road safety.  Find measures to minimise the impact of traffic in rural areas.  Integrate transport modes across the network with the provision of relevant user- friendly route and service information.  Seek opportunities for Green Tourism and Leisure in Rural Hertfordshire that can play a supporting role for the rural economy.  Address rural access issues which occur across the boundaries of different districts and other counties.

The overarching process of delivery of the above objectives will be through the development of a Village Travel Plan. Such Plans could include the other funding streams identified in this strategy of Rural Routes, Rural Traffic Management and Road Safety, and Rural Passenger Transport.

Village Travel Plans

The County Council with the support of partners will develop Village Travel Plans and build upon Parish Environmental Action Plans (PEAPS), Parish Design Statements/ Appraisals/Plans and support the work of Local Strategic Partnerships and Community Planning across the county.

The Village Travel Plan process will involve the identification of local issues through research such as questionnaires, mapping exercises and facilitating local ownership of issues and solutions through working groups. The Village Travel Plan will seek to provide a holistic package of measures and sign post delivery mechanisms.

A Village Travel Plan toolkit includes measures to:  Bring services closer to people by reducing the need to travel through enhancing the range of services provided to rural communities.  Make local amenities and facilities more accessible for those without access to a car.  Improve personal mobility, for example through car sharing information, car clubs, wheels to work schemes and providing alternatives to the car.  Investigate the provision of more responsive passenger transport through the Rural Transport Partnership, Rural Bus Grant and Rural Bus Challenge funds.  Improve passenger transport interchanges and information provision in the rural areas through raising the rural profile of the Hertfordshire’s Intalink Partnership and the Bus Strategy.  Provide innovative rural traffic management solutions to address local transport issues.

Examples of implemented schemes: PEAPS in Shenley, Local Parish/Village Timetables, 30mph Village Speed Limit Policy, Central Chilterns Traffic Management Project, Chilterns AONB Three Counties Rural Transport Project, Parish based taxi schemes in Aldenham and Weston.

Case Study

Ashwell Village Travel Plan A Village Travel Plan presents an excellent opportunity for a village to look at all its transport and traffic related problems and issues and consider its aspirations for transport and traffic. The County Council has been working with the Ashwell Travel Group to develop and implement a Village Travel Plan. A traffic scheme will be implemented in 2005/06 and the group will also work to tackle other rights of way and passenger transport issues in the village.

RURAL STRATEGY

Village Travel Plans

Rural Routes Rural Traffic Management Rural and Passenger Road Safety Transport

Rural Routes Rural Rural Traffic Management Passenger and Transport Road Safety

The following funding streams are seen as forming part of the Village Travel Plan toolkit as well as standalone projects.

Rural Routes

The County Council with the support of partners will develop Rural Routes through network improvements to facilitate journeys to work, school, facilities and services. Rural Routes will involve at least adopting a minimum standard on the rights of way network and where appropriate incorporating the Quiet Lanes approach on the highway. The Rural Routes standard seeks surface, signing, and promotion of the route network as well as seeking to be accessible to all.

Rural Routes will:  Contribute to the County Council’s statutory duty to produce a Rights of Way Improvement Plan to assess the extent to which local rights of way meet the present and likely future needs of the public. This Improvement Plan will include a statement of action for the highway authority to secure an improved network of local rights of way. This will include opportunities for non-motorised users to avoid using roads used mainly by motor vehicles and providing access to the countryside.  Improve the rights of way network to provide opportunities for journeys to school, work, facilities and services through improving access, surface condition, signage, route

publicity, seeking to provide links with other modes of transport particularly passenger transport and overcoming legislative difficulties.  Support the development and implementation of the County Cycling Strategy and local Walking Strategies.  Develop with CMS Rural Enterprise Walks and leisure routes to support the rural economy.

Examples include: Watling Chase Greenways, Ayot St Peter Quiet Lanes, The National Cycle Network, Tring Station Gateway project, Grand Union Canal Corridor Access Improvements and Three Rivers “Wider Welcome” Countryside Access Improvements project.

Case Study – Watling Chase Greenways An area of Watling Chase Community Forest in Hertsmere became a national pilot for the development of a Greenways network. A community based Steering Group was established, a 'Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats' Analysis and a Demand Assessment carried out and route development initiated. A 10 year Greenways Strategy was produced with the vision: 'A community partnership to develop an accessible network embracing town and countryside for non-motorised local journeys'. In 2002 a Greenways Officer was appointed to take the project forward from its time as a national pilot. To date 17km of a proposed 104km network have been implemented. Signage has been developed and is starting to be put in place as routes are completed.

Case Study – Grand Union Canal Access Project The County Council have been working on a project with a number of partners to improve access for all to the Grand Union Canal towpaths between Watford and Rickmansworth. Initial phases have been completed and include the improvement of two short stretches to enable access for wheelchair uses as well as surface improvements on other sections.

Rural Passenger Transport

The County Council with the support of partners will develop the rural profile of the Hertfordshire Intalink Partnership, investigate the provision of more responsive passenger transport, improve passenger transport interchanges and information and co-ordinate service provision.

Rural Passenger Transport will:  Work with Borough/District Councils and commercial bus and train operators to maintain and develop the Passenger Transport network in rural areas.  Improve the quality and reliability of information to the user.  Through partnership working, promote marketing of the rural network, contributing funds to major projects and funding contract services, concessionary fares and Dial-a- Ride.  Work with Borough and District Councils, Statutory Agencies, commercial bus and train operators and the voluntary sector to develop and co-ordinate transport provision in the rural areas.

 Actively promote countywide co-ordination of concessionary fares, provision of Dial-a- Ride services, partnerships with Health agencies and the voluntary sector to provide community based transport schemes.  Maintain the County Council’s successful track record of funding transport co- ordination projects with the Countryside Agency and Health Agencies and promote and develop partnership bids to access Rural Bus Grant Funding.  Work with a range of Local Authorities, Primary Care Trusts and Community Transport schemes that will operate health and social car schemes.

Examples include: The Intalink Strategy that enables the County’s future bus network to be defined. Village/Parish Timetables, used as a case study in the Rural White Paper. Taxibus Scheme in Ashwell for commuters, Dial-a Ride, Roundabout Transport (Hertsmere, Three Rivers and Watford Rural) funded by Hertfordshire Rural Transport Partnership and Rural Bus Challenge. Hertfordshire Action on Disability (HAD) – Rural Challenge, Chilterns Integrated Access Demonstration Project, Hertfordshire Integrated Transport Project .

Case Study – Hertfordshire Rural Transport Partnership Hertfordshire Rural Transport Partnership supports, co-ordinates and works in partnership with both public, private and voluntary groups addressing social exclusion, economic and environmental issues in rural areas. The partnership has worked with a range of agencies and rural residents to promote and develop a transport options that address access in rural areas as well as offering sustainable alternatives to the car.

23 small projects have been funded via the Hertfordshire Rural Transport Partnership Delegated Fund which includes, promotional flyers, transport needs surveys, cycle sheds, cycle racks and local path links to primary school/local services.

Rural Traffic Management and Road Safety

The County Council with the support of partners will develop and implement rural transport and traffic solutions appropriate to the local rural context.

Rural Traffic Management and Road Safety will:  Work closely with the local community when designing a rural traffic management scheme to ensure that the local rural context is accounted for during the process.   Build upon the Quiet Lanes pilot scheme at Ayot St Peter and pursue best practice.  Consider applying the Quiet Lanes principals in other parts of the county.  Undertake rural sign audits.  Reinforce the road hierarchy by seeking appropriate improvements to the Primary Route Network.  Undertake traffic surveys and research.  Consider and pilot the recommendations of the Rural Roads Scrutiny which included controlling HGV routing, formalising selected minor rural roads as ‘single track roads with passing places’, and making use of speed ‘buffer’ zones on the approaches to villages. A pilot project implementing formal passing places is currently being undertaken.  Undertake promotion and education awareness through the TravelWise Initiative and Road Safety. Hertfordshire’s LTP 2006/07 - 2010/11 Page A70 TRANSPORT PANEL DRAFT (MARCH 2005)

 Work within the Chilterns AONB to meet the aims of the Travel & Transport Section of the Chilterns AONB Management Plan.  Work and support the countywide themes of LEARN, Cycling, Road Safety and the Area Transport Plans to deliver rural transport and traffic measures.

Examples include: Ayot St Peter Quiet Lanes, 30mph Village Speed Limit Programme, Rural Safer Routes to School at Lemsford, Wheathampstead, Buntingford, Little Gaddesden Welwyn and Weston, Central Chilterns Traffic Management Project, respond to multi-modal studies, HCC Major Projects Programme,

Case Study: Ayot St Peter Quiet Lanes The Quiet Lanes concept has been piloted in Ayot St Peter and aims to create a network of rights of way and highway that are safer for local walking, cycling and horse riding. The scheme includes gateway features at the parish entrance, an advisory 20mph limit and improved entrances to the rights of way network. The Quiet Lanes project has been developed through close working with Ayot St Peter Parish and the outcome of the scheme is being monitored. Further work is being undertaken during 2005 and possibly 2006/07 to improve the Ayot Greenway which provides an excellent link from the Quiet Lanes to Wheathampstead and also forms part of the National Cycle Network.

Delivery

Hertfordshire County Council will work closely with partners to ensure that pilot projects currently in existence are successfully seen through to completion. Future pilot projects will be developed with partners particularly in the research and development field. Areas for the rural programme will be chosen from across the county through the use of indicators and taking into account the need to co-ordinate with other initiatives in that area. All villages/parishes will be on a rural database that will help to identify areas that will benefit from the Rural Programme.

Monitoring

Schemes will be monitored to see the effects on the mode of transport and travel behaviour where schemes have been implemented.

The capital programme is also supported by various passenger transport revenue programmes outlined in Section 5.10 of the LTP, including that for Voluntary and Community Transport and the area transport plans.

4.4 Cycling

To develop a transport system which provides access to employment, shopping, education, leisure and health facilities for all, especially those without a car and those with impaired mobility.

To obtain the best use of the existing network through effective design, maintenance and management

Cycling is a healthy and sustainable alternative to the car as a means of transport. It is clean, cheap and energy- efficient and as such it is well suited to journeys under five miles in areas which are relatively flat. Hertfordshire’s topography is suitable for cyclists, but rising traffic levels have acted as a deterrent to making trips by bike. The County Council is committed to providing cycling facilities throughout Hertfordshire to help encourage a modal shift away from the car.

Cycling Strategy

The County Council’s strategy towards cycling is:

(a) To encourage the use of the cycle as an alternative to the car for short to medium urban and inter-urban journeys.

(b) To encourage the use of the cycle as a means to improve health.

The County Council has a number of policies and programmes to assist in delivering this strategy that will aim to ensure that measures will be undertaken to ensure greater priority and safety to non motorised users such as cyclists on the network.

The cycling policy also supports developments which will enable provision of improved facilities for cyclists and encourages developers and occupiers to develop their own transport plans or take part in wider initiatives aimed at minimising inappropriate car use.

The County Council supports the establishment of strategic footpaths, bridleways and leisure cycling routes with links to the wider network of movement.

In 2001 the County Council, Groundwork Hertfordshire and SUSTRANS held discussions about the routes and cycling initiatives in the County. A report was produced which focuses on the proposed strategic network on a District by District basis, concentrating particularly on the outstanding matters and responsibilities for resolving them. These facilities include on and off road cycle routes and, where appropriate, secure parking in urban areas. The County Council is also supporting local councils in developing strategies for their own areas, some of which are now complete. Hertfordshire’s LTP 2006/07 - 2010/11 Page A72 TRANSPORT PANEL DRAFT (MARCH 2005)

Cycling facilities are also delivered through a number of other programmes in the LTP and County strategies, for example LEARN and the Rights of Way Improvement Plan.

The County Council will work with developers to secure the layout of new developments that encourage cycle accessibility and ensure that facilities are in at an early stage of development. Developers will be expected to provide measures to assist cyclists, and planning obligations will be sought to support this.

To complement the cycling facilities provided a number of programmes and initiatives have been developed, including TravelWise; the development of a cycle training programme for both children and adults and the production of promotional material and leaflets.

The health benefits of cycling are recognised by the County Council and the local health authorities. The West Hertfordshire Health Authority, for example, includes a target ‘to increase the number of cycle paths in Watford and Three Rivers area by 20%’ in its Health Improvement Programme 2000.

The objectives of the Cycling Strategy are:

 to identify and develop a network of cycle routes within towns as part of the integrated transport plans. The nature of these routes will be considered by using the following hierarchy as a framework for developing appropriate solutions: - Measures to reduce traffic volumes - Measures to improve traffic speed - Measures to improve safety at locations where cyclists are most vulnerable (e.g junctions) - Reallocation of road space to cyclists - Off–road provision  implement measures to give greater safety and priority for cycles in relation to motorised vehicles;  promote the provision of cycle parking;  encourage train operators to provide secure cycle storage at commuter stations;  give full consideration to the needs of cyclists when designing new highways and highway improvement schemes. Facilities will be incorporated into the design of schemes or alternative routes identified and developed;  develop and promote cycle facilities alongside main roads between towns, where there is a requirement and it is practical to do so;  promote cycling in schools, amongst its own staff and with employers, especially as a means to travel between home and work and for children between home and school;  identify and develop cycle routes for children to travel to and from schools with both personal and road safety in mind;  develop a cycle training programme for adults based on the on-road course used in training child cyclists to increase adults’ confidence and cycling skills;  ensure that plans and designs of cycling provision follow the latest best practice (currently the IHT Cycle Review guidelines);  ensure that the needs of cyclists are understood with the use of the user audit guidelines

Local Cycling Groups

The County Council seeks to work in partnership with a wide range of people and organisations in order to deliver cycling. Particular partners emerge as individual projects are planned and introduced. The Hertfordshire Cycling Forum is another mechanism to discuss cycling issues within the County. The County Council will continue to support the Hertfordshire Cycle Forum as a means of bringing different authorities, organisations and interest groups together to discuss measures to encourage cycling.

Leisure Routes

In providing for the needs of tourism and recreation the County Council will facilitate the use of the transport network for sustainable leisure pursuits where safe and practical e.g signed cycle touring routes. The County Councils Countryside Management Service plays a key role in the development and promotion of leisure routes. A number of leaflets have been produced by both the County’s Countryside Management Service and the East of England Tourist Board identifying local leisure cycle routes incorporating both on and off-road trails.

Promotion and Training

Hertfordshire County Council is committed to the promotion of cycling. Cycling has been promoted within the County through TravelWise and the preparation of leaflets and literature promoting cycling routes.

TravelWise, Business Travel Plans and the development of School Travel Plans all play an important role in encouraging cycling. The County Council encourages employers and schools to prepare, implement and monitor business and school travel plans.

Hertfordshire TravelWise has been active since 1993 and cycling promotion is one of the key planks of the strategy. The focus for this is usually during Bike Week, when TravelWise runs events or supports those being run by local organisations and cycling groups. It also promotes Bike Week to local companies, who often run their own events. At other times of year TravelWise works with related organisations, businesses and schools to promote cycling as transport. This includes exhibitions for staff, meetings with Facilities and HR supervisors and attendance at suitable local exhibitions and events. It also checks travel plans for the suitability of facilities for sustainable transport including cycling.

In the future TravelWise plans to work more closely with cycleway providers to encourage awareness of the new facilities and to develop PR programmes around them to generate use. Cycle programmes will continue to support local events and the promotion of cycling and cycle routes to businesses and schools.

4.5 Urban Plans

The County Council, in conjunction with district/borough councils and other partners, has been developing and delivering a programme of urban plans. These plans deliver sustainable transport for the whole settlement, and concentrate on measures such as cycling schemes, passenger transport interchanges/facilities and safer routes to schools. Many of these urban plans now form the major building blocks of the Area Plans described in sections 5.2 - 5.7. However, it is important to deliver these plans across the county.

The original programme of urban plans was prioritised on current problems and future developments. For the urban plans not incorporated in the Area Plans, Harpenden has already been agreed whilst Borehamwood is currently being reviewed and Potters Bar is due to be adopted in Autumn 2005.

The details of each urban plan will depend on local needs and conditions. However, each plan will consider the following elements:

Passenger transport

• Improve access to the railway station for all modes; • Improve bus services linking the railway station, residential , employment, education and retail areas; • Develop passenger facilities on bus routes throughout the town.

Pedestrian network

• Improve existing footways and footpaths; • Introduce new pedestrian links; • Provide more comfort facilities in the town centre and main shopping areas; • Improve road and rail crossings; • Introduce CCTV monitoring of key areas; • Introduce Greenways (see section 5.13).

Cycling network

• Develop an integrated cycling network feeding into the town centre and sustran routes from residential areas; • Provide secure cycle parking and storage; • Improve road and rail crossings; • Introduce CCTV monitoring of key areas; • Introduce Greenways (see section 5.13). Hertfordshire’s LTP 2006/07 - 2010/11 Page A75 TRANSPORT PANEL DRAFT (MARCH 2005)

Schools

• Safer Routes to School.

Demand management

• Introduce controlled parking zones for residential areas; • Improve the short-term parking provision and reduce long-term parking in the town centre.

Traffic management

• Deter ‘rat running’ and speeding traffic through a combination of traffic management (e.g. 20 mph zones) and traffic calming; • Focus highway improvements on areas requiring safety engineering of improved access to support future development needs; • Urban traffic control (see box).

Information and education

• Provide accurate, current and accessible travel information to encourage the use of passenger transport; • Provide education and training programmes to raise awareness of transport issues and to help people to make better informed travel choices. Typical partners in the forum used to discuss and develop the urban transport plan include:

- Hertfordshire County Council - Cyclist Groups - District Council(s) - Pedestrian Groups - Town/Parish Councils - Taxi Operators - Civic Society - Elderly and Disabled Groups - Chamber of Commerce - Police - Residents Associations - Bus Operators - Rail Operators

Other local groups will be represented as appropriate.

(a) Elstree and Borehamwood Urban Plan

The original Borehamwood urban plan was adopted in May 1997. It was based upon a transportation study which the County and Hertsmere Borough Council commissioned from Frank Graham Consulting Engineers. To reflect the significant development that has taken place in recent years the plan is currently being reviewed.

To ensure the effective delivery of the plan a considerable amount transport and travel information has been gathered. This will form the foundation of the plan and the basis of which future schemes can be promoted and monitored.

(b) Harpenden Urban Plan

The Harpenden Urban Plan was adopted in October 1996 following local consultation.

Harpenden is a town on the A1081 located approximately four miles north-west of St Albans. The town suffers from heavy traffic congestion resulting in atmospheric pollution, noise and environmental damage. With the exception of London commuting, Harpenden also makes low use of passenger transport, with the result that traffic levels on the A1081 and the environmental quality of an attractive town is severely diminished.

The traditional approach to solving Harpenden’s traffic and environmental problems had been the provision of a bypass. While this remains an option, at present the environmental disbenefits of a bypass heavily outweigh the benefits. The Harpenden Transportation Plan takes a broader approach to solving the towns transportation problems, and tries to give a higher priority to local movements relative to through traffic. In addition to the generic urban plan elements the Harpenden Transportation Plan includes the following elements:

Passenger Transport

• Enhancing the appearance of the railway station and its surroundings; • Improved interchange arrangements at the station (identified as an aspiration in the County’s Rail Prospectus); • Improve bus stops facilities throughout the town; • Support the improvement and modernisation of the bus fleet; • Increase support of school buses and community and voluntary transport for the elderly and disabled; • Provide Rail Link buses; • Increase the frequency and extend the coverage of existing bus services.

Pedestrian Network

• Improve existing footways and footpaths to raise pedestrian priority (particularly for links to the railway station, in the town centre, Southdown, Batford and local shopping areas); • Provide more facilities (seating, shelters, lighting) in the town centre and main shopping areas.

Demand Management • Manage on-street commuter parking; • Manage on-street short stay parking; • Manage and enhance existing car parks.

(c) Potters Bar Urban Plan

An urban plan has been developed for Potters Bar following local public consultation. Currently the forum group and Borough Council are considering the plan before being presented to the County Council for adoption in Autumn 2005.

The development of the plan has led to the recent delivery of,

 Darkes Lane/Mutton Lane - Junction improvements  Coppers Lane/The Causeway – Safety and environmental improvements.

Future schemes are likely to include,

 Potters Bar Station Forecourt Area, Darkes Lane – Layout improvements  High Street/The Causeway/Hatfield Road - Junction improvements

5. SUPPORTING POLICIES

5.1 Taxis

To develop a transport system that provides access to employment, shopping, education, leisure and health facilities for all, including those without a car and those with impaired mobility

To develop an efficient, safe, affordable and enhanced transport system, which is attractive, reliable, integrated and makes best use of resources.

Taxis form an important part of the integrated transport network. They have a role to play in reducing dependency on the private car by providing a final leg in rail or bus journeys, and by providing an alternative to walking and cycling in inclement weather. In doing so, they remove the need to use a private car and thereby the temptation to use the car when the alternatives are realistic. They also play an important part in evening and social occasions where drink driving prevails.

Taxis are provided by private operators, but are licensed by the ten district councils. Ranks are provided by the district and county councils, and are encouraged where they form part of an integrated transport system. In addition, the County Council uses taxis as a significant element of its passenger transport provision for educational and social services transport needs.

The County Council will promote the use of, and provision of facilities for taxis where: (a) they form part of an integrated transport system/scheme i.e. interchanges; (b) they encourage a switch away from the use of the private car, e.g. by providing the final link from the railway station to home; (c) they assist in social inclusion by providing car-based trips for non-car owners e.g. from the supermarket to home; (d) they deliver a cost-effective means of providing educational and social service transport.

Licensing

Taxis and private hire vehicles are licensed by the ten district councils, all of whom have policies on vehicle and driver standards.

Ranks and Other Facilities

Taxi ranks are normally designated by the district councils, although allocations at rail stations are dealt with by the train operating companies and/or Network Rail. Hertfordshire’s LTP 2006/07 - 2010/11 Page A79 TRANSPORT PANEL DRAFT (MARCH 2005)

At present, taxis are not allowed to use the bus lanes which have been installed as part of the Green Routes in the South West Hertfordshire and Lea Valley Area Plans. Monitoring is now taking place on these schemes, and discussions will occur on the subject of taxi use and enforcement issues.

Educational and Social Service Passenger Transport Provision

The County Council has over 800 (awaiting response from Tedwards) contracts with local taxi/hire car and minibus operators, to provide passenger transport to and from educational and social service centres for those who are in need, as required by the County Council’s various educational and social service functions. These contracts provide for regular journeys to over 3000 (awaiting response from Tedwards) clients across Hertfordshire and are an important part of the taxi and car hire trading. The County Council has published operational guidelines as part of these contracts to ensure service standards are improved. These contract are planned to meet needs and are integrated with other passenger transport provisions wherever possible to obtain cost effective value.

Role of Taxis in General Passenger Transport Provision

As part of passenger transport policies, the use of taxi and hire cars are promoted as one of the alternative ways to travel under our TravelWise policies and for shopping, social and business journeys they form an important link in overall accessibility.

The County Council has explored greater use of taxis/PHVs to serve urban areas and provide links to interchanges, rail stations and major business areas for visitors for Hertfordshire’s businesses. They are used widely for airport access journeys and unofficial sharing is much more general than realised.

A limited number of taxi bus opportunities exist in relation to rural community transport schemes. Such measures are considered within the Rural Transport Strategy although the taxis/PHV trade, as a commercial trade, tends to serve the more populated areas with a higher service for obvious commercial reasons. However, there are exceptions and the Ashwell Taxibus which has been running and supported by the County Council for over 20 years is such an example of a rural community based operator providing a service linking to the nearby towns and stations, further success stories are the Weston Taxi Voucher Scheme, and Aldenham Parish Council funded by the Parish Transport Grant. The County Council supports taxi voucher schemes in Dacorum and St Albans Districts.

5.2 Walking

To mitigate the effect of the transport system on the built and natural environment and on personal health

Walking is a healthy and sustainable mode of transport which is appropriate for the shorter journey. Travel cordon monitoring shows that walking typically accounts for 5% of urban peak hour journeys in Hertfordshire, although for individual towns it ranges from less than “% to over 10%. Targets to increase walking’s modal share will be set for each town in conjunction with the development of urban plans. The most recent detailed survey of residents travel (2002), showed that 53% of journeys under 1 mile and 11% of those between 1 and 3 miles are made on foot. Data from 2001 Census Journey to Work data showed a similar picture for Hertfordshire with 36% of journeys under 2km(1.25 miles) and 24% of those under 5km (3.13 miles) being made on foot.

The County Council’s strategy for walking is:

(a) To encourage walking as a mode of transport for short journeys.

(b) To pedestrianise shopping areas, where appropriate, either fully or partly, to improve the local environment by reducing the domination of motor vehicles and hence improve and stimulate local economies.

(c) To support the Implementation of the Rights of Way Improvement Plan.

(d) To provide and improve facilities to improve access for all parts of the community, including those with disabilities.

In support of this policy the County Council will:

 implement measures to increase the priority of pedestrians relative to motor vehicles, especially in towns;  identify and promote networks of pedestrian priority routes within towns, as part of the integrated transport plans. These priority routes will be comprehensive and connective linking all major destinations, and especially passenger transport facilities;  implement measures along the pedestrian priority routes to increase both road and personal safety (including the provision of pedestrian crossings and appropriate lighting), and ensure that the routes are as direct as possible;  provide a high standard of pedestrian signing along the priority routes, and ensure that all transport schemes consider the need for pedestrian signing;  identify and develop pedestrian routes for children to travel to and from schools with better personal and road safety in mind as part of the Safer Routes To School project;

 provide school crossing patrols, where appropriate, to encourage parents to allow their children to walk to school;  provide pedestrian crossing facilities (zebra, pelican or puffin) on pedestrian priority routes and at sites where they are justified. Such justification will be based upon a relaxation of the Department of Transport’s requirements which will be used flexibly when assessing sites. At- grade (on the highway) measures will generally be preferred to subways for personal security reasons;  provide footways between neighbouring settlements where appropriate;  maintain footways to an acceptable standard and ensure that the priority routes are generally free from vegetation, snow, ice and other natural obstructions;  make better provision for pedestrians in shopping and residential areas through town centre enhancements and traffic calming schemes, and ensure that these high standards are adopted for new and existing commercial developments;  give full consideration to the needs of pedestrians when designing new highways and highway improvement schemes;  promote walking amongst its own staff, in schools, and with employers especially as a means of travel between home and work and for children between home and school;  seek to prevent vehicles parking on the footway by implementing traffic regulation orders, bylaws or physical measures;  minimise obstructive street furniture on pedestrian thoroughfares;  ensure that footway widths are not reduced to less than minimum standards due to road layout changes or other developments;  ensure that all new footways are built to the standards set out in ‘Roads in Hertfordshire - a Design Guide’;  to facilitate the use of the transport network for sustainable leisure pursuits where safe and practical e.g. waymarked footpaths;  to support the establishment of strategic footpaths with links to the wider network of movement through the Rights of Way Improvement Plan and the Area Plans.

The above policies mainly deal with the maintenance and use of the footways which form part of the highway network.

The whole of the Rights of Way network, with more than 3000km of footpaths, bridleways and other routes, is available to people on foot and forms a critical element in Hertfordshire's pedestrian network. Located predominantly in rural and urban fringe areas it is mainly used for recreation. It does, however, have great potential for becoming a much more useful and useable resource, with positive contributions to make towards:  improvements in accessiblity for people with disabilities  road safety  health  sustainable transport, and  local tourism.

This potential has been acknowledged by the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000, which requires each Highway Authority to produce a Rights of Way Improvement Plan. The purpose of these is to enable the identification of meaningful improvements for the benefit of people who walk and ride and importantly, to increase the number of routes and areas accessible to people with disabilities. The County Council is currently preparing its Rights of Way Improvement Plan and through a process of public consultation, is discovering what people believe are the key issues for improving the Rights of Way

Hertfordshire’s LTP 2006/07 - 2010/11 Page A82 TRANSPORT PANEL DRAFT (MARCH 2005) network. These will guide the direction and emphasis of the Improvement Plan, for which funding will be derived primarily through the Local Transport Plan, with implementation commencing in 2006/07.

The Highways Maintenance Service Review has identified the need for a new maintenance hierarchy for Footways, giving priority for expenditure to footways which carry the most usage. This will be developed on a pilot basis then subsequently established across the county.

Programmes and Schemes

Measures to promote walking are considered as an integral part of all schemes, and therefore a separate capital programme has not been identified. Walking is a key component and will be delivered through:  The Area Plans  Countywide Themes ● Maintaining Existing Levels of Service

To ensure that the promotion of walking is considered in all maintenance and new-build schemes, the needs of pedestrians are written into the following operational manuals:  ‘Roads in Hertfordshire - A Design Guide’ which sets out the standards to developers and provides guidance to development control officers.  ‘Safety Audit Manual’ which is used to provide a safety audit of all new schemes.  ‘Highways Management Manual’ which sets out the operational procedures used by local highway engineers.  The Rights of Way Improvement Plan.

In considering the development of pedestrian facilities on an area-wide basis, regard will be given to the checklist for the local walking environment as set out in the DfT’s ‘Encouraging walking: advice to local authorities’ document, and the ‘On the Move by Foot’ Paper.

The County Council will work and support the District Councils in the development of local Walking Strategies. Furthermore, the English Heritage ‘Save Our Streets’ Campaign, is supported by the County Council and seeks to remove unnecessary, signs, poles, bollards, barriers, obtrusive road markings. The County Council will work with local authorities to engage local people in the process to improve their local environment.

Walking for leisure purposes is promoted by the Countryside Management Service who provide waymarking and published a series of ‘Walks and More’ leaflets which provide details of local routes.

Long Term Measures

The six Area Plans and the Rights if Way Improvement Plan will identify problem areas, but these are unlikely to be delivered during the current LTP period (2006/07 – 2010/11)

5.3 Powered Two-Wheelers

This strategy helps to deliver the following objective:

The term ‘powered two-wheelers’ incorporates a wide range of vehicles from the smallest moped to the largest high-performance motorcycle. At the smaller end of this range, powered two-wheelers can help to deliver environmental improvements if they substitute for single-occupancy car use. However, these benefits will not be realised if the transfer is from walking, cycling or passenger transport.

Due to their small size and lack of protection powered two-wheeler users are, in road safety terms, vulnerable road users. The errant behaviour of some powered two-wheeler users, poor driving behaviour of some other road users, and lower visibility to other road users can add to this vulnerability.

The County Council’s strategy towards powered two-wheelers is: (a) to consider the needs of powered two-wheeler users in the design and implementation of all schemes;

(b) to encourage the provision of adequate and secure parking facilities for powered two- wheelers;

(c) to make provision for powered two-wheelers in new facilities which could offer them a safer environment; provided that other road users are not put at risk;

(d) to encourage safe use through education and training.

Points (a) to (c) are delivered through area transport plans and individual schemes where appropriate. The procedures and technical requirements are incorporated in the Highway Management Manual and scheme design manuals so that the needs of powered two- wheeler users are considered in any works undertaken.

Encouraging safe use is delivered by the County Council’s Road Safety Unit through training programmes and information leaflets.

The County Council also supports the BikeSafe initiative run by Police Forces around the United Kingdom, who work with the whole of the biking world to help to lower the number of motorcycle rider casualties. By passing on their knowledge, skills and experience, police motorcyclists can help you become a safer more competent rider. The Bikesafe initiative is a nationwide plan of action to reduce the number of motorcycle accident casualties by promoting safer riding.

The County Council has made a commitment to set up a Forum through its Congestion Action Plan to work with users on a range of issues.

5.4 Parking

Car parking is one of the key elements in managing the highway network and encouraging alternatives to the car. The overall aims of the parking strategy are:  to reduce dependence on the car, particularly in town centres  to minimise the safety and congestion effects of on-street parking  to help maintain the vitality of town centres and to discourage out-of-town developments  to ensure that car parking provision and enforcement are broadly self-financing.

These aims will be achieved by a combination of the following elements:  On-street parking  Off-street parking  Existing Private Non-Residential (PNR) parking  New development parking standards  Footway/verge parking  Park and Ride  Residential parking  Preventing parking at bus stops

All of the parking elements have implications for each other. For example, increased off- street charges may lead to increased on-street parking unless there are complementary on-street controls. Therefore all of the elements have to be seen as a complete package, and for this reason the main delivery of the strategy is through the Area and Urban Plans.

The delivery of the strategy relies on a partnership between the County Council, district councils and the police. These organisations have a standing working group which has developed this strategy, and have produced ‘Car Parking Management in Hertfordshire’ which is used as a working document for the authorities involved.

On-street Parking

The strategy for on-street parking is:

(a) To work closely with the district councils to develop and promote integrated transport plans for urban areas that include area wide parking plans.

(b) To work closely with the police to agree an adequate enforcement strategy.

(c) To encourage the provision by District Councils of controlled parking zones (CPZ's) and decriminalised parking (PPA's and SPA's) where appropriate.

(d) To offer advice and support to the district/borough councils in relation to the delivery of decriminalised parking powers.

(e) To ensure that the needs of the disabled are considered in all proposals. The above strategy refers to the issue of parking and disabled people. It should be noted that as the number of older people increases in Hertfordshire, the number of older people with a disability is also likely to increase.

Off-Street Parking

The strategy for off-street parking is:

(a) To encourage the Safer Parking Scheme, an initiative of the Association of Chief Police Officers, aimed at reducing crime in parking facilities

(b) To work closely with Network Rail and train operators to ensure that the car parking provision and charges at stations are in line with overall county Transportation Policies, and to discourage car trips to car parks in urban centres by encouraging passengers to walk, cycle or use passenger transport;

(c) To support new off-street provision in residential areas and rural villages where there are problems of environmental damage due to inadequate space, both off-street and on street, for residents' cars, especially if this can be achieved through new developments or re-development schemes;

(d) To ensure that the overall number of non-residential parking spaces is not increased;

(e) To work with the private sector and exert influence through planning consents and other appropriate measures to help achieve (d) above.

Charging

Charging policies need to take into account both on and off street parking. The overall strategy is to work closely with the district councils to promote a consistent approach to charging levels and systems such that differential charges can be used to influence journey patterns.

The full details of car parking pricing structures is set out in the ‘Car Parking Management In Hertfordshire’ document. The key principles are:

(a) As a general principle car parking in shopping centres should not be free. Certain exceptions will be made for those shopping centres that are struggling to survive.

(b) The pricing structure should be set to discourage long stay and encourage short stay parking. Long stay charges will be set so that they are unattractive in relation to local bus and train fares.

(c) Local authorities should seek to work in partnerships with private car park owners.

Existing Private Non-Residential Parking

The strategy for existing PNR parking is: (a) To support moves to give local authorities some influence over car parking provision in staff car parks in urban centres.

(b) To work in partnership with companies through Business TravelWise to encourage the adoption of company travel plans.

New Development Parking Standards

New development parking standards are set out in the ‘Hertfordshire Car Parking Standards’ document. This has been developed jointly by the county and district councils to provide additional guidance. The key elements of the strategy are:

(a) All non-residential development with significant parking implications should be in locations with the potential for good access to means of travel other than the private car.

(b) The main emphasis shall be on maximum standards.

Details of parking standards were developed through consultation with district councils and developers in 2000.

Footway/Verge Parking Problems

Insufficient resources to enforce laws against pavement and verge parking have resulted in the take-over of footways by the motor vehicle in certain areas. Pavement and verge parking gives undue priority to motor vehicles at the expense of pedestrians restricting access to destinations.

The strategy is: (a) To seek to prevent vehicles parking on the footway by implementing traffic regulation orders, bylaws or physical measures.

(b) In certain circumstances measures will be provided to allow verge parking without causing environmental damage.

Residential Parking

Whilst the overall transport strategy is to reduce the use of the car, the problems caused by existing levels of car ownership have to be recognised. In areas where there is conflict between residents and commuter parking, any new control measures will give preference to the residents.

Park and Ride

Park and ride schemes can, in the appropriate circumstances, provide an important element in integrated transport plans.

The County Council’s strategy is: (a) to encourage park and ride facilities for access to appropriate town centres, other traffic attracting locations and the rail network. In general, such facilities will only be provided with associated parking restrictions in the traffic attracting location.

(b) to identify suitable locations in conjunction with service proposals. In particular, the Green Belt imposes restrictions on where park and ride facilities can be located.

Preventing Parking at Bus Stops

Parking in bus stops hinders the operation of local buses, and makes access more difficult for passengers if they cannot step directly from the kerb to the bus. Carriageway ‘cage’ marking would automatically indicate that parking was not permitted. The County Council supports these proposals.

5.5 Integration with Development Plans

Hertfordshire County Council has consistently sought to ensure its transport policies are fully integrated with its land use planning policies at the regional, county and local level. The County Structure Plan, adopted in April 1998, was framed to reflect the requirements of PPG13 ‘Transport’(1994) and those subsequently contained in the 1998 Transport White Paper. An essential element of the overall county development strategy, with its emphasis on urban regeneration, is to minimise the need for travel and encourage less environmentally damaging forms of transport. Regional Planning is replacing County Structure Plans and the East of England Plan is currently out to consultation. The East of England Plan is not expected to be adopted until late 2006 and therefore this policy is unable to incorporate regional development policies and measures.

There are several strands to the County Council’s approach:

 the Local Transport Plan, which aims to encourage fewer and shorter journeys, and that passenger transport, walking and cycling are more attractive and viable options;  programmes to increase public awareness and encourage greater use of alternatives to the car;  a more balanced and integrated approach to all transport investment;  programmes to improve the provision for, and the reliability, image and safety of, passenger transport, walking and cycling.

The 10 district local plans for the county are all in various stages of review to become local development frameworks, with a major element in those reviews being the transport strategy and related aspects, such as car parking strategies.

The latest (1999) version of PPG12, Development Plans, lists the local transport plan issues with possible land use implications and various other areas, such as multi-modal appraisals and safeguarding of transport routes, where land use development plans will need to have regard to the transport strategy and policies of the local transport plan (and vice versa). In dealing with these specific issues elsewhere in this plan the County Council have ensured integration with the relevant development plans and between the various strategies of this LTP. Integration between policies extends further than transport and land use to include social policies, such as social inclusion and disability issues, and environmental policies, such as air quality and climate change. The relationships between these issues and the transport strategy is recognised in the specific strategies of this document.

DEVELOPMENT CONTROL

Development proposals are examined to establish whether their effects on the transport system can be accepted and to ensure that the access arrangements are constructed to an adequate and safe standard. Whenever possible, improvements to mitigate the effects of the movement demand generated by development will be sought from the promoters. In negotiations the County Council will seek to obtain the maximum private sector contribution compatible with the County Council's transportation objectives.

Traffic and road safety implications of development proposals must be considered. As part of this process, development will be assessed with regard to reducing the need to travel and should be located so that it does not generate traffic which is inappropriate for local roads. Development which would either significantly affect the rural or residential character of a road or would significantly affect safety on rural roads especially amongst vulnerable road users, or which would be located by a poorly designed road, will be resisted.

The effect of development generated traffic on the transportation system will be assessed. In particular a traffic impact study will be required in the following instances:

 Housing developments for more than 200 dwellings  Retail development of more than 2000m2 gross floor area  Office development of more than 5000m2 gross floor area  Industrial/warehouse development of more than 5000m2 gross floor area  Sports centres, leisure complexes, golf courses, mineral extraction, landfill and other waste disposal proposals.

A traffic impact study may also be required for smaller developments, below these thresholds, in areas considered to be sensitive locations.

New accesses to Primary Routes and Main Distributor Roads will normally be resisted but where access is allowed a high standard of provision will be required. On lesser categories of road safety consideration will be paramount.

Developments which will generate a change in the amount or type of traffic on local rural roads will be resisted in the following circumstances:

 where there is an increased risk of accidents, especially to pedestrians and cyclists  where the road is poor in terms of width, alignment and/or structural condition  where increased traffic would have an adverse effect on the local environment either to the rural character of the road or residential properties alongside it.

Development off a road of poor condition could be acceptable if the following conditions are met:- i) the development is within 1 km of the distributor road network; and ii) the developer provides improvements to the local road which satisfy environmental, safety and capacity conditions.

This policy will particularly apply to recreational developments which could attract large numbers of visitors, albeit on only one or two occasions each year.

The County Council’s strategy for providing for the transport needs of recreation facilities is to use accessibility for passenger transport users, cyclists, pedestrians and for people with disabilities as one of the criteria for assessing development proposals for sporting, recreation and other leisure facilities.

Developments which would require HGV's to use Local Roads will be resisted by the County Council. This particularly applies to applications for new vehicle operator's licences.

Where privately provided roads are to be adopted by the County Council, the developer will be charged up to 20% of the capital cost of the highway structures as a commuted sum for future maintenance and renewal.

CAR PARKING STANDARDS

The full strategy on new development parking standards is set out in both the “Car Parking Provision at New Developments” document and the ”Hertfordshire Car Parking Standards” document. The key elements of the strategy are:

(a) All non-residential development with significant parking implications should be in locations with the potential for good access to means of travel other than the private car.

(b) The main emphasis shall be on maximum standards. Parking provision will be assessed in accordance with the accessibility of the development site.

5.6 Company Travel Plans

A Company Travel Plan (otherwise known as a green transport, travel or commuter plan) is a set of measures designed to reduce the impact of traffic congestion for journeys to, from and during work. Measures include a balance of incentives and discouragement to persuade employees to travel by sustainable modes or avoid the need to travel at all. It is therefore a key management tool that brings together transport and other business issues in a co-ordinated strategy for the company.

The County Council strategy to encourage their widespread adoption is:

(a) to work in partnership with businesses to develop travel plans through the Business TravelWise network; (b) to promote the use of travel plans as part of the planning process for new developments; (c) to lead by example in developing travel plans for their own major sites in the county.

The County Council is also active in promotion of travel plans for schools as part of wider school travel initiatives.

Business TravelWise

Company travel plans are promoted through Hertfordshire’s Business TravelWise (BTW) initiative which was launched in 1996. There are presently more than 20 Hertfordshire companies linked to the scheme covering approximately 40,000 employees.

There are two guide documents available for companies preparing travel plans and travel measures “Travelling towards excellence” and “A Guide to telework”. A travel plan pro- forma aimed at SMEs is being prepared. We also promote and publicise information and help available from other agencies, such as Transport Energy, and work with other authorities to develop information.

Some examples of what local businesses and Business TravelWise have already achieved include:  Regular Green Team events with TravelWise information at an electronics company

 Hosting travel events with local passenger transport, and TravelWise information at many of the businesses on a business park  Setting and supporting up local green business groups to encompass the wider dissemination of travel and transport issues  Events and promotions of cycling during Bike Week on a regular basis at a major electronics company. Also a tie up with a local youth service workshop to provide pool bikes for staff use.  Bike Week events at many other companies in Hertfordshire  Development and promotion of video conferencing between the three UK sites of an electronics company which has reduced travelling bills significantly and paid for itself within a few weeks.  Development of preferential parking for car sharers at a local council.

A target has been set to develop six new travel plans a year.

In the longer term, much of the work will be through local green business groups and working with local councils. Another developing area is working with Health Service sites. At present three hospitals in Hertfordshire have travel plans, and Business TravelWise is working with a further hospital site, but is also looking to roll suitable programmes out to other health facilities.

Development Control

It is easier to develop green transport or travel plans at the planning permission stage of new developments rather than for existing sites because:

(i) employees will not have developed their own travel patterns and therefore may be more willing to try alternatives to the car;

(ii) infrastructure to accommodate walking, cycling and passenger transport can be incorporated into the design of the site.

Decisions on planning permissions are therefore a powerful inducement. Every planning application referred to the highway authority is examined in the light of sustainable access arrangements. In support of this the County Council is preparing guidelines for developers advising them of how such plans can be prepared in advance of planning permission (within the context of the revised PPG 13), and section 106 agreements.

County Council Sites

Leading by example is an important factor for the County Council in supporting the implementation of travel plans. The Environment Department lead the management of such a plan for the County Hall site which houses more than 1500 county council employees. Staff surveys to monitor travel patterns and attitudes to possible alternatives are carried out and the measures implemented are based on their results. So far, this has lead to encouragement for suitable staff to work from home on an occasional basis, and the development of well located car parking spaces being set aside for car sharers registered on the database. Plans are being developed to provide incentives for bus and rail travel. It is intended to roll these plans out across some other HCC sites during the life of this LTP.

5.7 Travel Awareness

To raise the awareness and encourage the use of more sustainable modes of transport through effective promotion, publicity, information and education.

The County Council recognises that travel behaviour cannot be changed overnight, and that policies to encourage alternatives to the car need to be acceptable to the majority of people. This requires the public not only to have information on the problems associated with transport but assistance on how to access and use alternative modes, so that safe, sensible and sustainable choices can be made.

TravelWise

The TravelWise programme was started in Hertfordshire in 1993 following a major review of the County’s transport policies. The programme has since been adopted by over 160 local highway and other public authorities in England, Scotland and Wales, co-ordinated through the National TravelWise Association (NTWA) of which HCC is an active member. This organisation, formed in 1998, now works to promote sustainable transport and is represented on many transport working groups.

The County Council’s strategy is to deliver the ‘TravelWise’ initiative across the county in association with partner organisations by:  raising awareness of the problems associated with traffic growth - particularly in relation to environmental, health, economic and social effects  generating public acceptance for the need to change travel behaviour and reduce unnecessary car use  promoting the benefits and availability of cycling, walking and passenger transport  changing the modal split from car use to other modes  promoting TravelWise through businesses, schools, community groups, to encourage them to take action.

Following the success of the INPHORRM project, HCC gained approval to take the findings further through the TAPESTRY project (TAPESTRY is the name for a collaborative research project with the objective of “improving the knowledge and understanding of how effective communication programmes or campaigns can be developed to support and encourage sustainable travel behaviour throughout Europe”). This developed closer targeting of travel awareness messages to identify the key group or groups for sustainable travel messages. HCC has recently concluded a trial project ‘Join the Adventure’ to test the results at selected schools in the county. This trial into the use of soft measures to change behaviour has been successful and the project will be rolled out the other schools as appropriate.

The findings from these projects have also been confirmed by in-house work on target groups and settings for travel awareness messages, and we are now confident that TravelWise can move away from its previous ‘broad brush’ approach to a more closely targeted approach which is expected to use more PR and less media-based initiatives. Hertfordshire’s LTP 2006/07 - 2010/11 Page A94 TRANSPORT PANEL DRAFT (MARCH 2005)

The main targets will be:

Whole population Specific geographic locations with poor traffic flows / congestion hot spots, to encourage use of public transport.

Schools As part of the ‘Safer Routes to School’ projects and also the national ‘Walk to School’ initiatives (See Section 5.12 LEARN)

Businesses )Messages towards the development of travel plans for employers and also messages via the employers targeted at young parents in employment.

Local authority employees As part of green transport plans as encouraged in the Integrated Transport White Paper (see section 5.25 Company Travel Plans)

Health facilities Large and small health facilities will be encouraged to set up travel pans to consider all aspects of access to their sites.

Tourism and Recreation In providing for the transport needs of tourism and recreation the County Council will work with the tourism and leisure industry to encourage the promotion of alternative modes of transport to leisure/tourist destinations. This includes encouraging the provision of bus, train, walking and cycling access information in promotional literature (this is for example a requirement of the County Council’s tourist sign policy), and encouraging the operators of leisure facilities to include cycle parking facilities.

IN the leisure field there has been a joint initiatives with local sports centres to publicise TravelWise messages and a campaign to encourage bus travel for leisure shopping at Christmas time.

Activities in the programme include:  PR and publicity campaigns using all forms of media such as leaflets, posters, web- sites, bus-backs (see Intalink Strategy), press releases, promotional events, exhibitions;  Business TravelWise activities such as workshops seminars, travel information packs, green transport plan guides; advice and assistance to companies developing travel plans.  Developing national campaigns at a local level e.g. National Bike Week, Walk to School Week, Road Safety Campaigns, Safer Routes to School projects, and run local campaigns where appropriate, such as the Healthy Journeys to School annual award (see LEARN)  County Council policy development such as LA21, LTP strategies, new passenger transport schemes, economic development strategies, passenger transport information systems and road safety.

Co-ordination of TravelWise across Hertfordshire is achieved through a district council co- ordinating group. At a regional level TravelWise activities are co-ordinated through an

Eastern Region group. At a national level, co-ordination is carried out through the National TravelWise Association. Hertfordshire is actively represented at all of these levels.

5.8 Airports

To develop a transport system which provides access to employment, shopping, education, leisure and health facilities for all, including those without a car and those with impaired mobility.

Strategy Background

Hertfordshire has two major civil airports immediately over its borders, Stansted and London Luton, plus Heathrow a relatively short distance to the south-west. Stansted handled over 20 million passengers in 2004 and London Luton about 7.5 million, plus cargo and general aviation traffic. Passenger flows are particularly heavy on the related radial routes, the M11 and the West Anglia railway line from Stansted to Liverpool Street Station London, and the M1 and the Midland main line from Luton to Kings Cross. Employees are more widely spread on a range of routes close to each airport.

The Government published its Aviation White Paper in December 2003 setting out its policy for airport development. Full use is to be made of the capacity of existing runways and in addition a second widespaced runway is proposed at Stansted and a full-length runway at Luton. The existing runways would provide a capacity equivalent to about 35 million passengers per year at Stansted and 18-20 million at London Luton airport.

The White Paper proposals for additional runways would take capacity at Stansted to 82 million and Luton to 31 million. The second runway at Stansted is to be constructed by 2012 with Luton probably on a similar timescale. (A third runway at Heathrow would, if feasible, be post 2015).

The airport operators are in the process of preparing Masterplans describing their proposed developments and Stansted will submit planning applications for maximum use and the second runway in autumn 2005 and spring 2006 respectively. The potential impact of such developments on surface access in the affected areas of the county will be considered in the Masterplans but will require more detailed investigation as part of the planning process.

Stansted and London Luton are major employers within their respective sub areas and are increasingly important as transport interchanges for air, rail and regional and local coach and bus services. This role is recognised in the draft Regional Spatial Strategy (RSS December 2004).

As important traffic generators the airports do create surface access problems and these will increase as the airports grow. Each airport has an Airport Surface Access Strategy (ASAS) produced and implemented in partnership with service and infrastructure providers including the County Council. These strategies are integrated with the local strategies to provide area wide solutions and provide the main vehicle for the County Council’s input to handling the surface access impacts of the airport.

As the airports develop the Regional Transport Strategy (RTS) will become increasingly important to ensure the necessary additional surface access infrastructure is adequately prioritised. The present RTS as part of the draft RSS deals only with development to the maximum use of the existing runways. However the funding of this strategy is not assured though the Airports are expected to fund those requirements directly related to their development.

Policy

Future development and growth in passenger numbers at both Stansted and Luton Airports must be accompanied by the provision of adequate surface access infrastructure and services to meet the needs of airport users while minimising the impact on local and other travellers. The funding of such improvements must be assured before growth occurs.

The County Council will seek to implement this policy through working with the airport operators on the Airport Surface Access Strategies and with transport providers and authorities and EERA to realise the Regional Transport Strategy. It has to be recognised however that the council’s influence over the provision of infrastructure and services on this scale is limited.

Stansted Airport

The implications of Stansted’s development on the A120 west of the M11 and on the West Anglia rail line are particularly important for Hertfordshire. The A120 is a single carriageway road with one way traffic lights at one point (Little Hadham) linking Stansted and the M11 to the dualled A10. A scheme for a bypass around the traffic lights at Little Hadham forms part of this LTP. The pressures on the rest of the road, the Bishops Stortford bypass and at Standon, will also have to be addressed.

The Stansted Express provides the Airport with a fast and frequent rail link to London but with few if any stops in Hertfordshire. There is only an hourly service that serves the local Hertfordshire stations (Bishops Stortford is better served) and the serious shortage of available capacity on the rail line impedes any improvement. This lack of capacity also means the pressures from the airport conflict with the local pressures from increased commuting inhibiting much needed improvements to local services. The County Council would wish to see both more frequent stopping trains to the airport to provide for airport employees and more capacity to London to provide for commuters.

The traffic associated with the airport (passenger, employee, etc) puts pressure on local roads particularly in and around Stortford. The new sliproads to the M11 have reduced traffic on the Birchanger Roundabout making access to the M11 easier but increasing airport flows on the motorway are contributing to the increasing congestion on this strategic route. The pressures on the local roads and the problem of fly parking by airport users are addressed through the ASAS and directly through the Eastern Hertfordshire Transport Plan described elsewhere in this LTP. The road network of Bishops Stortford is however inherently unsuited to cope with increased traffic flow.

Stansted as a trip generator and transport interchange does provide a catalyst for improving local bus services (and cycle routes). Studies of the bus and coach network and the local road system are being carried out by the Airport as part of the 25 million- passenger development. At present bus links into Hertfordshire to the west of Bishops Stortford are relatively poor but the County Council will continue to work with the Airport to realise improved services to benefit both airport users and local people and in particular boost public transport use by airport employees.

A new cycle route from Bishop’s Stortford to Stansted Airport forms a part of the ASAS and is being implemented by HCC…….

London Luton Airport

London Luton Airport lies immediately west of the Hertfordshire border but its transport links are directed at Luton and via the M1 and the Thameslink/ Midland Mainline to London and the Midlands. The railline serves stations to the south in Hertfordshire (Harpenden, St Albans, Borehamwood) but road links to the east into the County are poor.

The A505 is the link to the A1(M) but access through Luton is constrained and increased traffic from airport development will contribute to congestion in Hitchin. The other eastern link is the poor quality B653 while airport related traffic on the A1081 contributes to congestion in Harpenden. The lack of links and congestion leads to ratrunning in the area which the North Herts and Mid Herts Transport Plans will seek to address.

Development at the airport and an increasing role as a transport interchange may provide the opportunity to improve bus services between parts of the county and Luton and the airport. The county will continue to work with the Airport and bus and coach operators to assess opportunities but the lack of good road links, to Stevenage for instance, hinders provision.

Luton Airport contributes to both local congestion and to congestion on the M1 both of which is of concern to Hertfordshire. The proposed East Luton corridor scheme will address some local problems but could lead to serious congestion on the A1081 roundabout, an entrance into Hertfordshire from the Motorway, while improvements further north in Luton could increase traffic on the A505. At present the effects of the Airport on the county are relatively small but the increased passenger throughput envisaged by the operators (a potential doubling of passenger numbers without any new planning permission) and in the Aviation White Paper could have serious implications during this LTP period.

Heathrow Airport

Heathrow contributes to traffic flows in Hertfordshire particularly on the M25. Rail access to Heathrow from the county requires an interchange in London. Enhanced public transport access would best be achieved by improved bus and coach services and Hertfordshire will continue to work with the Airport and service providers to enhance these where possible.

5.9 Social Inclusion

To develop a transport system which provides access to employment, shopping, education, leisure and health facilities for all, including those without a car and those with impaired mobility.

The government’s definition of ‘social exclusion’ is: ‘a shorthand term for what can happen when people or areas suffer from a combination of linked problems such as unemployment, discrimination, poor skills, low incomes, poor housing, high crime, bad health and family breakdown.’

In transport a number of potentially disadvantaged groups can be identified:

 Disabled people and those in poor health (along with their carers), who are frequently restricted in their travel and hence their quality of life by uncertainty about facilities in unfamiliar places.  People on low incomes, particularly in rural communities, who may not have access to private transport and consequently have reduced access to many services, and may find transport for work, education, health services and food shopping beyond their means.  Women, who often have less access to private transport, can find use of passenger transport less easy, and who frequently have fears for their personal safety regardless of modes of transport.  Ethnic minority groups, particularly those who do not speak English as a first language.  Young people and the elderly, whether they are also in any of the above categories, who may not have personal transport, may have concerns about personal security while travelling, and may not have money for some more secure modes of transport.  People who work unsociable hours (e.g. shift workers), who may not have personal transport, and may find that there are limited passenger transport services available.  Non car owners, whether due to financial or health reasons.  People with language/communication difficulties, who may find it difficult to understand passenger transport information and timetables.  People who experience geographic barriers, in particular, east-west movements, orbital movements, multi destination journeys and those living in rural areas.

Meeting the Transport Needs of All Social Groups

The County Council is able to address the social exclusion resulting from transport in five key areas:  through highway design to ensure that there are no physical or psychological barriers to accessing facilities and services;  through the way that the highway network is operated;  through the design and provision of information so that it is understandable and accessible to all;  through the provision and or/co-ordination of passenger transport services which are available to all;  through Accessibility Planning

Further details of these five key areas are shown below. Measures which are aimed specifically at ensuring social inclusion for disabled people are included in a separate ‘Transport Issues for Disabled People’ policy.

(a) Highway Design

The County Council will:  to work with disadvantaged groups and their representatives in designing transport service facilities, including roads, pavements and other rights of way, to ensure that they can give access to the maximum number of people in ways that are safe and consistent with their environment.  to work with all social groups and their representatives to ensure that new or updated service facilities enable easy transition from one transport mode to another in terms of both access, personal security and information.

(b) Highway Operations

The County Council will:  review bus stops locations to meet changing demand and seek best advantage from the planning system when new developments are proposed.  Support Bus Stop Clearway Orders and Carriageway ‘cage’ marking (Orders will also be sought to create Bus Stop Clearways at most stops in the county, particularly where illegal or inconsiderate parking is a problem for buses accessing stops);  Work closely with the District Councils to agree adequate parking enforcement strategies;  Ensure that the impact of access, information needs and personal security are considered in the design and development of all transport interchange facilities and their surrounding facilities.

(c) Information

The County Council will:  Ensure that the provision of transport information is consistent with the needs of the wider community including disabled and minority ethnic groups. Further use will be made of electronic information where this will enhance provision;  Offer to provide all information in large print, tape, braille and appropriate foreign languages;  Consider how information may be best provided to people with reading or learning difficulties  Use the Intalink partnership to promote a greater availability of passenger transport information;  Maintain a network of outlets for printed information across the county, eg, one-stop shops;  Work with local groups where they are able to assist in the local distribution of information.

Further details on the provision of passenger transport information are set out in the County Council’s Intalink Strategy.

(d) Passenger Transport Services

The County Council will:  Work with operators to plan bus services to maximise accessibility to the network;  to use cost benefit assessments to assist decision making on contract services to achieve maximum passenger and community benefit from provision and help prioritise the use of scarce resources.  to support the development of a Transport Partnership Model by the ambulance services and hospital trusts, with the aim to provide a ‘one-stop shop approach’ to transport for people who have a medical or social need for transport, i.e to hold information on all transport services available and to match the appropriate transport to the individual need;  to develop measures,to enable young people, the elderly and those with low incomes to travel for work, education or leisure,  to introduce flexible ticketing schemes which offer better value to bus passengers.  to promote agreements with surrounding local authorities and Transport for London, to cover the joint funding of cross boundary services, and possibly infrastructure, seeking value for money for the benefit of Hertfordshire residents.  Further build on the work of the Hertfordshire Rural Transport Partnership.

Further details on the role of passenger transport services in tackling social exclusion is set out in the County Council’s Bus Strategy.

(e) Involving All Social Groups

Meeting the transport needs of all socialgroups can only be achieved if thee is sufficient dialogue to establish what the needs are and whether existing measures are meeting those needs. In line with its ‘Putting People First’ policy, the County Council will:  work with district and parish councils and local access and voluntary groups, youth groups and ethnic minorities, and women’s groups to (a) monitor and assess practice, and (b) ensure that their interests are considered in the development of all transport policies.  to work with schools, educational and community groups to develop safe and accessible transport measures for young people.

The Local Transport Plan consultation list, which is used when developing policies and for providing general updates, contains approximately 550 organisations and individuals who represent a wide range of interests. The County Council is always willing to add new groups to this list.

(f) Improving Personal Security

Personal security issues are an increasing concern to many sectors of society. To help combat this problem, the County Council will:  provide at-grade pedestrian crossings instead of subways wherever possible;  encourage the use of CCTV on buses where routes experience crime and disorder or pupil behaviour problems;  provide adequate lighting in town centres and main pedestrian routes.

(g) Community Transport

Voluntary/Community transport schemes are essential for local communities as they deal with the less regular and more specialised demands for transport, especially in the more rural areas of the County.

The overall priority of transport provision for local communities is shown in the diagram below, which also indicates the level of fleet resources available.

Passenger Transport 450 buses  Statutory Transport 137 social services vehicles 21 Dial-a-ride vehicles  Car Schemes 26 car schemes  Minibus Schemes 33 minibus schemes  Community Transport Schemes

In order to help develop community transport the County Council will:

 provide assistance, and advice to the voluntary sector/communities;  allocate grants and financial support to suitable applicants;.  work with the voluntary sector to support local schemes and identify funding and bidding opportunities for further development;  encourage integration with other passenger transport services through the development of the Integrated Transport Partnership in conjunction with health agencies.

(h) Accessibility Planning

The County Council will use a methodology by which disadvantaged areas and groups of people are identified within the context of their access to key services of work, health, education and food shopping. Areas of Hertfordshire where socially excluded groups have particular access problems will be identified and prioritised for the development of action plans by appropriate and committed partnerships of local stakeholders.

Current Schemes/Initiatives  delivery of road safety measures as part of junior citizenship projects;  linking LEARN into health and community planning in Buntingford;  the development of a countywide rural transport co-ordination project;  the development of community strategies.  working with Hertfordshire Action for Disability to promote bus services in rural areas.  working with the Countryside Agency within STRAP

5.10 Air Pollution and Noise Hertfordshire’s LTP 2006/07 - 2010/11 Page A104 TRANSPORT PANEL DRAFT (MARCH 2005)

The aims of this strategy are:

(a) to reduce the levels of emissions from road traffic which affect human health and local flora and fauna;

(b)to support the national programmes to reduce the impact on climate change.

Air Pollution

Air pollution has many significant adverse affects on human health, and can be damaging to flora and fauna in general. Whilst transport is only one of many sources of air pollution, nationally it is the largest single contributor for several pollutants (notably nitrogen oxides and carbon monoxide).

The impact of transport emissions will vary due to local conditions. However in general emissions are directly related to the volume of traffic, and the effect on human health decreases with increased distance from the source for several major pollutants.

The County Council’s transport-related air pollution strategy is therefore:

(a) to reduce the volume of car traffic by encouraging alternative modes of transport (see 5.26);

(b) to encourage necessary through traffic to use the Primary Route Network, which where possible avoids major urban areas;

(c) to work with district councils to monitor and assess air pollution levels.

Monitoring Air Pollution

The Environment Act 1995 introduced a duty on all local authorities to review air quality within their district by June 2000 and forecast the likely air quality in 2005. This review assessed seven air pollutants against national health-based standards and where these objectives were not met, the council needed to declare the area affected as an "air quality management area". Within the air quality management area, action has to be taken in order to ensure that air quality meets the prescribed standards.

The review and assessment process is a four-stage process:

• Stage 1 - identified emission sources in and around each district, such as road traffic and industrial emissions

• Stage 2 - focused on those pollutants that have been identified as possibly having a high level of emission. These were typically busy roads and junctions, as well as local areas of concern.

• Stage 3 - included a detailed assessment of particular areas still of concern, using air quality monitoring

• Stage 4 - required local authorities to calculate more accurately to what extent air quality needs to be improved to deliver the objectives within the AQMA and to provide the technical justification for the measures included in its air quality improvement action plan.

Local authorities have been assisted in carrying out their review and assessment by the formation of the Herts and Beds Air Pollution Monitoring Network. Set up in 1999, this group was developed by officers from the 14 local authorities and Kings College London to co-ordinate the monitoring and reporting of air quality across the two counties. In 2003 the network was joined by Luton airport, which carries out its own monitoring within the bounds of the airport.

Part of the gathering of information on pollutant emissions involved obtaining traffic flow data from Hertfordshire County Council. Whilst this was a co-ordinated exercise with traffic information for all districts being requested at the same time, the process allowed the district authorities to advise the County Council of areas where they felt traffic flow may be contributing to air quality issues.

The review and assessment process has also allowed the local community to become involved. This has been by firstly inviting interested parties and groups to relay details of their own areas of concern, and secondly through public consultation.

If districts declare AQMAs as a result of the review and assessment process, then the County Council will work in partnership with the district council to create and deliver action plans.

The Herts and Beds Air Pollution Monitoring Network will continue to liaise with the County Council, ensuring that there is a continuous two-way exchange of information. This liaison will be particularly important if Action Plans to improve air quality involve traffic- related solutions.

Hertfordshire Environmental Forum

The Hertfordshire Environmental Forum was established in 1992 by a county-wide group of local authorities - the county, district/boroughs and the Hertfordshire Association of Local Councils representing town and parishes. A steering group of Councillors from all member authorities has been set up to oversee the Forum’s work programme and four officer working groups, each responsible for a particular topic, have been created to achieve its aims. The four groups are: Education & Promotion, Energy, Nature Conservation and Quality of Life. Groups meet once every two months to progress projects.

The work of the Forum is carried out by a series of officer topic groups. These topic groups include membership by organisations such as the Environment Agency and the health authorities.

Climate Change

The main greenhouse gas which affects climate change is carbon dioxide, of which transport is a major source. Carbon dioxide is not included in the Local Air Quality Management Programme as it is better addressed at a national level. However, this Local Transport Plan will help at a countywide level by restricting the growth in car traffic through:-  modal split targets delivered through Area Plans  encouragement of alternative modes of transport by investment in walking, cycling and passenger transport facilities  encouragement of alternative modes of transport through TravelWise, Travel Plans and the LEARN project.

Transport movements typically create noise both from individual vehicles, lorries, railway trains and aircraft, and from the combined roar of continuous traffic on major roads. Complaints about aircraft noise are usually made direct to the airports. Complaints about road and rail noise are typically made to district/borough Environmental Health departments but are relatively few. However, it is recognised that continuous traffic noise can have an effect on human health, and can affect the habitats of birds and other wildlife.

The County Council’s transport-related noise pollution strategy is therefore:

(a) where new road building is undertaken every effort will be made to ensure that the noise impact of the road is minimised;

(b) to investigate the benefits of noise-reducing road surfaces.

The Highways Agency is currently implementing a programme to resurface motorway and trunk roads with noise-reducing materials, particularly near residential locations. [Note. Could not find anything on this for HCC controlled roads].. Noise reductions of between 2dB(A) and 5.6dB(A) have been achieved in Hertfordshire, but other properties such as skid resistance and durability have not yet been proven.

(c) To work in partnership with rail and aircraft operators to address the issues of rail and aircraft noise. Hertfordshire’s LTP 2006/07 - 2010/11 Page A107 TRANSPORT PANEL DRAFT (MARCH 2005)

Congestion

Traffic congestion has an adverse impact on all road users, through delayed and unpredictable journey times and through increases in harmful emissions. Congestion on through routes can lead to rat-running on less suitable roads, with all its attendant safety and environmental problems. Conversely, congestion can be an incentive for motorists to switch to alternative forms of transport.

The County Council’s strategy is:

(a) to minimise the effects of road congestion on passenger transport services by introducing bus priority measures;

(b) to seek to reduce traffic levels, in particular at peak times;

(c) to minimise any adverse environmental effects of congestion through traffic management measures which seek to reduce the level of stop-start conditions;

(d) to promote the use of cleaner fuels and technologies by bus operators and the local authorities’ fleets;

(e) to investigate the use of low emission zones.

5.11 Transport Issues for Disabled People

People with disabilities may dislike being labelled ‘disabled’, therefore the following statement is a more sensitive definition of a proportion of Hertfordshire’s population who may experience problems when trying to access transport due to a disability:

‘Someone who is at a disadvantage in some way (physical, sensory, learning, mental health, reading, temporary) when using transport services and infrastructure’.

Around 21,000 people in Hertfordshire can be defined as having a high level of disability according to the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys (OPCS) survey of disability in 1997, although the County Council is aware that over 100,000 more people in the county suffer from other less severe levels of disability. In December 2000, out of the 21,000 there were 6,879 people with physical/sensory disabilities who needed the services of the County Council’s social services department.

Meeting the Needs of Disabled People

The County Council’s policy is: (a) to work with disabled groups and their representatives in designing transport service facilities, including roads, pavements and other rights of way, to ensure that they can give access to the maximum number of people in ways that are safe and consistent with their environment.

(b) to work with disabled groups and their representatives to ensure that new or updated service facilities enable easy transition from one transport mode to another in terms of both access, personal security and information.

(c) to work with district councils and local access and voluntary groups to ensure that measures to increase the use of modes other than the car do not prevent access for disabled people.

(d) to ensure that the provision of transport information is consistent with the needs of the wider community including disabled groups.

Consultation

The County Council’s aim is to ensure that all sectors of society are able to participate in the consultation processes. This applies both to the development of countywide policy and to the design of local schemes.

Groups representing a range of disabilities are included in all of the forums which have been established to develop the Area and Urban Plans. It is also the intention to ensure that these groups will be included on the LTP User Group which helps to develop overall transport policies.

The Environment Department has introduced a process to ensure that a demographic profile of target communities (which includes disabled people) is prepared prior to commencing any consultation. Targets for consulting these groups are set and these are tested in a post consultation evaluation. This accords with the County Council’s “Putting People First” policy.

Co-operation with Partners

The County Council’s strategy on voluntary/community transport is:  to provide assistance, and advice to the voluntary sector/communities;  to allocate grants and financial support to suitable applicants;  to ensure integration with other passenger transport services;  to provide information, assistance to promote/inform availability of such services and facilities.

The County Council will support the Integrated Transport Project in partnership with North Herts & Stevenage Primary Care Trust and Beds & Herts NHS Ambulance Trust, which aims to develop a ‘one stop shop approach’ for people who have a medical or social need for transport [further details are awaited which are to be included].

Improving Mobility

The County Council will:

(a) Highway Design  provide physical measures using the best advice available from the DfT’s Mobility and Inclusion unit;  provide appropriate physical measures, including dropped kerbs, pedestrian guardrails, tactile paving, controlled crossings with bleepers and increased lighting.

(b) Highway Operations  ensure that disabled drivers have short distance and level access to popular services, as well as being considered for informal residential provision;  to ensure that the needs of the disabled are considered in all parking proposals (principally Controlled Parking Zones and Special Parking Areas).

(c) Buses  encourage the use of vehicles compliant with DPTAC guidelines;  continue to raise the quality of vehicles through higher contract specifications and by grants for new low floor and accessible buses taking full account of the needs of the elderly and mobility impaired;  administer the countywide (district council funded) concessionary scheme for the elderly and disabled;  continue to ensure that wherever possible the walk to the bus stop will be less than 400 metres from the origin of the journey in residential, business and industrial areas, and less than 200 metres at schools, railway stations and within town centres. [Bus Strategy consultation];  define standards for the design and layout of bus stops by September 2002, taking into account the needs of modern low-floor vehicles, the Disability Discrimination Act and the prevailing traffic conditions on the highway. The standards will be used to Hertfordshire’s LTP 2006/07 - 2010/11 Page A110 TRANSPORT PANEL DRAFT (MARCH 2005)

determine a programme of stop enhancements following audit, and to determine requirements for new developments. Orders will also be sought to create Bus Stop Clearways at most stops in the county, particularly where illegal or inconsiderate parking is a problem for buses accessing stops [Bus Strategy consultation].  secure vehicle accessibility improvements through vehicle specifications on contract services and by selective grants to commercial operators. [Bus Strategy consultation];  to work with bus operators to identify and implement, by December 2002, standards for customer care, and where appropriate, codes of conduct and measures to ensure appropriate behaviour of passengers and staff;  fund a trial of CCTV systems on buses to discourage bad behaviour (a performance indicator to monitor the number of buses with CCTV is in the process of being developed);  encourage continuing investment in the fleet. Vehicles will be expected to: meet construction and use requirements for safety of passengers and other road users; meet Disability Discrimination Act access requirements;  continue to encourage the use of vehicles compliant with DPTAC guidelines on local bus services in the county and will monitor innovations in vehicle facilities for the elderly and disabled.

(d) Rail

The County Council’s policies on rail provision are set out in Hertfordshire’s Rail Prospectus 2006 – 20011” (July 2005) which acts as a daughter document to the Local Transport Plan. The policy regarding disabled people is as follows:

 the County Council expects the train operating companies to take the Disability Discrimination Act requirements into consideration when specifying new rolling stock, and for partners (which may include local authorities) to account for them in station schemes;  franchise bidders should include proposals for improved disabled access within franchise replacement. The County Council’s target is to increase the number of stations with full disabled access to all platforms during the currency of the Local Transport Plan.

(e) Taxis  encourage the district/borough councils to incorporate the needs of disabled people and the mobility impaired in their policies for vehicle and driver standards for taxis;  encourage the provision of new taxi facilities if they provide full facilities for wheelchair users and others with physical disabilities.

(f) Dial-a-Ride  promote and improve the availability of Dial-a-Ride services;  continue to promote and improve the availability of Dial-a-Ride services where district or borough council agreement and funding exists.

(g) Information and Monitoring  improve information about and access to the passenger transport network for those who are disabled or mobility impaired;  provide information on disabled facilities and services through the Mobility Helpline;  ensure that disabled people have access to the services they require by monitoring access availability; Hertfordshire’s LTP 2006/07 - 2010/11 Page A111 TRANSPORT PANEL DRAFT (MARCH 2005)

 undertake a programme of quality comprehensive publicity to present the customer with details of all passenger transport services available in the county, together with information on facilities for the elderly and disabled, concessionary fares and school transport.

(h) New Development

Guidance on highway design to developers undertaking new residential or commercial developments is set out in “Roads in Hertfordshire – A Guide for New Developments” (June 2001). Guidance specifically in relation to the needs of disabled people is as follows:

 Access to and within any new development must be available to all sections of the community. Within development design therefore, the provision made for motor vehicle should never be to the detriment of the access requirements of pedestrians, including the mobility impaired.  Whilst it may be technically impossible to meet all the needs of the mobility impaired, there are a variety of practical arrangements that will be of benefit. Detailed advice is given in “Revised Guidelines for Reducing Mobility Handicap: Towards a Barrier-Free Environment” (IHT 1991).  All crossing points shall be provided with tactile paving to the standards laid out in Guidance on the use of Tactile Paving Surfaces and dropped kerbs flush with the carriageway.

In addition to general highway design for new developments, the County Council, in conjunction with district and borough councils, has adopted “Car Parking Provision at New Development” (December 2000) as Supplementary Planning Guidance. The relevant policies included in this document are:

 parking provision at non-residential development to comply with DfT’s Traffic Advisory Leaflet 5/95 Parking for Disabled People.  the needs of disabled motorists are to be met in full, irrespective of location.

(i) Other Measures

There are a number of other transport measures which are not specifically aimed at disabled people but which can be of particular benefit to these groups.

The County Council will:  minimise obstructive street furniture on pedestrian thoroughfares;  seek to prevent vehicles parking on the footway;  encourage district/borough councils to decriminalise parking so that they can have control over the enforcement of parking in disabled spaces and bus stops/lanes;  implement measures to increase the priority of pedestrians relative to motor vehicles, especially in towns;  repair dangerous pavements within 24 hours of being alerted;  introduce SmartCard ticketing to make the payment of public transport fares easier.

Disability Awareness Training

The County Council will ensure that staff delivering these services understand and implement these policies fairly. Hertfordshire’s LTP 2006/07 - 2010/11 Page A112 TRANSPORT PANEL DRAFT (MARCH 2005)

Passenger transport providers  all bus operators should ensure that full customer care training is made available to all staff, including those specialised elements that concern disabled customers [Bus Strategy Consultation].

Information

The County Council will ensure that information produced is widely accessible to all, including:  translated statements in other languages;  other formats e.g. braille, large print, audio tape;  customer service centre telephone numbers  and is available in a variety of outlets including libraries and council offices.

5.12 Sustainable Distribution

Sustainable distribution covers the overall movement of goods from source to destination. The aim of this strategy is that the future development of the distribution industry does not compromise the future need of our society, economy and environment.

The movement of goods within Hertfordshire is primarily by road, with around 2.35 million vehicle kilometres travelled by HGV’s in Hertfordshire each day. Whilst the Primary Route Network is designed to cater for high flows of HGV’s, access to the final destination via local roads can have major impacts on the environment and on congestion in both town centres and rural areas. However, the alternatives of rail and water freight are limited. Navigable waterways are limited to two routes, and whilst the rail network is more extensive, the routes are already under severe capacity problems from the expanding passenger services. The County Council’s sustainable distribution strategy therefore concentrates on minimising the impact of road traffic, whilst ensuring that any opportunities that may arise for rail and water freight can be taken up.

(a) Working With Businesses

The County Council already works with businesses to encourage sustainable travel to work through Business TravelWise. The County Council’s strategy for working with businesses is to:

 Encourage formation of ‘Quality Partnerships’ between local authorities, the freight industry, businesses, residents and community, environmental groups and interested parties to develop understanding of distribution issues and problems at the local level and to promote constructive solutions which reconcile the need access for goods and services with local environmental and social concerns. This will also include external sites which have a significant impact on Hertfordshire e.g. Stansted Airport.

 Increase awareness within companies of the environmental impact of their transportation activities and encourage them to develop effective environmental polices.  Ensure comprehensive and early consultation with industry and suppliers when developing traffic management plans  Work with local companies to encourage local sourcing  Assess the appropriateness of developing transhipment (transfer) centres for road haulage, where goods are transferred into smaller less intrusive vehicles for urban delivery, taking into consideration issues such as green belts.

Consider some distribution in off peak times in pedestrianised areas and the relaxation of restrictions on night deliveries with town centre managers. These changes could be restricted to only companies and freight organisations which use the modern quieter, more energy and fuel efficient lorries

(b) Heavy Goods Vehicles

The County Council’s strategy for heavy goods vehicles is to:

 Create designated lorry bays of appropriate size, with good signing, where no alternatives are available to prevent congestion. Implement and enforce parking restrictions to facilitate access to commercial premises;  Work with the industry to encourage the production of a map for delivery drivers to identify congestion hot spots and suitable routes through towns;  Evaluate potential of designated HGV and lorry lanes where appropriate;  Develop and maintain the primary route network so that it can carry and attract the main through movement of HGVs, using appropriate road surfaces which can deal with the strain inflicted on them through HGV use;  Direct lorry movements along primary routes through appropriate signing and encourage their use for the longest part of the journey, and thereby discourage the use of local roads;  Help HGV drivers to use the best routes between the principle route network and local destinations by using the advisory black signs with a white lorry symbol;  Encourage local businesses to co-operate in using the recommend routes;  Implement restrictions or bans where other measures have not been successful and where the restrictions will have overall benefits and not move HGVs from one unsuitable road to another. Wherever possible these should be self-enforcing;  Encourage companies not to allow employees to take their HGVs home;  Undertake measures to reduce unauthorised overnight parking of HGVs in residential streets, lay-bys and other undesirable locations.

(c) Promoting Rail Freight

The County Council’s ‘Prospectus for Hertfordshire’s Rail Network’ outlines a specific strategy for rail freight, as follows:  Establishment of a Freight Forum, to encourage modal transfer to rail and to progress a programme of assessment and development work;  Research work to establish the scope for modal transfer and the potential for new or expanded terminals in the county;

 Liaison with local planning authorities to determine how the needs of rail freight can be built into local plans, including the safeguarding of sites;  Assessment of works required to improve access to rail freight terminals;  Determination of realistic measurable targets for modal transfer, against which progress can be monitored;  Contribution to ongoing debates in support of loading gauge enhancement, piggyback operations and inter-modal transfer.

(d) New Developments

 Integrate transport and land use strategy  Encourage developers to incorporate adequate off street servicing access to new retail and other developments  Resist applications for new licences involving property served off the rule local network.

(e) Navigable Waterways

The network of navigable inland waterways in Hertfordshire comprises the Grand Union Canal in the west of the county and the Lee and Stort navigations in the east. Both waterways connect Hertfordshire with London, whilst the Grand Union also provides connections to the Midlands network.

In recent years the network has been used almost exclusively for leisure purposes. This is an important economic activity and can provide the catalyst for the regeneration of urban sites. The towpaths also provide possible routes for both pedestrians and cyclists, however the waterways still have potential for carrying freight.

The County Council’s strategy is to work with British Waterways and industry to explore the possibility of transferring freight from road to waterway, including support for Inland Waterway Freight Facilities Grant Scheme applications.

FREIGHT QUALITY PARTNERSHIPS

Freight Quality Partnerships will be established where there are existing freight distribution problems or where proposed new developments will create opportunities or problems. A freight quality partnership has been developed for Stevenage, and in particular looks at the Gunnels Wood Road Business Area. Actions included the production of a driver information map, and new information boards in laybys on the A602.

The establishment of a Freight Quality Partnership is currently being considered in the following area:  St Albans: this could form part of the Mid Hertfordshire area plan.

Further Freight Quality Partnerships will be considered as appropriate.

5.13 Horses

Hertfordshire has one of the highest number of horses in the country. Whilst many horse trips are for leisure purposes, it is recognised that horse riding and horse-drawn carriage driving can be a healthy and sustainable alternative to the car as a means of transport. The County Council in partnership with local district councils, The British Horse Society, Sustrans and other key user groups, will seek to provide safe facilities for the use of equestrians. Rural Rights of Way, byways and bridleways can be considered sustainable routes and are promoted in leaflets produced by the Countryside Management Service.

The County Council’s strategy towards equestrianism is:

(a) To support the establishment of strategic bridleways within the Rights of Way network;

(b) To ensure that the needs of horse riders are considered in all new schemes.

To do so the County Council will:

 identify and develop a network of riding routes around settlements (‘Community Circuits’) as part of the integrated transport plans;  identify and promote routes of regional significance (‘Regional Routes’) like the London Orbital Bridleroute (‘H25’) and the Great Northern Bridleroute (‘H1’) ,part of the planned National Bridleroute Network;  give full consideration to the needs of equestrians when designing new highways and highway improvement schemes. Facilities will be incorporated into the design of schemes or alternative routes identified and developed;  develop and promote equestrian facilities alongside main roads between towns, where there is a requirement and it is practical to do so;  when highway verges are to be used to take cyclists off the main carriageway, section 71 Highways Act 1980 will be used in preference to section 65 since this does not exclude horses;  implement measures along equestrian routes to increase both road and personal safety (including the provision of equestrian crossings);  identify and provide equestrian crossing facilities (‘Pegasus’) on priority routes and at sites where they are justified. Such justification will be based upon a relaxation of the DfT criteria which will be used flexibly when assessing sites;  at crossing points on heavily trafficked roads, consideration to be given to the provision of a grade-separated crossing;

 maintain bridleways to an acceptable standard;  to take into account the needs of horse riders when designing new road schemes and other highway improvements. Equestrian facilities will be provided in accordance with the guidelines in TA57/87. "Roadside Features", TD16/93 ‘Geometric Design of Roundabouts’ and TD50/04 ‘Geometric Layout of Signal-controlled Junctions and Signalised Roundabouts’. In all cases the provision of equestrian facilities will give the greatest importance to the safety of horse riders and other road users;  new bridges will normally be designed to BD52/93. Wherever possible such new bridges will be suitable for equine use, in particular those in close proximity to bridleways. Where a new bridge on an all-purpose road is likely to be used by more than 25 equestrians per day the parapet will be designed to have an overall height of not less than 1.8m above the adjoining paved surface;  when Traffic Regulation Orders are considered as a means of regulating motor vehicular access to unmetalled routes, horse drawn vehicles will not normally be excluded;  support the British Horse Society’s Riding and Road Safety training and test programme to increase adult and children riders’ skills on the roads.  Support the Rights of Way Improvement Plan to develop, improve, and provide safer and appropriate routes for users.

5.14 Health

To reduce the need for the movement of people and goods through integrated land use planning, the promotion of sustainable distribution and the use of telecommunications

To develop an efficient, affordable and enhanced transport system which is attractive, reliable, integrated and makes best use of resources.

To raise awareness and encourage the use of more sustainable models of transport through effective promotion, publicity, information and education.

Partnership Working

The Hertfordshire Integrated Transport Partnership (HITP) is a unique partnership comprising some 60 stakeholder groups and the work of the HITP is managed through the Hertfordshire Integrated Transport Board (HITB).

The HITB is chaired by the Chief Executive of Welwyn Hatfield Primary Care Trust and includes representatives of 60 stakeholder groups including: Hertfordshire County Council’s Children, Schools and Families (CSF), Adult Care Services (ACS), Environment Departments, District Councils, voluntary sector, Bedfordshire & Hertfordshire Strategic Health Authority and the Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Ambulance and Paramedic Service.

Over the next three years the HITP will be working to improve access to information and transport services for users of education, health and social services by establishing a single point of access to allow them to choose and, where appropriate, book suitable transport for their individual needs. The Herts travellink website provides the framework to support the vision to:

 promote travel independence, inclusion, and accessibility  provide the right transport for the right people  produce efficiencies in service delivery

This framework will provide the necessary background to help deliver local transport information and communication structures to the residents of Hertfordshire within a twenty first century health care strategy.

The County Council’s priorities for the environment, including reducing road traffic accidents, a safe environment for highway users and less dependence on motor car use, will be incorporated into this transport-planning programme. The programme will also seek to address the key issues raised in the recently published guidance: “Making the Connections” and “Accessibility to Health Establishments”.

In addition the HITB will contribute to and seek to influence the development of transport policies and transport service provision that will be required under the “Investing In Your Hertfordshire’s LTP 2006/07 - 2010/11 Page A119 TRANSPORT PANEL DRAFT (MARCH 2005)

Health” investment programme being embarked on by the Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Strategic Health Authority, outlined in the next section.

This comprehensive strategy, will help to keep pace with the demand for health services as it continues to rise steadily, both nationally and within the boundaries of the Bedfordshire & Hertfordshire Strategic Health Authority, as people’s expectations of what can be done for them continues to increase.

Improvement to health services in Hertfordshire

Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Strategic Health Authority has embarked on a major programme of investment called “Investing In Your Health”. This programme means that in excess of £900 million extra will be spent over the next 7 to 10 years on the redevelopment of healthcare across the two counties. In addition to providing the biggest ever injection of funds for new health facilities, the programme of investment will also take a strategic approach to the development of healthcare facilities across the two counties. To manage the programme of investments the Strategic Heath Authority has established the “Investing In Your Health” Programme Board.

Under “Investing In Your Health” the money invested will enable the development of significant capital projects including:

Major Hospital Acute Site Developments

“Investing In Your Health” includes the construction of a new hospital at Hatfield and the major redevelopment of the Watford General Hospital site. The new Hatfield Hospital, together with Watford, Bedford and Luton & Dunstable hospitals will specialise in emergency and inpatient emergency (acute) hospital services including paediatrics, obstetrics, major trauma, emergency surgery and medicine. The new Hatfield hospital will also include a state-of-the-art cancer centre which will bring together a range of cancer specialists to provide surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy. The re-developed Watford General Hospital will include vastly improved facilities for children.

Surgicentre Network

Two new "Surgicentres" will be developed and these will concentrate on planned surgery.

One of the Surgicentres will be built on the Hemel Hempstead General Hospital site and the other will be built on the Lister Hospital site in Stevenage. They will be units specialising in high-volume routine procedures, and the type of surgical procedures that will be undertaken in both surgicentres will include procedures such as cataract operations and hip and knee replacements. They will also provide a wide range of outpatient and diagnostic procedures.

Both Hemel Hempstead and Lister hospital will also retain their Accident & Emergency service, and they will also provide intermediate care where people can receive intensive rehabilitation after an acute illness such as a stroke.

Discussions on Surgicentre provision in Bedfordshire are still being finalised.

Community Diagnostic & Treatment Centre Network

Health care will also be moved closer to people's own homes through the development of a network of approximately 15 local Community Diagnostic & Treatment centres. With the new Community Diagnostic and Treatment Centres scattered around the two counties, people should have to make fewer visits to major hospitals.

Services available for patients at a Community Diagnostic and Treatment Centre could include:

 Outpatient appointments  Blood tests  X-rays & Ultrasound  MRI scans  Endoscopy  Minor surgery, performed under local anaesthetic,  Regular check-ups and condition management for patients with on-going chronic conditions such as asthma

The Community Diagnostic and Treatment Centres will be located in a variety of sites from existing community hospitals to new stand-alone buildings. Some of these are already up and running, whilst others are being developed and still more are under consideration, e.g.

 Cheshunt Community Hospital  Hemel Hempstead General Hospital  Herts and Essex Hospital (Bishop's Stortford)  Hertford County Hospital  Hitchin Hospital  Potters Bar Hospital  Royston Hospital  St Albans City Hospital  St Mary's Hospital (Luton)

More local provision of healthcare

More care will also be provided in people's own homes with a substantial increase in investment in services such as district and community nursing. The range of services available at GP surgeries will also continue to grow, with practice nurses and therapists playing a greater role, as well as Community Pharmacists.

Transport requirements around the planned New Health Facilities

To support the developments outlined above, the “Investing In Your Health” Programme Board has commissioned a separate project to consider both at a strategic level and at a local level, the issues around transport and access to the new health facilities being planned.

A Transport and Access Project Board will therefore be established and this will be chaired by the Chair of the HITB. Membership of the Project Board will include the manager of the HITP, as well as representation from Hertfordshire County Council, Watford Borough Hertfordshire’s LTP 2006/07 - 2010/11 Page A121 TRANSPORT PANEL DRAFT (MARCH 2005)

Council, Welwyn Hatfield District Council, and Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Ambulance and Paramedic Service. This will further improve the co-ordination between Local Authorities and Health that is now taking place under the auspices of the HITP.

The Transport and Access Project Board will seek assistance and support throughout the process from the HITB. In addition it will also seek assistance and support from Hertfordshire County Council’s Transport Planning department around the question of accessibility planning using the Department for Transport new Accessibility Planning Software tool.

The Transport and Access project will address the key issues of physical access to ensure patients, relatives, carers, visitors, and staff can access the sites where the new health facilities are being planned under “Investing In Your Health”. This will also include looking at the links to rural areas and considering how more sustainable modes of transport can improve health.

The Transport and Access Project Board will also seek to influence healthcare organisations to encourage them to develop travel plans, where these do not currently exist, for current and for new healthcare premises. One of the key features of the travel plans will be the promotion of healthier modes of transport including cycling and walking to healthcare facilities, and in turn these should help tackle health problems that arise through chronic diseases such as Coronary Heart disease and Obesity.

5.15 Road Hierarchy and Network Development

To obtain best use of the existing network through effective design, maintenance and management

To ensure that the transport system contributes towards improving the efficiency of commerce and industry and the provision of sustainable economic development in appropriate locations

Road Hierarchy

The County Council will maintain and develop a road hierarchy so that traffic is concentrated onto roads appropriate to its journey purpose. Improvement proposals, maintenance allocations and environmental standards all relate to the different hierarchy levels so that a road's character is developed to best suit the function which it has to fulfil. In this way the large volumes of through traffic, particularly heavy goods vehicles, are concentrated on the main roads and are kept away from the more local roads. The local roads can then be developed to give greater priority and safety to pedestrians, cyclists, shoppers and local residents. The current hierarchy is shown in Figure 5.34(1).

The hierarchy of roads adopted by the Council, the primary journey purposes and functions which they should fulfil, and the type of standards, improvements and character appropriate for them are summarised below:

Primary Routes

These are roads which form the links between the most important traffic origins and destinations. Primary routes consist of motorways, trunk roads and the most important County ‘A’ roads. They will usually be built to a 70 mph (120 km/h) standard. Primary routes other than motorways can be identified by their green backed signs. They form the County’s advisory lorry route network and should avoid urban areas and other settlements.

It would not be normal for existing or new developments to have direct access on to a primary route and such limitations will be rigorously applied.

 The County Council will encourage through traffic to use Primary Routes;

 Improvements to Primary Routes will be appropriate where they bring about environmental benefits to communities by the removal of through traffic or rat-running. Capacity improvements to reduce congestion may be appropriate in some cases.

Each situation will be assessed on its merits, but in general the County Council does not support the widening of motorways beyond the existing highway boundary. Widening beyond 4 lanes and proposals such as link roads will be strongly resisted.

In the case of the M25 the County Council does not believe that the benefits of widening to four lanes in Hertfordshire are sufficient to outweigh the adverse environmental effects that local communities will suffer.

Further work will be initiated to determine the environmental impacts and other implications of, and the alternatives/options to, the widening of motorways.

Rural Roads

Rural Main Distributor Roads

These roads connect the main towns with the Primary Route Network and link neighbouring towns within the PRN grid. Single carriageways will usually be adequate. Main distributor roads consist of those county ‘A’ roads which do not form part of the Primary Route Network and are identified by the whitebacked signs.

New access on to these routes would not normally be allowed.

The County Council will discourage through traffic from using the main distributor roads.

Rural Secondary Distributor Roads

These roads connect the important rural settlements to each other and to the main distributor network. They are the main access routes to rural areas and are classified ‘B’ roads.

The County Council will encourage the functions of the village street to take precedence over providing for moving traffic in villages with particular emphasis being placed on reducing the speed of traffic.

Rural Local Distributor And Access Roads

These are the country lanes which give access to adjacent land.

The County Council will:  deter through traffic including rat running from using these roads;  not improve them except for environmental and accident reasons and these cases will be rare as traffic flows should be low. When undertaken the rural nature of the road will be paramount;  resist developments which would generate a change in the amount or type of traffic on these roads in the following circumstances;

– Where there is an increased risk of accidents, especially to pedestrians and cyclists;

– Where the road is poor in terms of width, alignment and/or structural condition;

– Where increased traffic would have an adverse effect on the local environment either to the rural character of the road or residential properties alongside it.

 Development off a road of poor condition could be acceptable if the following conditions are met: i) the development is within 1 km of the distributor road network; and ii) the developer provides improvements to the local road which satisfy environmental, safety and capacity conditions.

This policy will particularly apply to recreational developments which could attract large numbers of visitors, albeit on only one or two occasions each year.

Urban Roads

Primary Routes will not usually pass through urban areas, and where they do so, bypasses will be considered. However, it will still be appropriate for a hierarchy of the roads to be developed in urban areas so that roads can be developed to best fulfil their most appropriate function.

As the County Council does not wish to encourage car use in urban areas it will not improve urban roads solely for capacity reasons.

Any urban road improvement will need to satisfy one or more of the following:

 Have substantial environmental benefits such as enabling traffic to be taken out of a town centre which far outweighed any environmental disbenefit;  Have the primary aim of reducing road accidents;  Be necessary to enable urban redevelopment or urban regeneration proposals to proceed.

Urban Main Distributor Roads

These are the main roads which distribute traffic within towns, around towns centres and link town centres and main industrial areas to the Primary Route Network. Urban Main Distributor roads will be designated ‘A’ roads with white backed signs.

New access onto these routes would not normally be allowed.

 manage traffic arrangements to encourage main flows onto the main distributor roads;  restrict parking along them;  develop bus priority measures along them where appropriate;  make adequate provision for the safe crossing of pedestrians and cyclists.

Urban Secondary Distributor Roads

These roads will connect important urban neighbourhoods to each other and to the Main Distributor roads, and form the distributor routes through large residential areas. Secondary Distributor roads will normally be designated ‘B’ roads and it is appropriate for these to be bus routes.

 only carry out improvements to these roads specifically aimed at making them safer;  improve conditions along them for cyclists and pedestrians;  where appropriate implement bus priority measures.

Urban Local Distributor and Access Roads

Vehicles will be discouraged from passing through areas within the distributor road network grid. The main function of these roads will often be estate roads, is to provide access to properties and the aim will be to keep vehicle speeds low.

Vehicles will be discouraged from passing through areas within the distributor road network grid.

 designate areas within the distributor road network grid as environmental areas;  as opportunities occur, implement traffic calming and other measures to keep speeds down and improve safety.

The County Council will make capacity improvements to primary routes so that they are attractive for through journeys, providing that the improvements are environmentally acceptable.

Highway improvements on non-primary routes will normally only be carried out as part of an overall transport plan for an area or for highway safety reasons.

Where the improvements are part of a plan, then it must be necessary to either: a) Enable more effective use of passenger transport, walking, cycling or horse riding; b) Result in significant environmental benefits; c) Assist urban regeneration.

However, for all roads new construction will be limited to meeting the needs for the levels of traffic existing at the time when the decision is taken to adopt a preferred route. A capability to cater for future traffic growth except that generated by planned development will not be incorporated into the design, and future demand will be met by promoting alternative modes of travel. Planned development is defined as development permitted or committed in the approved [need links to regional issues] District and Subject (Minerals and Waste) Local Plans. Environmental bypasses will be built to relieve congestion and safety problems in settlements without adding to route capacity.

For the Primary Route Network, the County Council’s aim is to complete the strategic east- west routes to enhance links within the East of England Region. Within the lifetime of this Local Transport Plan, the County Council intends to make improvements to the A120 around Little Hadham. This scheme will divert the Primary Route Network link to the A10 away from Little Hadham, bringing much needed environmental benefits to the town and relieving a major bottleneck particularly for traffic travelling to and from Stansted Airport .

The County Council also supports the following schemes proposed by DfT on motorways and trunk roads: [to be added]

5.16 Road Traffic Reduction

The overall aim of the Road Traffic Reduction Strategy is to reduce the dominance of the private motor car in order to:  reduce local air pollution;  reduce social exclusion for those without access to the car;  contribute to national actions on climate change by reducing CO2 emissions.  [statement on congestion to be added]

Reducing Car Usage

The County Council will develop an integrated transport system which seeks to reduce the growth in car usage, especially during peak periods within towns.

Providing for the predicted levels of car growth on both the majority of the main road network and within towns would not only be prohibitively expensive, but would be environmentally disastrous. Like many other authorities and bodies the County Council does not wish to see this growth take place and considers that policies need to be developed both nationally and locally which will reduce the growth without causing economic disadvantage to the nation.

The County Council aims to reduce traffic growth by reducing the need to travel and encouraging the use of alternative forms of transport through planned development. In this context the County Council will support measures which:  remove the need for journeys to be made;  reduce the length of vehicle journeys;  encourage the use of other modes for journeys instead of cars;  encourage pupils to walk or cycle to school.

With reference to all of the above, the County Council will aim to provide safer journeys for all modes.

To achieve this the Council will:  integrate land use and transportation planning to take full account of the wider transportation issues, especially the effect on car usage, in assessing proposed developments;  seek to ensure that out of town retail developments are adequately served by passenger transport services. New proposed developments which do not provide for a

substantial degree of customer and employee movement by passenger transport services will be resisted;  develop and implement comprehensive transportation plans for towns which are aimed at reducing car use by encouraging cycling, walking and bus usage by developing an integrated transport system with efficient and convenient interchange facilities including park and ride where appropriate;  use its position as a major employer to develop and implement measures which will encourage its employees to travel to work by modes other than the car.

Many cities, mainly abroad and especially in America, are looking at other measures, such as businesses having schemes for getting their staff to work other than by car, and lanes reserved on highways for vehicles with three or more occupants. The Council will keep a close watch on new developments to reduce car use to see if they could have a role to play in Hertfordshire.

Road Traffic Reduction Act

The Road Traffic Reduction Act 1997 requires local traffic authorities to carry out an assessment of the current and future levels of traffic on their road network, and then to establish targets for the reduction in actual flows or the rate of traffic growth.

Consultation on the basis for setting targets was carried out during 1998 with district/boroughs, neighbouring authorities, the Police, Highways Agency, health authorities and transport operators. The methodology, as described below, was subsequently agreed by the County Council in January 1999. Actual targets have been set for a number of towns within Hertfordshire during the period of LTP1, and more recently targets for the Mid Hertfordshire and Northern Hertfordshire Area Plans have been developed. Details of these targets are contained within the annual Traffic & Transport Data Reports.

The County Council has set traffic targets for journey to work modal splits for its urban areas. The reasons for this are:  Where new transport plans are being developed, the issue of targets can be included in the consultation process;  The achievement of targets will require schemes and measures to bring about a change in travel behaviour. The majority of County Council programmes are based on urban areas;  Suitably detailed journey to work information can be obtained from the National Census.

The setting of targets will have particular regard to any traffic requirements which result from Local Air Quality Management assessments.

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