STUBBINGTON BYPASS TRANSPORT BUSINESS CASE Final

Gosport Marine Scene (GMS) is the Marine Business network for the Gosport Peninsula, engaging the 160+ marine-related businesses in and around the Peninsula and working in partnership with Gosport Borough Council. The following comments spring from our focus on the local maritime economy, though they are germane to all sectors of the local economy.

Gosport has some 24 miles of coastline, of which about 17 miles are on the indented western shore of Portsmouth Harbour. Uniquely on the South Coast, it has immediate access to the Channel as well as the Solent, deep water at all tidal states and a vast range of facilities for small commercial and recreational vessels.

In framing these comments specifically in response to the Stubbington Bypass Transport Business Case, we have also given attention to the context set by the LEP’s Solent Strategic Infrastructure Investment Plan. GMS welcomes the LEP’s commitment to taking a comprehensive and joined-up approach to the improvement of the Fareham- Gosport area, but we do not see how this is playing out in practice.

These comments are grouped as follows: 1: Have the LEP and Hampshire County Council forgotten Gosport? 2: Strategic routes and connectivity: brave talk 3: Marine business and the visitor economy 4: The A32: a blot on the transport landscape 5: The Bus Rapid Transit route: hope unfulfilled 6: Train services: action needed

1: Have the LEP and Hampshire County Council forgotten Gosport? 1.1 GMS endorses the rationale of the LEP’s Infrastructure Plan for the Solent economy. The urgency of improving connectivity between the Southampton and Portsmouth gateways is beyond dispute. However, in welcoming the plan, we also note the neglect of transport to-and-through Gosport as a whole and in particular its Eastern Sector (roughly east of a line from Hoeford to Fort Monckton), on which the plan is inexplicably silent.

1.2 We welcome the proposed Stubbington Bypass and endorse the proposed route, which will improve transport in the Western Sector of the Gosport Peninsula (roughly west of the Hoeford Lake to Fort Monckton line). The opportunities created by Daedalus/the Enterprise Zone are of undoubted importance for the future growth of the Solent economy.

1.3 However, GMS is concerned that focusing largely on new investment and development tends to eclipse the needs of both established businesses and opportunities in the Eastern Sector of the Gosport Peninsula, where the majority of marine businesses are to be found. We note with surprise that the strategic sites for development at the Waterfront, the retained area at Royal Clarence Yard, and Haslar Hospital are addressed neither by the Business Case nor by the Infrastructure Plan.

1.4 The opening sections of the Business Case underline the negative impact of poor connectivity and the critical role of transport in unlocking strategic sites, an emphasis mirrored in the Infrastructure Investment Plan. However, both the Business Case and the Infrastructure Plan address only transport improvement in the Western Sector (mainly serving Daedalus/ the Enterprise Zone) and are otherwise virtually silent about the deficiencies of transport to-and- through the Eastern Sector of the town.

1.5 GMS contends that it is a serious mistake, which will have long-term adverse consequences, to neglect established need and well-recognised transport inadequacy in the Eastern Sector. The Stubbington Bypass may improve the situation for journeys out of this part of the Peninsula, but may also exacerbate it by stimulating more use of the northern and southern segments of the congested A32 to access the Bypass.

2: Strategic routes and connectivity: brave talk 2.1 Connectivity from the major routes is as important as the routes themselves, and essential to earn the dividend on major transport investments. Waterfront and seaside towns typically have a hinterland of only 180˚. As a peninsular town Gosport has an even narrower hinterland. It has no road or rail trunk routes except for the notorious A32. Because it is a peninsula, good transport links are more than usually important for its economy and contribution to the LEP area.

2.2 Since the withdrawal of the armed forces mainly to Portsmouth and the shrinking of the Naval Base and Dockyard, Gosport’s vulnerability to the downturns in the economic cycle has become starkly clear. It is an area of low income and high levels of deprivation, with low self-containment of employment and extensive out-commuting in spite of frustratingly poor transport connections. Though some transport investments have been made in the Peninsula in recent years, they have not achieved their potential.

2.3 We draw attention especially to two projects, from which the dividend will fall short: • The failure to complete the Bus Rapid Transport scheme into the Eastern Sector of Gosport. • In spite of the undoubted benefits of the Newgate Lane/Stubbington Bypass works to Daedalus/the Enterprise Zone, these will also stop several miles short of the main concentration of marine businesses in Gosport.

2.4 Perversely, focussing strategic investment on the main east-west A27/M27 routes as the Infrastructure Plan proposes is likely to make this worse, by increasing incentives to establish businesses and seek employment out of Gosport. To counterbalance this, it is as essential to invest in improving transport to-and-through the Eastern Sector of Gosport, as to invest in the Newgate Lane/Stubbington improvements.

3: Marine business and the visitor economy 3.1 Tourism and the visitor economy, particularly to the extensive marine leisure and heritage sites, is of increasing importance to Gosport. The 2014 visitor survey recorded 1.7m visitors, sustaining 1700 jobs. A number of major maritime events including the PI English Grand Prix of the Sea, the Gosport Marine Festival and the America’s Cup World Series, attract growing numbers of visitors. (For comparison, the marine businesses sustain 1900 jobs.)

3.2 The Economic Plan for Gosport Waterfront and High Street was produced in early 2016 by the Coastal Community Team http://www.coastalcommunities.co.uk/coastal-teams/gosport/ The plan emphasises development of the visitor economy through a range of measures. Most of these depend on to-and-through transport not only to get visitors to their destinations, but also to increase their dwell time in Gosport.

3.3 The first hotel to be built in the town for many years is already expanding and plans have been published for a further town centre hotel. Getting visitors to-and-through the waterside is critically important to encouraging visitors to stay. Gosport’s ample, low cost parking is an incentive if the road access can be improved.

3.4 Only the three commercial marinas are usually considered in the context of marine business in Gosport: Haslar, Gosport Premier and Royal Clarence, which between them have ~1000 berths. GMS estimates that the commercial marinas alone account for ~120,000 visits by boaters annually. However, the services sailing establishments at Hornet/Blockhouse and Royal Clarence add around a further 750 berths and have visitor and transport impact and demands comparable to the commercial marinas.

3.5 The boatyards – Endeavour Quay, Gosport Boatyard and Quay Lane Boatyard - provide berthing for variable numbers of vessels and there are several yacht clubs that also provide many moorings. These are an important source of marine employment as well as bringing in visitors. The Queen’s Harbour Master now estimates that there are ~3500 small commercial and recreational vessels in the Harbour, the majority on the Gosport shore.

4: The A32: a blot on the transport landscape 4.1 Both the Bypass Case and the Infrastructure Plan acknowledge the constraints of the A32 between Gosport and the A27 and M27. These are well-known, of long standing and expected to worsen; it is a major contributor to bottlenecks at the relevant east-west junctions. In the view of GMS, to make no recognition of the need for investment in this key route displays a disappointing lack of ambition.

4.2 The A32 is an obstacle to the development of the marine business sector in Gosport. Of the town’s existing 160+ marine businesses, the majority are concentrated in the Eastern Sector between Hoeford and Fort Monckton, which is very poorly served by this route.

3.3 Poor transport is a disincentive to prospective employees in the marine sector, and a disincentive to businesses that might otherwise consider location in the area. Though this may be partly offset by the low cost of housing and available commercial land, in turn this contributes to the vulnerability of the area’s economy.

4.4 Three important development sites need better transport links. • It is expected that the retained area at Royal Clarence Yard will shortly be made available for marine/waterside development by the Defence Infrastructure Organisation. • Gosport Borough Council has now offered development opportunities on the Waterfront. These will potentially increase economic and employment opportunities in the area. • The redevelopment of Haslar Hospital is expected to begin during 2016.

These developments will stimulate business and leisure traffic on the same A32 route. Without improvements on this route an adverse result of development will be to increase congestion, reducing transport speeds still further.

4.5 Some of the A32 junctions have been redesigned while others remain as bottlenecks. Computerised sequencing of some of the 20+ traffic lights between the Gosport Ferry and the A27/M27 junctions was unsuccessful in the past, though improved technology may now be available. But it may be that only root-and-branch rebuilding of the A32 will improve the situation significantly.

5: The Bus Rapid Transit route: hope unfulfilled 5.1 The BRT between Fareham and Gosport remains incomplete. As a result the first section of the Gosport to Fareham journey is much more time-consuming than the second section, especially at peak hours. This is a regrettable disincentive to using the otherwise attractive Eclipse service.

5.2 The potential of this service to feed the east-west routes or to draw passengers from those routes thus remains unrealised. Completing the northern section of the BRT as far as Havant, without completing the Gosport section, is short sighted.

5.3 An effective feeder service between the Gosport Peninsula and Fareham Railway Station would have marked benefits. At present the bus service is too often a poor second choice to the car, with all the known disadvantages. If the rail service to Southampton Central/Airport Parkway is also improved as proposed, it would be a major omission if these connections remain defective.

5.4 A more efficient bus service could deliver many more passengers to/from the frequent and reliable Gosport Ferry to Portsmouth. The completion of the new transport hub at Portsmouth Hard will increase the incentive to use this as a to-and-through route for the Gosport Peninsula.

6: Train services: action needed 6.1 Apart from acknowledging that Gosport is the largest town in the country without a rail connection, the Infrastructure Plan is conspicuously silent on the matter. Yet Gosport has a readily accessible railway station at Portsmouth Harbour via the excellent Ferry service, even though the rail link suffers from the disadvantage of the sluggish London services.

6.2 Renaming the Harbour Station ‘Portsmouth and Gosport’, mirroring the naming of Portsmouth and Southsea Station, would be low-cost and readily achievable, and would help to raise awareness of the link and drive traffic to it. It would symbolically reinstate Gosport’s rail service.

6.3 While the Infrastructure Plan draws attention to the low speeds of London-Portsmouth trains, it appears defeatist about the prospect of increasing speeds without major works. Yet oddly, this strategic plan does not propose any strategic improvements to this important route. This is all the more surprising given the importance the Plan assigns to Portsmouth as a Solent gateway.

6.4 The slow train journey to the Southampton stations is a discouragement to commuters to/from Gosport. The Infrastructure Plan also considers the unsatisfactory train services between Portsmouth (and de facto, Gosport) and Southampton Central/Airport Parkway. Train journey times are little better than the wearisome bus journeys for this relatively short distance, creating a strong incentive to further car travel out of Gosport. Improving times and frequency will have benefits for the entire Gosport Peninsula.

In summary… Gosport Marine Scene believes the Stubbington Bypass Transport Business Case and the LEP’s Solent Strategic Infrastructure Investment Plan both fail the test they set themselves, of a comprehensive and joined-up approach to improving transport and its connectivity. It is not acceptable that investment should be concentrated on new development while continuing to neglect the transport needs and potential of an important and established marine business cluster.