Potential Transport Pipeline

Introduction

During the development of the Growth Deal programme the Local Transport Board (LTB) has, on several occasions, considered a long list of potential transport projects and conducted a prioritisation process. Such prioritisation has then fed into the LEP process for framing an overall bid covering transport, place, business and skills projects.

The most recent prioritisation exercise conducted by the LTB was in Spring 2016, in preparation for the Growth Deal 3 submission.

In the intervening time there have been significant changes in funding mechanisms, such as the introduction of the Transforming Cities Fund and Housing Infrastructure Fund, which will provide opportunities to move forward some of the projects which had not secured Growth Deal funding.

In anticipation that there might be some additional funding available for transport schemes, either from the existing Growth Deal programme, or potentially another round of funding to be allocated via Local Enterprise Partnerships, an exploratory meeting of the LTB Officer Group was held on 17th April 2019. This note summarises the conclusions of that meeting, together with some comments received subsequently.

Assessment of potential schemes

The officer group reviewed the list of projects which had been identified as candidates for Growth Deal 3 funding in 2015, leading to the prioritisation which supported the 2016 Growth Deal 3 bid. This list followed the open call for projects in Summer 2015, so could reasonably be considered to represent the schemes which, from the LEP’s perspective, were unfunded.

With an initial focus on the short term (i.e. scope for projects to be delivered quickly in order to take advantage of any available Growth Deal funds), projects were assessed to understand whether funding had already been secured; whether they were deliverable in 2020/21; and whether they would contribute additional outputs in terms of jobs and housing.

Some 5 projects which had previously been submitted for Growth Deal funding appeared to be potential candidates for delivery by 2021, as shown in Table 1. In two cases these were projects which were in the process of procurement, but there was understood to be a funding shortfall. In all cases it appeared that these schemes would offer the prospect of additional Growth Deal outputs. Early decisions would need to be made if funding were to be directed to any of these projects.

Table 1 Potential Additional Growth Deal Transport Projects for delivery by March 2021

Scheme Total cost Current Housing Jobs £m 2015 position of outputs outputs funding secured Exeter Bus Station 6.00 Part Yes Yes Exeter International Airport Terminal 1.875 Part No Yes & Long Lane Infrastructure Celebration Mile Phase 2 1.47 No No Yes Dunball roundabout, Bridgwater Unknown No No Yes Paignton refresh 6.50 No Yes Yes

A number of other schemes, not considered in 2015, were identified by the group as having potential to be delivered by 2021. These are listed below in Table 2. There is no information about the cost or available funding contributions for these schemes at this stage.

Table 2 Potential Additional Transport Projects for Early Delivery

Authority Project Devon Cranbrook Town Centre Plymouth Plymouth Railway Station – additional elements Yeovil Junction Railway Station “Access for All” improvements Somerset Bridgwater Railway Station northern access Somerset Bridgwater Canons/ Cross Rifles junction improvements

The group considered that many of the other projects submitted in 2015 could be valid candidates for a further round of Growth Deal funding or the Shared Prosperity Fund, for delivery post 2020/21.

The complete list of previous projects is shown in Appendix 1.

However, some of those projects could attract funding from other sources, such as the Major Route Network Fund.

A number of new projects could be candidates for a future funding round. However, it was noted that the transport strategies for some settlements were currently being revised (e.g. Yeovil, Bridgwater) and hence the list of possible schemes would not be clear until that had been completed. Table 3 below lists some of the potential schemes which might be candidates for delivery between 2021 and 2026 in the event of a further round of Growth Deal funding becoming available. However, it is very likely that other projects would emerge if bids are sought, including public transport proposals and projects for decarbonising transport.

Table 3 Potential New Transport Projects for Future Funding Round

Authority Project Devon Dinan Way, Exmouth Devon Larkbeare Bridge, Barnstaple Devon Peamore Park & Ride, Exeter Devon Clyst St Mary Roundabout, Exeter signalisation Plymouth Western Approach / Union Street junction Plymouth Camel’s Head/Wolseley Road junction Plymouth Central Park Cycle Link Plymouth Saltash to city centre strategic cycle network Plymouth Derriford to city centre strategic cycle network Torbay Lawes Bridge to Hele Roundabout improvements Somerset Strategies under review

IBH

190529 Appendix 1 - Assessment of potential 2019 – 2021 transport projects from previous Growth Deal submission

Promoter Scheme Total cost LGF bid Funding Deliverability Housing Employment Candidate? £m 2015 £m 2015 secured? 2020/21? Devon Deep Lane Phase 2 and Park and Ride 12.00 8.00 No No No Devon Roundswell Phase 3 3.50 2.00 Yes n/a No Devon Houghton Barton Package 20.00 13.00 Yes n/a - - No Devon Exe Cycle Routes 5.45 3.40 Yes n/a No Devon Exeter Bus Station 6.00 5.00 Shortfall Late 2020 Yes Yes- Yes Devon Strategic Rural Cycle Routes 6.00 3.00 No No No Devon South West Exeter Park & Change 8.00 6.00 No No No Exeter & Devon Exeter International Airport Terminal & 1.875 1.375 Possible Early 2021 No Yes Yes Airport Ltd Long Lane Infrastructure shortfall Plymouth Plymouth Central Railway Station 25.37 5.00 Yes n/a - - Yes- additional elements Plymouth Morlaix Drive Access Improvement & Bus 1.688 0.844 Yes (NPIF) n/a - - No Priority Plymouth Woolwell to the George Improvement 13.207 9.289 No No No Plymouth Cattedown Junction Improvement 7.836 3.918 No (Poss MRN) No No Plymouth Pomphlett to the Ride Improvement 19.525 13.868 No (Poss TCF) No No Red Kite Royal Bath & West Showground Food 13.50 1.75 No No No Enterprise Park – Gateway & Access Somerset Bridgwater Celebration Mile Phase 2 1.47 1.03 No Yes No Poss Yes Somerset Chard Millfield Link Road 4.42 3.02 No No No Somerset Crewkerne Key Site Link Road 7.50 2.00 No No No Somerset Huntspill Energy Park Access & A38 8.25 4.12 Yes (Huntspill) n/a - - No Dunball roundabout, , Bridgwater No (Dunball) Yes ? ? Yes Somerset Taunton Cross Keys & Silk Mills Junctions 3.11 2.04 No No No Somerset Taunton Toneway Corridor Capacity 13.88 9.55 Yes n/a - - No Improvements Torbay Torquay Rethink 6.70 5.00 No No ? ? No Torbay Edginswell Station (bid for additional 9.209 4.287 No No No funds) Torbay Paignton Refresh 6.50 4.80 No Yes Yes Yes Yes South Somerset Market Street Junct/ A30 Yeovil Eastern 1.20 0.60 No No No Corridor South Somerset Yeovil walking and cycling network 1.50 0.35 No No No Great Western Castle Cary Parkway 0.77 0.30 No No No Great Western Devon Metro Stations Package 4.50 3.50 Yes (DfT) Yes No