North Yorkshire County Council Business and Environmental Services Briefing Note for Corporate Director, Business and Environmental Services and BES Executive Member for Access 6 August 2020 Emergency Active Travel Fund - Tranche 2 1.0 Purpose of Briefing Note 1.1 The Government has recently announced £2bn funding over 5 years for walking and cycling facilities. The indicative allocation from the Department for Transport (DfT) was that the NYCC allocation for the current year (20/21) would be in the region of £1.3m spread across two tranches, with a smaller amount, £133,000 of that money already released under tranche 1 of the Emergency Active Travel Fund (EATF). In tranche 1 the total indicative allocation to NYCC was £266,000 but only 50% funding was awarded following the DfT assessment of our Tranche 1 bid. A proposal to fund the other £133,000 and complete all of the schemes set out in the tranche 1 bid given the importance of the proposed measures to the Covid-19 recovery strategy is the subject of a separate briefing note. The split of tranche 1 funding from the DfT is £4,143 capital and £128,857 revenue. 1.2 Brief feedback about the tranche 1 bid was received from the DfT and they felt that our bid could have focussed more on replacing public transport trips with cycling rather than creating space for walking and cycling in town centre areas. Walking has a much bigger modal share than cycling in our county and we focussed our efforts in aiming to providing such improvements however the DfT felt that we were not able to cause a large enough modal shift from Public Transport. 1.3 We have been invited by the Department for Transport to submit a bid for Tranche 2 of the EATF by 7 August 2020 for the remaining £1.065m of our allocation. 1.4 The objectives of the EATF are to help local authorities implement measures to create an environment that is safer for both walking and cycling (both, not one or the other). This will allow cycling in particular to replace journeys previously made by public transport, and will have an essential role to play in the short term in helping avoid overcrowding on public transport systems. Longer term, it will also help deliver significant health, environmental and congestion benefits. 1.5 The DfT made clear in its letter seeking proposals for tranche 1, the amounts published at the beginning of the process for each local authority were only indicative and the final sums awarded could vary. 2.0 Tranche 2 2.1 Tranche 2 of the EATF amounts to £180m in total. As with tranche 1, to receive any funding, authorities need to satisfy the DfT that they have swift and meaningful plans to reallocate road space to cyclists and pedestrians, including on strategic corridors. Schemes that do not meaningfully alter the status quo on the road will not be funded. All cycling schemes, permanent or temporary, will need to include segregation or Briefing Note for Executive Members – 6 August 2020 Emergency Active Travel Fund Tranche 2/1 point closures to through traffic: advisory cycle lanes, and those marked only with white paint, will not be funded. 2.2 Tranche 2 funding can be used to support both temporary, low-cost schemes, and permanent schemes with a short lead time, so long as they meet the criteria outlined above. Local authorities will need to demonstrate that the funds can be spent or fully committed in this financial year. As before, if this condition is not met, the DfT will reserve the right to claw the funding back by adjusting downwards a future grant payment to the authority. 2.3 The main criteria that schemes included in tranche 2 bids need to meet are: Can it be delivered in 20/21? Does it replace a well used bus route? Does it provide a segregated cycle /pedestrian route or close roads to traffic? Does it cater for BOTH cycling AND walking? Can it be delivered for less than our allocation of £1.065m? 2.4 This is a challenging set of criteria and a significant number of potential schemes have had to be ruled out because of deliverability or cost. The schemes put forward to be funded are those that best fit the EATF criteria. 2.5 The majority of the funding provided will be capital funding: small amounts of revenue funding can be included, but only up to a maximum of 20% of the total bid. The intended split of the North Yorkshire bid is approx. 90% capital and 10% revenue. 3.0 Scheme identification, engagement and prioritisation 3.1 Since the EATF was launched requests for various improvements for pedestrians and cyclists have been received from members of the public, County Councillors and other interest groups. These suggested schemes were collated along with schemes identified through the Local Cycling and Walking Improvement Plan (LCWIP) process and assessed according to the EATF criteria, See Appendix 1. This information was then circulated to all County Councillors and around 100 cycling and walking groups across the county for their comments and suggestions on priorities, See Appendix 2. 3.2 An online tool was launched on the NYCC website on 21 July 2020 for further walking and cycling suggestions to be made. By Monday 27 July a total of 290 submissions had been made using the online tool and these were then also assessed for their deliverability within this financial year, See Appendix 3. Following this initial sift against deliverability, those schemes that were identified as deliverable were assessed against the EATF criteria, See Appendix 4. 4.0 Capital Schemes for submission in EATF bid 4.1 Following the feedback from stakeholders and analysis of potential schemes against the EATF criteria the following capital schemes have been identified as appropriate to take forward: Scheme name Description Cost Oatlands Drive, Placement of fully segregated cycle lanes £215k Harrogate (full extent along an existing cycle route, improved A6040 to Hookstone crossing facilities at 4 locations to connect Drive) existing cycle routes and enable safe passage for the pupils of two high schools. Briefing Note for Executive Members – 6 August 2020 Emergency Active Travel Fund Tranche 2/2 Introduction of TRO to mitigate safety concerns on current un-protected cycle lane. Traffic signal improvements to improve efficiency outside of project extents. ‘Tiger crossings’ at Knaresborough Rd, Wetherby Road and Oatlands Drive A59 (Maple Close, Placement of fully segregated cycle lanes £250k Harrogate to along an existing cycle route (highlighted for Knaresborough) improvements in WSP’s HTIP analysis), improved crossing facilities at either end to improve safe crossing points for pedestrians but will also provide connectivity to existing cycle routes and Knaresborough shopping centres/station. Victoria Avenue Public realm/pedestrian crossing £250k (Princes Square to improvements at points with high levels of Station Parade) footfall, segregated cycling infrastructure with 2m wide cycle lanes and bike storage facilities. Improves cycling connectivity to the station and shopping centres for pedestrians and cyclist, whilst utilising existing recognised routes. Guisborough Road, Placement of a segregated pedestrian £250k Whitby (Park and Ride walkway and cycle lanes along existing P&R Site to Prospect Hill) route. Improves connectivity to Whitby town centre, replaces usage of well used bus route and facility would also link to existing recognised cycle routes. Market Place, Placement of a segregated pedestrian/cycle £500k Helmsley to Kirkdale lane along busy bus route to enable active Lane travel from the villages of Beadlam and Nawton to the main service centre in this area along a busy A road Total £1,465,000 4.2 A list of the schemes above marked against the criteria has been included as Appendix 5. 5.0 Revenue Funding 5.1 In addition to the capital element we are proposing to include a smaller revenue element totalling £100k which will fund behaviour change programming around the schemes including developing some information, in an appropriate format, to distribute in the local areas and potentially offer some matched funding towards the business support elements for example technical support and promotion of ‘the new normal’. 6.0 Equalities 6.1 Consideration has been given to the potential for any equality impacts arising from the recommendations. It is the view of officers that at this stage the recommendations do not have an adverse impact on any of the protected Briefing Note for Executive Members – 6 August 2020 Emergency Active Travel Fund Tranche 2/3 characteristics identified in the Equalities Act 2010. A copy of the Equality Impact Assessment screening form is attached as Appendix 6. 7.0 Legal 7.1 Consideration has been given to any legal implications in bidding for the funding, there are no requirements at this stage but it is acknowledged that legal implications may arise at the project planning and implementation stages. 8.0 Recommendation(S) 8.1 It is recommended that the Corporate Director – BES in consultation with the BES Executive Member for Access approves: That a bid will be submitted to the Department for Transport by 7 August 2020 for tranche 2 of the Emergency Active Travel Fund as detailed in Section 4 and Appendix 5. BARRIE MASON Assistant Director – Highways and Transportation Author: Louise Neale Briefing Note for Executive Members – 6 August 2020 Emergency Active Travel Fund Tranche 2/4 APPENDIX 1 No EAT FUND EAT FUND ESSENTIAL CRITERIA DESIRABLE CRITERIA Replaces Affordable well Segregated Cycling Identified Cost Deliverable within Cost Potential used or Road AND in an Estimate in 20/21 £1.065m band usage bus Closure Walking LCWIP (£m) Scheme Name Allocation Description route To provide safe passage for pedestrians and cyclists between Gilling West and Richmond by the installation of a raised curb on the East side of the B6274.