Guildford Borough Transport Strategy 2016
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Guildford Borough Transport Strategy 2016 Guildford Borough Council April 2016 Contents Foreword Foreword ......................................................................................... 1 This publication – the first Guildford Borough Transport Strategy – 1 Overview ...................................................................................... 2 is a milestone for Guildford Borough Council and the borough that we serve. For the first time, we have taken the lead in defining our Where does Guildford borough sit? ............................................. 2 own future in transport terms. Our transport networks: the good… ............................................. 2 We have drawn together the key strands from the forward plans Our transport networks: …the bad and the ugly ........................... 3 and thinking of the transport providers and funders and the Past underinvestment and our infrastructure deficit ..................... 3 Council’s own transport evidence base. What is the Council doing? Who are our partners? ...................... 4 The result is this up-to-date and forward-looking strategy, which sets out a programme of schemes covering all modes of surface Component strategies ................................................................. 4 transport in the borough and beyond. 2 Our surface access to airports strategy ........................................ 5 The schemes will, in combination, tackle the historic infrastructure 3 Our rail strategy ........................................................................... 7 deficit and mitigate the principal transport impacts of future 4 Our Strategic Road Network strategy ........................................... 9 proposed planned growth in our 5 Our Local Road Network strategies ............................................ 11 borough. The strategy is consistent with the Council’s draft Local Plan. Our local roads and parking strategy ......................................... 13 Our future transport system will be Our bus transit strategy ............................................................. 15 greener, safer and more reliable. Our active modes strategy ......................................................... 17 This strategy demonstrates to 6 Our transport and air quality strategy ......................................... 19 residents, businesses, stakeholders 7 Our road safety strategy ............................................................. 20 and funders alike that we have a clear 8 Programme and funding ............................................................. 21 and ambitious strategy, with a programme in which funders can 9 Monitoring and reporting ............................................................ 24 invest with confidence. 10 Next steps ................................................................................ 25 Councillor Matt Furniss Copyright notice: The aerial images on the front cover and on pages 3, 5, 9 and 11 created by, and Lead Councillor for Infrastructure and Environment copyright owned by, High Level Photography Limited. 1 | Guildford Borough Transport Strategy 1 Overview Where does Guildford borough sit? of day, leading to congestion and over-crowding, delays and unreliability, which have direct costs to people and businesses. Guildford is a diverse borough – a county town, with two universities, a cathedral and an innovative cutting-edge business This transport strategy sets out a programme to address the historic environment, balanced by a productive rural economy, thriving in a infrastructure deficit and to mitigate the key transport impacts of beautiful setting. proposed planned growth in our borough and beyond. Our transport networks: the good… The A3 trunk road and the M25 motorway, which form part of Highways England’s Strategic Road Network (SRN), both serve the borough. The borough benefits from twelve rail stations, including Guildford rail station, the busiest in the county, which provides access to, and interchange between, three lines. These rail lines fan out to serve our other stations and destinations beyond including London Waterloo, Woking, Reading, Redhill and Gatwick Airport. Most of our communities are served by bus, which are operated on a largely commercial basis, with park and ride available on several approaches to Guildford. There are some examples of good segregated cycle infrastructure in Guildford, particularly alongside the A25 in Guildford and between the University of Surrey’s Stag Hill and Manor Park campuses, and the River Wey towpath provides a green route through the town for pedestrians and careful The success of our borough, and the wider region, places cyclists. significant demands on our transport networks. Our journeys concentrate on key parts of the road and rail networks at peak times 2 | Guildford Borough Transport Strategy The adverse impacts of localised traffic congestion and/or high traffic volumes on the setting and amenity of communities, including in relation to road safety, severance, noise, air quality and the demand for parking, and also the discouragement to walking and cycling, set against the significant opportunities for mitigating these impacts through capacity improvement, traffic management or environmental improvement schemes as appropriate. Severance of the town of Guildford and its constituent neighbourhoods resulting from a combination of the A3 trunk road, railway lines and the River Wey. A lack of access to services, jobs and educational opportunities for those living in some rural settlements that do not have access to a car. Growing rail overcrowding on some peak period rail services Our transport networks: …the bad and the ugly from stations in the borough. The transport experience in the borough has a bad reputation. This A lack of available road space in some places to develop high is a result of a combination of issues. quality cycling infrastructure. Significant, recurrent traffic congestion is experienced during Intensified and new challenges resulting from future higher peak hours on the A3 trunk road as it runs through the town of levels of traffic on roads in the borough, generated by the Guildford and between the Ripley junction and the A3/M25 demand for travel to and from existing and future homes, (Junction 10) Wisley interchange junction, and also in Guildford workplaces, shops and leisure facilities. town centre, especially on the gyratory system and its Past underinvestment and our infrastructure deficit approaches. Congestion on the Strategic Road Network frequently spreads to the Local Road Network (LRN) and vice- We consider that there has been underinvestment in transport versa. The importance of addressing these issues was a strong infrastructure in Guildford borough in past decades. There are common theme between our recent consultations on planning various reasons for this underinvestment. matters. The difficulty in delivering a major improvement to the A3 trunk road through the Guildford urban area given the challenging 3 | Guildford Borough Transport Strategy topography, closely spaced junctions and built form adjacent to with Surrey County Council, Highways England, Network Rail the road. and the Enterprise M3 Local Enterprise Partnership. Uncertainties around successive Governments’ arrangements We are considering ways in which we can work even closer for the future funding and commitment to roads programmes. together with our partners, for instance through proposals for a so-called ‘double devolution’ of powers to borough-level Periodic changes in the focus of the national transport policy councils. between ‘predict and provide’ and ‘sustainable mobility’ paradigms. We have committed capital funding to a number of schemes including the improvement of the A25/A320 Stoke Crossroads, What is the Council doing? Who are our partners? the improvement of River Wey towpath and the provision of a Guildford Borough Council is committed to tackling these issues new, wider Walnut Bridge, and have provisional capital funding and delivering our transport strategy. in place for further schemes in the coming years. We are now working very closely with the key transport We have further invested in our transport planning capability in infrastructure and service providers to accelerate the both our Planning Policy Team and through the establishment of development and delivery of appropriate improvements: a dedicated Major Projects Team, which is now co-ordinating o Surrey County Council – responsible for maintenance and and delivering a range of transport studies and schemes on improvement of adopted local roads, including footways, behalf of the Council and our partners Surrey County Council. which collectively comprise the Local Road Network, and Component strategies also the Rights of Way network o Highways England – responsible for the A3 trunk road and Surface access to airports M25 motorway as part of the nationwide Strategic Road strategy Network Rail strategy o Network Rail – responsible for the rail network Strategic Road Network strategy o South West Trains and Great Western Railway – Local Road Network strategies responsible for operating the principal rail services and o Local roads and parking managing the rail stations in the borough strategy o bus and community transport operators, principally o Bus transit strategy Stagecoach, Arriva and Safeguard – provide bus services o Active modes strategy across the borough and beyond. Transport and air quality strategy