Andrew Walmsley
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APPENDIX 1 Transportation and Engineering South Western Consultation Co-ordinator Our Ref: E/TP/ 04/C Department for Transport Your Ref: 4/15 Great Minster House Contact: Richard Pemberton 3 Horseferry Road Direct Dial: 023 8068 8280 London Direct Fax: 023 8068 8336 SW1P 4DR E-mail: [email protected] Britdoc No: January 2016 Dear Sir or Madam South Western Rail Franchise consultation – Eastleigh Borough Council response This letter constitutes Eastleigh Borough Council’s formal response to the South Western rail franchise consultation document which was published by the Department for Transport in November 2015. Eastleigh Borough Council is the local planning authority for the urban/ suburban area to the north and east of the city of Southampton, including Eastleigh, Chandler’s Ford, Southampton Airport, Netley, Bursledon, Hamble, Botley and Hedge End. The Council has a close interest in the development of the railways serving the Borough, and connecting the Borough to destinations beyond. We recognise the major role that the rail network has to play in providing access to employment, education, services and leisure opportunities for our approximately 129,000 residents and for the numerous businesses based in the Borough. The Borough covers much of the central part of the urban South Hampshire area stretching from Portsmouth and Havant in the east to Southampton and Totton in the west. The rail lines passing through the Borough are key elements of connectivity within and beyond this wider area of approximately 1.3 million population. Through our draft Local Plan, the Council is planning for substantial increases in provision of housing and employment in the Borough. Whilst the Local Plan is still under development, the final Plan will identify how delivery of between 13,000 and 20,000 homes as well as additional employment floorspace over the plan period to 2036 will be achieved. Some of this housing development has already been brought forward, including permissions at major sites at: Chestnut Avenue south of Eastleigh - 1100 homes, closest stations: Southampton Airport Parkway and Eastleigh; Land west of Horton Heath - 950 homes, closest station: Hedge End; and Land north-west of Boorley Green - 1400 homes, closest station: Hedge End Land immediately north of Hamble Station (refused but currently being considered on appeal by the Secretary of State) - 225 houses and also other uses including care home and car parking. There are also permissions for a number of other smaller housing sites in Fair Oak & Bishopstoke, and a significant number of houses currently under construction in the Eastleigh town area giving a further circa 1,000 new homes for which Eastleigh station will be the local rail access point. There are also some smaller site permissions in the vicinity of Bursledon station. Southampton Airport, which is well connected by north to south rail services and is one of south Hampshire’s key international gateways, generates around 1.8 million passenger journeys per annum. With several new airlines starting routes from the airport in 2016, the airport may begin to realise its aspirations for growth. This is also likely to generate new rail demand. As a result of current and likely future development an increasing level of demand for rail travel is anticipated at all stations serving the Borough even assuming a scenario where service patterns remain unchanged. The Council also considers that there is high potential (and an urgent need) for rail to increase its overall market share relative to other modes of travel, both for longer distance trips, and particularly for local journeys within South Hampshire. In common with other local stakeholders we see potential for rail to provide relief for congested parts of the road network, within the Borough and beyond. Currently traffic congestion is a significant issue across the area and is directly linked to issues such as poor air quality and reduced economic competitiveness of the area. Working to tackle traffic congestion has been identified as a high priority in Eastleigh Borough Council’s corporate plan, and enhanced local rail services have been identified by the Council and many of our partners as one of the areas of with greatest potential for improvement. The support of the new South Western rail franchise is clearly critical in working to achieve this. Therefore the new South Western franchise specification needs to provide improvements to local train frequency, connectivity, ticketing and on board offer, as well as station improvements. This response has been prepared in consultation with Solent Transport (the formal partnership of Local Transport Authorities) in the South Hampshire Area, as we recognise that all authorities and stakeholders in the area need to work together on strategic rail issues. Many of the key issues and improvements we have identified are shared with other stakeholders across the area. Our broad aspirations for rail travel in the Borough 1. Service frequency Our first aspiration for rail services in the Borough is that all stations serving the Borough have a service frequency where, for many journeys, rail represents a viable alternative to driving. It is our view that a minimum of a half hourly service frequency throughout the day in each direction is required to achieve this. An hourly service is unlikely to be an attractive service for most people who currently choose to drive. Currently the only stations serving the Borough that achieve a minimum half-hourly service are Eastleigh and Southampton Airport Parkway. The remaining stations (Hedge End, Botley, Bursledon, Hamble, Netley, Chandlers Ford) do not have this level of service although some do receive additional services in the “peak direction” in the AM and/or PM peak, although this provision is variable. We believe that provision of additional services to those stations not currently receiving a frequent train service will help significantly increase the attractiveness of rail as an alternative to driving for journeys where rail has potential to compete. We would also point out that most stations serving the Borough are within or adjacent to heavily developed areas with large populations, yet some receive a level of service little better than that at some stations in many rural and isolated areas. Evidence from the 2011 Census Travel to Work dataset shows that for local travel flows which have a more frequent service, rail can capture a significant market share. For example journeys from Eastleigh town centre to Winchester have a 22.7% rail modal share with 2 trains per hour, and journeys from Eastleigh town centre to Southampton have a 16.6% rail modal share with 2 to 3 trains per hour. Where the frequency drops to hourly, the modal share drops notably. For example for journeys from Netley to Southampton rail only has a 4.2% modal share. 2. Service capacity Our second aspiration is that extra capacity is provided to relieve existing overcrowding and high demand on some routes, such that all passengers either receive a seat or only have to stand for a short distance. Rail can only be an attractive alternative to use of other modes (particularly driving) if it offers a comparable or superior level of comfort, which at the most basic level means availability of adequate seating capacity, most of the time. 3. Access to Southampton Airport to and from the east Our third aspiration is for improved rail access to Southampton Airport. There have been long-standing requests from the airport, the Borough Council and numerous partner organisations including the Solent LEP and Solent Transport regarding providing direct rail services to the east of the airport’s catchment (Fareham, Portsmouth, Havant, Chichester etc). Accessing the airport by train from these areas currently involves a change of train and slow, uncompetitive journey times compared to driving. The airport is one the three key international gateways in the South Hampshire area and already has a high rail mode share (20%) and we would like to see this improved upon in future. The airport occupies a constrained site, and future development of the airport will be eased if car based demand is reduced as far as possible (as this will reduce the amount of land required for car parking). A change to existing service patterns will be required in order to provide direct access to the airport from the east without additional investment in infrastructure. 4. Local passenger flows in the South Hampshire area Our fourth aspiration is for rail services to play a greater role in providing local journey opportunities within the South Hampshire area, and in particular for rail to provide a more competitive alternative to driving in the peak hours on the heavily congested M27. In light of the very complex and multi-centric travel flows in the area this means not only enhancing services along existing lines of route, but also providing rail services which more closely replicate travel flows enabled by the M27 but which are not currently served by direct trains. This could for example mean providing direct services between local origin-destination pairs, such as between Hedge End and Southampton Central, or between Netley and Eastleigh. As an absolute minimum, the Council would like to see much more convenient connections at key interchanges such as Eastleigh, St Denys, Southampton Central and Fareham between services on these differing axes, although the reality is that only direct services will be attractive enough for rail to capture a significant share of currently unserved markets. Our view, in common with many local partners, is that what is needed in the longer term is implementation of major improvements that might be viewed as a “Solent Metro”. This rail franchise offers an opportunity to take the first steps towards creating this. We would like to point out that around 55% of all journeys on the M27 travel less than four junctions.