For Future Council Executive

DEVELOPMENT AND TRANSPORT POLICY DEVELOPMENT AND SCRUTINY PANEL

FORTH REPLACEMENT CROSSING PARLIAMENTARY BILL

REPORT BY TRANSPORTATION MANAGER

A. PURPOSE OF REPORT

John Swinney, Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Development has recently introduced a Hybrid Bill to the Scottish Parliament to construct a Forth Replacement Crossing (FRC) and associated infrastructure. The purpose of this report is to present to the panel the benefits, opportunities and risks to West resulting from the FRC proposals.

B. RECOMMENDATION

It is recommended, that the panel

1. considers this report and the attached proposed response and recommends them for approval by the Council Executive. The focus of this being the potential impact of the new crossing on Newton village and a lack of adequate public transport provision; 2. recommends to the Council Executive to approve the Joint Position Statement of the new Forth crossing; 3. recommends to the Council Executive that officers be authorised to lodge an objection by the council to the Hybrid Bill at Stage 1 of the parliamentary process, to represent the interests of the council throughout that stage of the process, and to do so in partnership with SEStran and some or all of its constituent authorities if so advised; 4. notes that the SEStran Board approved a report setting out it’s position on the Hybrid Bill at it’s meeting on 4 December 2009; and 5. notes that further reports will be brought forward to advise of the outcome of Stage 1 of the parliamentary process and to seek authority for actions needed to represent the council’s interests at later stages of that process.

C. SUMMARY OF IMPLICATIONS

I Council Values Focusing on our customers’ needs; being honest, open and accountable; providing equality of opportunities; making best use of our resources; and working in partnership.

II Policy and Legal Issues The FRC is scheduled to open in 2016 and (including Strategic will have a significant impact on the central Environmental Assessment, road network. The southern Equality, Health or Risk approach roads include a small part of the

1 Assessment) council’s local road network. There will be impacts upon some communities.

Both the Strategic Transport Projects Review (STPR) and the National Planning Framework (NPF2) have identified the FRC as a transport priority for Scotland. However, both documents also make a clear commitment to reducing the dependence on and the environmental impacts of car use.

Transport Scotland has submitted the following documents to the Parliament:

x Forth Replacement Crossing Bill; x Explanatory Notes; x Policy Memorandum; x Financial Memorandum; x Maps, Plans and Sections and book of reference; x Heritable Interests Statement; x Environmental Statement; x Executive Statement on legislative competence; x Presiding Officers Statement on legislative competence; and x Assigning of the copyright / licensing agreement.

III Resources - (Financial, Staff time. Other costs to council cannot Staffing and Property) be identified at this stage.

IV Consultations Internal consultation has been carried out with Roads Operations, Planning Services, Legal Services, Property Services and Environmental Health and Trading Standards and Newton Community Council.

External consultation has been carried out with SEStran and Hopetoun House.

A comprehensive consultation process has been conducted by Transport Scotland; West Lothian communities have been afforded the opportunity to participate in a number of consultation events. D. TERMS OF REPORT

INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND

On 10 December 2008, the Scottish Government published the Strategic Transport

2 Projects Review (STPR). The STPR recommends a total of 29 transport packages to be delivered from 2012 – 2022 in key locations across the country, including a number of projects that will have an impact on West Lothian. STPR Project 14 is the Forth Replacement Crossing, which is the Government’s number one transport priority.

The Hybrid Bill and accompanying documents seeking powers to construct a Forth crossing, was introduced to the Scottish Parliament on 16 November 2009 by John Swinney, Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth. The closing date for objections is 26 January 2010.

POLICY OBJECTIVE - THE NEED FOR THE CROSSING

The policy objective of the Scottish Government is: ‘to provide, in the light of uncertainties about the future availability of the Forth Road Bridge (FRB), a continuing and reliable primary road link between and the and and beyond in order to safeguard the economy, particularly of the east coast of Scotland’.

To achieve that objective, the Bill seeks the power to construct and operate a new bridge over the Firth of Forth to the west of the existing road bridge. The new crossing will carry general permitted classes of road traffic (such as cars, vans and lorries) thus enabling the existing bridge to continue to operate on a restricted basis for public transport, pedestrians and other specified users.

THE FORTH CROSSING BILL

The Bill and its supporting documents set out the process and powers needed to deliver the crossing.

The 60-day objection period began with the depositing of the Bill. The objection period is from 16 November 2009 to 26 January 2010. During the objection period the Hybrid Bill Committee (the Committee) will be established. This Committee will comprise five MSPs who have no geographical connection to the Forth Estuary.

The Committee will preside over the three stages of the Bill procedure. Stage 1 is the consideration stage where the general principles and the objections to the full Bill are considered. Stage 2 is the Committee stage where evidence is heard, objections to specific issues are considered and an objections report is published. The Committee can also consider amendments to the Bill. Stage 3 is the parliamentary debate stage and a motion to pass the Bill is considered. If the Bill is passed it will become an Act of Parliament and Royal Assent will be granted.

The individual timescales for stages 1 – 3 are not stated but the process is expected to take around 13 months. The Hybrid Bill process is shown in Appendix 1.

PROJECT SPECIFICATIONS

The new crossing will be a cable-stayed bridge with three towers. Construction will start in 2011 and the new crossing is planned to open in 2016. The southern approaches will be from an extended A90 and from the A904. Junction 1a of the M9 will be upgraded to an all-ways junction. The bridge will carry a two-lane dual

3 carriageway with hard shoulders and it will be classified as a trunk road. The crossing will not have footways or cycleways. A map indicating the crossing and approach road layout is provided in Appendix 2.

Traffic on the bridge and its approach trunk roads (A90 and M9) will be managed by an ‘Intelligent Traffic System’ (ITS). The ITS is an information system to instruct drivers of variable speed limits and route management options.

BENEFITS TO WEST LOTHIAN

A key benefit to West Lothian is that from 2016 there will be a new crossing in place, one that will have a slightly higher capacity than the existing crossing. It will not need to be closed for maintenance and will be able to withstand higher wind speeds resulting in fewer closures. The FRC will secure a better crossing for the A90/M90 corridor and will provide improved road connectivity to Fife and beyond.

The background reports indicate that the FRC will have a capacity improvement of about 10 percent over the existing road bridge. In addition, public transport will use the existing corridor as a dedicated and uncongested route leaving the new bridge for use by general traffic. This will help the two existing Fife / West Lothian services X51 Stagecoach service and the 635 Nordi Travel service both of which operate a low frequency service between Livingston and Dunfermline.

In its proposed form, the new crossing will have no adverse effect on the planned Winchburgh Core Development Area and does not jeopardise the construction of a new junction on the M9.

PUBLIC TRANSPORT CONCERNS

Transport Scotland’s traffic modelling forecast predicts an increase in traffic on the new crossing and it’s approach roads from the year of opening. This will cause delays for buses and freight unless priority measures are provided. The Bill only provides limited proposals for priority measures around Ferry Toll and the A8000 (now B800) and includes no dedicated bus measures on the M9 and through the Newbridge area.

Without provision of priority measures, buses will be subject to delays on the approach roads. Further, there will need to be a mode shift from car to bus or other public transport if the bridge is to operate within its capacity. The types of measures needed to facilitate public transport are already identified in the Regional Transport Strategy and in discussions with SEStran, Fife Council and the City of Edinburgh Council. Several meetings with Transport Scotland were held where the councils’ joint concerns regarding the lack of public transport measures were raised. This led to a meeting with the Transport Minister on 29 October where he gave a commitment to develop a public transport strategy for cross Forth travel in parallel but outside of the Bill process. As part of the preparation for the meeting with the Minister, a joint position was agreed by officers and members of SEStran, Fife Council, City of Edinburgh Council and this council. The joint position is attached in Appendix 3

In its proposed form, the FRC Bill poses an avoidable risk to the transport network. Without a mode shift from car to public transport there will be more traffic, increased congestion, with an adverse effect on the national economy and increased traffic emissions, which will threaten the Government’s climate change targets of a 42%

4 reduction by 2020 and an 80% reduction by 2050.

The Bill in its current form makes no commitment to implementing a public transport strategy as part of the FRC and therefore may not adequately address some of the matters set out in the National Planning Framework (NPF2). SEStran and the three councils are seeking legal advice on whether the policy commitments in NPF2 are being addressed by this Bill.

The SEStran Board approved the attached Board Report (Appendix 4) at it’s meeting on 4 December. The report: 1. approved the joint position statement which had been prepared by SEStran, and the councils of City of Edinburgh, Fife and West Lothian; 2. noted the proposed work programme for a cross Forth public transport strategy; 3. noted that SEStran is to seek Queens Council opinion; and 4. noted that SEStran will continue to seek a commitment from the Scottish Government to the funding on measures emerging from the public transport strategy now proposed by Scottish Ministers.

IMPACT ON NEWTON VILLAGE/A904

Of particular concern to the Newton Community Council is the omission of a direct link between the M9 and the new crossing. As a consequence, a significant amount of additional, particularly eastbound, traffic is likely to use the A904 through Newton. Transport Scotland estimates that as a result of the new crossing, the number of vehicles per day will raise from 14,000 in 2008 to 18,500 in 2017. This has the potential to bring additional environmental problems to the community including, safety, noise, vibration, emissions and severance.

It will also increase the need for maintenance and reduce the life expectancy of the A904.

Officers and ward members have met with Newton Community Council to ascertain their views, note their concerns and provide advice on the anticipated FRC parliamentary and delivery process.

The community council has recently elected new committee members and officers met with the new community council on 3 December to advance the detail of suitable mitigation measures in the absence of a direct link. A public meeting has been arranged by the community council to consult with the Newton community for the evening of 10 December 2009. Officers will attend this meeting.

Officers will continue to support the Newton community as they develop their views on appropriate mitigation plans for the village. This package is likely to be submitted to the Parliament for implementation in advance of construction.

In its proposed form the FRC Bill poses an avoidable risk to the Newton community in terms of road safety and environmental impact. A package of mitigation measures could offset such impacts at a moderate cost.

HOPETOUN HOUSE

Consultation with Hopetoun House identified that the Forth Replacement Crossing project potentially offers an opportunity to improve access to Hopetoun House. This would be achieved by making permanent the proposed construction access road

5 included in the Bill (work S 50B). Under the Bill proposal, this road would be removed on completion of the project. However if it remained and was connected through to Society Road it could provide a significant benefit in terms of access to Hopetoun House.

THE NEXT STEPS

The closing date for the objection period is 26 January 2010. It is proposed that officers draft a formal objection to the parliamentary committee highlighting (1) the lack of public transport provision and submit a joint statement with SESTran, Fife Council and Edinburgh Council, and, (2) welcoming the crossing and expressing concern at the consequences for Newton.

During the objection period, officers will continue to work with SEStran, and Fife and Edinburgh Councils to agree wording on the common concerns about the lack of public transport infrastructure and services and to take further action necessary to represent the interests of the council at Stage 1 of the parliamentary procedure. SEStran has written to the Minister to thank him for the meeting on 29 October 2009 and to request a further meeting during the objection period.

If the provision of suitable public transport measures and/or mitigation measures for Newton can be agreed before 26 January 2010, the relevant objection(s) can be withdrawn. Failure to achieve either or both will leave the objections to be addressed by the Committee when the council can be represented in Parliament to justify these. Further reports will be brought by officers to advise elected members of progress, and to seek authority to take any further and future action required.

E CONCLUSION

The Scottish Government has deposited a Bill in parliament seeking powers to construct the FRC. The proposals include changes to the road network on the southern approach to the Firth of Forth. A consequence of the FRC is additional traffic in the north east of West Lothian and on the A904. The FRC is welcomed but there are concerns at the lack of public transport provision and of the consequences for Newton to which objections should be raised.

F BACKGROUND REFERENCES

WLC Executive Report: Update of Forth Replacement Crossing 24 March 2009 http://coins.westlothian.gov.uk/coins/submissiondocuments.asp?submissionid=1590

Full details of the Bill are available on http://transportscotland.gov.uk/projects/forth-replacement-crossing/bill-process

Appendices / Attachments: Four

Contact Person: Billy Thompson, Transportation Policy Manager, 01506 775294 Email: [email protected]

Graeme Malcolm, Transportation Manager, County Buildings, Linlithgow

Date: 10 December 2009

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