Name of meeting QTP Transport Users Group

Date Tuesday 13 May 2014 at 10:30

Venue Upstairs Conference Room, Seaclose Offices, Fairlee Road, Newport.

Present David Rogers (DR) – Chair, Eddie Elsom (EE) – Older Voices, Penny Green (PG) – Yarmouth Users Group (YFUG), Cllr Tim Hunter-Henderson (THH) – Federation of Small Businesses, Val Lawson (VL) – Cyclewight, Tricia Merrifield (TM) – IW Bridleway Group, Cllr Ian Ward (IW) – IWC, Chris Wells (CW) – IWC, Emma Brown (EB) – IWC (minute taker)

1 Apologies

Morris Barton (MB) – IW Chamber of Commerce, Stuart George (SG) – IW Bus and Rail Users Group, Bobby Lock (BL) – Community Rail Partnership (CRP), Hugh Walding (HW) – IW Friends of the Earth (FOE), Brenda Wilkins (BW), IW Group of Advanced Motorists

2 Minutes of previous meeting

• Scrutiny Panel. At a recent Scrutiny Panel meeting about cross-Solent ferry transport a question was asked whether QTP should involve ferry operators. DR explained how the QTP works. It was changed to 3 levels in 2012. DR attends all 3 groups and Steve Porter attends Chamber Infrastructure Group (CIG) and QTP Executive. DR has responded to Council’s Committee Admin pointing out that the QTP is an independent group and it is not the IWC’s place to dictate format or who attends. The transport operators are invited to attend the CIG, but with the exception of and Hovertravel rarely attend. It was agreed that operator input was very welcome.

• Freight Forum. The Freight Forum was a very useful way to obtain input into the Island Transport Plan and Core Strategy. With reduced council officer support it was not possible to continue this informal group. CW said it might be possible to rekindle those meetings, but responsibility would now sit better with Island Roads.

• . Another meeting has taken place to discuss options for Island Line. Hosted by South West Trains (SWT), it is clear they have not looked at all details as originally promised. Island Line franchise is going to be renewed but question is in what form. IW Steam Railway would like to connect to the line and get back to St Johns Station. Reinstating passing facilities at would enable a 30 minute train service. Hovertravel would like better connectivity at Ryde. IW Steam Railway is not in a position to take over Island Line. SWT would seem to have concluded that the answer is to purchase redundant 1983 tube stock. IWC have met with DFT Rail and will look to meet them again.

• Toilets - Newport Bus Station. EE hasn’t raised the issue of toilets at Newport Bus Station closing early.

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Action: EE to follow up issue.

• Pothole in bus turning area at station has caused problems. The question is being asked why it has taken 4 months to repair a pothole.

3 Presentations / updates

The case for horses – IW Bridleways Group

• TM produced a paper outlining some issues. Some riders experience drivers shouting at them to get off the road but most motorists don’t realise that the bridleway network doesn’t connect.

• There is no access for horses in the Medina Valley area. Landowner resistance to new routes meaning that LSTF funding only provides fringe benefits, although some funding is available from DEFRA.

• Traffic has increased, especially since Sunday trading laws were changed, putting pressure on horse riders. 2-2,500 horses being ridden on the Island and this contributes a lot to the Island economy, including 3 equine veterinary practices. There are enormous health benefits to keeping horses but there is more pressure on space in the countryside.

• New issue with road surfacing, chosen product on rural lanes is hostile to horses. IW Bridleways Group is working towards safer spaces on the roads and attends QTP to highlight equine issues. TM now attends road safety meetings which are run by the Fire Service. There is very little in the Highway Code to cover horses but they are approaching SUSTRANS to produce a leaflet about vulnerable road users but no funding is available for these campaigns. A lot of the rural lanes have derestricted speed limits which can be very dangerous.

• VL – cyclists and horse riders share a lot of the same issues so she invited TM to attend next Cycle Forum. TM is thinking of producing car stickers to read “wait 5 seconds to save a life”. Some cyclists and horse riders behave badly, such as using mobile phones and not acknowledging motorists. IW Bridleways Group is affiliated with the British Horse Society. DR suggested highlighting safety of children on the road to gain media attention.

Local transport issues

• IW said there are various community bus groups on the Island. IWC pays an amount to Southern Vectis (SV) to provide the buses which are taxed, insured and fuelled. Six routes are manned by volunteers, half are well supported and half aren’t. A volunteer gives up a whole day and sometimes only picks up 8 people. 3 routes are very well supported, between 60-110 people a day. Clientele is mostly pensioners who don’t drive so this is a vital lifeline.

• Future is uncertain as IWC is looking at budget cuts. Good morale amongst the drivers and they get to know passengers and there is a social welfare aspect in keeping an eye out for people. There is also the Freshwater Yarmouth Totland (FYT) bus, which runs in the West Wight, and uses large minibuses for which volunteers don’t need a PCV licence. Shortage of volunteers is a problem. When they first started SV examiners were allowed to test volunteers but the Government stopped that so they now have to be

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examined by the Driving Standards Agency so it can take up to 10 months to become qualified. They are currently losing more volunteers than are able to be trained. Also some volunteers become qualified and then get a job with SV. Advert in CP led to 30 people coming forward and about 30% of these will convert to volunteer drivers. The service runs between 9.30am and 2.30pm using school buses so aren’t affected by festival traffic.

• The three popular services are: 22 around Lake and Shanklin, 24 , Yaverland and Lake and 32 around , Gurnard and Northwood.

• The two less well used services are: 34 around Wootton, Havenstreet and and 23 from Shanklin to Newport via Newchurch.

• The last route runs from Newport to via Niton to double the frequency of the 6 route. SV found an hour service wasn’t financially viable so they now only run a 2 hourly service. The community bus fills that gap to provide an hourly service.

• EE – FYT bus is successful because it is closely linked to the community and any profits go directly to Freshwater Community Centre. Linking to community hubs is the key to the scheme’s success. IW – community buses drop off and pick up anywhere, not just at bus stops.

• EE – £6m lottery grant available and involves contacting older or disabled people who are isolated. This will include asset mapping of transport. Dial- a-bus serves everywhere on the Island each week, except Ryde and St Helens, and anyone can use the service.

• CW asked how much they charge. IW responded flat charge of £2 unless you have a bus pass but donations are accepted. SV pays for initial training but donations are used to pay for recertification of PCV licences.

• DR – Ventnor Town Council has been told they aren’t going to get funding past March 2015.

• DR – In the LSTF bid it said that number 12 buses were going to have bike racks and become hourly. Why hasn’t this happened?

Action: CW to speak to LSTF Project Manager and report back.

• DR – New bus timetable is as good as it used to be and now includes ferry links and community bus times. Some of these changes have been as a result of user requests, including alternating route through Calbourne and Shalfleet. SV can’t run buses along Undercliff Drive and 31 changed its route to include St Lawrence.

Island Line – update

• The franchise is coming up for renewal with a possibility of being extended until 2019. At a recent meeting with SWT it is evident that they’ve gone away and done their own thing. They promised to commission a university to produce a report but that hasn’t materialised.

• CW to meet with DfT franchise manager soon. IWC has involved a local expert, looking at options, including keeping 1938 stock, light rail, tram and ordinary bus.

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• CW will organise a meeting with interested parties – Steam Railway, CRP, IWC and others to discuss issue. Preferred option would be light rail but alternative would be more modern LUL rolling stock which would be DDA compliant. IW Steam Railway would like to get to Ryde St John’s Station but it’s not practical for them to run the Island Line track alongside tube or light rail. They don’t have the money or rolling stock to run the entire line on a commercial basis. It’s also unlikely that the Pier would be able to support the extra weight of steam trains.

• VL – Bus Museum moving to St John’s Road, tremendous potential to connect to the Steam Railway. CW – need to improve connectivity between the bus depot and the train station. DR – important thing is to ensure Island Line’s future, better connectivity for Steam Railway and Hovertravel and then look at other issues. VL – if funding is available from Solent Transport for large schemes, would this scheme qualify? CW – IWC needs to agree priorities and Island Line could be one of those.

• DR – it cost £35m to replace the railway line at Dawlish Warren but is only a temporary solution. Millions of pounds were spent on Island Line route over the winter.

• DfT and SWT have stated that they aren’t looking to close the line. It is important that the Island works together to get the best option.

Island Roads

• Marc Griffin, who led IWC’s PFI Project Management Team, has moved to City Council. CW – planning application for tarmac plant at Cowes has been withdrawn but going ahead with new plant at St George’s Down which will come on-stream in the next few weeks.

• First few years of the programme concentrating on getting the roads up to standard but Island Roads are behind on their schedule because of the delay in building the asphalt plant. However, they are ahead on their lighting schedule.

• An issue with Undercliff Drive as they are waiting to see if there will be any more landslips. The road is now maintained by IR as part of the network and last winter were part way through carriageway improvement works when a landslip occurred. DR – water level last winter was the highest it has ever been. CW – it is understood that some property owners are looking at issues of liability. IWC looking at a low cost drainage option.

• VL – very impressed with Island Roads work on what they’ve done on the cycle tracks and she has written to them to say so. Trees are cleared within a day and routes regularly swept. CW – asked that if there are any issues, people should complete the online form and IR will deal with it promptly.

Island Plan

• Core Strategy is the statutory plan and was adopted in 2012. Area Action Plans - Officers have worked closely with Key elected Members to prepare informal discussion documents for Medina Valley, Ryde and The Bay. Members have agreed that these will go out for 6 weeks public consultation starting on 23 May. Written in a user friendly way and there are a series of questions to trigger responses. IW said that what he’s seen so far looks excellent.

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Local Sustainable Transport Fund (LSTF)

• The LSTF is a pot of Government funding which we bid for and won. Our bid encourages sustainable tourism. The project funded a LSTF Project manager and a member of staff based within Visit IoW to encourage people to visit the Island or travel round using sustainable transport. We are in the last year of the project.

• Routes – Wroxall to Shanklin – sub-base has been improved and a suitable top surface will be laid this year. Seaclose to Island Harbour and Island Harbour to the Folly route is being improved. Also, Newport to Wootton, Wootton to Binstead past Quarr Abbey route is being upgraded.

• RTI – It wasn’t possible to install Real Time Information (RTI) last year on the back of Hampshire County Council’s contract with industry leader Vix. However unable to secure support from operators and complete the contract in time it is hoped to deliver a smaller scheme this year. It was noted that is now running the bus from Town Quay to the railway station. They are using RTI supplied by Hoggia and we will be looking to see if this lower cost option might be a solution.

• LSTF2 Bid – We have learned that we need more than one person to deliver a project. Of this size and complexity. LSTF2 bid has been submitted and will look at getting people to school and to work in a sustainable way. 80% of journeys on the Island are less than 5 miles and the bulk of journeys are single user. Children aren’t confident to walk or cycle, there are obesity issues and it has been proved that exercise means that children are fresher and more receptive to learning. Health providers and tourism are on board. If successful, the project would start in April 2015 and will run for one year.

Solent Transport

• Solent Transport is the new name for Transport for South Hampshire and the (TfSHIoW). It is a group of local authorities who by working together can share best practice. Government give money to Solent Local Enterprise Partnership (SLEP) to spend on transport schemes. Four schemes have been agreed – improving The Hard Interchange at Portsmouth; improving the Station Quarter at ; Dunsbury Hill Farm, north Portsmouth; and improvements to the M27.

• A scheme to improve East Cowes is well-favoured by SLEP and DFT. The proposal would relocate Red Funnel to Dock Gate 5 in Southampton to enable current site to be redeveloped as part of Waterfront Project. Red Funnel will improve their and marshalling facilities in East Cowes to release land for beneficial development. Bid will pay for new highways and public realm on both sides. This is the top bid in the next tranche for funding. Also looking to improve Coppins Bridge via a bid to SLEP. These relatively minor works would be expensive but it should improve traffic flow.

Cross-Solent travel

• PG – YFUG was invited to attend the Scrutiny Panel. Red Funnel and Hovertravel seem to be providing a good service. Red Funnel CEO had only been in post for a few weeks. There was a very small advert in CP for a Tues, Wed, Thu, Sun discount scheme but no discount code seems to be available. Scrutiny Panel asked that QTP could be involved further and DR happy to raise issues at Infrastructure Group. seem to be biased

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towards commercial and tourist traffic and are only interested in surveying holidaymakers, not residents, which skews the results. YFUG feel that Wightlink are far more interested in making money, rather than providing a service.

• DR – Hovertravel has a new Blue Card Scheme which gives you 20% off bookings with them. Some QTP members have used Red Funnels discount cards delivered to most Island households and found their service to be a very convenient and user friendly.

• PG – explained that Wightlink say they can’t afford to run ferries throughout the day and it was felt that they look at the viability of each journey in isolation, rather than the operation as a whole. They are so short-staffed that if staff members don’t turn up, then a ferry can’t run.

• Island Card gives 5% discount at £25 per year and Camping and Caravanning Club members get a 15% discount.

• DR asked PG to pass issues to him and he will raise them at Executive.

• VL – bikes cannot travel on the Red Jet and it is now the only one that doesn’t. Also, there is no cycle parking at Cowes. Island Ferry Users Group has been set up to get the various ferry user groups talking.

Action: DR to arrange a meeting with Red Funnel.

Action: IW to provide contact for Island Ferry Users Group to CW who will add to the minutes.

4 Items raised by members

• None.

5 Items for future discussion

• VL asked that sustainability be added to next agenda.

Action: VL to make a presentation to the group regarding how the QTP can help reduce the impact of transport on the environment.

6 Any other business

• None

7 Next Meeting

Tuesday 16 September 2014 at 10:30 in the Upstairs Conference Room at Seaclose Offices, Fairlee Road, Newport.

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