1 Forward The City Council and its partner Leicestershire County Council have a long and successful track record of developing and delivering ambitious plans to deliver sustainable transport infrastructure and behavioural support programmes across the Central Leicestershire area. There remains much to do however to encourage commuters to switch from using their cars and travel by rail, bus, walk and cycle. The economic, environmental and health benefits of making these choices are significant. As a rapidly growing conurbation we have a strong commitment to tackle the barriers to productivity and growth resulting from congestion on the highway network that restricts the movement of goods and people. Our Connected Leicester Hub and Spoke Plan is a transformational programme of integrated public and sustainable transport schemes in Central Leicestershire. It meets TCF objectives by focussing on encouraging commuters to travel more sustainably with the aim of supporting economic growth and housing delivery, reducing carbon emissions and helping to bring city air quality within legal limits. Our ambitious proposals include: Theme 1 City Centre Hubs and Links: We plan to deliver two high quality rail and bus transport hubs linked together by direct bus, cycling and walking routes. These will transform the commuter experience and create welcoming gateways into the city. Our flagship Leicester Rail Station project is a once in a generation opportunity to deliver a fully integrated sustainable rail, bus, cycling and walking transport hub linked to the new East Midlands Rail franchise commitments. St Margaret’s Bus Station will be transformed into a fully integrated sustainable transport hub. A new city centre electric bus service will link transport, retail, employment, educational and hospital hubs. Theme 2: Park and Ride Hubs and Links: We plan to improve frequency and provide electric buses on our park and ride services to help tackle congestion and improve air quality, provide a priority bus lane on Soar Valley Way to support the Enderby Park and Ride service and provide new linking services to Beaumont Leys Shopping Centre and Glenfield Hospital. Theme 3: Green Growth Corridors On radial corridors we will create 8 km of prioritised bus lanes and priority measures serving commercial and park and ride services together with 26km of high quality cycling and walking routes. These will provide excellent sustainable transport corridors linking the city centre, regeneration areas and our Waterside Enterprise Zone with the North West /South West suburbs of the city where major existing employment hubs and large scale housing expansion is located. A neighbourhood cycling and walking infrastructure plan targeted at a deprived community in Beaumont Leys will deliver neighbourhood level enhanced connectivity and transport integration. Theme 4: City Connectivity: Smart ticketing, real time information on target corridors and improved traffic signals, giving priority to buses, will speed up commuter journeys and improve the travel experience for bus passengers. Through a rigorous sifting and appraisal process we have prioritised specific schemes in our final programme submission to ensure a strong fit with TCF objectives and our Connected Leicester vision. We have provided realistic and deliverable low, medium and high programme scenarios with a total cost ranging from £119m to £149m, including match funding contributions of £40m. These all deliver ‘High’ value for money benefits. 2 We strongly believe our prioritised Tranche 2 projects will provide high quality, convenient and sustainable choices for many more commuters to travel by rail, bus, cycle and walk. An additional 1.8 million rail passengers (33% increase) will be served by 2035, bus patronage increased by 10% on priority green growth corridors, with everyday cycling numbers doubled and walking numbers increased by 20% by 2024. I am delighted that our Tranche 2 programme has developed into a strong and compelling proposition with support from the business community and also from our rail and bus operator partners who have shown full commitment including substantial funding contributions. We are ready to commence delivery of our ambitious Tranche 2 TCF plans early in 2020 and are fully committed to delivering our programme within the TCF timeframe to 2023. Sir Peter Soulsby City Mayor 3 0 Contents FORWARD .................................................................................................................................................................. 2 0 CONTENTS .......................................................................................................................................................... 4 1 APPLICANT INFORMATION AND STAKEHOLDERS ............................................................................................... 8 2 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ....................................................................................................................................... 9 3 STRATEGIC CASE – THE LOCAL CONTEXT ...........................................................................................................15 3.1 CITY CONTEXT ..................................................................................................................................................... 15 3.2 CHALLENGES AFFECTING ECONOMIC GROWTH AND TRANSPORT WITHIN LEICESTER ............................................................ 19 3.3 POLICY CONTEXT .................................................................................................................................................. 21 3.4 THE VISION FOR LEICESTER ..................................................................................................................................... 26 3.5 BUILDING ON EXPERIENCE ...................................................................................................................................... 27 3.6 TCF PROGRAMME OBJECTIVES ............................................................................................................................... 28 4 STRATEGIC CASE – DEVELOPMENT OF THE PROGRAMME .................................................................................33 4.1 THE BASIS OF THE PROGRAMME ............................................................................................................................. 33 4.2 OUR STRENGTHS AND PRIORITY DRIVERS .................................................................................................................. 34 4.3 CONNECTED LEICESTER HUB AND SPOKE PLAN – PROGRAMME AMBITION ...................................................................... 38 4.4 TCF TRANCHE 1: CONNECTED HUB AND SPOKE PLAN ................................................................................................. 41 4.5 TCR TRANCHE 2: THE LOW, MEDIUM, HIGH ASK PROGRAMMES ................................................................................. 43 4.6 THEME 1 CITY CENTRE HUBS AND LINKS ................................................................................................................... 46 4.7 THEME 2: PARK AND RIDE HUBS AND LINKS .............................................................................................................. 59 4.8 THEME 3: GREEN GROWTH CORRIDORS ................................................................................................................... 63 4.9 THEME 4: CITY CONNECTIVITY ................................................................................................................................ 73 5 ECONOMIC CASE ...............................................................................................................................................79 5.1 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................................................... 79 5.2 PROGRAMME BCR AND VALUE FOR MONEY ............................................................................................................. 80 5.3 BREAKDOWN OF THE COSTS AND BENEFITS BY SCHEME ................................................................................................ 86 5.4 DISTRIBUTIONAL IMPACT SCREENING ....................................................................................................................... 88 5.5 THE APPROACH TO APPRAISAL ................................................................................................................................ 88 5.6 DETAILS OF THE INDIVIDUAL APPRAISAL ..................................................................................................................... 90 5.7 OPTIMISM BIAS ................................................................................................................................................... 91 5.8 BEHAVIOURAL CHANGE PROGRAMME ...................................................................................................................... 92 6 FINANCIAL CASE ................................................................................................................................................95 6.1 OVERVIEW .......................................................................................................................................................... 95 6.2 TCF TRANCHE 2 PROGRAMME COSTS .....................................................................................................................