Western Gateway Sub-national Transport Body Regional Evidence Base & MRN / LLM Scheme Priorities – July 2019 Regional Evidence Base Part 2 Strategic Travel Corridors 70 | P a g e Western Gateway Sub-national Transport Body Regional Evidence Base & MRN / LLM Scheme Priorities – July 2019 11.0 The role of Strategic Corridors Introduction 11.1 A strategic travel corridor links important and significant destinations such as major urban areas or international ports. With the Western Gateway’s mix of densely populated urban areas and relatively sparsely populated, less well connected areas, the Western Gateway STB is amongst one of the prime candidates for transport corridor improvements as these will help achieve a wide range of local, regional and national objectives, not least the ‘rebalancing of the economy’ objectives set out by the UK Government. 11.2 Transport corridors (and transport in general) are fundamentally important for a number of reasons: They facilitate a range of economic benefits, including the ability to unlock large housing developments and employment sites; When operating without significant delays and congestion, they facilitate improvements in productivity (GVA per worker, GVA per hour worked, etc.) by effectively bringing workers and employment opportunities closer together – corridor improvements therefore create a virtuous circle whereby workers having access to a greater range of employment opportunities whilst employers have greater access to a more diverse pool of labour. When this happens due to improved corridor connectivity, for example, workers will be able to produce more GDP per head; and They facilitate additional benefits associated with access to major gateways (such as ports) and enhancements to other sectors of the economy, such as the tourism sector. 11.3 15 strategic corridors have been identified which either traverse multiple authorities within the Gateway area or provide strategic linkages to neighbouring areas from which the Gateway area benefits. These have been prioritised on the basis of perceived benefits to the Western Gateway economy from enhanced connectivity. They were identified by reviewing the emerging trends outlined in the Story of Place section of the emerging REB. Figure 11.1 provides a diagrammatic impression of the 15 Strategic Corridors. 11.4 To inform the production of the Strategic Transport Plan it is the intention for each corridor to benefit from its individual multi-modal corridor study. 11.5 Each corridor study will consider strategic connectivity at a Sub-national level. This enables the full journey to be accounted for instead of sections of the journey linked to each local authority’s administrative boundaries. The outcome will be a sequenced list of investment priorities. 11.6 Figure 11.2 identifies the 15 strategic travel corridors and describes the destinations they serve. 71 | P a g e Western Gateway Sub-national Transport Body Regional Evidence Base & MRN / LLM Scheme Priorities – July 2019 Figure 11.1 – Diagrammatic impression of the 15 Strategic Corridors Figure 11.2 – Summary of Strategic Travel Corridors Corridor ID Main Destinations served Primary transport assets A London Highway Reading M4 (M48 & M49) Swindon Network Rail Regions Chippenham Western Bath Wales Bristol Newport Cardiff B Birmingham Highway Worcester • M5 Cheltenham Network Rail Region Gloucester • Western Filton Bristol Weston-Super-Mare Taunton Exeter C Malmesbury Highway Chippenham A350 Bath Network Rail Region Melksham • Western Trowbridge 72 | P a g e Western Gateway Sub-national Transport Body Regional Evidence Base & MRN / LLM Scheme Priorities – July 2019 Westbury Warminster Blandford Forum Gillingham Shaftesbury Poole Bournemouth D Bath Highway Trowbridge A46 / A36 Westbury Network Rail Region Warminster Western Salisbury Wessex Southampton E Tewkesbury Highway Evesham A46 (Midlands) Stratford-upon-Avon Royal Leamington-Spa Coventry Leicester F Oxford Highway Cheltenham A40 Gloucester Network Rail Regions Monmouth Western London North Western G Swindon Highway Cirencester A419 / A417 / A40 / A48 Cheltenham Network Rail Regions Gloucester Western Chepstow Wales H Gloucester Highway Stonehouse A38/A370 Thornbury Network Rail Regions Filton Western Bristol Bristol Airport Weston-Super-Mare Bridgwater I Bristol Highway Yate Key routes that serve the West of Chipping Sodbury England Thornbury Network Rail Region Emersons Green Western Keynsham Avonmouth Long Ashton Filton J Chippenham Highway Bath A4 Keynsham Network Rail Region Bristol Western Avonmouth 73 | P a g e Western Gateway Sub-national Transport Body Regional Evidence Base & MRN / LLM Scheme Priorities – July 2019 K Bristol Highway Shepton Mallet A37 / A354 Yeovil Network Rail Regions Dorchester Western Weymouth Wessex Portland L Basingstoke Highway Andover A303 Amesbury Network Rail Regions Westbury Western Salisbury Wessex Yeovil Exeter M Amesbury Highway Porton A338 / A354 Salisbury Blandford Forum Dorchester Weymouth Portland N Southampton Highway Christchurch A31 / A35 Bournemouth Network Rail Region Poole Wessex Dorchester Weymouth Portland Exeter O Christchurch Highway Bournemouth Key routes that serve the Bournemouth, Wimborne/Ferndown Christchurch and Poole area Poole Network Rail Region Wessex 11.7 Of the 15 strategic corridors 10 will require discussions with neighbouring Sub-national Transport Bodies. Figure 10.3 identifies those corridors where discussions will be required. Five of the corridors will require discussions with the Peninsula (B, H, K, L & N); three corridors will require discussions with Transport for the South East (A, C & N). Two corridors will need to be discussed with Midlands Connect (B & E), Wales (A & F) and England’s Economic Heartland (F & G). The number of discussions required with neighbouring areas highlights how well connected the Western Gateway area is and also underlines the importance of strategic partnership working. 74 | P a g e Western Gateway Sub-national Transport Body Regional Evidence Base & MRN / LLM Scheme Priorities – July 2019 Figure 10.3 – Strategic Travel Corridors where discussions with neighbouring areas will be required Corridor ID Where strategic discussions will be required with neighbouring areas A Wales England’s Economic Heartland Transport for the South East B Midlands Connect Peninsula Transport C Transport for the South East E Midlands Connect F England’s Economic Heartland G England’s Economic Heartland Wales H Peninsula Transport K Peninsula Transport L Peninsula Transport N Peninsula Transport Transport for the South East 11.8 In addition, discussions will be required with transport infrastructure providers and transport operators. Figure 10.4 illustrates the highway designations of the primary highway route for each corridor. Five of the corridors (Corridor A, B, E, L and N) form part of the Strategic Road Network and will require close working with Highways England. The other corridors require a mix of working relationships between local authorities (responsible for the Major Road Network and Local Network) in consultation with Highways England due to the potential impact of increased use of the Strategic Road Network. 11.9 Figure 10.5 illustrates the location of the corresponding rail lines that form part of the strategic corridors. In addition it also illustrates the level of demand at each station. Each local authority has aspirations to improve rail connectivity within the Gateway area. This will require close partnership working with Network Rail on future infrastructure improvements on the Western, Wessex and Wales routes. In addition, working with train operating companies (South Western Railway, Great Western Railway and Cross Country) and Transport for Wales will be essential to improve the frequency and quality of services provided through Rail Franchise renewals along with improved station facilities. 75 | P a g e Western Gateway Sub-national Transport Body Regional Evidence Base & MRN / LLM Scheme Priorities – July 2019 Figure 10.4 – Highway designations within strategic corridors Figure 10.5 – Rail Network within strategic corridors 76 | P a g e Western Gateway Sub-national Transport Body Regional Evidence Base & MRN / LLM Scheme Priorities – July 2019 11.10 A high level summary of each of the 15 corridors is provided in the remainder of this section. The summary includes a set of metrics from the Western Gateway Economic Connectivity Study. Including: Productivity impact; New employment GVA impact; and Housing (land value gain) impact. A copy of this full report is included in Appendix A. 11.11 In addition each corridor includes a set of maps illustrating the following: • Highway designations • Annual Average Daily Vehicle Flows from 20175 • Annual entry and exits recorded at rail stations in 2017/186 5 24 hour All Vehicle flow data used - Information accessed via https://roadtraffic.dft.gov.uk/ 6 Estimates of Station Usage 2017-18 - Publication Date: 11 December 2018 - www.orr.gov.uk/statistics/published-stats/station-usage-estimates The estimates of station usage consist of the total numbers of people: 'Travelling from or to the station (entries and exits) 77 | P a g e Western Gateway Sub-national Transport Body Regional Evidence Base & MRN / LLM Scheme Priorities – July 2019 Corridor A - M4 and Western & Wales Network Rail Regions Summary Main destinations London served: Reading Swindon Chippenham Bath Bristol Newport Cardiff Brief description: Part of the Strategic