Agenda item - Adoption of Joint Local Transport Plan

Report to follow.

The West of England Joint Committee RESOLVED (unanimously):

1. That the final version of the Joint Local Transport Plan (JLTP4) be adopted subject to minor amendments as set out in the addendum to the report (the full detail of the addendum is set out below).

ADDENDUM - minor amendments to the Joint Local Transport Plan:

Changes to the final version of the Joint Local Transport Plan 4 (JLTP4) following its publication are set out below.

In respect of minor amendments relating to the Paris Agreement:

Amendment 1: The first minor amendment is to add a new paragraph on page 6 of the document into the opening section detailing ‘Climate Change and the Challenge Ahead’, to be titled:

JLTP4 and the Paris Agreement

And to read:

In line with and taking account of the Paris Agreement, the JLTP4 is fully committed to reducing carbon. The JLTP4 has a significantly positive role to play in meeting the UK’s international obligations through providing a well-connected and sustainable transport network which accelerates the shift towards low carbon trips, supporting sustainable development and the take up of Ultra Low Emission Vehicles to decarbonise transport. In many respects, with the commitment to be carbon neutral by 2030, the JLTP4 goes beyond the Paris Agreement. Looking ahead, the next JLTP as outlined above will serve to strengthen this role. As described in the following section, Central Government will be expected to play its role.

Amendment 2: The second minor amendment relates to the JLTP’s Strategic Environmental Assessment (the SEA). This is covered in Section 13: Environmental, equalities and health impact assessments of the JLTP4. A new paragraph to be added to the introduction section on page 147. This to read:

The SEA takes into account the requirements of the Paris Agreement through including climatic factors as one of the environmental baseline topic areas. Alongside this are the two SEA objectives to ‘Reduce transport related carbon emissions in line with national targets’ (SEAO3) and ‘Adapt transport network to effects of climate change and minimise the vulnerability of transport network to flood risk’ (SEAO4). For SEA03, the SEA noted that numerous policies within the JLTP4 will have a minor or potential major positive effect whilst for SEAO4 strategic and major transport infrastructure schemes will have to be designed to take into account the effects of climate change in line with national policy and best practice design.

In respect of minor amendments that were considered as part of the West of England authorities’ governance processes:

Amendment 3: The third minor amendment relates to the Case Study: South East Bristol Orbital Low Carbon Corridor case study. The following wording on p75 of the document to be deleted:

An orbital corridor to the South East of Bristol, which could connect the A4 to the A37 and further into South Bristol forms part of the JTS.

Amendment 4: The fourth minor amendment relates to Section 8: Local Connectivity

The current paragraph on page p87 of the document which reads:

We will work with key housing developers, employers, education providers and leisure sites from an early stage of planning to ensure that funding for walking and cycling infrastructure is considered from the outset. This will ensure that new developments prioritise walking and cycling.

To be amended to read:

We will work with key housing developers, employers, education providers and leisure sites from an early stage of planning to ensure that funding for walking and cycling infrastructure forms part of the design from the outset. This will ensure that new developments prioritise walking and cycling.

2. That delegation is given to the WECA Director of Infrastructure and WECA Director of Investment and Corporate Services to identify the resources required, through re-prioritisation of investment funding, to sufficiently progress the JLTP5 process; the anticipated breakdown of spend to be reported to the June WECA committee, prior to which all spend will be agreed by the WECA Chief Executive in consultation with constituent authority Chief Executives.

The Joint Committee considered a report seeking the adoption of the Joint Local Transport Plan 4 (agenda item 13).

The Chair highlighted the following points:

· As seen from the statements and questions submitted to this committee, there had been a great deal of public interest in the development of the Joint Local Transport Plan. It was for this reason that he had wanted to ensure that the report was brought before the committee today, where the public would have the opportunity to make their comments through the statements submitted.

· The plan before the committee today had been developed by officers in each of the councils and the Combined Authority and had been considered through the governance processes in each of the West of England unitary authorities.

· The plan addressed the region’s current transport challenges; however, it was recognised that emerging national guidance, legislation and targets, particularly around climate change issues and decarbonisation would need to be further developed at national level before being incorporated into plans and policies at the regional and local level.

· It was also important to recognise that the region’s approach to spatial planning would be undergoing further development over the next 2-3 years and this would need to be informed closely by the current and next version of the Joint Local Transport Plan.

· In light of the above, in addition to recommending the adoption today of Joint Local Transport Plan 4, the report included a recommended specific delegation to officers to start work on identifying the resources that would be needed to progress the Joint Local Transport Plan 5 process. The development of JLTP5 would run in parallel with the transport evidence base that was being commissioned for the spatial planning approach. A further report would be brought to the Joint Committee on the detail of the proposed timeline and resources identified for JLTP5.

· Following the consideration of the Plan through the governance process of each of the West of England unitary authorities, and following discussion with Mayors and Leaders of the authorities, it was proposed to make 4 minor amendments to the Plan – these were set out in full in an addendum to the Plan, which had been circulated and published on the Combined Authority website.

The Chair advised that 2 of the amendments added clarity in respect of the Paris Agreement and 2 of the amendments reflected feedback from the West of England authorities.

In respect of the Paris Agreement, legal advice had been received which had provided positive feedback on JLTP4’s alignment with the principles of the Agreement and had suggested some minor additions to further enhance clarity in this respect and to emphasise the positive role that JLTP4 would have.

Amendment 1 therefore added an additional paragraph at page 6 to reflect that there was full commitment within JLTP4 to reducing carbon and that JLTP4 was fully in line with and took account of the Paris Agreement.

Amendment 2 added an additional paragraph at page 147, to reflect that the JLTP’s Strategic Environmental Assessment also took into account the Paris Agreement.

Amendment 3 was a deletion of a particular sentence at page 75 in the section about the South East Bristol Orbital Low Carbon Corridor case study.

Amendment 4 was a minor adjustment at page 87, making clear, in terms of local connectivity that the authorities will work with key housing developers, employers, education providers and leisure sites from an early stage of planning to ensure that funding for walking and cycling infrastructure forms part of the design from the outset.

The report recommendations, including the 4 minor amendments to the JLTP4 document as set out in the addendum to the report were then moved by the Chair and seconded jointly by Cllr Godwin, Cllr Reade, Cllr Romero and Cllr Davies.

Cllr Romero referred to the many comments raised through the public statements to the meeting and to comments/emails received outside of the formal meeting process. She felt it should be acknowledged that the Plan was not perfect; it did look, as some had commented, as though it had been written by a number of different people. The Plan had been developed over a period of time, and during that time certain things had changed, for example full recognition of the impact of climate change. Whilst the Plan was not perfect, it did need to be approved in order that the authorities could move on to working on the next iteration of the Plan (JLTP5) as quickly as possible. Moving to the JLTP5 process would enable the authorities to better meet the challenges faced by communities across the region and develop a much better Plan for the future.

Cllr Davies indicated his agreement with Cllr Romero’s comments. He referred to the recent North Somerset decision to confirm the refusal of the airport expansion planning application, noting that part of the reasoning for that decision was based around the lack of sustainability in terms of access to the airport. He noted the comments in the public statement from Tony Lloyd about increasing rail services, but it was important to recognise that the options for this were limited at this point. The region also faced a housing crisis and more homes would need to be built. The suggestion from some people that no new roads should be built was difficult to achieve in practice given that most public transport infrastructure currently needed to be provided through a roads-based system. Any additional spend on roads moving forwards should be led, from the North Somerset perspective, by public transport demands; a nuanced approach was required to prioritise public transport needs in terms of the road network. He supported the current Plan on the basis it was very much an interim document and that work would be taken forward on the next, improved version of the Plan.

Noting the comments of Cllr Romero and Cllr Davies, Cllr Reade stressed that it was important that JLTP4 was approved in order to progress the delivery of the ambitions around greater transport choices, so that residents could travel more sustainably. The region aimed to achieve carbon neutrality by 2030 and would need to go ‘further and faster’ to achieve this, so there was a need to work up evidence to determine what carbon neutrality looked like in transport terms for the region. With this information, the plan could then be further reviewed and updated. Work on this needed to start now in response to the Climate Emergency and the JLTP provided the mandate for this work to be taken forward.

Noting the previous member comments, Cllr Godwin stated that it was important to recognise JLTP4 as a ‘stepping stone’. It was clear there was a need to have infrastructure in place which supported greener and more climate friendly, sustainable transport choices; the Plan provided a basis to take forward further work to deliver this.

The Chair then moved to the voting on the recommendations including the 4 minor amendments to the JLTP4 document as set out in the addendum to the report.

Voting took place as per constitutional requirements.