6 Transport for South East Strategy PDF 103 KB
For the Economy, Transport & Environment Select Committee to pre-scrutinise a report regarding Transport for the South East’s Proposal to Government to establish a statutory sub national transport body for the South East, to be known as Transport for the South East (TfSE). This will be considered at Cabinet on 14 July 2020.
Additional documents:
Minutes:
Councillor Forster declared an interest
as an advisor to Central and Local Government on Electric Vehicle
Charging (EVC)
The Select Committee pre-scrutinised a report from the Head of
Economy, Transport and Environment (item 6 in the minute book)
regarding the establishment of a sub national transport body for
the South East, to be known as Transport for the South East
(TfSE) and Transport Strategy. The
report was due to go to Cabinet on 14 July 2020.
The officer introduced the item and explained how TfSE would have the powers and responsibilities
required to deliver its Transport Strategy. Not only would a
statutory sub-national transport body for the South East give the
region a stronger voice at national level, but would also enable
the County Council to influence the prioritisation of national
transport investment in a way that has not been possible in the
past.
The County Council had been proactive in
helping to develop TfSE’s
Transport Strategy which was based on sound evidence and applied a
clear methodology. The strategy
provided a strong economic, social, and environmental policy
framework for future transport planning up to 2050 and, was
therefore considered appropriate to adopt into the County
Council’s own policy framework, alongside the Hampshire Local
Transport Plan.
During questions, it was acknowledged that public transport to
London from the south did take longer than other cities further
away, but that there was less pressure to compete with other
journey times to London due to 90% of journeys starting and ending
in the TfSE area not involving travel
to London. Connectivity between towns and cities within the
TfSE and improving rail across the
south remained a priority.
Members queried when investment may start to
be received and whether bids were required and it was confirmed
that some funding had already been received from the Department for
Transport (DfT) for development of the
strategy. Funding for large schemes would be a competitive process
against other national transport bodies.
There was a lot of discussion around zero carbon and whether 2050
was soon enough to take serious action, and the abilities to bring
forward that timescale. Whilst it was acknowledged that it would be
beneficial to bring forward the date, TfSE also recognised that it was not solely within
their ability and gift to achieve this and so 2050 was more
pragmatic. A lot of research was being done around hydrogen
technology and electric vehicle charging points being increasingly
rolled out across the county but progress also depending on
national government action and legislation.
The Chairman invited the Executive Member for Economy, Transport
and Environment, Councillor Rob Humby, to comment on discussions to
formally add a recommendation in the report around accelerating the
2050 target for zero carbon. Councillor Humby confirmed the
importance of partnership working within TfSE and how 2050 was agreed by the partnership as
a target, but inevitably hoped to achieve this sooner and that the
Strategy gave flexibility to do this. The Select Committee were
thanked ...
view the full minutes text for item 6