Action Briefing Dec 2002 - Jan 2003
	The Newsletter of Birmingham Friends of the Earth

New Local Transport Plan to be Submitted 2 Years Early

The West Midlands (consisting of Birmingham, Coventry, Wolverhampton Sandwell, Dudley, Solihull and Walsall councils) submitted its first Local Transport Plan (LTP) in July 2000, and like other local authorities, Central Government requires them to submit a new plan every 5 years. The West Midlands however will be submitting its new LTP two years early. Consultation with interested groups and individuals is an integral part of the LTP process, and local authorities are obliged to consult as widely as possible.

Comments and suggestions are taken into consideration when the LTP is drafted and accordingly Birmingham FOE has submitted its own response. The deadline was 30th November, but comments made soon after this date should still be taken into consideration.

Why 2 years early?
Since the first LTP was submitted, there have been several important changes in government policy and the publication of several new studies notably the West Midlands Area Multi Modal Study (WMAMMS). This report came up with a series of recommendations to improve transport in the West Midlands. Most importantly and positively, WMAMMS recommended that a behavioural change was essential for solving the transport problem in the West Midlands - new infrastructure and technical fixes alone would not work. Although we applauded most of the proposals, there still remain several environmentally damaging schemes which need to be opposed - in particular widening a stretch of the M42 and the building of bypasses around Stourbridge and Wolverhampton (the ‘Western bypasses’). These schemes would lead to further congestion and increased traffic and do nothing positive for the local economy. Thankfully the Regional Planning Guidance Panel Report, has rejected plans for the ‘Western Bypasses’, concluding that these would not be helpful for the regeneration of the Black Country.

LTP 2000 performance: Nice try but must do better!
Under government rules, measuring performance against agreed targets is an integral part of the LTP process. Unfortunately several worthy targets are unlikely to be met. The Central Government target of doubling cycle usage by 2006 is unlikely to be met, as at the moment only 2% of all journeys in the West Midlands are by cycling and this shows little sign of increasing. Another target which will be difficult to meet is that of increasing bus use by 10% from 2000 to 2010. In the West Midlands as a whole, bus use actually dropped by 3% from 2000 to 2001, part of a longer term decline which urgently needs to be arrested.

We would like to see the following incorporated into the new LTP:

Social Inclusion
Public transport should be made accessible to the poorest members of society by reducing fares and improving transport provision in the most deprived areas. People in such areas should feel safe to walk in their neighbourhoods and so we would like to see more traffic calming in place and more 20mph zones in certain areas. This would encourage more people to walk leading to healthier people, safer streets, both in terms of reduced crime, and road accidents, and a more pleasant environment.

Cycling
As already mentioned the current LTP will not meet its original cycling targets. We feel that clearer guidelines and action points need to be put in place to achieve the original targets rather than making new less ambitious targets. Investment needs to be doubled and public attitudes need to be changed if we want to double cycle use. We would like to see more space provided on existing carriageways, together with stronger enforcement to prevent the abuse of cycle lanes on roads. Providing an off road network of cycle routes would be secondary to a network of cycle routes along roads. With more cyclists using roads, people would drive more responsibly as they become more accustomed to accommodating them, and the calmed traffic would encourage more people to walk.

Buses
Improving the quality of bus routes should be applied throughout the West Midlands network, in addition to concentrating on the main routes by ‘showcasing’ them. More bus lanes would be welcome. However these should not be achieved by road widening but should be established within the existing carriageway. By widening a road to accommodate a bus lane you are simply providing more space for cars, and inevitably demolitions and loss of open space will result. We find this unacceptable.

Rail
Parts of the West Midlands rail network are at or close to full capacity, and it is crucial that the capacity is increased. As a matter of urgency, the Stourbridge to Walsall route should be reopened to heavy rail traffic, both freight and passenger. This would relieve congestion on lines in the central Birmingham area. There are many rail routes in the West Midlands which do not carry local stopping trains. This is a waste of a valuable resource and we feel that wherever possible, local stopping trains should be introduced along such under-utilised routes, and new local stations be established. The LTP proposes a Regional Express Rail network (RER) serving the wider west midlands. While we support this idea, the focus should remain on improving local stopping services - we do not want to see them squeezed out by limited stop RER trains or for that matter more frequent long distance Virgin train services.

Park and Ride
We are against the principle of park and ride in general. Park and ride schemes should be very limited with sites located on the periphery of the conurbation e.g. a park and ride site at Longbridge rail station is more acceptable, than that at Selly Oak. We are against growth in park and ride because it generates traffic and tempts people to use their cars rather than walking or bussing it to the station. Although it may ease traffic congestion in the inner city areas, it simply transfers car journeys to other parts of the city.

Metro
We accept that in the long term, a metro network is desirable, but bus and heavy rail services need to be brought up to scratch first. Metro should not compete directly with buses - these should act as feeder services. None of the routes should use railway routes - these should be retained as part of the heavy rail network and all future metro routes should follow roads.

Red routes
The WMAMMS recommended a red route strategy similar to that adopted in London where parking and waiting restrictions are more rigorously enforced which smoothes the flow of traffic and reduces journey times. A pilot scheme on the Stratford Road from Solihull through Sparkhill to Camp Hill will be introduced within the next year. The public consultation for the section within Solihull has finished, but that for the section within Birmingham will be conducted in late January. Although red routes result in a more efficient use of roadspace, we are concerned that they may become urban ‘speed ways’, increasing the danger to pedestrians and cyclists. We are willing to accept each individual red route scheme on its own merits rather than see the concept applied on a network wide basis throughout the West Midlands. The needs of the local community pedestrians and cyclists should be fundamental to the design of each scheme and integrated with bus priority and traffic calming measures.

Waterways
Their use for freight transport should be promoted and the possibility of waterbus services as a serious method of transport serving the inner city area should be investigated.

Road Improvements
There should be no motorway widening, road widening, or new bypasses. The new LTP should remove any reference to the Western bypasses (Stourbridge and Wolverhampton) as the RPG panel has already rejected these.

More information is available from the LTP website: www.westmidlandsltp.gov.uk Or you can contact the CEPOG core support team at Centro House on 0121 214 7348

See also: West Midlands Local Transport Plan 2000 Transport Monitor 2000 [produced by West Midlands Joint Committee July 2002]
West Midlands Local Transport Plan 2000 Annual progress report [Produced by West Midlands Joint Committee July 2002]

Martin Stride