Millions of pounds of Cumbria County Council investment is helping to improve transport around the county.
The latest update on the county’s Local Transport Plan shows that money spent is paying off with significant improvements in various areas including road safety, increased bus use, access to services, community travel plans, rights of way improvement, and increasing the number of school children walking or cycling to school.
LTPs are special five-year plans which the Government requires transport authorities such as Cumbria County Council to produce. They set out the aims and objectives for the county on a raft of transport issues such as safety, accessibility, congestion, air quality, health and crime and disorder, as well as highways management and maintenance.
The update report published this summer shows that in the financial year from April 2006 to April 2007 the county council has spent more than £28million on maintenance and invested over £7million on improvement schemes known as capital projects.
Investment has included £890,000 on rights of way, £385,000 on road safety promotion and education, more than £3million on passenger transport and £2,135,000 on safety improvement schemes on the highway.
Highlights of the 2006/7 period include:
Completion of the Rights of Way Improvement Plan (ROWIP) which has tapped in to the local knowledge of hundreds of members of the public to identify how Cumbria’s 4,600 miles of rights of way network might be improved to better meet the needs of walkers, cyclists and other users.
The introduction of the pioneering NOW card scheme which provides a simple single payment card providing an easy to use and accurate way for bus users to use their concessionary fare discounts. Its development was led by Cumbria County Council, and the NOW card is now being rolled-out across the North West.
While there are still too many serious accidents on the county’s roads, the efforts of the Safer Roads for Cumbria Partnership are bringing improvements with a fall in the number of incidents classified by government rules as KSIs (killed or seriously injured).
The Carlisle Northern Development Route also took significant steps towards construction by satisfying Treasury and Department of Transport requirements. Potential contractors are now preparing bids for the complex PFI scheme worth around £150million.
Efforts to improve community engagement in setting transport priorities have continued with more Community Travel Plans and Workplace Travel Plans being produced. Meanwhile, the county council is ahead of its targets to ensure that every school in the county has a School Travel Plan by 2010.
Jack Richardson, cabinet member responsible for infrastructure, said: “We have to work hard on transport in Cumbria because it is such a big and rural county. Like most rural authorities, we would argue that we don’t get as much government investment in our infrastructure as we would like. But we are making good use of the resources we do have."
Ian Stewart, cabinet member for transport, said: “The Local Transport Plan is where we set out the county’s priorities for all kinds of transport for schools, communities and individuals. This report shows that we are rising to the challenge and, under the circumstances, making progress improving transport around the county.”
The current LTP covers the period 2006 to 2011. It can be found on the Cumbria County Council website at http://www.cumbria.gov.uk/roads-transport/transportplan/ltp2from2006.asp
Media enquiries to Justin Hawkins, Media Officer on 01228 606334