Agenda item

Report ES11106

Bromley’s formula allocation from TfL for 2012/13 would be £2.829m. Ring-fenced funding would also be available to support a number of other programmes, including local transport priorities, Principal Road maintenance, bridges and structures (including Chislehurst Bridge) and Bromley North Village.

Although it was largely for boroughs to determine how the formula funding would be spent, the Council was nevertheless required to submit a list of schemes to TfL in early October 2010. Formal approval was sought for a recommended list of such schemes. The formula allocation was not a grant and it was necessary to draw down funds as work was completed.

The process of developing and consulting upon schemes could generate technical and financial changes and also result in implementation delays or changed priorities. No significant difficulty was envisaged should it be necessary in future to change the list of schemes following submission of the original list and the report recommendations suggested a mechanism by which officers would be able to make necessary changes following consultation with the Portfolio Holder. Furthermore, approval of the recommended list for submission to TfL did not imply the approval of any specific scheme for implementation and all such schemes would be subject to consultation and formal approval in the usual way.

Commentary in Report ES11106 was provided on the following:

• Local Transport Priorities;
• Maintenance Programmes (on Bridge Strengthening and Assessment, the Council would not know how much of its bid had succeeded until the funding settlement was announced by TfL in the autumn);
• Major Schemes (again the amount to be allocated for 2012/13 would be announced as part of the TfL funding settlement);
• Biking Boroughs and cycling initiatives (physical projects to be delivered under the programme would be brought forward separately for approval at the appropriate time);
• Congestion relief (including multi-year schemes)

·  Network infrastructure

·  Congestion relief / casualty reduction programme 

·  Casualty reduction programme – individual locations

·  Casualty Reduction - Mass Action

·  Cycle Training and Promotion

·  Support for the Bromley Town Centre Area Action Plan (the main element of the programme in 2012/13 being a study of possible permanent park and ride, envisaged for the third phase of the Area Action Plan)

·  Parking – Assess, Review and Update (enabling implementation of relatively minor changes to local parking controls, including safety-related changes and matters raised by Members and residents)

·  Parking - Town Centres (for 2012/13 comprising the completion of measures in Beckenham town centre and the investigation, design, consultation and implementation of measures in the Green Street Green area)

·  Decluttering

·  Cycling and Walking Schemes

·  Walking - Green spaces and recreational walking

·  Light Against Crime

·  Scheme Development

·  Travel Planning Activities

·  Road Safety Education

In discussion a number of comments and suggestions were made by Members including the following -

·  For congestion relief on the A224 it was suggested that the Leesons Hill junction with Sevenoaks Way caused delay and that something to improve this should be included.

·  In regard to a £110k investment on School Travel Planning (Monitoring and Review) it was suggested that travel changes resulting from School Travel Plans may be difficult to measure.

·  Some maintenance funds should be allocated to smaller roads.

·  Whole roads would not need surfacing.

·  It was important to obtain value for money from the maintenance programme – funds were allocated to roads that were necessary to repair.

·  Heavy Goods Vehicles caused damage and principal roads needed more repair – it was important to treat roads in time before problems worsened – the sum from TfL would not generally remedy the deterioration across all of Bromley’s Principal Roads and the position in 2014/15 would require a significantly larger sum to bring the network up to standard.

Responding to comments made, Members were advised that objective processes were used to determine maintenance priorities and schemes were reviewed each year. On school travel plans, a report would be presented in January 2012; there had been a reduction in funding for this activity and it was explained that TfL favoured the “hands up” survey as the best and cheapest way of taking measurement.

On any parking measures for the Green Street Green area, funds would depend on the outcome of the design process; funds were available but if they were not spent they could be moved to other Member priorities. Residents’ views would be taken into account in developing parking schemes in the Green Street Green area and Beckenham Town Centre.

Concerning congestion relief along the A224 Orpington by-pass northern section, Leesons Hill was a junction being looked at with the Nugent Shopping Centre and other locations along the Cray Valley and proposals would be brought back at a later date.

RESOLVED that the recommendations to the Portfolio Holder be supported namely that:

(1)  the programme of formula funded schemes for 2012/13 contained at Appendix 1 of Report ES11106 be approved for submission to Transport for London;

(2)  the bid for Bridges and Structures contained in Appendix 2A of Report ES11106 be approved for submission to Transport for London;

(3)  the programme for Principal Road Maintenance contained at Appendix 2B of Report ES11106 be approved; and

(4)  in the interests of efficient use of resources, the Director of Environmental Services, in consultation with the Portfolio Holder, be authorised to make post-submission changes to the programme to reflect necessary changes to priority, potential delays to implementation following detailed design and consultation, or other unforeseen events.