Annual progress report 2001

New Government publications

The first Annual progress report on our Local Transport Plan, produced in August 2001, outlines the effects that new Government publications would have on our plans.

• Regional Planning Guidance for the South East (RPG9), covering the period up to 2016, was published in March 2001. It concentrates on development in urban areas and urban regeneration; protecting the countryside and promoting rural diversity; and encouraging development designed to meet the criterion of sustainability.
• The East Sussex coastal strip is designated a priority area for economic regeneration. We have developed a coastal renaissance strategy with nine thematic groups to ensure an integrated strategy.
• There are housing implications, so we will modify the adopted Structure Plan for a further 12,000 homes to be built by 2016.
• Planning Policy Guidance Note 13 (PPG 13) is particularly relevant to the county parking strategy.

Other developments

• Roads- SEERA supported the A259 Bexhill and Hastings bypasses, but the Secretary of State refused them on environmental grounds.
• Road safety for children – the best-value review of the Traffic and Safety Group in the department led to a refocusing of work on road safety for children with more on-road training.

Some other events were also outside the control of the Council.

• Flooding led to urgent repair work and stopped the normal bridge maintenance programme. Resources had to be diverted to inspecting for flood damage.
• Foot and mouth disease resulted in access restrictions that also delayed planned work, so repair programmes were revised.
• The fuel crisis of September 2000 suppressed and redistributed road travel statistics, so our data became less representative.
• The Countryside Agency proposals of March 2001 for a South Downs National Park included the town of Lewes. A public consultation was arranged for the autumn. We set out to work with the Countryside Agency to establish the best means of discharging planning functions and to arrange links between the new National Park Authority and other organisations concerned.
• A French company acquired Newhaven Port and Properties Ltd. However, we still hoped to achieve the first phase of the Newhaven port access road.
• Overall growth predictions were reduced because of errors detected in the RTRA model used to predict traffic growth.
• We needed to review the bus strategy as the Transport Act included new powers and a new duty to determine what local bus information should be made available to the public and in what way.
• We would continue to make representations to the Strategic Rail Authority about the improvements sought to rail travel in the area.
• We had two options for updating the 1994 cycling strategy: to split the county into local networks with their own strategies or to set an overall county strategy to establish local and regional networks.
• A quiet roads pilot project was launched with the Countryside Agency to improve access to the countryside for walkers, horse riders, cyclists and people with mobility problems. We have five nominated areas – south of Burgess Hill, east of Uckfield, south of Mayfield and two in the Waldron area.

Achievements

• A cycling forum was convened to assist in preparing the cycling strategy.
• Road safety and the journey to school – the best-value review showed that the focus on reducing road casualties was in line with national targets and that we needed more road safety education, including in schools. A school travel plan co-ordinator was appointed to develop a strategy to reduce car usage and improve child safety on the journey to school. This includes a target for schools to generate their own school travel plans.
• The design of the controlled parking zone for Lewes began and an exhibition of the proposals was arranged for the autumn.
• The public transport interchange strategy was being developed.
• We participated in national travel information line PTI 2000, investigating real-time information on buses in partnership with Brighton & Hove City Council and Brighton & Hove Bus and Coach Company.
• We were working with the South East of England Regional Assembly (SEERA) to help develop the Regional Transport Strategy.
• We appointed a travel plan officer for staff. We had joint plans with Lewes District Council and a survey was undertaken. Lewes Streets Ahead festival gave the opportunity to promote public transport and intelligent use of the car.
• Social inclusion – the Transport & Environment action plan would complement the corporate policy 'Equality in Service Delivery' to ensure that equality of opportunity issues were taken into account in the development of departmental policies. The key issue was the implementation of sustainable, integrated and socially inclusive transport policies. The Best Value Performance Plan also identified targets to improve provision of accessible passenger transport services in the county.
• Local Agenda 21 placed sustainability at the heart of all key policy and decision-making activities.