Agenda item

1.               That the revised list of Surrey County Council Major Schemes be endorsed and that this change to the Major Schemes programme in the Local Transport Plan be referred to the Council, as set out in Annexes 1 and 2.

2.               That the choice of Major Schemes to be progressed in any given year to be taken by the Strategic Director Environment and Infrastructure in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Transport and Environment.

3.               That the “New Homes Bonus” funding be used to provide for that proportion of the preparatory work relating to the schemes, which is not recoverable from capital funding. The estimated cost of this for the 2012-15 period is c. £1.2m.

4.               That the Cabinet be provided with a high-level update on the Major Schemes programme every 2 years, except where significant developments require immediate referral.

5.               That support continues to be given to Highways Agency (HA) and National Rail (NR) schemes in Surrey detailed in their programmes, set out in Annex 3 of the submitted report.

6.         Delegated authority be given to the Strategic Director for Environment and Infrastructure in consultation with the Leader and Cabinet Member for Transport and Environment to approve changes to the list of schemes where these are individually valued at less than £5 million.

Reason for Decisions

The programme has been designed primarily to support economic growth and regeneration in Surrey, in partnership with district and borough councils. However, schemes will also be consistent, where applicable with other objectives in the Surrey Local Transport Plan.

[The decisions on this item can be called in by the Environment and Transport Select Committee]

The Cabinet Member for Transport and Environment said that, building on the council's success in attracting c. £20m of funding through the Local Sustainable Transport Fund, this report set out proposals for developing up to 16 schemes for bidding.

The Government had released a number of new funding and financing sources to facilitate the development of major transport infrastructure, in particular those supporting the economy. This included the Growing Places funding provided to Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) and most recently, financing expected to become available through the Local Transport Bodies (LTBs) yet to be set up. This is expected to amount to £7 – 10m per annum for Surrey, based on a per capita share.

The report sought endorsement: (a) for the preparatory work required to enable Surrey County Council to bid for all new funding sources to deliver major transport infrastructure, and (b) for the list of Major Schemes.

The paper summarised the various schemes being proposed as the new Major Schemes programme.  This included some new schemes that have been proposed by district and borough councils, to tackle key areas of congestion on our transport network, including several town centres. It also re-prioritised the previous list of proposed schemes to be in line with the Government's proposed funding regime and to more accurately meet current and anticipated needs.

He said that a programme of major schemes had last been approved by the Executive in 2007. He also informed Members that the proposed schemes, set out in Annex 1, were not in priority order and that the first tranche of schemes ready for delivery in 2015 – 2019 would be submitted to the Local Transport Bodies by 31 March 2013.

Mr Munro, local Member for Farnham South was invited to speak. He welcomed the report and in particular, the inclusion of the Wrecclesham Relief Road and the A31 Hickley’s corner junction, both near his division. He considered that it was crucial that both schemes remained in the programme, however the development of Farnham town centre could result in the order of the schemes being reversed.

After Mr Munro urged local Members to get more involved in this area, the Leader of the Council requested that officers involved local Members in the consultation process – Think Councillor, Think Resident.

Cabinet Members made the following additional points:

·         Congestion (road, rail and aviation) was a key issue in Surrey

·         The importance of having a series of schemes that could quickly be developed when funding became available.

·         The inclusion of the A23/M23 Hooley scheme was welcomed.

·         That the local committee’s task groups were the forums for prioritising and agreeing the schemes.

Finally, the recommendations in the report were amended, and it was:

RESOLVED TO RECOMMEND:

1.            That the revised list of Surrey County Council Major Schemes be endorsed and these changes to the Major Schemes programme in the Local Transport Plan be referred to the Council, as set out in Annexes 1 and 2.

2.            That the choice of Major Schemes to be progressed in any given year to be taken by the Strategic Director Environment and Infrastructure in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Transport and Environment.

3.            That the “New Homes Bonus” funding be used to provide for that proportion of the preparatory work relating to the schemes, which is not recoverable from capital funding. The estimated cost of this for the 2012-15 period is c. £1.2m.

4.            That the Cabinet be provided with a high-level update on the Major Schemes programme every 2 years, except where significant developments require immediate referral.

5.            That support continues to be given to Highways Agency (HA) and National Rail (NR) schemes in Surrey detailed in their programmes and set out in Annex 3 of the submitted report.

6.         Delegated authority be given to the Strategic Director for Environment and Infrastructure in consultation with the Leader and Cabinet Member for Transport and Environment to approve changes to the list of schemes where these are individually valued at less than £5 million.

Reasons for decisions

The programme has been designed primarily to support economic growth and regeneration in Surrey, in partnership with district and borough councils. However, schemes will also be consistent, where applicable with other objectives in the Surrey Local Transport Plan.