Agenda item

Purpose of the Report: Policy Development

To inform and involve Members in the development of the Surrey Transport Plan, in particular in relation to reducing air pollution and carbon emissions from transport and facilitating sustainable transport options. To also provide the Select Committee with an overview of the Draft Surrey County Council Electric Vehicle Strategy as well as a summary of the consultation to date to enable members to provide their feedback and help to shape the final version of the document.

Declarations of interests:

None

Witnesses:

Bronwen Chinien, Principal Environment and Sustainability Officer

Paul Fishwick, Local Transport Programmes Manager

Key points raised during the discussion:

1. The Low Emissions Transport Strategy (LETS)report was introduced by the Principal Environment and Sustainability Officer and the Electric Vehicle Strategy (EV) was introduced by the Local Transport Programmes Manager.

Cllr Heath briefly left the meeting at 11.08am

2. The Chairman queried what work had been undertaken to encourage sustainable travel behaviour. The Principal Environment and Sustainability Officer explained funding had been received between 2012-16 from the Local Sustainable Transport Fund to support sustainable travel work. Since then, funding has been secured for a programme for schools to provide a range of travel planning measures which will be rolled out by the end of 2018.
3. In response to concern from the Chairman about health and safety of electric charge points in domestic properties, the Local Transport Programmes Manager confirmed that rapid charge points could not be installed in homes and only trickle (slow) charging points could be installed in the home. Furthermore, in the context of the previous item’s subject of countryside sites, it was advised that in secluded locations the cost for installing rapid charge points could cost considerably more than £25k and would be subject to other suitability criteria.
4. The Local Transport Programmes Manager gave details of a number of schemes that were taking place, this included £56m which had been allocated for major schemes including sustainable travel improvements.
5. Officers agreed to support the inclusion of an additional performance indicator within the LETS, measuring travel behaviour as indicated within the public consultation summary and explained that this data was already available.
6. Members generally supported both strategies and agreed both were clear in aims and objectives.
7. A Member of the Committee was concerned that the LETS had not explicitly mentioned air travel and the implications of the expansion at London Heathrow on emissions in Surrey. The Member added that he was not confident the strategy could deliver against the scale of the issues at hand. Officers stated that as a partner within the Heathrow Strategic Planning Group, the council is seeking sufficient mitigation of the impacts of growth. Heathrow Airport Ltd are responsible for designing the scheme and proposing mitigation measures to ensure air quality is not adversely impacted by the expansion. Regarding delivery of the LETS, although there was no explicit action plan attached to the strategy, local transport strategies at the borough level will be a key element of delivering the aims of the strategy.
8. In regards to planning issues, it was confirmed that the transport development planning team based at the county advised districts and boroughs on transport implications for new developments with larger developments requiring an air quality assessment.  
9. It was explained that home working was encouraged at the Council and promoted through travel plans with businesses. Officers explained that there was a rail strategy in place which lobbied electrifying on particular networks. Unfortunately, the cost of rail travel is regulated by government which meant the County could lobby for reduced fares but that this was ultimately a government decision in conjunction with train operators.
10. It was confirmed that under the Environment Act (1995), district and boroughs have to send information regarding AQMAs (Air Quality Management Areas) to DEFRA who then sign this information off.
11. In regards to the impact of future development on the strategy, the officer explained that the projected volume of development is proposed through the development of local plans. Transport modelling was then undertaken on areas where there may be problems. This information is then set out into the Local Transport strategies and required funding is sought.
12. A Member of the Committee queried why there was not any information in the EV strategy regarding electric bikes and if there were any future plans for using street lights as EV charging points.  With regards to using lamp columns as charging points, it was stated that in Surrey lamp columns had generally been moved to the back of the footway which meant potential health and safety issues with trailing cables across the footway. There was also a potential issue with unwanted charging outside people’s homes. This technique was currently being trialled by Oxford, Portsmouth and the London borough of Hounslow and would be reviewed carefully. Officers stated that they were happy to consider the inclusion of electric bikes in the EV strategy.      
13. A Member of the Committee felt that the public consultation responses to the EV strategy was low. It was argued that more needed to be done to improve engagement.
14. The Chairman queried what action was undertaken to ensure people moved EV’s after they had been sufficiently charged. The Local Transport Programmes Manager explained that in instances with rapid charging points, drivers are able to book their vehicles for charging, although this is also balanced with flexibility of access. On the highway, limited waiting at charging points could been introduced with CPOs (Civil Parking Officers) to enforce this.

The Committee recommended:

1. For the inclusion of a specific indicator in the low emissions transport strategy which measures travel behaviour.
2. For both air quality and carbon emissions data and indicators within the Low Emissions Transport Strategy to be developed and reported back to the Committee in the next 12 month as part of ongoing performance monitoring.
3. The Cabinet Member for Environment and Transport to lobby the DfT for funding (where appropriate) to support the objectives of the Electric Vehicle Strategy and Low Emissions Transport Strategy. 
4. The Low Emissions Transport Strategy and Electric Vehicle Strategy to be shared with partners including the County Council’s approved transport providers after Cabinet approval.
5. For SCC fleet vehicles to be reviewed and replaced with low emission vehicles, electric vehicles and charging infrastructure as appropriate.