Agenda item

RESOLVED:

1.    That Cabinet notes the efforts that have gone into extending the engagement with communities and partners over the new Surrey Transport Plan including analysis and feedback received from the statutory public consultation and subsequent additional targeted engagement.?

2. That Cabinet notes how delivering the Surrey Transport Plan associated policies, strategies and measures will support the Climate Change Delivery Plan.?
3. That Cabinet notes the capital investment required to deliver the plan as set out in the 2022/23 budget and beyond in line with the Medium-Term Financial Plan.?
4. That Cabinet recommends the approval of the Surrey Transport Plan, to County Council on 12 July 2022 including launch of new related Surrey website pages on the 13 July 2022. ?
5. That Cabinet recommends to Council that authority be delegated to the Executive Director, for Environment, Transport & Infrastructure, in discussion with the Cabinet Member for Transport & Infrastructure for any final changes that may be necessary to allow publication of the plan on 13 July 2022 and any key changes thereafter to comply with new government policy.
6. That Cabinet thanks the Members of the Greener Futures Reference Group for their work in developing the Plan thus far.?

Reasons for Decisions:

The recommendations will enable the new Surrey Transport Plan (LTP4) to be adopted thereby enabling new policies and measures to develop and deliver safe, cleaner, greener ways of travelling and accessing services and opportunities in the future. This will help to deliver significant reduction in carbon emissions from the transport sector to deliver net zero carbon by 2050, as set out in the Climate Change Strategy agreed by Cabinet in May 2020, and the Climate Change Delivery Programme agreed by Cabinet in October 2021.

The Plan provides a step change in how transport services and its infrastructure are planned, delivered, maintained, and used. This will need the Council, partner organisations, businesses, and all of Surrey’s residents to work together to make changes in when, where, and how they choose to travel, including the adoption of digital opportunities.

The plan sets out a framework to develop these new policies, strategies, and measures to establish and embed active and sustainable travel behaviours and promote the uptake of technology such as electric and hydrogen powered vehicles, to meet the challenge of achieving the county’s target of net zero carbon by 2050. The plan also supports the importance of ensuring that our transport policies and networks enable a prosperous economy and healthier, better, connected communities, ensuring that no one is left behind.

(The decisions on this item can be called-in by the Communities, Environment and Highways Select Committee)

The Cabinet Member for Transport, Infrastructure and Economy introduced the report explaining that the purpose of the item was to inform Cabinet on the outcomes of the statutory public consultation process and subsequent additional engagement to support the new Surrey Transport Plan, to be referred to as the fourth Local Transport Plan (LTP4). Cabinet was being asked to adopt and publish the plan as well as retain the Member Reference Group to steer further development and refine policies that will help deliver the plan itself. The final decision on LTP4 would be made by Council later on in the year. The Transport Plan sets out the Council’s transformational and ambitious roadmap to deliver the required carbon reduction targets set out in the Climate Change Delivery Plan, for the transport sector, whilst supporting the county’s communities and economy to thrive and ensure no one is left behind.

Jonathan Essex spoke on the item stating that it was positive to see that there was now over 80% support evidenced for the proposed approach set out and asked what the current level of investment is for extending the frequency and the reliability for the number of buses across Surrey. The Cabinet Member for Transport, Infrastructure and Economy stated that £49m had been invested into low emission buses of electric and hydrogen and as part of this, a third of the most polluting buses off the network would be removed. At a previous Cabinet the purchase of 32 new hydrogen buses which would run in the east of the county had been agreed. £9 million had been set aside in delivering pinch point relief and in Mole Valley the Surrey Connect service, which is electric minibuses which work in an Uber style had been launched to reduce car journeys.

Catherine Baart spoke on the positivity of the plan but argued that the plan could not be fully implemented without central government changing policy which would therefore require government lobbying. She queried what the council would be doing to include members and recruit residents to the lobbying campaign. The Cabinet Member for Transport, Infrastructure and Economy explained that one of the risks identified had been any planning policies that were introduced by the government, which were not consistent with net zero targets and that did not make it cheaper for low carbon transport focus units. This had not been proposed but was identified as a potential risk. If this was proposed by the government, the council would need to have a strong lobbying campaign to counter this.

The Leader added that it was important for the council to invest in other forms of public transport and agreed that the Mole Valley pilot was an excellent solution. £10m of subsidies had already been put into the bus service and work with operators needed to be undertaken to find ways in which routes could be made more commercial and then the subsidy used more effectively.

RESOLVED:

1.    That Cabinet notes the efforts that have gone into extending the engagement with communities and partners over the new Surrey Transport Plan including analysis and feedback received from the statutory public consultation and subsequent additional targeted engagement.?

2. That Cabinet notes how delivering the Surrey Transport Plan associated policies, strategies and measures will support the Climate Change Delivery Plan.?
3. That Cabinet notes the capital investment required to deliver the plan as set out in the 2022/23 budget and beyond in line with the Medium-Term Financial Plan.?
4. That Cabinet recommends the approval of the Surrey Transport Plan, to County Council on 12 July 2022 including launch of new related Surrey website pages on the 13 July 2022. ?
5. That Cabinet recommends to Council that authority be delegated to the Executive Director, for Environment, Transport & Infrastructure, in discussion with the Cabinet Member for Transport & Infrastructure for any final changes that may be necessary to allow publication of the plan on 13 July 2022 and any key changes thereafter to comply with new government policy.
6. That Cabinet thanks the Members of the Greener Futures Reference Group for their work in developing the Plan thus far.?

Reasons for Decisions:

The recommendations will enable the new Surrey Transport Plan (LTP4) to be adopted thereby enabling new policies and measures to develop and deliver safe, cleaner, greener ways of travelling and accessing services and opportunities in the future. This will help to deliver significant reduction in carbon emissions from the transport sector to deliver net zero carbon by 2050, as set out in the Climate Change Strategy agreed by Cabinet in May 2020, and the Climate Change Delivery Programme agreed by Cabinet in October 2021.

The Plan provides a step change in how transport services and its infrastructure are planned, delivered, maintained, and used. This will need the Council, partner organisations, businesses, and all of Surrey’s residents to work together to make changes in when, where, and how they choose to travel, including the adoption of digital opportunities.

The plan sets out a framework to develop these new policies, strategies, and measures to establish and embed active and sustainable travel behaviours and promote the uptake of technology such as electric and hydrogen powered vehicles, to meet the challenge of achieving the county’s target of net zero carbon by 2050. The plan also supports the importance of ensuring that our transport policies and networks enable a prosperous economy and healthier, better, connected communities, ensuring that no one is left behind.

(The decisions on this item can be called-in by the Communities, Environment and Highways Select Committee)