Plans for a big expansion in park and ride in York have been scaled back, together with other initiatives, due to the leading transport authority’s loss of funding.
Changes in the city council’s local transport plan 2 have been forced by the new formula for allocating integrated transport capital. York was among the worst-affected authorities, with a £6.5M reduction on its guideline figure for next year. Its share of the Government’s reward fund for a ‘very promising’ provisional LTP2 failed to offset the loss of cash to metropolitan areas.
As a result, plans for a new park and ride site and increased services to boost passenger numbers by more than 80% have been put on hold. The revised target, reported to the executive this week, has been cut 20%. Planned improvements for cyclists and pedestrians also had to be curtailed, ~Bill Woolley~ director of city strategy reported. The draft LTP2 targets of 5% growth in trips by foot and bike have been reduced to 3%. Meanwhile, the aim of reducing traffic growth in peak periods has been revised from 9% to 7%.
Last month, the council also resolved to shelve improvements at one of three junctions on the outer ring road. This work still accounts for £3.9M of the planned £17.8M integrated transport spend to 2011 – the second-largest share after public transport’s £4.4M. York’s policies had been endorsed by the Government, a spokesperson said. ‘We are very disappointed that this does not translate into the £26M we had originally hoped for.’ The new park and ride site on the outer ring road will form part of a future major scheme bid.
Other unitaries such as Reading were also hard hit by the new formula, which aimed to redistribute funding to areas of greatest transport need (Surveyor, 28 July). The Department for Transport used population figures as a proxy for congestion, and public transport useage for the need for investment in transport. Final LTP2s have to be submitted by the end of the month.
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