The ISSUE Conference 11 th February 2014 The Local Authority View Challenges facing transport planners Ian Drummond Leicestershire County Council

The challenges Money Having a true sense of purpose Making the best of existing networks Growth and demand Planning and government structures The public Skills

Money The perennial war cry but the subject cannot be avoided Not enough of it Ever more complex means to allocate available funds Increasing imbalance between capital and revenue - Travel planning maximising the value of capital investment Short-termist allocation process by Government Land values and developer contributions - Need to be realistic about what can be paid for - How is the shortfall made up?

A sense of purpose Understanding the purpose of your networks Generates investment priorities Transport underpinning the economy Direction of economic and development growth Transport considerations informing and enabling choices Do transport considerations lead or follow? Remember the full diversity of transport issues - Trucks!

Making the best of existing networks Can we get more out of the network? Understanding traffic flow dynamics True adaptability of control systems Introduce controls to benefit other parts of the network - A Whole System approach How do we improve driver efficiency? Drivers don’t understand the need to be alert - Can we educate them? - Can technology help?

Growth and demand Every development has needs as well as impact Inherently the economy is built on a premise of growth Land is scarce; well-connected land is even more scarce Risk and the availability of finance Demand includes all the background demand - Economic recovery

Managing demand Need also to manage, or suppress, demand Proven techniques of mode transfer, personalised travel planning etc. Limits to how far people can be persuaded by selling “benefits” - Price elasticity Coercive means needed as complement but politically toxic - Costly to implement and run

Planning The system for strategic land-use allocation is fragmented and inefficient Doesn’t reflect travel-to-work area or functional economic geography Insufficiently agile to adjust to changing forecasts Prone to opportunistic attack - Planning by appeal Incapable of dealing with major investment - Strategic Rail Freight Interchange

The public All debate and provision takes place in the public arena Inherently defensive mind-set Little constructive strategic engagement - All interventions liable to be seen as imposed Articulate special interest groups Beware the democratic deficit - How to create a real debate - The role of the media

Skills Demands on staff will become increasingly tough Need to develop skills and competence in quantity - Professional development schemes - Work with teaching institutions Be prepared to invest and think long term but Plan NOW

The ISSUE Conference 11 th February 2014 The Local Authority View Challenges facing transport planners Ian Drummond Leicestershire County Council