A set of questions and answers about the consultation process, Draft Transport Strategy, Investment & Delivery Programme and Integrated Sustainability Appraisal.
Click 'Answer' to show the response.
Questions and answers about Transport East, the Draft Transport Strategy and Investment & Delivery Programme
Transport East is the sub-national transport body for Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, Southend-on-Sea and Thurrock.
We are one of seven sub-national transport bodies covering England. Sub-national transport bodies were established by Government to help identify regional transport priorities.
Transport East was set up in 2018 and is overseen by a political Forum comprised of Transport portfolio holders from our five member authorities and district representatives.
We bring together councils, business leaders and the Government to identify the investment needed in transport in the region to support sustainable economic growth and improve people’s quality of life.
Our role is to develop and deliver a collective vision for the future of transport in the East, and work with other bodies to deliver cross-boundary schemes.
Our day-to-day funding is covered by annual contributions from all the local authorities in the region - county, unitary and district councils.
From 2020 we have also received financial contribution from the Department of Transport to deliver our annual work programme. This includes the funding to develop the draft Transport Strategy, Investment and Delivery Programme and supporting documents. Our work programme is set out annually in our Business Plan.
A regional transport strategy is needed to help guide transport investment in the East over the next 30 years. The strategy will set priorities for better transport for everybody living, working, and learning in the region up to 2050. It will also help ensure that strategic transport projects are prioritised based on their ability to help meet national and regional objectives.
It does not replace the local transport plans developed by local transport authorities to guide local investment.
How have you made sure that the Transport Strategy will benefit all areas and communities in the region?
No specific measures have been put in place; however, we have tried to ensure that all areas benefit by carefully identifying a set of strategic priorities that are reflective of the challenges faced by different communities within the region. These include growing towns and cities, and coastal and rural areas.
The Transport East forum and officer working groups are also made up of representatives from Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, Southend-on-Sea, Thurrock and other key partners, who have helped to shape and steer the direction of the transport strategy and will continue to play an active role in decisions moving forwards.
How did you identify the four strategic priorities?
The four strategic priorities emerged from early discussions with our member authorities. These were then tested and refined through the analysis of local, regional and national strategies and through our wider engagement programme undertaken to develop the Transport Strategy and Investment and Delivery Programme.
The six core corridors were identified using evidence within the Transport East Regional Evidence Base report 2019. They are the corridors that move the most people and goods, and link the most economically active places with the region with each other and onwards to the rest of the UK. The alignment of the corridors was refined through discussions with our members and other partner organisations.
How will you measure the effectiveness of the Transport Strategy?
A full monitoring and evaluation plan will be developed once we have reviewed the Transport Strategy and Investment and Delivery Programme projects following the feedback gathered through this consultation.
Planning and delivering strategic transport infrastructure like road and rail improvements takes time because they are complicated, expensive and are built for future needs. So, strategies dealing with changes to the transport system need to be long-term. This timeframe also aligns with Government targets for reaching net zero carbon and is similar to the approach other sub-national transport bodies have taken.
How will you make sure the strategy remains up to date?
We will regularly update the Investment and Delivery Programme (IDP) to reflect the delivery of projects and the evolving transport challenges the region faces. We will review the Transport Strategy periodically to ensure it continues to reflect local, regional and national ambitions and addresses the core challenges and opportunities of the region. The most up to date version of the Transport Strategy and IDP will always be available on our website.
How will you ensure that the strategy is delivered?
Further work is underway to develop the individual projects and programmes that will be key to implementing the Strategy. Our framework for assessing new initiatives is summarised in our Investment and Delivery Programme (IDP), which sets out the investment necessary for the delivery of the Strategy. The Transport Strategy will also drive our own programme of work which is set out annually in our Business Plan.
Progress in delivering the Strategy will be monitored and reported regularly. The IDP and Strategy will be updated and published periodically to remain relevant to the evolving transport challenges the region faces.
The Investment and Delivery Programme is an evolving programme of schemes and initiatives to deliver the Transport Strategy. It will set out our investment priorities to Government.
To establish our initial pipeline of projects, a long list of potential schemes was collated through research and engagement. These were categorised by how developed they were, into Idea, Development and Delivery pools. We then assessed these against our Strategy priorities with a consistent approach to identify our regional priorities. This framework will be used to prioritise new projects and schemes that are identified by both our work programme and those of our members.
Our Investment and Delivery Programme also outlines how we will assess our performance.
Why is a regional Investment and Delivery Programme needed when local authorities have their own priorities?
A regional Investment and Delivery Programme is needed to provide a single voice for the region about transport, make a joined-up case for investment in networks that cross the region, guide Government decision making and help drive forward regionally significant projects more quickly.
Projects will be scored based on their expected impact (both beneficial and adverse) on the strategic priorities, critical success factors and sustainability criteria; breaking each area of assessment down into more detailed components.
The overall purpose of the Assessment Framework is to prioritise projects in a consistent and transparent way, using a methodology in line with Government guidance and recognisable to key agencies such as the DfT, National Highways, and Network Rail. The process provides clarity to Government regarding the region’s priorities and assurance that those priorities have been identified in a robust manner.
We have purposely not ranked projects but have a wide range of projects to allow us to identify priorities for the main different national funding pots. Not all projects will score highly against all criteria, but it is important to have a balanced set of projects that jointly achieve our strategic priorities.
Schemes that are not prioritised by Transport East could still be delivered if funding can be found locally. Alternatively, schemes could be amended and then re-assessed.
Given the focus on decarbonisation, why are there a lot of road schemes included in the Investment and Delivery Programme?
While decarbonisation is a central part of our strategy, there are still existing challenges that need to be resolved on our road networks and there will continue to be a need for people and goods to move around the region by road. The East has more international gateways than any other region and half of the UK’s freight containers are moved through the region.
As we move into delivering the Transport Strategy, we would expect to see more schemes in the next version of the IDP that emphasise passenger transport, active travel and decarbonisation to create a more balanced portfolio.
Is the Investment and Delivery Programme fixed or will it be updated?
We will regularly refresh the Investment and Delivery Programme to reflect the delivery of projects and the evolving transport challenges the region faces. The most up to date version of the IDP will always be available on our website.
Will anything be put in place to ensure that schemes are fairly spread across the region?
No specific measures will be in place; however, we have tried to ensure that all areas benefit by carefully identifying a set of strategic priorities that are reflective of the challenges faced by different communities within the region. These include growing towns and cities, and coastal and rural areas.
The Transport East forum and officer working groups are also made up of representatives from Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, Southend-on-Sea, Thurrock and other key partners, who have helped to shape and steer the direction of the transport strategy and will continue to play an active role in decisions moving forwards. This will include seeking to ensure that every part of the region receives transport investment over the course of the strategy.
How long does a major transport project typically take to deliver?
Major transport projects are typically complex technically, involve multiple partners and often require land from multiple landowners. Therefore, taking a project from conception to construction, could typically take 7-10 years. This includes design, consultation, planning, land purchase, legal orders and construction.
We do not have an overall figure for the investment required to delivery the projects identified in the IDP. This is because many of the projects we have identified are at the idea stage and have not gone through a process to refine or assess likely costs. Due to the complex nature of transport projects, it can be difficult to give a likely cost of delivering or constructing a specific project until the proposal is well-developed.
Questions and answers about the Integrated Sustainability Appraisal, consultation process and local schemes
An Integrated Sustainability Appraisal helps to make sure sustainable development principles underpin the strategy, to protect the environment and improve people’s health and equality.
How have you selected the chosen methodology for the ISA?
The process follows the requirements for Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) and is an objectives-led assessment. This considers the performance of the Transport Strategy proposals and Investment and Delivery Programme against ISA objectives. These and the overall approach were consulted on through a scoping consultation stage undertaken earlier this year in June/July 2021.
How will you monitor and evaluate the Transport Strategy and Investment and Delivery Programme in relation to the Integrated Sustainability Appraisal?
We have developed a draft ISA Monitoring Plan, which will help measure progress against key objectives and targets to inform future reviews of the Transport Strategy and Investment and Delivery Programme and identify any additional mitigation measures required. This will form part of our overall monitoring and evaluation plan.
What will be the output of the Integrated Sustainability Appraisal?
In addition to the ISA report provided for consultation alongside the draft Transport Strategy and Investment and Delivery Programme, following consultation and any revisions required, an ISA statement will be produced.
Consultation
How can I find out more about the Transport Strategy now the consultation has closed?
The consultation on our draft Transport Strategy and draft Investment and Delivery Programme closed on 30 Jan 2022. All the consultation documents, including a consultation brochure and easy read public consultation brochure, can be found in the consultation document library.
Why did you not consult earlier when the Transport Strategy was first being developed?
Our draft Transport Strategy has been developed following extensive engagement with hundreds of partners from across the region who have helped us understand the different challenges faced and how we should address them. This has included business representatives, local councils and transport groups.
We also ran a public survey between December 2020 and January 2021 to give us further insights into people’s travel choices, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on journeys and people’s priorities for transport up to 2050. To understand the priorities of young people, we also ran a creative competition for schools in summer 2021.
By consulting at this stage, we can provide a good level of information that allows people to make a more informed view about the strategy when responding to the consultation.
Now the consultation has closed we will analyse your responses and use them to help us improve the draft Transport Strategy and Investment and Delivery Programme. Once we have made any changes, we aim to get formal endorsement from councils across the region in Spring 2022.
The final strategy will then be published on our website and submitted to the Government in late Spring 2022.
One the final Transport Strategy is agreed, it will be used to help the Government, local councils and our other partners to plan transport improvements in the area up to 2050.
Under the GDPR we have a legal duty to protect any information we collect from you. The information we collect as part of this public consultation will only be used for the purposes of this project and will not be kept longer than is necessary to do so, up to a maximum of five years. We share this information with Jacobs who are contracted by us to deliver the consultation, but we will not share your personal details with any other agency unless we have concerns that you or another individual may be at risk of harm or if it is required by law. We do not collect personal information for commercial purposes.
