Finance Committee
FIN(3)-FRI-005
Inquiry into Funding Road Infrastructure – Written evidence from TAITH
Dear Ms Burns
Thank you for your letter of 4th September 2009 inviting Taith to provide evidence to the committee in connection with its current inquiry into Funding Road Infrastructure.
Taith is pleased to be able to give evidence to the committee and its response to the two suggested questions is appended below;
Taith is one of the four Regional Transport Consortia in Wales. Taith evolved from the transport sub group of the North Wales Economic Forum in 2001 and became a legally constituted joint committee in 2004. It has six constituent local authority members (Anglesey, Gwynedd*, Conwy, Denbighshire, Flintshire and Wrexham). There are 12 members (two from each local authority) with a Chair (Wrexham) and a vice Chair (Flintshire) who serve for a two year term. The Board typically meets four times a year to transact the business of the consortium.
(*Gwynedd is in two consortia. The Merionnydd District is in TraCC. To ensure close co-ordination between the consortia, the two Executive Officers have observer rights on each others Boards.)
(i) Decision making process with regards to funding and how decisions are made and impact (particularly financial) that changes have on stakeholders.
With respect to the first question that is posed, the National Transport Plan (NTP) which was issued for consultation on July 15th 2009, has been the first formal opportunity that the Regional Transport Consortia have had to comment on the Trunk Road Forward Programme (TRFP) and for the first time the much welcomed Rail Forward Programme. It is hoped that there will be in the final version of the National Transport Plan, there will be an Integrated Transport Forward Programme, including proposals for the Traws Cambria Network and the National aspects of the Wales Freight Strategy (WFS) for both road, sea and rail freight. It is hoped that, like the Regional Transport Plans (RTP), the National Transport Plan will be a flexible forward plan capable of annual adaptation responding to changes in social, environmental and economic considerations with regular updates to the National Assembly for Wales.
There are direct financial consequences to Local Authorities / Consortia with regards to decisions to funding decisions made by the Welsh Assembly Government in connection with the National Transport Plan. It is for Government to decide what proportion of the total transport allocation goes to the National Transport Plan programmes and to the Regional Transport Plan programmes. There is therefore an opportunity to improve the efficiency of spend between the two programmes.
It is interesting to note that the Wales Spatial Planning process provides a route whereby both NTP / RTP aspects have been incorporated into the area delivery statements and frameworks to ensure consistency with the Wales Transport Strategy (WTS).
Currently the Welsh Assembly Government is considering how the financial arrangements for the Regional Transport Planning process will operate and the transistion arrangements which will apply for the road ‘legacy schemes’. It is hoped that a conclusion of this will be reached in good time to enable effective preparation of any necessary changes ahead of the start date of the RTP’s from April 1st 2010.
(ii) Views on the way in which we think the views of stakeholders are taken into account and co-ordinated and whether we feel this is working in practice.
WAG officers do attend a number of Taith meetings, including the Taith Programme Group and Taith Public Transport Infrastructure Group. The Taith Executive Officer has a regular dialogue and meeting programme with the Welsh Assembly Government, North Wales Regional Transport Planner and with the two North Wales Spatial Plan Area Managers.
Taith does not input into the WAG Trunk Road forward programme other than via the WelTAG process through a number of stakeholder workshops. These have included the A55 Menai Crossing, the A494 Caernarfon –Bontnewydd and with the development of the Route Management Strategy process including the A55, A470, A483 and A494.
Within the Wales Transport Strategy and the Wales Spatial Plan, partnership in the development and delivery of the RTP / NTP within this context is crucial to make the most of scarce financial and human resources. Wales is not a large country and in policy development and project delivery we can play to our strengths if this is organised correctly with the right people in the right positions and a development programme for effective succession planning of key personnel.
In developing a relationship for policy development and programme delivery, trust and competence in delivery of each other’s programme is a critical aspect.
The Aston Hill – A494 scheme as mentioned by Dave Faulkner from Flintshire CC, in his evidence to the committee on the 21st May 2009 is a critical piece of infrastructure for North Wales, in connecting the Republic of Ireland to the English Motorway network and as a land bridge route to the East Coast ports. As part of the current WAG work which is being undertaken into options for this section of route, Taith provided lorry movement data which was obtained as part of its research into the freight elements of the Taith Regional Rail Strategy.
Further examples of interaction with WAG have arisen from the Taith Rail Strategy. This led to constructive meetings with officials in connection with the Freight and Passenger Service / Access to Stations aspects of the study which were to inform and influence the National Transport Plan process. Other areas of development are hoped to include the Traws Cambria network where co-ordination with the consortia and local authorities will be critical in providing a seamless experience for the passenger. The same effect should apply to the trunk road / county road interface and between tendered and commercial bus services.
The recent submission of the Regional Transport Plans by the four Transport Consortia and the publication of the final National Transport Plan by the end of the year provide the opportunity for a strengthened relationship in the delivery of transport policy and programme within Wales and to jointly influence connections to / from Wales. Principal examples of this would include the provision of high speed rail and the roll out of further electrification across the UK network, not least to include the electrification of the North Wales Main line (TEN-T priority axis) from Crewe to Holyhead (Ministerial Advisory Group (MAG) Report Recommendation 5.10), and the Wrexham – Bidston (Borderlands Line). The appointment of the Regional Transport Planners by the Welsh Assembly Government and a willingness to involve the consortia in various transport issues have improved joint transport planning arrangements.
Conclusion
Taith believes that the forthcoming formal introduction of the Regional Transport Plans / National Transport Plans from April 2010 and the back drop of increased financial constraints and the challenges of climate change not only make this an opportunity but a requirement to forge a learning partnership in the delivery of the economic, social and environmental objectives of the Wales Transport Strategy.
It is hoped that the current review into the consortia which is being conducted by the Welsh Assembly Government will accelerate the delivery of this process. As noted Wales is not a large country and between WAG / Consortia / Local Authorities the opportunity for the improvement of delivery of transport should not be missed.
Time has been a constraint in the preparation of this evidence as it coincided with the final stages in the preparation of the submission of the Regional Transport Plan to the Welsh Assembly Government. If you require further written information, and / or require us to appear before the committee in person we would be more than happy to do so.
Yours sincerely,
Michael EJ Whittaker
Taith Executive Officer
Cc: Councillor Ron Davies, Chair of Taith
