Agenda item

This report for the South East Dorset (SED) City Region Transforming Cities Fund (TCF) has been developed to update members on progress and communicate the actions that are currently in progress to ensure that the Council is ready to deliver the programme if it is successful with its bid for funding.

The Head of Transportation presented a report, a copy of which had been circulated to each Member and a copy of which appears as Appendix 'A' to these Minutes in the Minute Book.

Officers responded to comments and requests for clarification, details included:

• The Council had done everything to ensure that the bid for this funding was within the parameters set by the Department for Transport.
• It was uncertain whether the project would be threatened by the government’s pledge to support the north of England.
• The bid that BCP Council had submitted was one of twelve for a share of £1.22bn, originally this process had only been open to 10 city regions for a sum of £1.1bn, with our South East Dorset City Region and Preston added at a later date.
• The sum of money bid for was lower than original aspirations, in the early stages of bidding, the Government was clear that the Council would have the opportunity to bid for more of the funding. This advice had from government had changed, possibly due to oversubscription, hence the reduced sum being bid for at this later stage.
• There was an Officer capacity issue to address, as at present, the proposed schemes would be a challenge to deliver over a course of three years and even partnership organisations had raised concerns. There was a need for the Council to remain a credible delivery partner throughout.
• The Aim of this project was to enhance and deliver a host of sustainable transport options across the conurbation and beyond in partnership with Dorset Council.
• It was only possible to include packages of work within the project that could be delivered within three years, this meant that park and ride schemes would not be looked at through TCF, but would be explored as part the strategic car parking review being undertaken. The output from this would include the determination of the conurbation’s needs for park and ride solutions and whether it would be financially viable to operate and maintain.
• The park and ride site in Creekmoor had recently been resurfaced for use as a potential contingency site for post Brexit planning in the event that lorries needed to be stored, so could not be utilised at this point in time.
• Cabinet had engaged with the Department for Transport and had spent a day discussion options and concerns. Additionally, the Leader of the Council had written to DfT to best make the case for the bid.
• Separately to the TCF Project, Officers would be recommending a refresh to the Local Transport Plan in view of recent changes.
• Due to the multi-centred nature of the conurbation, there was a great need to evaluate the options that were open to it.

In summing up, the Chairman expressed his thanks to Officers for the report and all of the work that had gone into the bid, and that he had found the discussion to be incredibly useful and highlighted that this item would return to the Transportation Advisory Group at a later date.