Swindon Climate Action Network - Swindon's transport vision - meeting with Peter Greenhalgh 15th October 2008

On 15th October 2008, around 40 people crowded into the Friends Meeting House for Swindon Climate Action Network's monthly meeting. This month's speaker was cllr Peter Greenhalgh (Con, Freshbrook and Grange Park), SBC's lead member for highways, transport and strategic planning, answering questions about Swindon's transport vision, accompanied by a slideshow of photos taken on a recent fact-finding visit to the Netherlands. Leader of the council Rod Bluh (Con, Dorcan) was also there, albeit off-camera, and he fielded some of the questions.

Watch the video of the meeting, read the abstract of the video, and read the write-up of the meeting.

Abstract of video

Part 1. Introduction, Peter talks about sustainable transport initiatives in Holland and the proposed Eastern Development on the edge of Swindon.

Part 2. Peter talks about his passion for trams, and is questioned about the cost of trams vs other initiatives and is challenged on the signposting, mapping and safety of Swindon's cycle routes. He also talks about the use of shared space in residential areas and the way in which this changes people's driving behaviour. Marc makes a point about the proposed increase in use of bus lanes by taxis and its impact on the sheltered cycling experience in bus lanes.

Part 3. The meeting is well and truly open to the floor by now. Council consultations, the use of space in Berlin, shared taxis in Arab countries and the lack of alternatives to the private car being sold by Swindon Borough Council. 20 mile per hour zones and the difficulty in enforcing them. Peter speaks again about shared space and pedestrian priority in residential areas as an alternative. Whether these plans will be implemented in Whichelstowe. A question about children being thrown off their bikes when getting the wheels stuck in tram lines. Removing the white lines from the centre of the road in a village in Wiltshire. Car share schemes.

Part 4. The superiority of Britain's public transport over that in New Zealand. Departing from the paradigm of part-built housing estates which public transport won't serve because the roads aren't surfaced, the pavements aren't surfaced because JCBs are crossing them all the time and the only way the residents can get around is by 4x4. Effectively linking the areas where people are to the places they want to go. The way in which journey analysis seems only to look at motorised journeys, not foot or cycle journeys. Sticks as well as carrots for encouraging the shift away from private cars.

Part 5. Free bus passes and their impact on local authority finances. Rod Bluh on the dangers of pricing businesses out of the town, and why central government isn't funding the initiative. Does the scheme actually increase the costs to the bus operators? Is the increased wear and tear on buses offset by reduced wear and tear on roads? Communal recycling boxes. Wichelstowe as a testing ground for measures to be rolled out in the Eastern Development Area.

Part 6. Peter's cycling habits. Walking bus to schools and eliminating the school run. The bureaucracy involved in making any changes to highways.

Part 7. Intelligent Traffic Management Systems. School buses, or children going to their local school. Problems caused by people driving to Westlea school. One car per family?

Part 8. Widening Swindon's transport plan to include surrounding towns and villages.

Part 9. Double-decker trains. Travelling 60 miles for £7. The madness of the fragmented and privately-owned train operators. The total cost of car ownership. What SBC are doing as the owner of a bus company to move to a low-carbon economy, and why they can't run the buses on biodiesel. Recruitment to transport planning posts.

Part 10. Capacity within the council to make the changes that are needed to cope with climate change and peak oil. How does the health sector fit into the council's transport plans. Joined-up thinking.

Part 11. Where can the public see the council's transport vision? ( http://www.swindon.gov.uk/roadstransport/transportvision.htm ) Council tax and whether the council should be making the case for increases to council tax if it can reduce people's personal expenditure.

Part 12. Precedents for changes in public attitudes - drink driving, seat belts and motorbike helmets. A cycle lane on the Swindon to Highworth road. The sustrans grant for improving transport and why none of it is being spent in Swindon. Intelligent Transport Management Systems and whether it is a car-orientated system.

Part 13. Intelligent Traffic Management Systems continued. Bus time information displays. Consumption vs carbon emissions and presentation of the issues to the public. Has the impact of the planned canal on the transport strategy been considered.

Write-up

SCAN was very pleased to welcome at its October meeting Councillor Peter Greenhalgh, (Freshbrook & Grange Park, Conservative) Swindon Borough Council Cabinet Member for Highways, Transport & Strategic Planning. In this role he is effectively in charge of transport policy in Swindon and in that capacity he has recently been on a fact-finding visit to the Netherlands. At the meeting, he shared some of his thoughts about the Dutch transport system and his ideas for future transport policy in Swindon. For some of the discussion he was supported by Cllr Rod Bluh, leader of SBC who also came to the meeting alongside about 45 other interested people.

Last year, Swindon Borough Council published a vision for transport in Swindon, called 'Vision for Transport: 2030'. They then commissioned a public consultation by Halcrow who organised a series of focus groups to assess the plans. Their report revealed a lot of concern that the Vision would not give the sustainable transport needed to address climate change and congestion, as well as other issues such as obesity and public health. It was felt that the Council's Vision had too much focus on road building, car travel and parking at the expense of public transport and alternatives to the private car.

Cllr.Greenhalgh stated that he considered the 'Vision for Transport: 2030' was not bold enough in that with the eastern development area (EDA) very much on the Government's agenda for the expansion of Swindon to the east of the A419, he would very much like to see a 'green corridor' linking that area to the town centre with a dedicated tram line providing a high-quality public transport link. He recognised this would be very expensive, but that was his dream. He cited Dutch experience where major town developments were much more centrally planned by the authorities which created housing densities sufficiently high to justify the expense of trams. He doubted that this approach could be adopted in this country.

The other Dutch practice that Cllr.Greenhalgh particularly liked was that of 'shared space' in residential areas where the distinction between vehicle space and pedestrian space is blurred by the removal of road markings and kerbs. This would slow traffic and encourage pedestrians & cyclists as they would have priority over cars. He was very keen on promoting 'motorist education' to increase road safety by reducing and slowing traffic in residential areas. Priority arterial routes would then be indentified for the major traffic flows.

To maximise the traffic flow and reduce congestion, Cllr.Greenhalgh was keen on promoting an 'Intelligent Traffic Mangement System', costed at £26M that would link together traffic signals to improve traffic flow and hence reduce pollution by keeping traffic moving. This system could be linked to bus timetables to give more reliable journeys and could be set to give different timings to different vehicle types such as cyclist priority at junctions.

However, perhaps surprisingly for a director of local bus company Thamesdown Transport, Cllr.Greenhalgh was scathing about the role that buses can play in providing an alternative to the car. He dismissed any comparison with London where bus use has increased rapidly following the introduction of the congestion charge. He said that buses were not seen as an attractive option for motorists. In fact he considers taxis and private hire cars to be an essential part of the public transport mix and as such he is intending to widened the use of Swindon's bus lanes, which currently are open to cyclists and motor cyclists, to taxis and private hire cars. Furthermore, he would like to see 'high occupancy vehicle lanes' to encourage drivers to car share.

Cllr.Greenhalgh went on to say that red tape hinders the implementation of many simple mesures. The cost of displaying statutory notices in the local paper meant that it was prohibitively expensive to undertake simple changes to road markings, for example. For other measures he said that there is a lack of personal responsibility by many people who are not sufficiently concerned about the impact of their own actions. He stated the difficulties of educating people about the health benefits of walking to school rather than the perception of 'safety' of driving a short distances, but he saw 'education' as a priority to change attitudes and promote alternative transport modes.

Cllr. Bluh added that it was difficult to match transport requirements to the broader economy. Swindon depends upon its businesses, but increasing their costs would drive them away. The Council cannot, therefore, initiate expensive schemes that would force up the costs of business. Under-funding by the Government of the free bus scheme for the over-60s is equivalent to a 1.5% increase in council tax - where every survey ever undertaken has shown that people demand minimal tax rises. He thought that the new approach of working in partnerships with other bodies in the Local Area Agreement would help in a joint approach to tackle the wider social issues such as obesity and the changing population demographics.

Perhaps surprisingly, both councillors were distancing themselves from national Conservative Party policy on sustainable transport on the basis that it wasn't appropriate to the needs of Swindon. They also criticised the rail privatisation that was carried out by John Major's Conservative Government.

A wide-range of questions were asked by the audience broadly seeking simple alternatives to car journeys. The cycle paths within the town were praised, but the lack of adequate signs and a comprehensive map of the network was criticised. It was also pointed out that there are no cycle routes to the outlying towns and villages and the lack of a safe route to Highworth, in particular, was highlighted. He was also challenged on the impact that extending the use of bus lanes would have on both cyclist safety and bus journey times. Journeys to schools were discussed and the lack of volunteers has hampered the setting up of a 'walking bus' scheme in at least one school. When asked, he said the use of bio-diesel in the bus fleet was prevented by the warranty restrictions on the engines. Cllr.Greenhalgh was challenged on his personal cycle use, which it transpired was basically only for family recreation as he said it was impractical for him to cycle to work from west Swindon to Nationwide and to the many council meetings he has to attend.