LTP 2006 Appendices

Introduction

Social Exclusion has been described by the Social Exclusion Unit as:

'…what can happen when people or areas suffer from a combination of linked problems such as unemployment, poor skills, poor housing, high crime environments, bad health and family breakdown'.

One main response to combating social exclusion has been the notion of Accessibility Planning, which was conceived by the Social Exclusion Unit report 'Making the Connections'.  The report set out the relationship between transport, accessibility and social exclusion and presented a cross-Government strategy for improving access to jobs and key services.  The West Midlands approach to Accessibility Planning is detailed in the Accessibility Strategy, an annex to the main LTP document.

Present Situation

Most social exclusion occurs in deprived areas.  In the 2000 national 'Index of Multiple Deprivation' (IMD) the West Midlands has ten wards in the top 200 most deprived wards in the country:

Source: Adapted from IMD, Year 2000, ODPM

The metropolitan area is therefore relatively deprived when compared with most of the rest of the country.  Household car ownership is a particularly relevant indicator when discussing deprivation and transport.  Over 33% of local households (2001 figures) have no access to a car.  Public transport is the main mode of transport for around 40% of local people.

There are approximately 300,000 disabled people in the West Midlands, of which it is estimated that 150,000 rely on public transport provision, be it conventional services or accessible door-to-door transport.  More details of transport issues specific to disabled people are to be found in ‘Disability Issues’.

Current Policies

At a national level the Social Exclusion Unit has carried out a study examining the links between transport and social exclusion, which is reported in Making The Connections.  The final report contains a detailed analysis of the problems of people trying to reach work, education, health services, fresh food and leisure services and the associated social costs.  It also puts forward an approach to combating these problems – accessibility planning.

The DfT, together with other government departments, have issued guidance on accessibility planning.  Accessibility Planning is about ensuring that policy development and service delivery can be improved to better meet the needs of the local community by being more evidence-led and addressed through improved partnership working.

Areas of social exclusion and deprivation often also require physical regeneration.  Regional Planning Guidance for the West Midlands encourages local authorities, Advantage West Midlands (AWM) and local economic partnerships to work together towards Urban Renaissance through the delivery of regeneration and renewal programmes.  These include:

• AWM Regeneration Zones
• Objective 2 European Social Fund
• Local Strategic Partnerships
• New Deal for Community Areas
• Sure Start Programmes
• Connexions
• Health Action Zones

A great part of the work currently being developed by these initiatives is primarily orientated at tackling the underlying causes of poverty and social exclusion in the most deprived areas in the West Midlands.  In delivering the Social Inclusion Strategy, we will continue to work in partnership with all agencies involved in the above programmes.

Consultation

LTP consultation in 2003 involved Metropolitan Area wide and district consultation, plus consultation with specialist groups, often with household questionnaire leaflets (see Consultation Appendix for details).

One of the main objectives of the Social Inclusion Strategy is to ensure that wider consultation takes place with the local communities, to better understand and identify the transport needs of disadvantaged groups and individuals.

Through the Social Inclusion revenue fund available for the facilitation of projects aiming at tackling social exclusion, Centro has enabled the following consultation programmes (further information on these can be sent to you if required):

• The 'Inclusion through Consultation project'
• 'Transport for All project' in Solihull

Other major consultation projects which have contributed to a better understanding of the travel barriers of those excluded from accessing key services includes research to identify the level and extent of unmet Accessible Transport need in Wolverhampton, commissioned by Wolverhampton CC and which highlighted the following key issues:

• Low access by certain ethnic groups, particularly Pakistanis and Bangladeshis, due to issues of language, literacy and culture and the fact that the existing public transport system presently makes relatively few concessions to these differences within the population
• Low access by people with disabilities.  This is due to a wide range of factors, which broadly fall into three categories:
  • Shortcomings in the promotion of information and awareness of the system
  • Shortcomings in the transport infrastructure (not enough kneeling buses, not enough raised kerbs etc)
  • Operational shortcomings where the infrastructure exists but it does not appear to be being deployed as effectively as it might be (ie, uncertainty about whether or when a kneeling bus will arrive, buses cannot pull in at the kerb because of parked cars, drivers not using wheelchair ramps, jerky or jolting ride etc are all deterrents to using buses)
• A range of miscellaneous issues -  these include safety around city centre bus stops at night, parents with toddlers struggling with buses, and general concerns about reliability and frequency of bus services

On an ongoing basis, and as proof of its long-term commitment in addressing social inclusion issues, Centro, with support from local transport authorities and other agencies, is continuing to develop the work of the Social Inclusion Steering Group.  Through this group effective links are being established with Local Strategic Partnerships, Sure Start Programmes, Primary Care Trusts, Health Action Zones, New Deal for Communities areas, and Regeneration Zones etc.

In July 2004, in response to the 'Making The Connections' report, Centro established two forums on ‘Transport and Access to Health’ and ‘Transport and Access to Employment / Training’.  These have developed into networking events and partnerships that seek to develop / integrate policies, and implement management or practical project solutions to improve access for identified groups to health, employment and training requirements.

Reference is drawn from key policy documents such as the Health Development Agency’s report ‘Improving Patients Access to Health Services - A National Review’, the Department of Health’s report, ‘Tackling Health Inequalities - A programme for Action’, and the latest SEU report on ‘Jobs and Enterprise in Deprived Areas’.

The partnerships aim to share Best Practice in terms of consultation and Policy Integration, e.g. on the LTP Accessibility Planning consultation process or in commenting on the policies of external health organisations.  By building on best practice, partnerships are actively seeking project(s) to improve access opportunities.  These could be potentially match funded from Centro’s ‘Social Inclusion’ revenue budget.

The partnerships are also actively engaged in the accessibility planning process, including development work on local accessibility indicators, raising the awareness of accessibility planning within partnership organisations and involvement in local pilot studies.

In order to ensure better understanding of the travel needs of people from ethnic community and minority groups Centro has created an Ethnic Community Liaison Officer post.  Outreach and promotional activity are important measures to overcome existing language and communication barriers and raise awareness of public transport services and concessions.  It is recognised that added value can be brought to consultations when working with already established local community networks.  Examples of consultations already taken using this approach can be seen in the work carried out in partnership with East Birmingham / North Solihull Regeneration Zone (AWM), and the Local Education Authority (Pupil Referral Units) and Greets Green New Deal for Communities, both in Sandwell.

The WorkWise initiative provides unemployed people at Sparkhill, Chelmsley Wood and Walsall Job Centres with personalised journey information and free public transport tickets to attend interviews, plus two months of free travel passes if starting work.  Since the launch of the scheme in May 2003 the WorkWise officers have helped over 1500 people gain access to interviews and a thousand unemployed people to begin employment.  Client satisfaction with the service is very high and over 80% of users say they would not have been able to attend their interview or take up an employment offer without assistance from WorkWise.  The kind of barriers faced are shown below:

Transport research through a Community Links project, involving a partnership of Centro, Sandwell Health Action Zone, West Midlands Special Needs Transport Ltd, Sandwell MBC and Greets Green New Deal for Communities has revealed that the key to social exclusion is not having access to a car.  Elderly white people were the most excluded and ethnic minorities had more reliance on somebody who owned a car.  A follow-on survey showed that there is a shortage of accessible taxis in Sandwell.  As a result a wheelchair accessible taxi service with fully accessible vehicles is being developed to assist people with mobility difficulties to reach employment, training and higher education opportunities.  A car-sharing database is being developed in all the Metropolitan authorities that will assist, particularly with regular journeys.

The role of Community Transport in delivering a social inclusion agenda for the Metropolitan Area is recognised.  A Community Transport strategy, as part of the Bus Strategy, has been developed that will equip the sector with the required capacity to provide further improved services. 

Strategy

By developing the Social Inclusion Strategy, we will be contributing to a holistic approach to combating social exclusion and multiple deprivation.  In order to address social inclusion, we will be aiming to remove those barriers making it difficult or impossible for people to participate fully in society.  These include:

• Access to work, learning, health care, food shops and other key destinations particularly for those experiencing or at risk of experiencing social exclusion, including people with disabilities
• Crime and fear of crime when getting to, using or leaving transport facilities
• The cost barriers to access
• Communication or language barriers

The following actions are proposed for 2005-2010:

• To continue supporting the work of Centro’s Social Inclusion Steering Group and of the partnerships developed from it.  This will involve the development of an action plan with effective monitoring processes in place
• To continue supporting the facilitation of projects aiming at addressing social exclusion through the identification and allocation of funding resources such as Centro’s Social Inclusion Revenue Fund
• To continue supporting the sustainability of the WorkWise project in the West Midlands
• To recognise and support the role of the voluntary sector, and in particular of Community Transport, in tackling social exclusion by enabling the necessary supporting mechanisms through the LTP and the West Midlands Bus Strategy
• To ensure that accessibility and accessible transport issues are embedded in the review and delivery of the LTP as well as in other non-transport related delivery programmes and policies
• To ensure transport policies and future development and delivery programmes comply with and address equality and diversity issues
• To develop a Social Inclusion Newsletter that will inform transport authorities and other partners, including commercial operators, of any projects, policies, funding sources or reports related to social inclusion
• To develop an understanding of the social issues affecting the targeted areas by engaging with local partnerships and their established focus groups.  Particular attention will be given to those needs already identified in existing local policies such as Community Strategies, Neighbourhood Renewal Programmes, Regeneration Zone Implementation Plans and New Deal for Communities delivery plans

Close working with the West Midlands Regional Assembly will aid progress on these actions, particularly through the Regional Social Inclusion Officers Group.

The bus strategy is a key contributor in improving social inclusion.  A continuing programme of investment in infrastructure, particularly in services supporting local networks, together with traffic management / bus priority schemes, Red Routes and provision of Ring and Ride and other non-conventional transport initiatives will be implemented.

In order to address affordability issues, the strategy will commit to support ongoing revenue measures allowing cost barriers to be removed for public transport use.  This includes free New Deal For Unemployed travel, concessions for disabled people, scholars and children.  Free travel for people aged 60 and over, and for disabled people was introduced across the Metropolitan Area from 24 July 2005.

Social exclusion is hard to monitor because people who are most severely excluded are often overlooked in social research exercises because of difficulties with language or literacy, or because of their perception that participation will not help to overcome exclusion.  Efforts to overcome these barriers include:

• Focus groups with targeted groups (black and minority ethnic, women, disabled people, older people) have been undertaken to supplement wider market research for transport policy developments such as WMAMMS and the 20-Year Public Transport Strategy
• Focus groups have been convened to assess the take up of Ring and Ride services by minority ethnic groups, for example in Greets Green in Sandwell, six specialist interviewers who had the necessary language skills conducted one-to-one interviews with people in black and minority ethnic groups

Projects and Programmes

In terms of accessibility planning the West Midlands authorities are working to help close the 'accessibility gaps' identified in the Strategic Accessibility Analysis (see Accessibility Strategy statement in the main LTP document) and also to continue developing solutions to locally identified problems.  Work will also continue to establish relationships with outside partners with a view to broadening involvement in accessibility planning for the benefit of all, but especially the most disadvantaged groups in society.

Ongoing projects developed through Centro’s Social Inclusion Team include WorkWise (see above).  Projects developed through the Urban Bus Challenge Fund, and being delivered by Community Transport schemes, include:

• Safer Children and Women’s Transport Scheme - Community Transport in Dudley runs the Safer Children and Women’s Transport Scheme to help overcome safety concerns in using conventional public transport in Dudley.  Partners include Centro, Community Transport, Dudley MBC Social Services, and the National Children’s Home
• Community Transport Prison Visiting Service - Began for people living in the West Midlands visiting relatives detained in Ashwell and Stoken prisons in Leicestershire, and now extended to other prisons across the region.  The Prison Service has helped to provide training for drivers operating the service
• Transport for Educational Inclusion in Sandwell - An accessible transport service to the Pupil Referral Units in Sandwell for people whose needs are not met by conventional taxis and buses.  It also includes transport to hospitals and medical centres where required.  The scheme helps improve pupil attendance by addressing concerns about safety and fear of harassment, especially for pupils with mobility problems, behavioural difficulties and babies.
• Citywide Project in Wolverhampton

All these projects emphasize the importance of consulting with local communities using a bottom-up approach.  In addition the Swiftlink project, provided by Coventry Community Transport, has Local Strategic Partnership support.