Home > Local Transport Plans > Provisional LTP July 2005 (version for comments) > Setting Transport in its Wider Context

Regional Guidance

The Regional Guidance and Strategies most relevant to our LTP2 are:

(a) The Regional Spatial Strategy for the West Midlands
(b) The West Midlands Economic Strategy and Action Plan 2004 – 2010
(c) The West Midlands Regional Housing Strategy

These are described below:

(a) The Regional Spatial Strategy

The Regional Spatial Strategy (RSS) was issued as Regional Planning Guidance (RPG11) in June 2004. Our LTP2 takes full account, recognising the central role of the West Midlands Metropolitan Area in terms of both employment and meeting housing demand. It seeks to reverse the trend of decentralisation of population and investment from the Major Urban Areas (MUAs).

The vision for the region is set out in Chapter 2. It recognises that a step change in both policy and delivery is required. Paragraph 3.5 states that:

‘Compared with historical trends this will require a significant redistribution of new development, investment, and action particularly to support the development of the RegionÂ’s transport networks, to bring forward appropriate development opportunities, and improve the quality of the environment within the MUAs.’

The RSS contains the Regional Transport Strategy (RTS), which in turn reflects Government guidance and the plans of the Strategic Rail Authority and Highways Agency. The RTS provides a spatial framework which has helped us prepare this LTP2.

The RTS for the West Midlands recognises that:

the availability of car parking has a major influence on the means of transport people choose for their journey and their ultimate destination’.

Local planning authority (LPA) parking standards are a key tool in promoting sustainable development and reducing car dependency, but the RTS recognises the difficulty of balancing the competition between urban centres in terms of parking restraint. It proposes that LPAs follow PPG3 and PPG 13 guidance about levels of parking provision 2

The RTS also sets out a ‘Priorities for Investment’ table of regionally significant schemes. The table contains many of the measures proposed in this LTP2 and in 2003, including:

(b) The Regional Economic Strategy

The West Midlands Economic Strategy and Action Plan 2004 – 2010 (RES) ‘Delivering Advantage‘, published in 2004, retains the core vision and objectives of the 1999 edition. The strategyÂ’s vision is that by 2010

‘The West Midlands is recognised as a world class region in which to invest, work, learn visit and live and the most successful in creating wealth to benefit all of its people.’

The RES identifies 13 challenges that must be overcome. Five have been given highest priority because they bear the greatest influence on realising the vision. The Transport Challenge is one of the high priority challenges and is identified because:

‘Despite a pivotal position in the national network providing significant location advantages, inadequacies in the region’s transport infrastructure have a major negative impact on the regional economy, and adversely affect the choices people make about where to live and work’

Traffic congestion is a fact of daily life in all major urban areas, with conditions throughout the day increasingly reflecting those of peak hours, a situation exacerbated by inadequate public transport. Congestion in the west Midlands motorway box (M6 / M42 and M5) is now a national issue with extensive delays increasingly commonplace’

Accessibility to, and within, rural parts of the region, especially to the west, is poor;

Birmingham New Street station is constrained by line and platform capacity and there are capacity constraints on the West Coast Main Line, particularly the two-track line between Coventry, Birmingham and Wolverhampton; and

Our challenge is, through close and energetic partnership, to find innovative solutions, and create a safe, sustainable, world-class transport system which supports our regional economy.’

The RES directs its resources to Regeneration Zones (RZs) and High Technology Corridors (HTCs). RZs encompass concentrations of need and include the 10% most deprived wards in the region, as well as most of the bottom 20%. The key aim is to increase economic activity and employment levels within these wards, and strengthen links between areas of need and areas of opportunity. There are four RZs within the Metropolitan Area:

Three HTCs have been identified for the establishment of high value-added businesses linked to research institutions. These are located in areas formerly dependent on the motor industry and are predominantly within the Metropolitan Area. The HTCs are:

The general location of the RZs and HTCs is shown in Figure 3 ‘Regeneration Zones and Technology Corridors’

Evidence

The scale of investment anticipated in Regeneration Zones is substantial. For example, Advantage West Midlands (AWM) aims to reclaim 600 hectares of land and create 19,000 jobs, which will have implications for the movement of people and goods.

The RES is clear that funding from partners is vital to ensure the success of the regeneration strategy, which seeks to reduce discrepancies between residents of RZs and the regional average. It says:

‘This target will be achieved only if public sector resources available in the relevant areas are amalgamated to deliver Zone strategies.’

Our LTP2 supports the RES by focusing the Major Schemes programme primarily on the RZs and HTCs, in order to reduce congestion and/or improve accessibility. Area-wide Schemes, such as Urban Traffic Control (UTC) and Red Routes, also support the RES by making better use of road space, reducing congestion, improving the reliability of journey times and thereby helping business and economic regeneration.

(c) Regional Housing Strategy

The over-arching aim of the emerging West Midlands Regional Housing Strategy (RHS), in terms of Urban Renaissance, is:

‘To develop a pattern of housing investment that meets the needs and aspirations of the people of the West Midlands and, in conjunction with both the Spatial Strategy for the Region (as set out within Regional Planning Guidance) and the Regional Economic Strategy develops patterns of housing provision which will support the economic development of the region, protect and enhance the environment, stem patterns of out-migration from the older urban centres of the region and contribute to urban and rural renaissance.’

RHS objectives support Urban Renaissance and set out to address:

Our LTP2 supports the RHS by ensuring that transport investment is focused on accessibility, travel safety and quality of life in less well-off areas. It also supports opportunities for brownfield redevelopment and more sustainable ways of living and working.

The LTP2 also aligns with the Government’s plan ‘Sustainable Communities – building for the future’ and the complementary West Midlands regional plan. These plans set out lasting solutions to reverse decline and to regenerate deprived areas.

Our LTP2 supports the aims of the Pathfinder initiative, particularly through the accessibility and safety aspects of Integrated Transport block schemes. The Birmingham – Sandwell Housing Pathfinder, one of only two such initiatives in the region, has resources to make this low-demand housing area more attractive.

Influencing Regional Strategies

In the West Midlands we have an up to date RSS and RES and see one of the LTPÂ’s key roles as underpinning their implementation. The West Midlands Regional Assembly is currently subjecting the RSS to a number of focused partial revisions and this lends the opportunity for them to be informed by our LTP2. For example:

  1. See Regional Spatial Strategy Policy T7, published as RPG11, Government Office for the West Midlands, June 2004.