City of Stoke-on-Trent Local Transport Plan 3 Focus Groups

AECOM <strong>City</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Stoke</strong>-on-Trent Local Transport Plan 3 23Capabilities on project:Transportation3.4 Prioritising PoliciesParticipants were shown 17 cards, one for each policycontained in the LTP3. Participants were then asked to work asa team to sort them into sets, organising them into whateverway seemed appropriate. The groups were then asked to givea name to each set they had identified and rank the policies inorder within the sets. The groups were then asked to rank thesets in order <strong>of</strong> importance. Participants were asked whichgroups were important and which were not as well as whetherthere were any policies that were missing but that they feltshould be included. Finally, the groups were asked which <strong>of</strong>the polices should be developed in the next 5 years and whichshould be developed within the next 15 years.With the exception <strong>of</strong> the Young People group who prioritisedall 17 policies within one group, each group parcelled thepolicies into between three and five groups. All had a health,environment/green group and a business or economy group.Generally speaking respondents wished all bar theenvironmental policies to be implemented in the short term.The following policies were deemed important in most groups:- Increase labour pool and increase the area in which thepopulation can realistically work.- Encourage the use <strong>of</strong> sustainable modes <strong>of</strong> transport(buses, walking, cycling etc)- Tackle the high numbers <strong>of</strong> people in ill health and/orclaiming incapacity benefit.- Continue to reduce the risks <strong>of</strong> death or serious injuriesassociated with transportRespondents felt that people need attractive alternatives to thecar in order to switch modes and although some felt that workhad begun in this area, there is more to do. Several groupsmentioned the bus station at Hanley as being unattractive anddangerous and cycle routes were felt to be incomplete andused by other road users. All groups mentioned access tohealth care as problematic as local centres are being replacedwith out <strong>of</strong> town sites which are difficult to get to, parking isexpensive and/or difficult to find. The reducing obesity in thelocal population policy received mixed views as some felt thatthis should be up to the individual rather than the state.The following sections provide more detail on the responsesfrom each group.3.4.1 Young PeopleParticipants in the young people group prioritised all <strong>of</strong> thepolicies within one group. Health related policies were felt to be<strong>of</strong> the greatest importance followed by economic policies.Environmental policies were felt to be <strong>of</strong> least importanceamongst young people. Young people did not considerenvironmental policies to be important and felt that this shouldbe something that is tackled at a national rather than locallevel.“Well, it doesn’t matter what you do, you’re still going tohave people driving, aren’t you?”“Well, there’s nothing you can do about it, is there?Global warming.”Participants in the young people group felt that there should bea policy to address parking issues within <strong>Stoke</strong>-on-Trent. Itwas thought that although there is enough parking in the city, itis too expensive. This was felt to be especially problematic atdoctor’s surgeries and at the hospital.“Promote more parking spaces…outside my doctors, Igot a parking ticket there last week.”“My doctor’s is paying as well.”“They shouldn’t really, it’s bad.”“The hospital’s terrible as well, the main one.”“Yes, you have to pay, like you break a leg and youhave to go and pay.”“Places where there are spaces, it’s expensive, like carpark, it’s like £6-7 for 24 hours or something.”Participants also felt that policies needed to address the roadlayout / traffic flow in <strong>Stoke</strong>-on-Trent and pointed to the trafficlights at <strong>Stoke</strong> Bridge.“It was better with the roundabout, because I mean youmove five yards and the lights have gone red again.You know you’ve got the first set <strong>of</strong> lights as you comedown the bank, well, if them ones go to green, you haveto floor it to get through the other ones and you justmake it but otherwise you’re stuck there, you’re stuckthere for another ten minutes, but then everybody goesthrough, backs it up, people coming <strong>of</strong>f the A500,seriously it’s not working.”Young people felt that it was important to address the conflictbetween cars and bicycles that was seen to lead to accidents.