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 35Capabilities on project:Transportation3.5 ImplementationThe implementation section <strong>of</strong> the LTP3 sets out how it will bedelivered. Participants were asked if they had £100 to spend,how they would spend this across seven key service areas. As58 people attended the groups a total <strong>of</strong> £5800 was availableto ‘spend’ across the six groups. How this money wasallocated to each <strong>of</strong> the seven service areas is shown below;the amount <strong>of</strong> money allocated to each area is given inbrackets (one respondent under spent by £10). A full list <strong>of</strong>how the different groups scored can be found in Appendix C.- Works to Highways & Streets (£1383)- Management & Maintenance (£1128)- Public transport & public transport information (£876)- Walking & Cycling (£845.50)- Safety (£646)- Planning Integration (£514.50)- Influencing Travel Behaviour (£393)Below the areas are ranked in order <strong>of</strong> spend; the percentage<strong>of</strong> the total spend is given in brackets- Works to Highways & Streets (24%)- Management & Maintenance (20%)- Public transport & public transport information (15%)- Walking & Cycling (15%)- Safety (11%)- Planning Integration (9%)- Influencing Travel Behaviour (7%)Common issues for allocating funds to Works to Highways andStreets and Management and Maintenance were pot holes andfootpath resurfacing. Some groups had mixed feelings aboutplanting as some felt money would be better spent on workswhere as others felt that trees brightened areas up.Public transport was seen by some as being dirty andexpensive and not going where people wish to travel withouthaving to make changes. Bus travel was seen by some astime consuming and difficult at night and for shift workers. Itwas perceived that improvements to public transport servicescould act as a carrot to entice people out <strong>of</strong> their cars aspeople will not change modes unless there is a viablealternative. Improvements in information provision and RealTime Information were seen as beneficial.There was a desire for council Planning Departments to havemore control over local developments ensuring that developersare made to do more for the local area as a requirement <strong>of</strong>planning permission being given. There is a perception thatdevelopers have a lot <strong>of</strong> control and that more considerationneeds to be given to sustainable modes when newdevelopments are planned being less car orientated. It wassuggested in a number <strong>of</strong> groups that the council work withother bodies to deliver the policies. It was suggested thatschools could increase awareness <strong>of</strong> sustainable modes andlocal businesses could survey their staff to determine travelpatterns/requirements.How each group spent their funds is described in the followingsections.3.5.1 Young PeopleThe top three areas in terms <strong>of</strong> spend amongst the youngpeople group were as follows; the percentage <strong>of</strong> the totalyoung people group spend is shown in brackets:- Management & Maintenance (37%)- Works to Highways & Streets (31%)- Safety (11%)Participants within the young people group felt thatmanagement and maintenance, in particular the repairing <strong>of</strong>pot holes and resurfacing <strong>of</strong> pavements, was important.“There’s potholes absolutely everywhere.”“Clayton is just full <strong>of</strong> them and they’ll come and do onestreet and if there's one on the road that joins that streetthey’ll leave that and they won’t do it until it’s the turn todo that road.”“They need resurfacing as well, a lot <strong>of</strong> footpaths.”“I think the pavements should all be tarmaced orappropriately slabbed, because there’s hazardseverywhere.”Public transport was also felt to be another key area by thegroup, scoring fourth for importance receiving 10 percent <strong>of</strong> thefunding. Currently, buses are seen to be dirty and expensive.“You sit down on a seat, you get a mouthful <strong>of</strong> dust andyou can’t see out the window.”“It’s mainly about prices, because if you want to go toClayton from Hanley, I guess you have to get twobuses, don’t you?”The group felt that the bus routes were inconvenient andmeant that they could not access certain places.