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 40Capabilities on project:Transportation“If they’ve got the management <strong>of</strong> it and themaintenance <strong>of</strong> it and the planning <strong>of</strong> it all right,everything else would come hand in hand, so it wouldbecome safer for cyclists to cycle without a cycle pathand people would walk better without having to worryabout the congestion around the city.”One <strong>of</strong> the most important aspects <strong>of</strong> the LTP3 was thought tobe planning integration. It was felt that when planning newdevelopments, consideration had to be given to all modes <strong>of</strong>transport and not just car users. The new Tesco developmentwas seen to be difficult to access via walking, cycling or publictransport. It was felt to be the developer’s responsibility to fundthis.“Well, I’ve put planning integration for the most amount<strong>of</strong> money and mainly because they’re changingeverything here, like you say with Tesco’s andwhatever, they don’t seem to force them into doingloads <strong>of</strong> stuff to improve the transport. I mean like I say,they’ve got a nice road going up Tesco’s and that’s it,but they should force them into saying, right, if you’regoing to build a Tesco’s here and make lots <strong>of</strong> money in<strong>Stoke</strong> [-on-Trent], then you have to do some other stuff,whereas it’s got nothing to do with you.”“Well, the classic thing with the Tesco is that Tescoactually paid for that junction, the road down as far asEtruria Road and then the roads were continued onthrough this terrible word, the Foukes Oil Company andthen joined up at Bale Place to become a complete ringroad but because the company who owned the landwent bankrupt, they haven’t put it in, now I think that’sbad planning by the city council, they may well have justsaid well, we’ll fund that and get it in, because at somepoint it’s got to come, you know and another falseeconomy.”“Well, they don’t make it for people to walk to, though,they make it for people to drive to, so that totallyundermines what they’re trying to do anyway.”3.6 Investment areasThe LTP identifies three main areas <strong>of</strong> investment as follows:- Making best use <strong>of</strong> the existing transport network –improved maintenance the existing streets and routes,management <strong>of</strong> signals etc, smarter routes- Improving Public Transport – bus partnership, improving busspeeds etc to achieve mode shift- Supporting behaviour change – active travel (walking &cycling), school and business travel planning, place makingand improving streetsThe groups’ investment priorities appear to concur with these.All groups, with the exception <strong>of</strong> bus users, ranked Works toHighways and Streets in their top three <strong>of</strong> service investmentpriorities and half the groups ranked management andmaintenance in their top three (young, older, car users).Half <strong>of</strong> the groups (women, parents and bus users) rankedpublic transport and public transport information in their topthree services for investment and half (older, women and bususers) ranked walking and cycling in their top three. Safety wasranked in the top three service provisions by half <strong>of</strong> the groups(young, parents and bus users).“But they should also say, you know, say to Tesco’s andSainsbury's, all these different people, put some moneyinto the transport system, put some money into thebuses, you know, support walking and cycling andwhatever to get to their stores. Instead they just plonkthem in the middle <strong>of</strong> …”“I think the other thing with Tesco’s is, where’s thenearest bus stop?”