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 2Capabilities on project:Transportation1 Introduction1.1 OverviewLocal Transport Authorities are required to produce a LocalTransport Plan (LTP). The LTP is a statutory plan which setsout the authority’s transport strategy and the programmes <strong>of</strong>work which will support it. An LTP aims to balance thetransport demands for everyone living, working and visiting thearea. The current LTP for the <strong>City</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Stoke</strong>-on-Trent lapses inMarch 2011 and so a new LTP is required to cover the period2011 to 2016. There is a duty upon local transport authoritiesto consult widely when developing their policies and involvecitizens in the local decision making process.To support a wider public consultation exercise, <strong>Stoke</strong>-on-Trent<strong>City</strong> Council contracted AECOM to carry out Focus Groups onthe LTP3. The focus groups conducted at this stage <strong>of</strong> theprocess will be used to inform the preparation <strong>of</strong> the transportstrategies for the area and LTP3. Six focus groups wereconducted with representative groups and took place duringthe consultation period which <strong>Stoke</strong>-on-Trent <strong>City</strong> Council wererunning themselves on LTP3. The aim <strong>of</strong> the focus groups wasto assess the attitudes and aspirations <strong>of</strong> the public within<strong>Stoke</strong>-on-Trent towards transport issues. The following issueswere explored:- Particular areas and transport issues <strong>of</strong> concern amongdifferent groups- The most important transport related issues and problemscurrently facing the city- Views on the three LTP3 goals <strong>of</strong> economy, environmentand health- Views on the policies within the LTP3 document to addressthe three goals- Prioritise the policies in the short term (5 years) and longterm (15 years)- Attitudes towards the implementation plan andimplementation priorities1.2 Report FormatFollowing this introduction, Section 2 highlights themethodology employed, Section 3 analyses the group findingsand Section 4 summarises the findings overall.