BMBC 21: Barnsleys Local Area Agreement 2008-2011

OUR APPROACH: WHAT ARE WE CURRENTLYTRYING TO DO TO DELIVER IMPROVEMENT?The Council works with a number of other key partners to deliver andimplement the vision and associated actions identified in keytransportation strategy documents affecting Barnsley. Partners includethe LTP Programme Office, South Yorkshire Passenger TransportExecutive and Authority, Health Partners, Schools, South YorkshirePolice, the other three South Yorkshire Local Authorities; Doncaster,Rotherham and Sheffield and the Local Strategic Partnership (OneBarnsley). The main strategic focus for improving transportation inSouth Yorkshire is to support economic growth and regeneration withinthe wider regional plan context of the Northern Way, City Regions andRegional Spatial, Economic and Transport Strategies.The improvement priorities for this outcome include halting theincreasing trend on congestion, improve accessibility to jobs and leisureopportunities, and improving economic linkages to the City Regions(Sheffield, Manchester, Leeds).Tackling CongestionEncouraging modal shift takes time, and it relies on the availability ofreliable, punctual and alternative sustainable transport solutions. A prerequisiteof tackling congestion is making public transport, particularlythe bus, more competitive with the car, which in turn, can meet thetransport priorities for Barnsley and the wider South Yorkshire region.Barnsley, with other South Yorkshire authorities and partners, areworking towards the implementation of a range of actions in theCongestion Delivery Plan (CDP) funded by the Department forTransport, through the LTP. The CDP highlights target routes acrossSouth Yorkshire that are known to include congestion ‘hotspots’, ofwhich there are 18, with 5 of these located in Barnsley. Improvingcongestion has a number of knock on effects, including improvedaccessibility, reduced journey time, reduced community severance,improved air quality, quality of life and regeneration. The CDP will lookto tackle the challenges posed by congestion through the following:-• Improving operating conditions for bus operators by tacklingproblems of reliability and punctuality, prioritising work on the ‘KeyRoutes’ network and addressing certain bus ‘hotspots’ through BusPunctuality Improvement Plans.• Tackling delays and unpredictable journey times on ‘Key Routes’and, under the network management duty, improving the balancebetween competing demands of different road users; developingurban traffic control and intelligent transport systems; and operatingCivil Parking Enforcement.• Achieving modal shift from the private car by promoting publictransport, and the bus in particular, and addressing the factors thatcould lead to improving its attractiveness as a competitivealternative (such as real time information, integrated ticketing - such106Meeting Local Transport Needs Barnsley’s Local Area Agreement 2008-11