Local Transport Plan 3 - Worcestershire County Council

Previous local transport plans for Worcestershire were developed to cover five-year periods, from 2001to 2006 and then 2006 to 2011. Recent government guidance has given local transport authorities thefreedom to locally decide the length of local transport plans. Worcestershire has chosen to develop theLTP3 for a longer plan period (from 2011 to 2026), as this will enable Worcestershire County Council to bemore strategic, and where justified, ambitious in its aims for maintaining and enhancing Worcestershire'stransport networks. In particular, this will enable the development of major schemes, as identified inSection 11. The LTP3 will be very much a living document. That is to say, that it will be updated anddeveloped to respond and adapt to changing political, social and economic climates throughout the lifeof the plan.The role of the LTP3 has also been expanded to include the development and maintenance ofWorcestershire's Public Rights of Way. The Worcestershire Public Rights of Way Improvement Plan nowforms part of the LTP3.A Strategic Delivery Plan is included in this document. This sets out Worcestershire County Council'sapproach to investing in transport infrastructure and services in support of the local economy andenvironment. It will encourage greater participation in the local community (including throughimprovements in accessibility to jobs and services) over the fifteen year life of this LTP3 and beyond. TheStrategic Delivery Plan comprises of a series of packaged schemes. This best practice approach involvesthe development and delivery of geographically distinct schemes which are integrated into the deliveryplans contained within the emerging Local Development Frameworks being prepared by theWorcestershire Borough, City and District Councils. The packaged approach works under the premise thatgreater benefits are achieved when schemes are delivered as part of a package, rather than as stand aloneschemes.In addition to this Strategic Delivery Plan, a number of shorter-term (3-year) Detailed Delivery Plans willbe developed on a rolling programme throughout the life of the LTP3. These Detailed Delivery Plans willmake use of the Worcestershire Transport Scheme Appraisal Framework, which will prioritise ourinvestment in transport towards those proposals which can be proven to best support agreed local andnational objectives and thus deliver the greatest returns on investment. Further details on this approachcan be found in Section 9. This approach will take account of the availability of funding over theseperiods. The first Detailed Delivery Plan is currently being prepared, and will be delivered from 2011 to2014.A number of emerging issues are being identified in the Local Development Frameworks and theforthcoming Worcestershire Local Economic Partnership, which will impact on the way that schemes andprogrammes proposed through the LTP3 process will be identified, funded and delivered.The structure of this LTP3 has changed significantly from previous versions, in that it has been structuredas a compendium. Topic specific policies and plans have been developed as separate documents, whichare set out in Section 10. This is to ensure that the LTP3 can be updated over time to ensure continuedrelevance to changing circumstances.