3. 'Public transport figure of 8' - seeks to provide a frequent and reliable public transport route providing links between residential areas and key local destinations achieving short journey times and actually "going where people want to go".
4. 'Safe and Liveable Residential Streets' - aimed at ensuring that the programme of active travel reaches deep into neighbourhoods.
5. 'Green and Complete' - the establishment of green corridors to complete the walking and cycling network. The project switches from easy wins to the important desire lines and routes not yet catered for.
6. 'Lysander Road improvements' - aims at achieving a better balance between car drivers, cyclists, pedestrians and public transport users along this key Yeovil radial road.
7. 'Active Access over the A30' - looks at reducing the severance between the residential areas to the Northwest and Northeast and the town centre caused by the A30.
8. 'Journey to work' - a programme of education and direct intervention designed to encourage employees to use alternative modes of travel to the car when travelling to work.
5.63 The report recommends that a feasibility study be undertaken specifically focusing on determining the wider social benefits of implementation. It also calls for the creation of an adaptable funding plan to implement the projects over a 10 - 15 year period from a variety of sources, including regional and national sources.
5.64 Prior to such feasibility studies being carried out it is difficult to factor these projects into the Core Strategy. However, there is a very strong link for building some of these projects into the Eco Town and the Urban Extension. In particular the concepts of projects on Park & Go, public transport for journeys to work, Safe and Liveable Residential Streets and Green and Complete (a walking and cycling network) have the potential to be included in the modal shift options for the Eco Town. These measures form an integral part in the delivery of the permeability, infrastructure and routes/services required to deliver modal shift.
5.65 The Eco Town modal shift policies will require feasibility and transport assessment work in any case and it would be desirable for this work to be carried out in tandem.
5.66 The Yeovil Transport Strategy Review 2 (YTSR2) will consider the feasibility of Park and Ride. Any eventual project needs to be costed and, a means of securing money established. The YTSR2 will look at these measures and the outcome will be fed into the Core Strategy Publication Plan for submission for Examination.
5.67 In addition to the generic policies that support modal shift throughout the District, the urban nature of Yeovil means that further measures can and should be in place to offer greater choice and ability to use more sustainable transport modes and reduce the desire to use the car. These measures include:
1. The encouragement of cycling and walking by:
a. Providing cycle and pedestrian routes to link the new development with new/existing routes. These routes should permeate the site to ensure ease of access around the development. Developments should seek to protect
and improve existing cycling and pedestrian routes within 400 metres of the site to facilitate links to and from the site to the wider network. The requirement for the provision of walking and cycling routes should apply to all residential developments of 10 dwellings or more and employment sites with a floor space greater than 1000 sq m; and
b. Providing facilities for cycle parking within the new development commensurate with the levels and standards designated in the SCC cycle parking strategy.
2. Promoting improvements in public transport by providing bus stops, where a bus route exists or can be provided within a reasonable distance, dependent on the scale of the development and existing provision.
All new residential developments of 20 dwellings or more and employment sites with a floor space greater than 2400 sq m should provide a bus stop and each stop should include a bus shelter with timetable information. Smaller residential developments with less than 20 dwellings and employment sites with a floor space less than 2400 sq m should contribute a set figure per dwelling or employee respectively towards this provision. Planning obligations will be sought for such infrastructure where this is required for smaller developments in accordance with Policy SS7.
A reasonable distance for the provision of bus stops would be: Within 400 metres of the development
Or in the case of larger developments of greater than 50 dwellings or with a floor space greater than 3600 sq m within 400 metres of each dwelling or unit in the development.
However care should be taken to ensure bus routes are not distorted to satisfy this criterion as direct and simple bus routes are more important than walking distances a little more than 400 metres for a few passengers. 3. Further encouraging car share by providing preferential and quality spaces
in car parks for car sharers at employment sites. This should apply to all employment sites with a floor space greater than 1000 sq m.
4. Supporting the integration of transport modes to ensure ease of interchange (e.g. walking and cycle links to public transport and ease and reliability of interchange between various bus, rail and express coach routes, enabled by ‘through ticketing’ and ‘off-bus ticket’ purchase [to reduce load times] with Smartcard technologies, real time information etc.) This can be achieved by development contributions to sustainable transport interchanges within the town. The prime interchange sites currently are at Yeovil Borough and the Bus Station, and reference to the Bus Station interchange is shown on the Proposals Map (relevant Inset Map) reflecting aspirations to provide such an interchange. All residential and employment developments should contribute to the improvements of transport interchange on a cost per dwelling basis. The measures to improve transport interchanges are dependent on the County Future Transport Plan (FTP) & YTSR2. These need to be costed and the business case can then be made and a contribution based on per dwelling (and for employment floorspace) based on a proportion of the additional residents travelling sustainably.
South Somerset District Council Draft Core Strategy
5. Direct contributions commensurate with the scale of the development to either enhance existing public transport services (frequency and standard) or in the case of larger developments consider new routes or for larger employment sites consider bespoke works’ buses or demand responsive works’ buses. Additionally it will be necessary to generate greater passenger numbers on local bus services. This can be accomplished by delivering more frequent and higher quality bus services that serve the town centre, employment health and education establishments through Quality Bus Partnerships (QBP).
The QBPs should also include improvements to the routes themselves through bus priority measures, real time passenger information at stops, and improved accessibility at stops. Similarly the QBPs should provide real time passenger information at health, employment, leisure and shopping facilities, and 'through tickets' using enhanced Smartcard technologies. Contributions to QBPs should apply to all residential and employment developments. The measures to deliver QBPs in Yeovil need to be costed and are dependent on the outcomes from the County Council FTP and the YTSR2. Subject to those outcomes, the business case can then be made and a contribution based on per dwelling (and for employment floorspace). In some cases this will be specific to site where they are major developments and either new or major enhancements to routes are required. In other smaller developments it is more appropriate that they contribute to the general improvements to the town network.
6. Personalised Travel Planning has been very successful in achieving modal shift in other areas. Schemes in Brighton, Bristol, Darlington, Peterborough and Worcester have delivered significant modal shift typically reducing car driver trips amongst the targeted population by around 11% and the distance travelled by car by 12%. Individuals (residents and employees) are specifically targeted to ensure complete awareness of travel choices and respective benefits. This would include a personal consultation to assess the individual’s travel needs and opportunities. This should be carried out on all new residential and employment developments in Yeovil. It requires a specific Personalised Travel Plan Coordinator to deliver the service, (development in both Yeovil & Chard will potentially contribute) and be funded on a per dwelling (and for employment floorspace) basis.