Agenda item

The Board considered the report of the KCC Head of Transportation regarding the Draft Joint Integrated Transport Strategy.

The Chairman informed the Board that the document was a draft and had not been approved by either Kent County Council (“KCC”) or Maidstone Borough Council (“MBC”).  It had been published for public consultation, which has now finished.  The Chairman had circulated copies of this Board’s minutes from the meeting on 5 October 2011which set out the recommendations made.  The Chairman informed the Board that most of the recommendations made at that time had not been incorporated within the draft Strategy.

The Board were informed that there was a discrepancy between MBC’s target of 10,000 jobs and KCC’s findings of 5,200.  Also, that even without any increase in houses or employment, the traffic congestion problems will still increase.  Reasonable steps need to be taken to mitigate the increase in congestion. 

Members of the Board raised concerns about affordability, the proposals for St Andrews Road/Tonbridge Road, the intimated increase in congestion, the lack of Park & Ride for the south of the Town, the proposed bus lane on the A229, the level of social housing expected for new developments and the lack of air quality proposals.

Officers informed the Board that the draft ITS reflected the difficult balancing act that all planning and highway authorities had to strike between planning positively for the housing and employment growth proposed by the Core Strategy and the limited funding available for the compensatory transport infrastructure improvements.

Members were told by officers that the draft ITS was a direct response to the development proposed by the Core Strategy and that this is the first time the council has had a transport strategy for which to seek highway contributions for.  Officers have not been able to ask for contributions towards highway improvements in the past because these requests cannot be supported by an agreed set of highways policies.  It was stressed that over 4,200 residential units have already been built and permission has been granted for over 1,900.  This is out of a total of 10,080 houses, the Core Strategy housing target, for which none have had secured a significant financial contribution to highway improvements in Maidstone.  The council needs to be more decisive.

The Board was also informed that the estimated cost of the bus lane on the A229 could be revised to approximately £5m and that further ways to reduce that cost are being investigated.

The Board acknowledged the amount of work undertaken by KCC and MBC Officers.

RESOLVED: That the respective KCC and MBC Cabinet Members be recommended not to approve the draft Joint Integrated Transport Strategy as it is not fit for purpose and to ask Officers to reconsider the proposals.