Agenda item

For the Economy, Transport & Environment Select Committee to pre-scrutinise a report regarding Transport for the South East’s Proposal to Government to establish a statutory sub national transport body for the South East, to be known as Transport for the South East (TfSE). This will be considered at Cabinet on 14 July 2020.

Councillor Forster declared an interest as an advisor to Central and Local Government on Electric Vehicle Charging (EVC)

The Select Committee pre-scrutinised a report from the Head of Economy, Transport and Environment (item 6 in the minute book) regarding the establishment of a sub national transport body for the South East, to be known as Transport for the South East (TfSE) and Transport Strategy. The report was due to go to Cabinet on 14 July 2020.

The officer introduced the item and explained how TfSE would have the powers and responsibilities required to deliver its Transport Strategy. Not only would a statutory sub-national transport body for the South East give the region a stronger voice at national level, but would also enable the County Council to influence the prioritisation of national transport investment in a way that has not been possible in the past.

The County Council had been proactive in helping to develop TfSE’s Transport Strategy which was based on sound evidence and applied a clear methodology.  The strategy provided a strong economic, social, and environmental policy framework for future transport planning up to 2050 and, was therefore considered appropriate to adopt into the County Council’s own policy framework, alongside the Hampshire Local Transport Plan.

During questions, it was acknowledged that public transport to London from the south did take longer than other cities further away, but that there was less pressure to compete with other journey times to London due to 90% of journeys starting and ending in the TfSE area not involving travel to London. Connectivity between towns and cities within the TfSE and improving rail across the south remained a priority.

Members queried when investment may start to be received and whether bids were required and it was confirmed that some funding had already been received from the Department for Transport (DfT) for development of the strategy. Funding for large schemes would be a competitive process against other national transport bodies.

There was a lot of discussion around zero carbon and whether 2050 was soon enough to take serious action, and the abilities to bring forward that timescale. Whilst it was acknowledged that it would be beneficial to bring forward the date, TfSE also recognised that it was not solely within their ability and gift to achieve this and so 2050 was more pragmatic. A lot of research was being done around hydrogen technology and electric vehicle charging points being increasingly rolled out across the county but progress also depending on national government action and legislation.

The Chairman invited the Executive Member for Economy, Transport and Environment, Councillor Rob Humby, to comment on discussions to formally add a recommendation in the report around accelerating the 2050 target for zero carbon. Councillor Humby confirmed the importance of partnership working within TfSE and how 2050 was agreed by the partnership as a target, but inevitably hoped to achieve this sooner and that the Strategy gave flexibility to do this. The Select Committee were thanked for their input and desire to accelerate the zero carbon target, which was supported by the Executive Member and would be relayed to Cabinet. As zero carbon was already a priority for the County Council, it was agreed that a formal recommendation was not necessary.

RESOLVED
The Economy, Transport and Environment Select Committee supported the recommendations being proposed to Cabinet set out on pages 1 and 2 of the report.