Eastern regional factsheet

Map of Region

People in England want efficient, reliable and safe systems of transport. Of course, local transport problems need local solutions.

The Government is keeping the promise it made in the 10-Year Plan for Transport by giving local authorities £8.4 billion over the next five years to be spent locally on projects identified at a local level.

As part of the settlement, authorities in the East of England have been given £152 million for 2001/02, and are expected to receive at least £638 million for the five-year period. In addition the region will benefit from a share of resources for future years that have not yet been definitively allocated. The settlement covers:

• major public transport and road schemes costing over £5m.
• integrated transport schemes costing under £5m; and
• local road maintenance and bridge strengthening schemes.

Major schemes have earmarked funding, however, local authorities decide which of the other transport schemes identified they fund.

Major Schemes in the Eastern Region:

Southend-on-Sea A13 Passenger Transport Corridor - £14.5m - has been accepted and will receive Government funding.
A package of measures to address the increasing congestion on the A13 and A127/1159 transport corridors, including bus priority measures, improvements to bus infrastructure, and real time travel information on bus shelters.

The following schemes have been accepted and will receive Government funds subject to:

• the completion of the Statutory approval process, or
• further work on the case, or
• funding being secured from a third party.

Nar Ouse Regeneration Project - £7.3m
Provides strategic access to a 50 hectare brownfield regeneration scheme in the urban area south of King's Lynn town centre. The route will allow bus priority and will bring environmental and safety improvements.

Suffolk - South Lowestoft Relief Road - £25.4m
Removal of major traffic flows from the old A12 allowing significant bus, safety and environmental improvements. This scheme will also remove severance between the blue flag beach and the Kirkley area. It includes variable message signing to allow switching between the two bridges in real time.

West Thurrock Regeneration Ring Road - £8m
The West Thurrock Regeneration Route is a key to the successful development of the area. The scheme links into other strategic routes being provided entirely by developers. The route also provides a bypass to London Road with substantial environmental, safety, severance, noise, air quality and bus service benefits.

NB. Figures relate to gross scheme costs

In addition, there are a number of schemes for which we do not yet have sufficient information to form a view. The Government is keen to work with the authorities concerned to assist them in completing the work necessary for each scheme to be evaluated by Government against New Approach to Appraisal (NATA) criteria. The schemes in this category are:

Hertfordshire	Croxley Rail Link
Luton and Bedfordshire	Translink
Luton	Luton Station Redevelopment
Luton	East Luton Corridor (South)
Essex	Canvey Island Itp - Pitsea Busway
Essex	Canvey Island Itp - Roscommon Way
Norfolk	Great Yarmouth A47/A149 Link
Cambridgeshire	St Ives Line Improvements

Integrated transport schemes in the Eastern Region

The LTP provides funding for authorities in the region to introduce:

• various interchange schemes, including:
• • improvements to Southend Central Rail Station;
  • a major review of access and interchange facilities at Watford Junction Rail Station, with a new road access to the east of the station;
  • access improvements to Stevenage's rail/bus interchange; and
  • the diversion of bus routes to the rail station at Bury St Edmunds.
• up to 14 new or extended, park and ride schemes. For example, authorities are considering proposals for sites at:
• • Cardington, Bedfordshire;
  • Costessy in Norwich;
  • Bury Road, Ipswich; and
  • Trumpington and Babraham Road, Cambridge.
• up to 1500 road safety schemes, including:
• • the introduction of 20mph zones in Southend;
  • a new Home Zone in Bedford, providing safer residential areas;
  • traffic calming measures on the A132 Wickford in Essex, Norwich and King's Lynn in Norfolk, Dunstable Road in Luton and in Westoning Village and Arlesey in Bedfordshire; and
  • school travel plans at Mill Vale School in Dunstable and Fakenham Infants school, Drayton Middle School and Grimston Junior School in Norfolk.
• up to 540km of cycle routes and other measures to encourage cycling, including:
• • better cycle parking facilities in, for example, Orton and Werrington in Peterborough;
  • reviews of cycle routes throughout the region;
  • improved integration with public transport and the introduction of partnerships for action, for example, Hertfordshire's partnership with the Highways Agency, is introducing cycle facilities in Park Street, St Albans combined with safe Routes to School.
• up to 84 km of footway improvements, pedestrianisation and other measures to encourage walking such as:
• • a new pedestrian route linking Church Road with Yarmouth Road in Lowestoft;
  • better safety for pedestrians, for example, more CCTV and lighting in Peterborough city centre;
  • a new pedestrian footbridge at Pitsea Station in Essex, providing better integration with public transport; and
  • improved mobility arrangements for people with disabilities, for example, improvements to the railway crossing at King's Court, Hertfordshire.

Public Transport Schemes

• accessibility schemes, including:
• • better rural bus services to Bury St Edmunds;
  • innovative community/ voluntary transport schemes such as the rural community school bus project in rural Suffolk.
• a number of improvements to bus transport, with up to 260kms of busways, Quality Bus Corridors, bus lanes and bus priority measures including:
• • new Bus Partnerships in, for example, south west Norwich and King's Lynn;
  • bus priority schemes on the A132 Nevendon Road in Wickford, Essex;
  • enhanced funding for bus corridors, for example, the Bury St Edmunds North-South Superoute in Suffolk;
  • a new, bigger bus station at Waltham Cross, Hertfordshire with improved lighting and security measures for bus passengers;
  • better bus information systems, including bus telematics on the A13 in Essex; and
  • - up to 1300 bus shelters across the region.

Local Roads Schemes

• improvements including:
• • junction improvements on the A1120, A1303 and B1113 in Suffolk particularly for pedestrians and cyclists;
  • road widening on the A127 in Southend to create a freight corridor;
  • traffic management measures, for example, new traffic control systems at Luton and in Hertfordshire; and
  • road parking strategies in Thurrock. The introduction of a special parking area in the five year period will improve traffic flow.

Other important local schemes

• Other important local schemes, such as:
• • Corpusty Link Road, Norfolk. The bridge in Corpusty village is subject to a 7.5 tonne weight limit and the link road will provide an alternative to GHGV movements on unsuitable rural roads;
  • Papworth Everard Bypass, Cambridgeshire, is a part developer funded rural bypass to provide environmental relief for the village and Papwoth Hospital;
  • Luton Inner Ring Road, completion will enable more town centre enhancement and realloctaion of space to pedestrians and cyclists, linked to the re-development of Luton Station and the provision of Translink guided busway; and
  • Parkeston Bypss Stage 2, Essex, will complete a strategy to regenerate the Harwich/ Parkeston area of Tendring district, assisted by a £350,000 of European funding, improving the Trans European Network and providing environmental relief for Parkeston village.

Maintenance schemes in the Eastern Region

The 5-year LTP settlement provides funding for authorities in the Eastern region to address the maintenance backlog on the region's 36,000km of local roads, and to start restoring the 664 bridges that need strengthening.