Issue - meetings

Purpose: To present the Local Transport Plan (LTP4) for adoption.  It is a statutory requirement that, as the Local Transport Authority, West Berkshire Council has a Local Transport Plan. This plan will cover the period 2025-2040.

Council considered a report (Agenda Item 10) concerning the Local Transport Plan 4.

MOTION: Proposed by Councillor Stuart Gourley and seconded by Councillor Nigel Foot:

“That Council adopts the Local Transport Plan 2025-2040 (LTP4).”

Councillor Gourley introduced the report and highlighted that the Plan had undergone regular consultation with transport operators, neighbouring authorities, town and parish councils, residents, and the Council’s internal Transport Advisory Group.

He went on to provide several highlights of the Plan. These included renewed investment in rural roads, increased standards for road maintenance, tripling the white line painting budget, reducing depths of potholes before they were filled in, rolling out more 20 mile per hour zones, increasing electric vehicle infrastructure, and building on the School Streets programme. Council also noted that the Plan sought to balance the needs of rural and urban infrastructure, and dealt with societal shifts in transport use. In addition, the Plan was a living document which could be amended over its 15-year life, with a scheduled refresh every five years. 

Some Members questioned whether residents would be accepting of additional 20 mile per hour zones but were assured that these would only be implemented where it was clear that the local community wanted them.

In addition, some concerns were raised about the e-scooter provision in the Plan, noting that there had been some issues with them in the places where they had been tried. Members agreed that this should be kept under review and potentially looked at through the Council’s Policy Development Group.

An error was highlighted on page 85 of the report. As Reading was not a city, Council agreed that this section should be amended.

Members also highlighted several areas where the Plan could be expanded upon, such as over accessibility for the mobility impaired and disabled, better joining up of infrastructure like bus stops and pavements, building on bus services in rural areas, and looking to speed up the process of assessing the need for speed limit changes or traffic calming measures.

Council also noted that work had been done to encourage HGVs not to pass through Newbury and that the Council had been working with the local Member of Parliament to lobby for safety improvements to the slip roads onto the A34 which were considered to be very dangerous.

Although some Members questioned why the feedback from the public consultation was not being treated in the same way as other feedback, such as over three weekly bin collections, overall Council was encouraged that the public were generally supportive of the Plan.

Overall, as Council were satisfied that the LTP4 would bring real improvements to the transport infrastructure to the district and help keep residents safe and healthy, they agreed to approve the recommendations.

The Motion was put to the meeting and duly RESOLVED.