Scottish Awards for Quality in Planning: Nomination for development planning 2001
15. ABERDEENSHIRE'S LOCAL TRANSPORT STRATEGY2001 nomination by Aberdeenshire Council
This nomination has been made to recognise the Aberdeenshire Strategy's robust methodology, involving innovative application of the Government's five key transport appraisal criteria. It has been based around an extensive public consultation process, which sought to involve all relevant parties in the creation of the Strategy, including continuing dialogue with the public. And it exemplifies the partnership approach to regional transport planning in the North East.
Background to the strategy
The Aberdeenshire Local Transport Strategy supersedes the Council's 1999 Interim Transport Strategy document. The Full Local Transport Strategy was approved by the Council and submitted to the Scottish Executive in December 2000. The Executive had granted an extension to the general submission deadline of 31 October 2000 to Aberdeenshire and Aberdeen City Councils. This was to allow account to be taken in both Councils' Strategies of an ongoing study into the delivery of the proposed Western Peripheral Route around Aberdeen, and associated development of the Modern Transport System (or Integrated Transport Strategy) for north east Scotland. The Modern Transport System is being developed by the North East Scotland Transport Partnership (NESTRANS), made up of Aberdeenshire Council, Aberdeen City Council, Aberdeen and Grampian Chamber of Commerce, and Scottish Enterprise Grampian.
Aim and vision
The aim and long-term vision of the Aberdeenshire Local Transport Strategy is to develop a sustainable and effective transportation strategy for Aberdeenshire that preserves environmental quality and contributes to the development of an inclusive society and strong economy. It recognises that there are distinct and separate issues faced by Aberdeenshire's urban and rural communities. Similarly, many accessibility issues affect both urban and rural areas and the Strategy seeks to deliver integrated solutions to problems facing all communities. The Strategy sets out the Council's transportation policies for 2001-2004, within the context of a 10 to 15 year vision for transportation in the North East. It also acts as the basis for determining funding priorities to develop these policies. The Strategy's objectives mirror the Government's key criteria for the assessment of transportation projects: combating social exclusion by improving accessibility; promoting a sustainable economy; reversing degradation of the environment; furthering the integration of transport, and; improving safety in transport. The Aberdeenshire Strategy takes these objectives further in two key ways, by explicitly considering each objective, and by carefully assessing the schemes.
Integrating transport policy
Integration is a dominant theme of the Strategy. This relates to: 1. Modal integration - the Council will work to ensure that transport modes are integrated to encourage more people to travel sustainably. 2. Integrated regional transport planning - the Council has been working closely with Aberdeen City Council on transport planning matters for many years. Through the NESTRANS partnership, the Councils, and their partners, are committed to the delivery of a Modern Transport System. 3. Policy integration - Aberdeenshire's new structure plan, developed jointly with Aberdeen City Council, has been written concurrently with the Transport Strategy, and the two documents fully complement each other.
Role of the planning service
The Council's Planning Service was involved in the development of the Local Transport Strategy from an early stage. The Strategy was written concurrently with the emerging Aberdeenshire Local Plan and North East Scotland together, the new Structure Plan, written jointly with Aberdeen City Council. It was an explicit aim from the beginning to ensure that in transportation matters the 3 documents were complementary. There was thus during the development phase of each document, a two-way flow of information between the Transportation and Planning Services (and with the Planning Service of Aberdeen City Council). Both structure and local plan teams were further asked to comment on the draft Strategy as part of the Council-wide internal consultation. Early in the development of the Strategy a workshop was also held, for members of the Transportation and Planning Services. The aim was to discuss and create a prioritised list of projects or schemes that could be implemented to address the transport needs of users in Aberdeenshire, in the context of the emerging transport elements of the Local Plan and Structure Plan.
Innovative appraisal
Aberdeenshire's Local Transport Strategy displays innovation in its comprehensive consultation process and in applying the Government's 5 key transport appraisal criteria (an approach subsequently promoted in the Scottish Executive's Scottish Transport Appraisal Guidance, published in August 2001). It was an explicit aim to mirror the Government's key criteria for assessing transportation projects: accessibility, economy, environment, integration and safety. These criteria were adapted and used in the development of the Strategy. To highlight their importance, individual sections were written on each criterion, detailing the approach to be taken to address planning objectives. The Strategy is laid out so that each objective is explored in turn in detail, setting objectives and quantifiable output targets for each and discussing the pertinent issues. It was also deemed important to establish quantifiable output targets that would enable the Council to demonstrate its progress on the development of the Strategy. The 5 appraisal criteria were therefore sub-divided further to create these targets. Each project in the Strategy was given a subjective appraisal against these targets to illustrate how it would help the Council to meet its objectives for transportation. Scheme assessment matrices demonstrate how each scheme will contribute to the targets, grouped under the key objectives. The scheme assessment matrices are divided into 3 scenarios, each reflecting the level of funding available/required. Scenario 1 is based on funding identified in the Council's approved Capital Plan and Revenue Budget, whilst Scenarios 2 and 3 identify options which will require funding from Scottish Executive "challenge fund" sources and other potential revenue streams. These funding scenarios set out specific initiatives the Council is undertaking or considering for future adoption for each group of users (walkers, cyclists, public transport, powered two wheeler and car drivers). The process of linking the Council's initiatives and schemes to the Strategy vision is explicitly demonstrated through a simple flow chart, which illustrates how the initiatives for each user group will help the Council to achieve its targets, which in turn feed into achieving the objectives and long-term vision. In this way the Strategy is fully compliant with the use of the 5 assessment criteria. They are now adopted by the Executive in its Scottish Transport Appraisal Guidance, for authorities seeking funding for transport projects
Innovative consultation
Before consultation on the document was undertaken it was decided that the process should be wide-ranging, to reach out to as many individuals, communities and other organisations as possible. It is believed that this process was considerably more inclusive than the norm, and will assist in the delivery of, and public acceptance for, projects contained within the Strategy. Making the document accessible to all was a prime consideration. Presentational aids such as flowcharts help to communicate the issues, aims and objectives simply. Clearly laid out sections relate specifically to key criteria or core user groups. Recognising that public support is one of the most important factors in the delivery of any Strategy, the Council embarked upon an ambitious consultation exercise. Over two months in late 2000, a range of media was used to consult relevant parties: 1. Website - downloadable versions of the Draft Strategy were put on the Council's website. 2. Roadshows -one day exhibitions were held in supermarkets in 9 principal towns. 3. Distribution - around 1,350 copies of the Draft Strategy were distributed to businesses, public bodies and other interested parties, by post and via the roadshows and Community Council meetings. 4. Questionnaire - a questionnaire covering 20 key themes was devised and posted and handed out with copies of the Draft Strategy. 5. Elected Bodies - a seminar was held for Councillors and the Draft Strategy was considered by the Council's 6 Area Committees. Officers also made presentations to 49 Community Council meetings. 6. User Groups - copies of the Draft Strategy and questionnaires were sent to groups representing disabled people, young people and older people. A presentation was made to the Scottish Women's Rural Institutes and to the Council's Taxicard Forum on 24 October, where disabled, elderly and mobility-impaired users meet the Council to discuss relevant issues. 7. Consultation in Partnership - associated consultation took place through the North East Scotland Economic Development and Partnership (NESEDP) in association with the Robert Gordon University. Nearly 14,000 questionnaires were sent to households and businesses in the North East asking for opinions on the future of transportation and on the development of a Modern Transport System. 8. NESEDP Website -the Aberdeenshire and NESEDP questionnaires were both placed on the NESEDP website. Thy could be filled in electronically and a cumulative record of responses was displayed. 9. A summary leaflet has been produced, which sets out the key aspects of the Strategy in a more accessible form.
Documenting feedback
The outcome of consultation was made more transparent by producing the document Response to Consultation, which not only detailed the process and responses but also the ways in which the development of the Strategy was shaped by consultation. This document was sent to the parties involved in the consultation exercise. It was sent to the Scottish Executive with the Strategy and is available for members of the public to read. The report also contains a summary of revisions made to the final Strategy in response to public consultation. Through the production of all these documents the Council aims to continue to inform and involve all relevant bodies in the delivery of its vision for transportation in the North East. Specific proposals and initiatives will be the subject of consultation with business, community and user interests, in accordance with the partnership theme of the Local Transport Strategy.
The judges compliment Aberdeenshire Council on the efforts it has made with its partners to develop the appraisal techniques for local transport strategies and to devote time and energy to consultation in a very comprehensive approach. Other authorities will learn from these efforts, which have been fully documented here.