Agenda item

(Director of Neighbourhoods) To consider the attached report AMED-011-2015/16.

The Director of Neighbourhoods stated that the report from Essex County Council (ECC) regarding the Park & Ride Scheme at North Weald Airfield had still not been received. He advised that ECC were preparing this report on a voluntary basis and it had not been a priority as Officers were currently working on the Local Plan and the M11 Junction 7a.

The Director advised the Cabinet Committee that the Economic Development Team had prepared a report based on desktop research of schemes in Colchester and Chelmsford.

The Economic Development Officer advised that at the Asset Management Cabinet Committee meeting in October 2014 the idea of utilising North Weald Airfield for a Park and Ride Scheme to Epping was raised. It was agreed to explore the issue further with Essex County Council as the transport authority and, in particular, in relation to their experience at Chelmsford.

Contact was made with Essex County Council (ECC) and a meeting took place between officers from EFDC and ECC to discuss this. It was agreed with ECC that the outputs of work already underway as part of the Council’s Local Plan work, were relevant and that they would prepare a report. However, to date, despite a number of reminders, we have not received a report on the feasibility of such a Park and Ride scheme.

Desktop research had been undertaken in order to pull together some facts around the most recently opened park and ride scheme at Cuckoo Farm, Colchester. Evidence around the impact of this scheme was limited due to the short period that had elapsed since it opened in April 2015 however, as with the Chelmsford research, a range of ECC, Colchester Borough Council and other publicly available sources have been examined in order to pull out relevant facts and observations.

Amongst the research, some of the key themes to emerge were:

·         The motivating factor of the price differential between park and ride rates and town  centre parking rates

·         The levels of subsidy that are having to be contributed by ECC in order to maintain the service at the lower prices and thereby maintain demand

·         The importance of bus priority, bus stop and signal change measures to the success of the schemes

·         The provision of fast journey times and service reliability

·         The scale of town centre land freed up for development by the migration of long-stay parking from the town centre to the park and ride schemes

·         The aims of the schemes to relieve key congestion pinch-points

This research document was not intended to replace the proposed detailed feasibility report from Essex County Council in respect of a North Weald scheme however it was hoped that the information gathered to date was of interest and value to Members, in assessing whether there was merit in still pursuing the County Council to produce the bespoke piece of work for North Weald Airfield.  This is particularly relevant as the report seems to cast doubt on the viability of North Weald Park and Ride.

Resolved:

(1)        To note the attached findings of desktop research into Park and Ride schemes in Chelmsford and Colchester, and their relevance to any potential park and Ride proposal for North Weald Airfield.

(2)        To decide on the basis of the further information provided, whether to still pursue the bespoke work from Essex County Council Highways.

Agreed:

Members agreed that a Park & Ride Scheme at North Weald Airfield would not be viable and that they would not pursue the report from Essex County Council.

Reasons for Decisions:

To provide the committee with some background to the park and ride schemes developed elsewhere in Essex in lieu of receiving a detailed and technical feasibility report from the County Council in respect of a potential park and ride scheme at North Weald.

Other Options Considered and Rejected:

To consider whether it is still worth pursuing the report from Essex County Council.