Final Local Transport Plan 2006/07 - 2010/11

Our corridor partnership initiative is a key mechanism for taking forward the delivery of the proposals set out in the ITS. The objectives of the partnerships are to:

• Engage all key stakeholders in the development of integrated transport and regeneration plans for the corridors.
• Agree a series of outcome based targets for the corridor which members of the partnership are individually and jointly responsible for delivering and which are linked to the availability of future TIF funding
• Ensure that different transport modes in the corridor work together to deliver the outcomes that we want to see in the most effective way.
• Ensure that  locally determined transport spend in the corridor is allocated in a way which demonstrably meets transport objectives.

The fundamental focus would be upon gearing investment and measures to directly support Greater Manchester’s broader economic competitiveness and social inclusion agenda.  This proposal offers a highly innovative approach that could not only strengthen local governance and accountability arrangements but also facilitate access to the TIF designed to deliver the bold and creative transport solutions required by Government.

The partnerships will have a core membership of GMPTA/E, the local authorities and transport operators. The other invited partners will vary according to local circumstances but include  regeneration agencies, representatives of the health and education sectors, major employers and other key stakeholders who will be responsible for helping to deliver the detailed transport strategies and targets and an agreed programme of policy measures and infrastructure investment. 

In the first instance partnerships are being established in the corridors in which the three Metrolink extensions are planned together with the Leigh- Salford- Manchester Corridor where the bus-way proposal is a priority future public transport scheme.  Thereafter the intention is to roll the initiative out across Greater Manchester. We will include monitoring reports along with plans for the further corridors in our progress reports.

There are, of course, also strong patterns of orbital movement in parts of Greater Manchester and, although there will be a need to consider orbital movements between town centres in radial corridors in the development of each corridor’s transport plan. Consideration is being  given to the inclusion of an orbital corridor within one of the early phases. Fig. 5.2 shows the corridors envisaged, as follows:

Phase 1

• Manchester – Droylsden – Ashton – Stalybridge/Greenfield
• Manchester – Failsworth – Oldham – Shaw – Rochdale
• Manchester – Swinton – Leigh
• Manchester – Chorlton/Didsbury – Wythenshawe – Airport

Phase 2

• Manchester – Stockport – Hazel Grove/Cheadle Hulme
• Manchester – Prestwich – Whitefield – Bury
• Manchester – Farnworth – Bolton – Lostock/Bromley Cross (Blackburn) (see note 1)
• Manchester – Salford – Eccles – Irlam
• Manchester – Sale – Altrincham - Hale
• Manchester – Reddish – Romiley – Marple (New Mills)
• Manchester – Audenshaw – Hyde – Hattersley (Glossop)
• Manchester – Middleton – Rochdale
• Manchester – Atherton- Hindley- Wigan
• Manchester – Trafford Park – Urmston – Flixton (see note 2)
• Manchester – Didsbury – Stockport/Airport/Heald Green

1. It is proposed to invite Blackburn with Darwen Council to be members of this partnership and to use it as a potential pilot for cross boundary working. We would seek to extend the concept of cross border working more generally as the process develops.
2. Work on this partnership could be accelerated if private sector funding becomes available

The rationale for identifying the above corridors is that they all have strong public transport routes at their core.  A key objective of each partnership would be to develop an integrated transport plan for the corridor. This would set out the complementary roles of different public transport modes in the corridor and explain how appropriate complementary policy measures (including the whole range of soft measures) can help to support the achievement of targets and maximise the benefit of the public transport investment.  The partnerships would also have a key role to play in ensuring that future transport, land use planning and regeneration policies and initiatives were effectively aligned and that intelligence about future development timescales and other factors influencing travel demand is effectively shared with public transport operators.

Each corridor transport plan will contain a route map for the management of traffic movements aligned to land use planning and regeneration strategies over the next 5 to 10 years.  Key components of each corridor plan will be:

• Behavioural change and smarter travel strategies for the corridor
• Demand and congestion management measures for the corridor based on identified thresholds
• Public transport patronage targets and related targets concerning congestion and accessibility
• Public transport improvements for the corridor
• Road safety and personal security plans for the corridor
• Sustainable development and air quality standards for the corridor
• A social needs transport strategy
• Investigation of the role of strategically-located park and ride sites in support of corridor strategies

The plans will also need to contribute to -:

• Employment based targets
• Regeneration and competitiveness targets

The partnerships will engage all the key players in ensuring that transport planning is effectively integrated with the delivery of a much wider set of outcomes than has historically been the case. Although this still needs to be the subject of further discussion, the intention is that delivery would be driven by a form of Local Area Agreement (LAA). The first partnerships are being established on a pilot basis and will be developed prior to the wider extension of LAAs to all Local Authorities. The corridor partnerships could therefore potentially become a sub-set of a wider LAA in the authorities concerned and prove an invaluable mechanism for fully integrating transport activity into the wider regeneration agenda.

The intention is to roll out the corridor partnership approach across all of the identified corridors plus an orbital corridor (to be determined) during the lifetime of LTP2.