Transport

The people of Kent are being asked whether they agree with Kent County Council’s priorities for the future of transport in the county.

A public consultation of the Local Transport Plan launches today (Monday) and runs until October 30.

The plan is broken down into five main sections:

• Transport in Kent – sets out KCC’s achievements so far, anticipated growth in the county and the background to transport issues.
• Strategic priorities – sets out KCC’s priorities which include A2 Bean and A2 Ebbsfleet junction upgrades and Crossrail extension, a new Lower Thames Crossing, splitting Dover port traffic between the M20/A20 and M2/A2 routes as well as expansion of the port, journey time improvements in Thanet and a parkway rail station, Ashford International Station signalling, and general rail and bus improvements.
• Kent-wide priorities – sets out KCC’s approach to road safety, highway maintenance, home to school transport, and its policy on aviation.
• District priorities – sets out district transport schemes that have been identified as necessary in each district.
• Funding Sources – sets out what funding sources are available and alternative funding strategies.

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Kent County Council’s (KCC) Active Travel Strategy aims to make active travel an attractive and realistic choice for short journeys in Kent. By developing and promoting accessible, safer and well-planned active travel opportunities, this Strategy will help to establish Kent as a pioneering county for active travel.

Active Travel means walking or cycling as a means of transport in order to get to a particular destination such as work, the shops or to visit friends. It does not cover walking and cycling done purely for pleasure, for health reasons, or simply walking the dog. Active travel can be for complete journeys or parts of a journey.

More people travelling actively can lead to a range of positive outcomes. These include improved health, reduced traffic congestion, reduced pollution and financial savings.

Have your say

KCC want to know what you think of their draft Active Travel Strategy, and the ambition and actions outlined within it. (more…)

Introduction

Bus services across the UK were privatised in 1985.  Since then, many routes in Kent have been run by commercial bus companies, such as Arriva or Stagecoach.

But not all of Kent’s bus services are run on a purely commercial basis.  Kent County Council (KCC) currently spends £6.4 million subsidising some routes which, while not commercially viable, are considered important to the needs of the communities and passengers they serve.

What is being proposed

KCC have worked hard to protect these subsidies, but as central government funds have been reduced we’ve had to make savings.  They have already saved over £1million by working with bus operators to re-plan routes, renegotiating better contracts and through a greater use of Community Transport operators.  However, they still need to reduce our spending further in the next financial year.

To help them do this a series of changes have been identified for 17 subsidised services.  While KCC’s approach seeks to protect those bus services where the impact on passengers is greatest, they understand that any changes may have an adverse impact on existing bus passengers and they need you to tell them how the proposed changes may affect you. (more…)