Piece of News by Organisation: LGTAG News

LGTAG Council & Presidential handover

On 10 December our Council met. In a novel ceremony we had a virtual handover of the Presidential chain of office from Mid Ulster’s Andrew Cassells to the Royal Borough of  Kensington & Chelsea’s Mahmood Siddiqi (pictured above).

A video clip captured the moment with Oscar nominee standard performances from Andrew and Mahmood. The trailer for “Carry on President” is viewable here.

Council expressed our appreciation of Andrew’s leadership in his extended term during the particular challenges of Covid-19 restrictions. Mahmood then set out the headlines for his term. You can read more about his thoughts in an interview with Alex Peachey from our partners at LCRIG. The interview is available via this link.

Colin Mann – National Secretary – [email protected] / 07484191623

LGTAG have recently submitted a response to the Chancellor’s Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR) consultation.  As might be expected we had plenty of issues relating to our members’ areas of responsibility to raise.  We draw attention to the following themes as priorities for expenditure:

1. Actual delivery of ‘net zero carbon emissions by 2050’ or preferably earlier by all methods likely to have immediate effect
2. Investing in infrastructure to reduce disruption and associated costs and ensure public and private enterprise can continue to provide economic gain in times of crises including the effects of global warming/heating.
3. Ensuring we stop the dis-investment in infrastructure by proper maintenance of all our infrastructure
4. ‘maximising productivity’ by reducing overheads in unnecessary/undesirable administrative overheads.
5. Reduce pollution of particulates and noxious gases
6. Providing support for healthy lives including exercise and reduction of obesity

You can download the full response below.

Colin Mann – National Secretary – LGTAG – Secretary&lgtag.com / 07484191623

LGTAG issues a regular update on LGTAG business and items of professional interest to its members and partners each month (except January). The latest issue and past editions are available to download below.

LATEST NEWSLETTER – FEBRUARY 2021

PREVIOUS ISSUES are available below

December 2020

November 2020

October 2020

September 2020

August 2020

July 2020

June 2020 (& supporting documents)

Newsletter – Newsletter-LGTAG-JUNE-2020-v1.pdf (80 downloads)

Essex CC bus services letter – DfT-27.05.20-Essex-buses-Covid-19.pdf (38 downloads)

Letter to DfT regarding best practice guidance for emergency Covid-19 related highway schemes – Urban-design-guidance-Covid-19-letter-to-DfT.docx.pdf (37 downloads)

May 2020

Newsletter –  Newsletter-LGTAG-MAY-2020.pdf (99 downloads)

April 2020 (& supporting documents)

Newsletter – Newsletter-LGTAG-APR-2020.docx.pdf (38 downloads)

COVID-19 Highway works – LGTAG-to-Baroness-Vere-1.pdf (38 downloads) DfT-Highway-works-letter-to-LGTAG-March-2020.pdf (42 downloads) project-letter-v2-26.3.20-Tfl-Boroughs-COVID-19.pdf (43 downloads)

Resilience training – Resilience-course-article-HW-March-2020.pdf (46 downloads)

March 2020

February 2020

December 2019

November 2019

October 2019

September 2019

August 2019

July 2019

Colin Mann – National Secretary – [email protected] / 07484191623

LGTAG FCERM Committee have just submitted a response to the government consultation as attached EA-National-Strategy-LGTAG-Response-Form-July-2019.pdf (59 downloads)

We have recently responded to the first part of the Governments Consultation on Aviation and Airports and  given written evidence to the House of Commons Transport Committee on Road Safety and the Housing and Communities Committee on Local Authority funding.

The three documents are attached. Aviation-Consultation-LGTAG-response-to-Annex-A-D-11-April-2019.docx (72 downloads) LGTAG-HOC-Road-Safety.docx (65 downloads) LGTAG-submission-to-HOC-HCLG-Committee-on-LG-Finance-v-11042109.docx (71 downloads)

Enabling Sustainable Service Delivery

through Collaboration

Click on the link below to register for tihs free event.

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/lg-technical-advisors-group-presidents-conference-tickets-60581758671?aff=ebdssbcitybrowse

09:00 – 09:45       Registration

09:45 – 10:00           Welcome by TAG President, Mr Andrew Cassells

10.00 – 10:25            Keynote Address – Jan-Gustav Strandenaes – Senior Policy Advisor to UN on Sustainable Development

10:25 – 10:50            Professor John Barry, Queens University Belfast – Green Political Economy

10:50 – 11:00         Tea/Coffee Break

11:00 – 11:25             Derek McCallan, Chief Executive, NI Local Government Association

11:25 – 11:50             Dr Christine Doherty, Derry City & Strabane Council – Green Infrastructure and Climate Change

11:50 – 12:15             Alan McVicker, Strategic Investment Board

12:15 – 12:30         Questions

12:30 – 13:15          Lunch

13:15 – 13:40             Conor Loughrey, Director of Network Services, Department for Infrastructure Roads

13:40 – 14:05            Kelvin Reynolds, British Parking Association

14:05 – 14:30            Owen Lyttle, Head of Waste Policy, DAERA

14.30 – 14:45         Tea/Coffee Break

14:45 – 15:10             Brett Ross, Chief Executive of RiverRidge

15:10 – 15:35             Colin Shaw, WDR & RT Taggart Ltd

15.35 – 16.00         Questions

16:00 – 16.15             Concluding Remarks – TAG President, Andrew Cassells

The Government consultation on this subject issued in June was responded to by LGTAG in writing and at a recent Landor Conference. Members of LGTAG were consulted during the response.

The main issues seen bus and expressed at the Landor Conference were:

• We understand the 5 Webtag cases and also the need to satisfy the Treasury with the present funding arrangements
• Webtag is very complex and opaque
• There is enormous scope for inaccuracies
• Except in largest authorities there is a  need to appoint expensive consultants
• The highest benefit/cost interventions (eg bus lanes, parking enforcement etc) are not favoured over road schemes
• For road schemes ‘economic benefits’ are of little real benefit to society (peak times and 30- 60 years in future)
• There is little confidence that centre (Whitehall and Westminster) can understand or know what works best locally
• The benefits are usually calculated as a small difference between two enormous sums of time spent on network – this is mathematically unsound
• There are a multitude of sometimes spurious assumptions (e.g. speed flow curves with unlimited capacity, assumed speed on minor roads, no measures of extra traffic and congestion from generated traffic outside study area)
• Modelled traffic assigned to roads is sometimes factors out
• Behavioural value of time may be important for modelling but peak hour car travellers time of little ‘societal’ value
• Then — how accurate are the COSTS of the intervention especially for large road and rail schemes?!

Our full submission is attached LGTAG-Response-to-DfT-Appraisal-and-Modelling-Strategy.pdf (120 downloads)

There is an ever increasing disjoint between the 3% of the network that are motorways and the local roads.  No journey ever starts or ends at a motorway – invariably it is local council roads that matter most to people. There is a policy disjoint in understanding how people travel. Adding yet more and more funds to motorways is in marked contrast with the 97% of the network – managed by Councils – which form the lifeblood of jobs, trade and economic growth. Local roads are tired, shabby and undermine the desire to encourage cycling and walking.  This is not just about preventing a £1,000 of damage to a car wheel; it is the elderly who trip and slip on flagstones creating massive cost to the NHS.  Equally it is the unsafe roads that prevent children safely cycling to school – a the heart of Britain’s childhood obesity epidemic. “Transforming the Narrative” 

As LGTAG members and most people involved with Transport and Planning know, maximum parking provision standards in new developments are a very important tool in the planning and development of our towns and this isn’t new but dates at least back to Buchanan’s advice in Traffic in Towns in 1963.  Unfortunately it seems possible that the review of NPPF will not reiterate the importance of maximum standards.

Accordingly LGTAG with CIHT, TPS, LFACS and CBT have recently written to the government as in the attached edited word version  of the e-mail sent to government.

We have suggested a wording for Standards as follows:

Proposal:

 delete first sentence of draft revised NPPF para 107; and

• substitute with:

“Local planning authorities should set local parking standards for residential and non-residential uses, expressed as maximum parking standards, taking into account:

• the location of the development;
• its accessibility by and availability of public transport;
• the type, mix and use of development; and
• the overall need to reduce the use of high-emission vehicles. “