People in the South East will benefit from £201 million to improve local transport in the region, Transport Secretary Douglas Alexander announced today. The investment is part of the Local Transport Capital Settlement given to local authorities each year to help them deliver transport improvements in their communities.
The money will fund a range of improvements, including new road safety measures, better street lighting, road maintenance, park and ride facilities and cycle lanes. The South East will also benefit from £17.3 million through a specific road safety grant, announced last year. The grant means more money and flexibility for local authorities to deliver safer roads.
This year's investment delivers funding for 2007/08. Some of this year's money is awarded according to the performance of local authorities in delivering better transport over the first five year Local Transport Plan period. Another part is based on the quality of their plans to improve transport over the next five years.
This investment is in addition to the indicative funding for major transport projects in the South East for 2007/08 and 2008/09, worth £285 million, which was announced earlier this year as part of the Regional Funding Allocation process.
Douglas Alexander said:"The Government has invested more than £9 billion in local transport across the country over the last six years. The improvements made with this money have benefited passengers, motorists and local businesses across the country.
"We have seen sustained progress in reducing local road casualties. The condition of many local road networks is improving. Better infrastructure for buses, cyclists and pedestrians has been put in place so local transport is making a contribution to more sustainable development and economic growth."
The Department reviewed the delivery of the first Local Transport Plans, which local authorities produced for 2001/02 to 2005/06. One example of the success in the South East highlighted in the review is the Crawley Fastway in West Sussex. This is a state of the art bus service for people around Crawley, Gatwick and Horley. High quality new buses run on priority routes compromising bus lanes, 2.5 km of guideway and junction priority measures. It has been designed to speed past congestion hotspots and has proved highly successful and popular.
Integrated transport allocations totalling £1,769 million across the country for 2008/09 to 2010/11, subject only to next year's spending review, are included in today's announcement.
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