Agenda item

A report was considered which provided an overview of the current evaluation of value for money appraisal for active travel work and the work to procure an evaluation and monitoring package in autumn 2020.

Members were reminded that on 9 May 2020 the first announcement of the Emergency Active Travel (EAT) fund was made.  This was followed by two tranches of funding for an overall allocation of £7.1m.  Tranche 1 was for quick implementation of temporary and trial schemes to be implemented by the end of September 2020.  This bid was not subject to a value for money (VfM) assessment due to the timescales involved.  The Tranche 2 bid was submitted on 9 August 2020 but Members noted that the announcement had been delayed.  This bid was subject to a VfM assessment, details of the bid were not public, but the information would be shared with the Committee outside the meeting.

Action:  P Zanzottera to circulate details of the Tranche 2 bid to Committee members.

The Committee was informed that Active Travel schemes were appraised through a DfT mechanism – Active Modes Appraisal Toolkit (AMAT).  This was a spreadsheet-based tool that relied on a limited number of inputs about a scheme, details of which were contained within the report.

Members noted that a key issue for all schemes going through AMAT was to have an accurate estimate of current users and an uplift in numbers based on a clear precedent.

In nearly all cases in South Yorkshire there was very little data on cycling numbers and almost no data on walking.  Members noted that although cordon counts and other manual counts gave some numbers, these often under-represented the numbers of active travellers.  Also, because very few high-quality schemes had been built and in place for long enough, it was difficult to have clear precedents for the uplift in numbers.

The MCA Executive was moving to procure a monitoring and evaluation package for Active Travel which would be used for the remainder of the financial year to collect data and best practice.  In answer to a question from Cllr Anderson it was noted that this package would also allow the health and wellbeing benefits of walking and cycling to be measured

Members noted that the active travel design guidelines adopted by the MCA included the inclusion of automatic cycle counters in any new cycle track longer than 500m.  The monitoring and evaluation report would be relied on to help advise how the number of active travellers could be more accurately captured and create a series of local precedents that could be used for future schemes.

Cllr Lofts questioned whether there were any plans to retro-fit cycle counters or any money available for other counting methods such as video technology. 

P Zanzottera informed Members that there was no finance earmarked for this at present but it could be a recommendation in the future.  Retro-fitting would be difficult as it would involve digging up the cycle path but other technologies could be looked into.

The Committee was informed that in working with TfGM their Programme Entry Appraisal Tool (PEAT) had been identified as something that could add value to the way active travel schemes were assessed.  Sustrans were also working with the MCA Executive to build a pipeline of active travel schemes that could be used for further bidding opportunities.  The intention was to use a similar model to PEAT to have a set of schemes with Strategic Outline Business Cases so the VfM estimates could be made at an early stage.

The Committee discussed the costs of assessing VfM, the collection of cyclist and pedestrian data including cordon counts, tube counters and the use of video technology and how benefits to the environment and health and wellbeing were measured.

Concerns were expressed with the issue of VfM and how improvements were measured.  The Committee felt that £7.1m was a substantial amount of public money and there was a need for evidence of the benefits realised and measurable outcomes for the investment of this money.

Cllr Grocutt questioned how much it would cost to develop a new VfM monitoring system.

P Zanzottera replied that overall, in terms of building the pipeline, this was being done at zero cost.  There was a programme called the Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plan and the government had funded consultants to help with the plan.  One of the consultants was Sustrans who were assisting with the development of the pipeline until March 2021.  The monitoring and evaluation package, which was out to tender, had an indicative value of £40,000.  Part of this was to develop programme level reporting to assist with annual reporting against progress on the Active Travel Implementation Plan.

The Chair suggested a recommendation that every effort was made to ensure that baseline data for walking and cycling was obtained.  This was agreed.

RESOLVED – That the Committee:

i)        Note the contents of the report.

ii)        RECOMMENDS that every effort is made to collate baseline data for walking and cycling so that value for money could be ascertained.