Foreword and Introduction
What is your name?
Name
G.R. Brooks
What Happens Next
Do you have any other comments about the Local Plan?
Any other comments
Dear Sirs,
Thank you for arranging for local residents to be consulted on the Stockport Local Plan at St. Michael and All Angels Church, Bramhall, on Saturday 16th Septemeber 2017. I am grateful for the opportunity to comment on the development of transport policies and on the consultative process itself.
The planning of services for the local community must satisfy at least these three major criteria:
1) Stockport's policies on the provision of Greater Manchester services such as transport need to be developed in the context of the region as a whole.
2) Planning now for the medium-term and long-term provision must be radical and geared to likely future needs. Short-term amelioration of present problems will, as shown repeatedly in the past, be mere "tinkering" and almost certainly fail to provide satisfying solutions.
3) The consultative process must be comprehensive, clearly understood and informative, if it is to be beneficial to all parties.
In relation to those three criteria:
1) At the Bramhall meeting, it was not clear how the Metropolitan Borough Council plans relate to those of the Greater Manchester planning authority, or where responsibility for the coordination of the transport planning process lies. This lack of clarity poses serious problems both for the integrity of the planning process and for the confidence of the local community in the outcome of this process.
Neither the power nor the will of either of these local government authorities to require the involvement of other relevant transport bodies to cooperate actively in the planning of local transport services was clearly stated. Some involvement is essential if any such plan is to be comprehensive and productive.
2) The summaries provided on "What is transport like in Stockport now?" and "The future of Stockport's Transportation" are helpful. They clearly show, inter alia, that (a) the regional and local plans must be designed - and enforced - to secure a very substantial reduction in the number of cars in Greater Manchester and Stockport and in the key urban centres, and the focus on the current tendency to increase facilities for cars must end, as such increases simply exacerbate the problems, not alleviate them; and (b) the provision of adequate transport services would greatly encourage the process of achieving a reduction in the use of cars, and thus also encourage improvements in environmental and personal health. Well- integrated public transport services are essential - and achievable at present, bus services for many areas of the locality are too infrequent and unreliable, so that demand for them is high but actual use decreases, which in turn leads to further reductions in provision of public transportation and the increase in the number of cars on the roads - a self-fulfilling prophecy. The needs of older residents (20% of the local population) must also be taken into account. The integration of bus and rail services similarly calls for additional services and coordinated planning.
(3) The provision of information relating to the transport planning process must be appropriate to the needs of present and potential users of the transport services. The consultation process must be open and help the users both to understand and to become involved in that process. The leaflet " Want more information about transport in Stockport?" was a disappointment: it appears to be aimed exclusively at people who have the resources, desire and ability to use computerised information systems (and even they would probably be discouraged by contact details which involve some 64 symbols!). It is of little, if any, use to others - in short, a well-intentioned but discouraging document.
My genuine purpose in offering these comments is to be constructive and helpful, and I wish you well in this extraordinarily complex and difficult planning process.
Thank you for arranging for local residents to be consulted on the Stockport Local Plan at St. Michael and All Angels Church, Bramhall, on Saturday 16th Septemeber 2017. I am grateful for the opportunity to comment on the development of transport policies and on the consultative process itself.
The planning of services for the local community must satisfy at least these three major criteria:
1) Stockport's policies on the provision of Greater Manchester services such as transport need to be developed in the context of the region as a whole.
2) Planning now for the medium-term and long-term provision must be radical and geared to likely future needs. Short-term amelioration of present problems will, as shown repeatedly in the past, be mere "tinkering" and almost certainly fail to provide satisfying solutions.
3) The consultative process must be comprehensive, clearly understood and informative, if it is to be beneficial to all parties.
In relation to those three criteria:
1) At the Bramhall meeting, it was not clear how the Metropolitan Borough Council plans relate to those of the Greater Manchester planning authority, or where responsibility for the coordination of the transport planning process lies. This lack of clarity poses serious problems both for the integrity of the planning process and for the confidence of the local community in the outcome of this process.
Neither the power nor the will of either of these local government authorities to require the involvement of other relevant transport bodies to cooperate actively in the planning of local transport services was clearly stated. Some involvement is essential if any such plan is to be comprehensive and productive.
2) The summaries provided on "What is transport like in Stockport now?" and "The future of Stockport's Transportation" are helpful. They clearly show, inter alia, that (a) the regional and local plans must be designed - and enforced - to secure a very substantial reduction in the number of cars in Greater Manchester and Stockport and in the key urban centres, and the focus on the current tendency to increase facilities for cars must end, as such increases simply exacerbate the problems, not alleviate them; and (b) the provision of adequate transport services would greatly encourage the process of achieving a reduction in the use of cars, and thus also encourage improvements in environmental and personal health. Well- integrated public transport services are essential - and achievable at present, bus services for many areas of the locality are too infrequent and unreliable, so that demand for them is high but actual use decreases, which in turn leads to further reductions in provision of public transportation and the increase in the number of cars on the roads - a self-fulfilling prophecy. The needs of older residents (20% of the local population) must also be taken into account. The integration of bus and rail services similarly calls for additional services and coordinated planning.
(3) The provision of information relating to the transport planning process must be appropriate to the needs of present and potential users of the transport services. The consultation process must be open and help the users both to understand and to become involved in that process. The leaflet " Want more information about transport in Stockport?" was a disappointment: it appears to be aimed exclusively at people who have the resources, desire and ability to use computerised information systems (and even they would probably be discouraged by contact details which involve some 64 symbols!). It is of little, if any, use to others - in short, a well-intentioned but discouraging document.
My genuine purpose in offering these comments is to be constructive and helpful, and I wish you well in this extraordinarily complex and difficult planning process.