Agenda item

Report from the Strategic Director of Regeneration and Environment.

Recommendations:

That Cabinet:

1.    Approves the schemes and allocations of funding outlined in Section 2 of this report.

2.    Delegates authority to the Strategic Director, Regeneration and Environment, in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Transport, Jobs and the Local Economy, to determine the type and location of pedestrian crossing to be designed per paragraph 2.2.4 following the prioritisation process.

3.    Approves the reprofiling of £175,000 previously allocated to the Collision Investigation & Prevention workstream, to enable these funds to be allocated, subject to subsequent Cabinet decision, in the 2026/27 Transport Capital Programme as set out in paragraphs 2.2.11 and 2.2.12.

4.    Delegates authority to the Strategic Director, Regeneration and Environment, in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Transport, Jobs and the Local Economy, to determine the schemes to be delivered with the Structures and Minor Works allocations.

5.    Delegates authority to the Strategic Director, Regeneration and Environment, in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Transport, Jobs and the Local Economy, to determine new schemes for delivery in Rawmarsh West and Wath wards, within budgets approved in March 2024, as part of tranche 2 of the Local Neighbourhood and Road Safety programme.

Consideration was given to the report which detailed the Transport Programme for the upcoming 2025-26 financial year for both revenue and capital, including its funding sources and programme areas, and explained how projects would be managed within them. In July 2022, the Department for Transport (DfT) confirmed a new round of funding called the City Regions Sustainable Transport Settlement (CRSTS). This funding was distributed to Local Transport Authorities within Combined Authority areas for a funding period from 2022-2027. The DfT had allocated £570 million to South Yorkshire, of which a total of £72.4 million capital was designated for schemes in Rotherham.

The funding included a £6 million allocation over the 5-year period (2022-

2027) for a Local Neighbourhood Complementary Transport Programme

(LNCTP) that was intended to support localised transport improvements,

including the Local Neighbourhood & Road Safety schemes and specific

interventions, such as pedestrian crossings and minor works. The report considered the LNCTP funding that remained to be allocated in the 2025-26 financial year.

There was also an additional allocation of £426,400 for highway structures

asset maintenance. This was part of the separate CRSTS Network Asset

Maintenance block funding. Further, Rotherham Council had been invited to bid for Active Travel Fund tranche 5 (ATF5), as part of a wider South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority bid. It was not confirmed if this bid was successful at the time of writing the report; approvals were sought subject to that bid being successful so as to allow work to commence promptly.

The report reflected on some of the successes from the previous year. Most notably, Rotherham was the first of the four South Yorkshire authorities to complete its Transforming Cities Fund programme. Additionally, the Council had delivered two highway structure projects and had delivered three new pedestrian crossings.

The report was considered by the Overview and Scrutiny Management

Board (OSMB), who advised that the recommendations be supported. OSMB had requested further information on the process of how new crossings were assessed and prioritised.

Resolved:

That Cabinet:

1.    Approve the schemes and allocations of funding outlined in Section 2 of this report.

2.    Delegate authority to the Strategic Director, Regeneration and Environment, in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Transport, Jobs and the Local Economy, to determine the type and location of pedestrian crossing to be designed per paragraph 2.2.4 following the prioritisation process.

3.    Approve the reprofiling of £175,000 previously allocated to the Collision Investigation & Prevention workstream, to enable these funds to be allocated, subject to subsequent Cabinet decision, in the 2026/27 Transport Capital Programme as set out in paragraphs 2.2.11 and 2.2.12.

4.    Delegate authority to the Strategic Director, Regeneration and Environment, in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Transport, Jobs and the Local Economy, to determine the schemes to be delivered with the Structures and Minor Works allocations.

5.    Delegates authority to the Strategic Director, Regeneration and Environment, in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Transport, Jobs and the Local Economy, to determine new schemes for delivery in Rawmarsh West and Wath wards, within budgets approved in March 2024, as part of tranche 2 of the Local Neighbourhood and Road Safety programme.