4. Finances and Staffing

4.1 Level of contribution

Contributions are made to a joint budget based on an approved subscription formula which is presented as Appendix H. This means that annual contributions range from £1,400 to a maximum of £4,200, depending upon the involvement of the authority/agency concerned.

4.2 Annual budget level

Each year contributions are sought using the standard formula as a guide. This gives an expected annual income of around £52,000, meaning that even those agencies making the maximum contribution of funds, see their contribution multiplied by a factor of 12 for joint spending purposes.

4.3 Allocation of finances

During the early years of the strategy, finance was predicted on a year by year basis, with funds being put into consultants’ studies. The growing workload of the overall strategy, however, necessitated the appointment of a half time Project Officer from October 1999.

As the strategy moves into its implementation phase, the ‘core’ work is increasing (i.e. Business Plan implementation and review, servicing Officer and Member meetings, sub-group meetings, input to Local Transport Plans and Regional Planning Guidance, monitoring requirements, general liaison, arrangement of seminars, the newsletter and website). A half time Project Assistant was appointed in November 2000. The contracts of these two posts are currently renewable on an annual basis. A review of the staffing levels and alternatives to best service the needs of the strategy (e.g. staffing levels, length of contract, engaging consultants, seeking secondment of suitably experienced staff) will be part of the annual monitoring report.

4.4 Carrying funds forward

Funds allocated to assist with or develop further studies may be carried forward to the following financial year.

4.5 Funding in 2000/2001 and proposals for 2001/2002

4.6 Future funding levels

Routine project costs (staff, conferences/seminars, website, newsletter and monitoring) are in the order of £36,000 per annum. This currently leaves an allowance of around £16,000 which may be used to fund necessary studies. Further studies identified are likely to be relate to the following:

Stage 1 2000-2003

• strategic public transport services (bus and rail) and inter-modality
• traffic restraint techniques within rural areas (for A6/A52/523 and A6/A628)
• speed reduction strategies within National Parks
• travel awareness campaigns
• assessing potential for freight transfer from road to rail; more likely to be a ‘pulling together’ of existing studies, rather than a new study (includes Central railway proposal)
• consideration of other freight management issues
• A628 ‘Green Bridges’ pilot study
• setting up a monitoring regime

Stage 2a 2003-2005

• assess effectiveness of improved strategic public transport services
• A628/M62 assess potential for traffic restraint measures
• close liaison re Route Management Strategy for A628/616
• origin and destination surveys of A628/616

Stage 2b 2005-2008

• patronage of Matlock-Buxton railway and degree of modal shift
• assess Trans-Pennine rail upgrade
• assess effectiveness of A6/A52/523 traffic restraint measures
• re-examine broader role of A628 following opening of Mottram-Hollingworth-Tintwistle, with regard to nature of ‘selected, limited improvements’
• origin and destination surveys of A628/616
• assess effectiveness of freight management initiatives

Stage 3 2008-2015

• assess effectiveness of traffic restraint measures (A6/A628 and A628/M62)
• assess effectiveness of A628 improvements
• assess effect of Woodhead (Central) railway

The above list is clearly subject to adjustment each year, depending upon the progression of initiatives, but helps to give some indication of the focus of studies which are based on the strategy’s objectives. During the latter end of the Business Plan’s timescale, these will relate to the assessment of initiatives carried out, in contrast to the exploratory studies at the initial stages of the strategy.

4.7 Finance to implement joined up action

It is expected that, as the strategy progresses, various funding sources will be drawn in to finance the initiatives. These sources include Central government funding/grants, local government funding, EU funding/grant regimes, private sector risk and loan capital, hypothecated toll revenues, lottery funding, Regional Development Agency, Countryside Agency, public/private sector partnerships etc.

It is important that the strategy’s action leads the seeking of finance, rather than vice versa. For example, the pilot traffic restraint study between the A6 and A52/523 is likely to be eligible for Rural Development Area and Objective 2 status funding