Written evidence submitted by Nottingham City Council (URB0097)

Nottingham City Council welcomes the opportunity to contribute to this inquiry. The Council is the transport authority for the City of Nottingham and is the Promoter for the Nottingham Express Transit (NET) light rail system. This evidence has been submitted following the opening of the second phase of the NET system in August 2015, which extends Nottingham’s tram network further within the city of Nottingham and the Nottingham conurbation. The evidence highlights the local benefits gained from this very successful integrated transport network particularly in the context of tackling urban congestion, but also considers key public facing issues that arose during the construction phase. Separately, the Council has contributed to the Local Government Association submission to this inquiry on wider transport issues, most notably on the Workplace Parking Levy which was introduced in Nottingham in 2012, and provided the local contribution towards the construction of NET Phase Two and other transport schemes.     

Executive Summary

Benefits

NET Phase Two construction phase (2012 – 2015)


  1. there was a comprehensive communication plan in place, but due to the very complex and challenging works, the information available did not always match the expectations of local people. This highlighted that It is important to establish a realistic level and extent of information to be provided for local people (and agreed with them) at the outset of the project.
  2. recognising the disruptive nature of the work, a number of discretionary measures were introduced to help affected parties, including financial assistance for small businesses, logistical support, free bus services and marketing campaigns. These proved to be strongly beneficial and are recommended for similar future schemes.
  3. utility diversions in particular impacted on the overall programme. It proved difficult to fully explore diversions at an early stage in project development, and this caused significant complications during later design and construction stages. Understanding the extent of utility services, particularly in key hot spot locations, as early as possible in scheme development would significantly reduce the risk of project scope change and programme delay.

Nottingham Express Transit 

  1. Nottingham Express Transit (NET) is part of a modern and award winning integrated transport system in Nottingham which has delivered huge benefits to people who live and work in the city. The first phase of NET to Hucknall and Phoenix Park (£180m) opened in 2004, and further links to Clifton and Toton (£450m) opening in August 2015. Both phases were procured under the Private Finance Initiative, and a private sector consortium is in place to finance, design, build, operate and maintain the system over a concession period up to 2034. Local contributions were funded from the innovative Workplace Parking Levy.
  2. The expanded system has over 50 tram stops providing very reliable services every seven to ten minutes on each route corridor, with services every three to five minutes in the City Centre. The network is a major asset to the city and has been extremely well received by the public, with over 15 million users per annum now using the expanded network.
  3. A key development objective was to provide a sustainable alternative to the car for many journeys and to provide some relief to the congested road network. Following the introduction of NET Line One into the busy north-west corridors in Nottingham, inbound peak period traffic flows fell by a greater extent in this part of the city than elsewhere. At the time of planning Phase Two, the overall direct annual economic cost of congestion in Nottingham was  estimated at £160m(i), and the new NET lines were developed in the south and west quadrant of Nottingham, which include two of the most congested routes in the city and which are major radial routes to and from the M1. 
  4. A key part of the Council’s transport strategy has been to substantially increase public transport capacity to help maintain traffic flow by providing good quality and accessible alternatives to car usage, establishing extensive park and ride provision on the edge of the urban area to directly attract motorists from key radial routes and to release highway capacity.  The recently opened Phase Two services was planned to provide 50% of the expected additional capacity required by the city by 2030(ii).  
  5. Although it is too early to assess the direct impacts of the recent expansion of NET on traffic levels, passenger surveys indicate that around 30% of NET users formerly made their journey by car or are using park and ride. Furthermore, since the first tram line opened, public transport use in Nottingham has grown from 67m (2004) to 78m (2016), and recent Government figures that show that traffic levels in Nottingham have fallen by almost 40 million car miles over the past 15 years, bucking the trend for most large English cities outside London(iii).
  6. It is clear the system has achieved its objectives of increasing public transport capacity and significant modal shift from car to tram, and is supporting the economic vitality of the city centre and district centres, providing a strong basis to support future economic growth in a sustainable manner.
  7. NET is universally considered a success by the public and businesses. The system has been founded on a number of core principles:
  1. Key accessibility benefits include:  
  1. There are also strong indications that NET has supported investment decisions and has been a catalyst for economic growth, with NET being used extensively in marketing materials aimed at attracting inward investment for commercial and residential development. There has been significant commercial development adjacent to the City Centre tram stops and major housing and retail development in Hucknall, and the recently opened Phase Two routes will help to unlock a number of significant development sites in the area, including the Southern Gateway, NG2 business park, Queens Medical Centre and Beeston town centre. According to the Centre for Business and Economics Research, Phase Two alone is projected to generate long term employment growth of up to 8,000 jobs and is expected to boost the local economy by £300m per year(v). 
  2. With the success of the tram network, the City Council is looking to develop the network further, with initial investigations into extending NET within the Nottingham area and to the proposed HS2 Hub at Toton, and also beyond by linking the East Midlands HS2 Hub to some of the main economic drivers in the D2N2 Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) area. These include Derby City Centre, East Midlands Airport, which will also provide international connectivity to the wider East Midlands economy, and to the proposed Strategic Rail Freight interchange at Castle Donington which is expected to employ up to 7,000 people. Numerous employment, commercial and education sites would also be served. The plan below illustrates potential extensions.

Description: Description: D2N2 corridor routes

  1. Developing a light rail network across the D2N2 LEP area would provide a step change in the capacity, availability and quality of public transport, providing a genuine alternative to the car, and will also considerably assist in reducing the pressure on key strategic roads of national importance, including the M1, A50 and A52.

 Initial consultation, public support for the project and route selection         

  1. The selection of the NET Phase Two tram routes were the subject of a comprehensive development process that included widespread public consultation on various route options and all other aspects of the scheme proposals. The extent and scope of public and stakeholder engagement was fully in accordance with Government guidelines. The proposals were comprehensively tested at the 2007 public inquiry which formed the basis of the Government decision making process both in terms of approving the Nottingham Express Transit System Order 2009 and also for the provision of funding.  

 

NET Phase Two construction phase

  1. The Phase Two construction (2012 – 2015) was a complex engineering project which involved 17kms of double track tram route (including 10kms on highway and sometimes on roads with significant volumes of traffic); 10 structures over road, rail and water; numerous utility diversions involving 17 companies; a depot expansion and over 500 plots of land compulsorily purchased. There was disruption during the works to third parties along the routes, including local residents and businesses, and this was exacerbated by the delays to the expected 3 year project programme, which resulted in passenger services starting eight months later than envisaged. Works in key built up areas such as Chilwell Road and Lower Road/Fletcher Road proved to be most problematic and in some locations long stretches of road were fully or partially closed for many weeks or months. Many of the on street works required temporary and in many cases onerous traffic management arrangements, which affected a large part of the local and travelling community.
  2. The City Council contractually passed the construction risk to the private sector consortium who had responsibility to design and build the scheme. This meant that additional costs incurred as a result of the later than expected opening and associated additional works were met by the private sector. The contract structure strongly incentivised the consortium to deliver NET Phase Two as soon as possible.   
  3. It is evident that lessons can be learnt from this phase of the project, focussing on a number of areas of delivery, and a review of the construction phase has taken place. There has been local focus in particular on the extent and effectiveness of communications during periods of disruption, the extent of compensation for third parties affected by the works; and the impact of utility diversions on overall project progress. A number of key issues are highlighted below.

 Communications

  1.  During the works there was a comprehensive and heavily resourced communication and stakeholder plan in place with the key aim of keeping affected parties (such as local residents and businesses but also the public in general), as fully informed and engaged as possible. The resources included a dedicated on site contractor public liaison team, a client project hotline and email response team (that pro-actively dealt with over 20,000 queries), a key stakeholder engagement team, a comprehensive local liaison network and a website. Many project information events were held and leaflets, brochures and newsletters produced. High levels of dialogue were held with stakeholders over the day to day issues affecting them during the works.               
  2. Generally it is considered that the resource intensive arrangements were invaluable to many people affected by the works. However, engagement teams were very dependent on receipt of an up to date accurate construction programme, directly from the contractor, and there were many instances where accurate information was not forthcoming; for example, activity timescales and methods sometimes changed at the last minute, impacts were not always as predicted and works in local areas often overran.  This led to inaccurate information in the public domain and some criticism from affected parties.
  3. The nature of the works was challenging and complex, and they were undertaken by a mixture of numerous contractor teams, sub-contractors and utility companies across a very wide geographical area. In this context changes to the project programme were always going to happen and despite the wide ranging communication outlets, it was inevitable that the information was sometimes incorrect or out of date. The expectations of third parties about the level and extent of the information that would be available was greater than the level that could realistically be provided. It is important in such circumstances to be clear from the outset about potential impacts of the works, delivery risks and the high probability of programme variation to ensure that third party expectations on information provision is appropriately managed throughout the project.
  4. Ideally a Communications Plan should be agreed at the commencement of works with local people and stakeholders and then effectively delivered, with appropriate resources, providing as realistic as possible work programmes, activity schedules, assessments of stakeholder impacts, mitigation proposals and progress updates. The level and extent of information to be provided to local people should be established at the outset within local areas through a Community Charter, ideally using project champions.

 Compensation and other community measures

  1. Nottingham City Council administered the NET Phase Two project in accordance with all applicable statutory compensation legislation. This generally established that unless eligible under land compensation legislation, local businesses and residents affected by the general impact of construction - noise, dust, affected walking and driving routes, general inconvenience, loss of local amenity etc. - did not receive compensation, and the City Council is not aware of any national legislation that allows for this generality.
  2. In addition, recognising the disruptive nature of the tram works, a Code of Construction Practice was put in place which prescribed standards on the contractor to ensure that the works were undertaken in a responsive and sympathetic manner with adverse impacts on the local community minimised as far as possible. A number of measures were also introduced to assist affected parties, which included a discretionary financial assistance package for small businesses that could demonstrate a financial loss arising from the construction works. Over 125 businesses benefited from the scheme, with around £2.5m of assistance paid jointly by Nottingham City and Nottinghamshire County Councils. Related to this, the Council’s funded a £0.2m additional business hardship top up fund, primarily to deal with any cash flow problems identified.
  3. Furthermore, a dedicated logistics team for traders and temporary car parks and free bus services for shoppers were made available in the very constrained shopping area of Chilwell Road, and softer measures were introduced across the scheme, including competitions to encourage use of local shops, marketing campaigns and shopping vouchers and free tram travel for residents living along the routes.  These arrangements were significantly more comprehensive than those proposed and received positively by the independent inspector who chaired the above mentioned 2007 public inquiry and overall it is considered that the support provided met the key objective of enabling local people across the scheme to better endure the inevitably difficult construction period.

 Construction works

  1. As indicated above, the nature of the works was challenging and complex, and utility diversions in particular impacted on the overall programme. Although it would be beneficial, it is difficult to fully explore utility diversions prior to contracts being signed, and this was most apparent on Chilwell Road, where further investigations of utility apparatus following the letting of the contract meant that the pre-contract assumption of a one way route along the road for through traffic could not be provided. Every effort therefore needs to be made to fully understand the extent of utility services, particularly in key hot spot locations, as early as possible. This would help to establish the extent of the utility services being dealt with and the issues that may affect the design and construction of the project.

Construction benefits

  1. Although the construction phase proved challenging for local people affected by the works, there were very significant indirect local economic benefits gained during this period. More than 1,500 people were employed to construct the expanded tram network at the peak of the works, with nearly half from the local area. Many of the jobs were filled by the contractor working with the City Council’s Job Hub, which is a labour brokerage and recruitment service for businesses run by the City Council in partnership with DWP, who also organised a series of jobs fairs for the scheme and ran a number of pre-employment training courses for people to prepare them for work. Employment was provided for over 400 local people who were previously unemployed or in education, achieving a major objective of the City Council. There were training opportunities for local people with over 100 NVQ’s achieved and 700 young people engaged in work experience courses.
  2. There were considerable supply chain benefits in the local area, with over £150m of contracts for firms with a base in the East Midlands. Local suppliers were pro-actively sought through meet the buyer events organised by the City Council and a dedicated portal on the Concessionaire’s website actively seeking suppliers.      
  3. Other local benefits from the construction included £50m of utility upgrades in the local area, and a multimillion pound super broadband concession granted using ducting provided by the scheme.

 

(i)        Technical report 2 – Measurement of congestion paragraph 4.2.24. Economic Costs of Congestion in the East Midlands. A report prepared for EMDA by Atkins. June 2007.

(ii)      Evidence of Chris Deas: Project Strategy, Planning, Development and Delivery. NET Public Inquiry, 2007.

(iii)     Department for Transport Traffic Count - Nottingham traffic profile for 2000 to 2015 - click here

(iv)    Transport Focus - Tram Passenger Survey Nottingham Autumn 2015 results - click here 

(v)      Taken from Evidence of Dominic Walley, Centre for Economics and Business Research, NET public inquiry 2007.

February 2017