7.8 Targets and Indicators

Accessibility planning is at an early stage in Lancashire, but we have set key targets that we intend to achieve through the priorities in our accessibility strategy. However, to understand the broader accessibility issues in Lancashire, we have defined a number of other indicators that we will monitor.

Index of Multiple Deprivation

Health deprivation in particular has been identified as a major problem in Lancashire, with Employment deprivation also at a high level.

The long term aim must be to reduce the degree of deprivation suffered and decrease the number of Lancashire SOAs above the 2004 cutoff score for the 20% most deprived areas in England, both in the individual deprivation domains and in the overall Index of Multiple Deprivation.

Strategic Accessibility Indicator 1: Index of Multiple Deprivation

Number of People in Lancashire in SOAs with Index of Multiple Deprivation score greater than 34.2B

Base Data (2004)    229,400

Target (2010)            217,900

Strategic Accessibility Indicator 2: Health Deprivation

Number of People in Lancashire in SOAs with Health Deprivation and Disability domain score greater than 0.76

Base data (2004)    357,000

Target (2010)           321,000

We will monitor the same indicator for the other deprivation domains.

Health deprivation

Change in the level of deprivation is governed by many factors beyond the scope of the LTP. Health deprivation is not only related to access to GPs’ surgeries and hospitals, but also to access to employment, food shops, education and opportunities to participate in sport and exercise.

Short term accessibility indicators will help to identify areas of potential improvement that are linked to transport issues. These are based on the DfT core indicators, amended to include the maximum journey times that Lancashire County Council considers desirable. It has been recognised that these indicators are based on journey times in urban areas, and that these will not necessarily be an acceptable measure of accessibility for the rural population. Separate targets for access in rural areas are being considered.

To measure accessibility linked to deprivation, indicators are included that are related both to the population as a whole and, as an approximate measure of potential social exclusion, to the non car-owning population.

All indicators are based on weekday journeys to arrive at 8 50am for 9 00am.

Access to healthcare

Short Term Accessibility Indicator 1:

% of households without access to a car within 15 minutes of a GP by public transport

Base data (2004)    63%

Target (2010)            65%

Short Term Accessibility Indicator 2:

% of households within 15 minutes of a GP by public transport

To be monitored

Short Term Accessibility Indicator 3:

% of households without access to a car within 30 minutes of a hospital by public transport

Base data (2004)    37%

Target (2010)           38%

Short Term Accessibility Indicator 4:

% of households within 30 minutes of a hospital by public transport

To be monitored

Access to employment

Short Term Accessibility Indicator 5:

a) % of people of working age (16-64) within 30 minutes of work by public transport

b) % of people of working age (16-64) in households without access to a car within 30 minutes of work by public transport

To be monitored

Access to education, skills and training

Short Term Accessibility Indicator 6:

a) % of pupils of compulsory school age within 15 minutes of a primary school by public transport

b) % of pupils of compulsory school age from households without access to a car within 15 minutes of a primary school by public transport

To be monitored

Short Term Accessibility Indicator 7:

a) % of 16-19 year olds within 30 minutes of a further education establishment by public transport

b) % of 16-19 year olds from households without access to a car within 30 minutes of a further education establishment by public transport

To be monitored

Access to food

Lancashire County Council has made many approaches to food retailers and industry organisations, so far without attracting partners in this sector. As a result, we will monitor access to food shopping using the indicator below but cannot set a target.

Short Term Accessibility Indicator 8:

a) % of households within 30 minutes of a supermarket by public transport

b) % of households without access to a car within 30 minutes of a supermarket by public transport

To be monitored

Access to sport and active leisure

As a result of the difficulty of assembling a data set, and as we are not yet in active discussion with service providers, we will not be reporting on this indicator in this document. However, service providers have expressed interest in accessibility planning and we anticipate that we will be reporting in the future.

Profile of access to major centres

The nature of the public transport network in Lancashire is such that service levels are much lower outside the typical working hours. However, there is evidence that more people are needing to travel at other times and we consider it important to monitor journey times accessibility. In particular, we are aware of a number of employers working to continental shift patterns and we are concerned that for those households without a car travelling to continuing education. Until we fully investigate this, we will not be in a position to set targets.

Short Term Accessibility Indicator 9:

a) % of households within 30 minutes of a major centre by public transport.

b) % of households without access to a car within 30 minutes of a major center by public transport

To be monitored

Both indicators will be measured giving a two-hourly profile throughout the day, daily to give a weekly profile and monitored on an annual basis.

Perception of accessibility

Making travel easier is crucial to overcoming barriers to access. Getting about may be seen to be difficult for a number of reasons, such as safety fears, difficulty of use or distrust in the reliability of the service.

These barriers cannot be assessed quantitatively; therefore to assess attitudes to them qualitatively, questionnaires will be completed by the Life in Lancashire panel on a regular basis. The baseline questionnaire will be issued in May 2006.  A compatible questionnaire will be offered to all Local Strategic Partnerships in Lancashire and to the Community, Faith and Voluntary Forums.

From the responses to subsequent questionnaires, it will be possible to measure the change in perception that results from work included in the LTP programme.

Short Term Accessibility Indicator 10:

% of people who believe that getting to where you need to go in Lancashire is becoming easier.

Target (2010)    5% increase.

(This is a preliminary target and may be reconsidered when baseline data have been collected)

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