5.3 East Lancashire Rapid Transit

Cross Border Scheme in Partnership with Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council

This proposed scheme is being promoted jointly by Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council and Lancashire County Council. The scheme provides improved connectivity by public transport between Blackburn, Darwen, Accrington, other East Lancashire towns and the Whitebirk Strategic Employment Site. Development of this regional employment site is endorsed through the Regional Spatial Strategy and the Regional Economic Strategy.

The project is being developed in partnership with the ELEVATE Housing Market Renewal Programme and the Lancashire Economic Partnership. The Councils are in the process of setting up a framework which will allow us to work with the Department for Transport on appraising the scheme through the DfTs Major Schemes programme.

The key aim of the East Lancashire Rapid Transit (ELRT) project is to improve connectivity by public transport from within and outside the Borough to key Strategic employment sites and to support the future regeneration of East Lancashire’s towns. A key objective is to develop an integrated public transport system with connectivity and through ticketing at its heart. The priority corridor for the ELRT scheme has been identified as the Darwen – Blackburn – Accrington bus corridor (including routes between Blackburn and Accrington via Rishton, Great Harwood and Oswaldtwistle) linking with the strategic east-west and north-south railway lines.

In readiness for the project's next stages, the Councils are considering a range of infrastructure options in terms of public transport, highway improvements, traffic management and softer measures such as rolling out Smartcard ticketing and information provision. The following Rapid Transit elements are currently being appraised:

• inbound bus lanes on congested sections of the A666
• completion of the Furthergate bus lane to Whitebirk
• selected junction widening with a greater degree of bus and cycle priority
• interchange enhancements at Darwen, Blackburn and Accrington town centres
• major priority measures within Hyndburn.
• Smartcard Integrated Ticketing between public transport operators.

The scheme may impact on the road network in terms of the reallocation of road space, on street parking and, in limited cases, some CPOs, but this will be carried out with full consultation with the local community. 

A socio-economic appraisal of East Lancashire carried out on behalf of the project demonstrated how accessibility to key employment sites and social inclusion benefits can be markedly improved by the introduction of a Rapid Transit network. These are shown below in terms of economic, social and environmental objectives and how these are to be met.

Economic objectives

• To facilitate sub-regional employment and economic growth.
• To contribute towards the creation of a competitive and sustainable local economy on a sub-regional basis.
• To contribute towards the sub-regional transformational process identified by the East Lancashire Housing Market Restructuring Pathfinder ELEVATE, through their work with the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister in relation to economic development and employment initiatives.
• To support Regional Economic Strategy objectives for transformational activities, providing better access for East Lancashire residents to benefit from job growth in Manchester and Preston.

Social objectives

• The provision of employment opportunities is an essential driver for economic prosperity and breaking the cycle of social decline within areas of multiple deprivation.
• The East Lancashire Sub Region incorporates numerous areas which fall within the top 10% most deprived areas in the country, and it is within this context that the infrastructure improvements are required.
• This approach is coupled with ongoing European Social Fund initiatives to provide training to improve skills for residents of East Lancashire to directly align people to the opportunities generated throughout the sub-region and at the strategic site.

Environmental objectives

• Substantial decongestion benefits to the local and strategic road network.
• Reduced journey times for buses leading to less environmental pollution.

An outline Business Case and Cost Benefit analysis has already been carried out at detailed feasibility stage and shows an outline cost/benefit ratio of 3:1. Analysis has also showed that net economic benefits accrued to £43.3m over 30 year period after implementation of the scheme. Discussions are continuing with respect to private sector contributions from operators, and with the DfT on the best way forward to procure and protect the scheme. It is envisaged that collaboration with bus operators, in terms of vehicles and commitment to the scheme, will be delivered via the statutory Quality Bus Partnership mechanism.

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