http://www.jmp.co.ukNewsTransport consultant JMP is carrying out consultation and detailed design for streetscape improvements close by Rotherhithe Railway Station and the adjacent Brunel Museum in the London Borough of Southwark. In response to the future travel demands of Rotherhithe Station following the reopening of the East London Line, a series of public realm measures have been developed in the vicinity of the station. The intention is to improve accessibility via a more user-friendly space. The Council is initially concentrating on the approaches and connections of the station and the Brunel Museum. Public consultation enabled the preparation of a package of detailed design drawings for implementation during 2010/11. The aim is to provide improvements to the public space directly outside the station, including landscaping and footway reconditioning of Railway Avenue to create a new shared pedestrian and cycle area. There will also be enhancements of links to the Brunel Museum and the Thames Path, upgrading and minimisation of street furniture to reduce street clutter, improved lighting and cycle parking.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=21231 Aug 2010Transport planner JMP has been commissioned as part of a BDP-led multi-disciplinary team to provide transport expertise in a regeneration study for the centre of the Lancashire town of Rawtenstall. The project, for Rossendale Borough Council, will examine the viability of realistic and creative development options for the town centre, leading to an overall masterplan that will define the future sustainability of Rawtenstall as a vibrant market town. Opportunities for enhancing the town centre will be pursued, focusing on the redevelopment of the Valley Centre, a 1960s-style shopping precinct. A long term planning solution is needed to support the thriving independent high street shops, improve transport links and attract new investment. JMP will be examining the potential for improving transport links, local routes being currently subject to congestion, which in turn impacts upon air quality and pedestrian activity. Among the range of options to be explored will be the provision of a new bus station. Car parking management needs will also be identified to take account of the future demand for travel. http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=21130 Aug 2010Transport planner JMP has been appointed by the London Borough of Enfield to review the existing town centre Controlled Parking Zone and to analyse the operation of Pay and Display parking in the Borough. The CPZ review will investigate the current effectiveness of the zone, whether the hours of operation need to be changed and whether the existing boundary protects residents who are experiencing parking stress around the edge of the zone. JMP will also consider reducing internal commuting by splitting the zone into inner and outer zones and the reallocation of kerb side space to balance the demand from residents, businesses and shoppers. There will be a review of all signage within the zone to ensure that all restrictions are correct. Following an existing data review, JMP will consult with residents, businesses and affected stakeholders to identify any potential issues associated with revisions of the CPZ. Once the scheme details have been finalised, JMP will prepare lining and signing schedules and prepare the traffic regulation orders, with changes to the CPZ implemented in 2011. This work further strengthens JMP’s relationship with the Borough, having completed numerous parking studies in recent years, including similar CPZ and parking strategy studies.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=21025 Aug 2010Transport consultant JMP is surveying pedestrian movements, parking operations and traffic flows along three corridors in the London Borough of Waltham Forest to allow informed design decisions for future improvements to network operations and the public realm. These areas have been highlighted by the Borough as part of Waltham Forest’s Local Implementation Plan programme for 2010/2011. In addition, surveys are being conducted on businesses and cyclists to ascertain current business requirements and the suitability of/need for cycle facilities. The work involves extensive investigation to determine existing network operations and the subsequent analysis of collected data.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=20923 Aug 2010Transport planner JMP has made a number of promotions including principal and senior transport planners and senior engineers. Helen Cumiskey and Rhian Lewis, both in the Liverpool office, Kelly Aldridge and Tom Derstroff, both London and James Edwards in Birmingham, have all been promoted to principal transport planners. Newly promoted senior transport planner is Adil Mohammad in the Leeds office with Rachel Broadbent (Newcastle), Jonathan Liston (London) and Sunny Law (London) all being promoted to senior engineers.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=20817 Aug 2010Transport planner JMP is helping to provide a framework for the five Tees Valley authorities of Darlington, Hartlepool, Middlesbrough, Redcar & Cleveland and Stockton-on-Tees in which they can finalise their third generation Local Transport Plans (LTPs) covering 2011-16. These locally focused plans will identify programmes of investment for delivering transport improvements in neighbourhoods and communities across the Tees Valley. JMP is working for Tees Valley Unlimited – a partnership of public, private and voluntary bodies which coordinates activities at city region level to improve the economic performance of the entire Tees Valley – in partnership with the Highways Agency. The objective is to provide the strategic context in which the third generation LTPs will be taken forward across the City Region. The work will acknowledge the wider context, that many of the city region’s communities have important connections not only elsewhere in the Tees Valley beyond their own local authority boundaries, but also in parts of Durham and North Yorkshire and beyond in the wider UK. This will build on work undertaken earlier in 2010 by JMP in examining the connectivity and accessibility challenges in the Tees Valley in support of delivering wider economic and environmental goals. Valuable information will be provided on which potential investments or interventions not only deliver the priority outcomes of partners across the Tees Valley, but which also provide value for money and are affordable and deliverable. This is fundamental information as local authorities prepare to prioritise their spending following October’s Comprehensive Spending Review across all services. The focus will be on tackling the agreed priorities for transport within the Tees Valley. These include supporting important labour markets and helping people to access jobs, improving the quality and reliability of journeys on important freight and passenger links both within and beyond the city region. It will also ensure that improvements reduce carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions from transport. The work will also build on the Tees Valley’s innovative approach to delivering the critical transport infrastructure necessary to support housing growth and regeneration in the city region in the short term. This is encapsulated in the Tees Valley Area Action Plan.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=20730 Jul 2010A 19th Century market square in the ancient town of Crowle in the Isle of Axholme, North Lincolnshire, has been returned to its roots following detailed design work by transport planner and engineer JMP. Car parking which dominated the Market Place has been minimised and traffic queuing eliminated, paving the way for a return to a traditional market and space for fairs and other events. But with a nod to the 21st Century, JMP has introduced a bench controller housing the traffic signal controls, the first time one has been used outside London, which provides seating for people waiting at the nearby bus stop. The parking has been largely relocated to a nearby acquired site, traffic queuing in the Market Place removed by relocation of a traffic signal shuttle, a new access road provided for additional food, office and retail development adjacent to the square, bus facilities relocated and footpaths widened. JMP was originally appointed to the masterplan project in 2006 as a sub-consultant to Spawforth Associates, but it rapidly became clear that without major highway works and purchase of property by the Council the space constraints could not be resolved. Two year later, the council having purchased a local landmark pub and a number of properties, the options for change had increased considerably. JMP as a sub-consultant to Bauman Lyons Architects, provided transport planning advice to the project, with all preliminary designs for highways layout, safety audits, transport assessments, travel plans and flood risk assessments. Following planning permission JMP undertook the detailed design of the scheme, including drainage and street lighting and provided on-site support to the contractor, Clugston Construction. http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=20526 Jul 2010Transport planner JMP has named five new associate directors and two new associates in its annual promotions. Three of the new associate directors are in the Glasgow office. John McDonald who joined JMP nearly five years ago and Alan DeVenny, more than ten years with the consultant, both specialise in development planning, and Jason Gillespie, who has also been with the company five years, is involved in transport and transport planning. Lee White in the Birmingham office joined JMP two years ago and specialises in public transport and transport planning while Steve Bowers, who has been in the Manchester office for 11 years, concentrates on development planning. The two new associates are Amy Denton (Leeds) who has been with JMP for eight years concerned with transport planning and Sarah Wixey (London) who specialises in transport planning with particular reference to social inclusion and accessibility. Helen Cumiskey and Rhian Lewis, both in Liverpool office, Kelly Aldridge and Thomas Derstroff, both London, and James Edwards in Birmingham have all been promoted to principal transport planners. Aurelie Pot and Ed Povey of the London office are promoted to senior urban designer and urban designer respectively. http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=20419 Jul 2010Transport planner JMP has been appointed by West Sussex County Council to potentially help to stem the high levels of daytime on-street commuter parking in Burgess Hill town centre, thought to be largely associated with the proximity of the railway station. JMP is to consult with local residents and businesses and, pending their initial support, design and consult on the delivery of a controlled parking zone with implementation planned for early 2012. The increasing levels of parking are creating real concern among residents and businesses who are reporting rising indiscriminate and illegal parking activity. Parking data is being analysed to understand the impact that parking has on the local road network before an initial public consultation exercise planned for September. Assuming there is sufficient public support for the scheme, a more detailed public consultation and exhibition will be held later in the year. JMP’s designs will focus on the effective and efficient management of on-street parking, taking account of the views of residents and local businesses. The intention is to ensure that the area remains accessible and attractive to visitors and residents alike. The work further strengthens JMP’s relationship with the County Council and Mid-Sussex District Councils, having completed several on-street parking studies in recent years. These projects have been associated with the introduction of civil parking enforcement in January 2006 and a similar parking study in Haywards Heath. JMP: 0207 536 8040 http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=20214 Jul 2010After two years of introducing personalised travel planning to Merseyside and achieving annual reductions of 7.1 per cent and 10.2 per cent in car use, transport planner JMP has launched a third initiative, this time in the West Derby area of Liverpool and parts of neighbouring Tuebrook and Croxteth. Some 10,000 homes will be targeted in the area, which bounds a key corridor into Liverpool city centre and suffers from high levels of congestion. As with the previous exercises in Childwall, Liverpool and Heswall in the Wirral, residents will be challenged to consider more sustainable modes of travel than the private car – particularly for morning peak trips - such as public transport, walking or cycling JMP was originally commissioned in 2008 to support the delivery and management of the Merseyside Transport Partnership’s three-year personalised travel planning project. In Childwall 3,500 households were selected in 2008 for contact visits, information packs and aftercare follow ups. Subsequent independent evaluation by Transport and Travel Research (TTR) revealed a 9.9 per cent increase in trips by sustainable modes and a 10.2 per cent reduction in car use. TTR’s evaluation of the 2009 exercise involving 10,000 homes in Heswall - with its high levels of car ownership (83%) and high car usage for commuting – disclosed a 9.1 per cent shift to sustainable travel and a reduction in car use of 7.1 per cent. For this year’s initiative, as well as targeting households, JMP will be holding a stakeholder event in July to raise awareness of the project, visiting local community events to sign people up as well as offering to speak to local community groups. As part of the commission JMP is also delivering personalised travel planning to employees at the nearby University of Liverpool as part of the university’s existing travel plan. JMP: 0161 831 5600 http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=20105 Jul 2010Transport planner JMP has been commissioned by the London Borough of Brent to undertake an outline and assessment design of options to improve the Wembley Triangle/South Way Junction and Bridge Complex, which falls within the Wembley Masterplan area. Traffic generated by the wholesale redevelopment of the area will significantly alter volumes, mix and profile of traffic on the local road network and also linkages to strategic routes such as the North Circular. The masterplan envisages major redevelopment of the Wembley Park area, including the majority of the industrial estate. The objective is to create a new residential, employment and retail community over the next 20 to 25 years with landmark leisure and community facilities underpinned by the Wembley National Stadium. Work is already underway on the earlier residential and retail sites immediately to the north of the Stadium as part of the comprehensive proposals by Quintain Estates Development, which will incorporate a new Boulevard linking South Way to Engineers Way. JMP’s role is to develop acceptable and sustainable improvement proposals for the Wembley Triangle and South Way junction and bridge complex. This involves detailed traffic modelling of the complex and an assessment of the Chilton Line overbridge. Options will be tested and a preferred design selected which will improve traffic movements at the complex. The proposals also provide improvements for pedestrians in the area, especially on event days when pedestrian volumes are significantly larger. http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=19730 Jun 2010Transport planner JMP has been appointed by Gloucestershire County Council to assist in a county-wide review of arrangements for transporting 2,000 pupils with special educational needs between home and school. The objective is to achieve budget savings by concentrating on the methods used to plan and procure the transport services needed, as well as improving the customer experience. Currently there are more than 500 separate contracts and 2,000 pupils are conveyed to 12 schools at a cost of £5.5million a year. Efficiencies are being sought in the allocation of pupils to the available transport and by using a range of procurement methods, including longer-term contracts and resource tendering.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=19421 Jun 2010Transport planner JMP has been commissioned by the Right Care Right Here Programme to help to develop a travel and access strategy for nine health and social care providers across Sandwell and the Heart of Birmingham. NHS Trusts and local authorities have come together to form a partnership approach to service and deliver the redesigned primary, community, secondary care and social care services by 2016. The transformation programme is designed to improve health and social care for the local community, taking pressure off hospitals and making many services available at more local primary care centres closer to where people live. The aim of the travel and access strategy is to respond to the possible impact on patients and visitors and changes in workforce travel patterns due to the new locations. Working with the Right Care Right Here Programme, JMP will identify a range of sustainable transport options, including public transport, cycling and walking.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=19314 Jun 2010Transport planner JMP has been commissioned by the Yorkshire Dales Railway Museum Trust (YDRMT) to establish the benefits to be gained from reconnecting the Embsay & Bolton Abbey Railway to the main line network at Skipton. The railway currently operates a heritage service for more than 100,000 visitors and tourists a year from Embsay to Bolton Abbey, which is a popular visitor attraction some 20 miles north west of Leeds and a gateway to the Yorkshire Dales National Park. Embsay station is adjacent to the existing Swinden Quarry to Skipton freight line and a Network Rail study in 2008 confirmed the feasibility of reconnecting the two lines, which would enable a direct service from Skipton Station to Bolton Abbey to operate. Linking Bolton Abbey and the Yorkshire Dales directly into the national rail network at Skipton would potentially offer opportunities for more sustainable access to the area from a wide range of locations in Yorkshire, North Lancashire and beyond. Added to that, Skipton lies on the internationally renowned Leeds-Settle-Carlisle route and could attract visitors from further afield. The railway, supported by stakeholders Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority, North Yorkshire County Council, Craven District Council and Yorkshire Forward, wants JMP to identify and quantify the benefits that would be derived from reconnection. Railway business manager, Stephen Walker, said that the Network Rail study had indicated that the cost of reconnection would be in the region of £1.1m to £2.6m, depending upon the technical solution adopted. He has noted that YDRMT had a successful history of developing projects of a similar scale andwould be able to make significant “in-kind” contributions, which would reduce the overall cost. Andy Ryland of Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority believes that there is a real potential here that in the longer term the scheme could open up the opportunity to provide a new station at Swinden Quarry close to the popular visitor destination of Grassington, which would provide even better access to the National Park, without the need to arrive there by car. JMP project director, Dr Alan Beswick, said that the route has regional visitor attractions at both ends and the potential to carry more of the visitors to the area by rail could help to deal with car parking problems in places such as Skipton. But the study will be looking at more than just traffic congestion and accident savings. Social inclusion benefits from opening up the National Park to people without access to a car, the direct and indirect economic benefits of additional visitor spending in the area and other economic, environmental and social impacts would be considered as part of the work. JMP is due to report in the summer.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=19209 Jun 2010Travel advisers from transport planner JMP are to visit 5,000 homes in Tewkesbury to encourage people to change their travel habits, in particular to walk and cycle more frequently. The consultant is working for ‘Count Me In!’, the Tewkesbury ‘healthy towns’ programme, being run by Gloucestershire County Council in partnership with Tewkesbury Borough Council, Gloucestershire University and Gloucestershire Food Vision. The year-long programme, funded by the Department of Health, aims to deliver five work streams across the five wards of Tewkesbury. It has five main goals: helping residents get to grips with healthy eating, from grow-your-own advice to cookery demonstrations; promoting active travel instead of driving, leading to cleaner air and less road congestion, and proving that getting healthy is not a chore, with physical activity for all ages and abilities. The aim of the Environment work stream is to achieve more walking and cycling. The ‘Count Me In!’ projects seek not only to encourage more sustainable travel but to encourage ‘active travel; ie walking and/or cycling, for health benefits. JMP travel advisers have begun by engaging in face-to-face discussions with 5,000 households in the town, providing tailored travel information, incentives and resources to help to change travel habits. http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=19107 Jun 2010Transport planner JMP has recruited Jana Haspicova as a senior transport planner in its Birmingham office where she will be involved in travel planning. Jana, who specialises in transport strategy and policy, joins from MVA in Edinburgh where she had worked for four and a half years and was a senior consultant. Previously she worked for steelmaker Corus and before moving to the UK had been employed in Germany. http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=19029 May 2010A travel plan has been developed for 3,000-plus employees in businesses at Exchange Quay, Salford, Manchester, and it will be formally launched on Thursday, May 27. Exchange Quay, the half million square foot office complex, which accommodates a number of organisations, ranging from small businesses, recently formed companies or multi-nationals, has been working with the Highways Agency, Salford City Council/Urban Vision and transport planner JMP to develop and launch the plan. It is designed to reduce the number of single-occupancy vehicle trips accessing the site and encourage the use of sustainable modes of transport. Reducing the number of vehicles accessing the site will cut congestion on the surrounding road network. A range of initiatives will be undertaken, including promoting car sharing through the introduction of a travel plan intranet site, providing on-site cycle racks and shower facilities, offering discounted public transport tickets, providing travel information within all Exchange Quay buildings and encouraging greater use of IT equipment to reduce business travel. The launch event will be attended by a range of exhibitors including Arriva, First Bus, GMPTE, Walk-It, Halfords, Metrolink, Jambusters and Get Cycling. A free prize draw will be held to win a free bicycle and everyone attending will be offered support to sign up to the car share scheme.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=18915 May 2010Transport planner JMP has won two major contracts with Bracknell Borough Council, one of them to take over the provision of its day-to-day public transport co-ordination function for four years. The second appointment is to the council’s Transport Engineering Scheme Assessment, Design and Implementation Framework, again for a four year period. JMP will support the authority in all aspects of public transport, including arranging and managing the supported local bus network, liaising with bus operators over service development and changes, and looking after the administration of concessionary travel reimbursement. The scope of the commission to help to deliver Bracknell’s annual transport engineering work programme includes junction improvements, safety schemes, non-motorised user improvements, traffic management, parking and ITS.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=18813 May 2010Transport planner JMP has been appointed by Qatari Diar to provide transport consultancy services in connection with the new vision for the Chelsea Barracks site redevelopment in London. The Masterplan, being created by Dixon Jones, Squire and Partners and landscape architects Kim Wilkie Associates, is based on traditional London streets, squares and gardens. It includes a mix of houses and apartments, also local shops, a boutique hotel, community sports facility and a medical centre. Lower-level car parking areas will also be provided. JMP has been working closely with the client and the masterplanners to advise on various traffic and transport and street design matters, which have influenced the design of the Masterplan. A Transport Assessment and Travel Plan is being developed to support the outline planning application which, following further public consultation, will be submitted to Westminster City Council this year. The outline application will be followed by a detailed application for the first phase. JMP is engaging with key stakeholders, including the local highways authority and Transport for London, as part of the extensive consultation and will also be taking a key role within the broader public consultation process to ensure that the views of the wider community are taken into consideration.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=18704 May 2010Transport planner JMP has been commissioned by Burnley Council, along with project partner BDP, to develop options for the further development of Burnley Education & Enterprise Park. The first phase of the Park was the successful development of an £80 million higher and further education campus at Princess Way for the University of Central Lancashire and Burnley College, which opened for business in September 2009. JMP and BDP have now been commissioned to advise on future phases of development of the business park in terms of scale of development and transport impacts. It is expected that this will include some incubator units to be linked to the work of the University.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=18626 Apr 2010It is not a case of “Do what I say, not what I do” when it comes to advising clients on sustainable travel planning. Transport planner JMP really does “Walk the Talk”. Its own carbon footprint-based travel plan for its 11 countrywide offices has some headline grabbing figures. Despite a similar number of staff - about 260 - to its 2007 levels, when the carbon target was set, JMP has experienced a 25 per cent drop in carbon emissions on business travel. There has also been a 29 per cent reduction in carbon emissions as a result of its improved commuting patterns. The number of staff walking and cycling for their commute has almost doubled, as have the number of interest free loans taken for bike purchase. Car use has halved. Public transport use has stayed about the same, with an increasing number taking out the interest-free loan available for public transport season tickets. And well ahead of the rest is the consultancy’s chairman, Gordon Baker, who six years ago gave up the car. He no longer has his own car or indeed a company car. “I chose to use public transport,” said Gordon. “I live only a half hour walk from my office in Glasgow, with a good public transport system, and we also have a policy that all offices will be centrally situated, which again makes for easy business and commuter travel.” Regionally JMP has won awards for its office travel plan, with the Newcastle office receiving a Gold Award from the Tyne & Wear Smarter Choices Team and the Manchester office a Gold Award from the Environmental Business Pledge Team, a partnership of Manchester City Council and Groundwork NorthWest. “We have exceeded our own expectations; this really goes to show the carbon and resultant cost savings that can be achieved with just a few changes to how we work,” said Principal Transport Planner Stacey Silverman, who oversees the company travel plan as well as working on clients’ travel plans in the North West. “New targets have been set and we’re working hard to make sure that we continue to improve. 2010 will be a challenging year.” http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=18519 Apr 2010Transport planner JMP is assessing and designing a public transport corridor to serve a new Thames waterside neighbourhood planned for the Royal Albert Basin in Beckton, East London. The vision for the masterplan is a neighbourhood with strong connections to existing communities and the Thames, promoting walking, cycling and public transport. JMP has been appointed by the London Development Agency and Design for London to refine the design of a corridor for improved bus-based transport connecting Barking Town Centre with North Woolwich and Canning Town through the Albert Basin. Working alongside muf architecture/art, JMP has identified a preferred alignment and is progressing it to preliminary design stage. It will take into account road space segregation, public transport interchange with Gallions Reach Docklands Light Railway station and provisions for walking and cycling. A public realm strategy is also being prepared by muf, developing the character and nature of public spaces in the masterplan. Frequent steering group meetings attended by various interested parties, including the London Development Agency, Design for London, Transport for London, London Borough of Newham, London Thames Gateway Development Corporation and Notting Hill Housing Association, has ensured key stakeholders are consulted and contribute positively to the design process.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=18412 Apr 2010Transport planner JMP is joining forces with Dundee City Council in telling selfish school- run parents in no uncertain terms ‘Don’t Park Here’, as a drive gets under way to improve safety outside the city’s primary schools. Cones will be placed on the zig-zag lines to deter drivers, while parking attendants, police and JMP travel advisers working with the Dundee Travel Active Personal Travel Planning team will monitor the situation. The campaign will be rolled out at ten schools on Monday, April 19, with drivers being advised of alternative transport options and made aware of the school parking problems created by the school run. Every primary school in the city will be involved over the next 12 months. JMP Transport Planner Gary Cummins explained: “We hope that the travel advisers’ actions will act as the ‘carrot’ in this parking project, as opposed to the ‘stick’ of the council enforcement teams. “As Dundee Travel Active travel advisers we are already engaged with many primary schools in the city as part of the core PTP project. We attend schools during lesson times and offer travel advice to pupils while trying to make them aware of travel issues and the relevance these issues have to the pupils’ health.” Dundee City Council education convener Coun Liz Fordyce said: “This is about asking families to keep their cars away from the school gates and think about other options. Maybe it would be a better idea if pupils were dropped off at a different place and then they could walk the rest of the way.”http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=18309 Apr 2010Yorkshire Forward, the regional development agency for Yorkshire and Humber, has appointed transport consultant JMP as the Regional DaSTS Programme Manager, to help the region to manage its programme of work in developing long term transport priorities for the period beyond 2014. The commission is part of the region’s work in taking forward the Department for Transport’s “Delivering a Sustainable Transport System” (DaSTS) in Yorkshire and the Humber. Earlier this year JMP was also commissioned for work under the DaSTS programme for the North West and for the Tees Valley City Region. JMP will co-ordinate the completion of the Yorkshire and Humber region’s programme of five studies, including the Leeds City Region connectivity study, the Sheffield City Region connectivity study, the regional road safety study, the regional land use and transport interaction (LUTI) study, and the work to develop an urban dynamic model (UDM) for the region. JMP will also ensure that the work being undertaken as part of the DaSTS programme on national transport networks that serve the region is co-ordinated with regional activities. This includes on major north–south London to Yorkshire routes and on trans-Pennine transport links. The commission also requires management of the ‘option generation, packaging, and sifting’ and ‘appraisal’ elements of the DaSTS work programme at a regional level, ensuring that the outcomes of the studies are consistent and lead to a clearly defined set of affordable and deliverable transport priorities. Martin Revill, an Associate Director at JMP’s Leeds office and the region’s appointed DaSTS Programme Manager said: “This is an exciting opportunity to help to shape and influence transport investment and management in the region. It is really important to ensure that the region has the transport systems that enable it to look forward in developing prosperous, well-connected communities across Yorkshire and the Humber and at the same time delivers these transport programmes in a way that helps to tackle our changing climate”. A spokesperson for Yorkshire Forward noted that “Yorkshire Forward is pleased to have appointed JMP to work closely with us on this important piece of work for the Region”.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=18206 Apr 2010A revolutionary new material first used for kitchen sinks and worktops and also in bathrooms is being applied in the design of ground-breaking wave-shaped bus shelters on Tyneside. Transport planner and engineer JMP was appointed by Gateshead Council to drive forward the development of the bespoke bus shelter for the Baltic Business Quarter on the south bank of the Tyne, close to the Baltic Contemporary Arts Centre and the Sage. Architect Reid Jubb Brown was subcontracted to explore ideas and develop a concept for the three pairs of shelters required. The collaboration resulted in the ground-breaking design that combines the new material Corian – which can be carved, worked like wood, moulded and thermoformed – with polished steel and curved glass. Since its kitchen and bathroom introduction Corian has been at the centre of a raft of design ideas throughout industry. It is proposed that at three sites around the Business Quarter there will be pairs of shelters. They will be serviced by buses linking the area to Gateshead Quays , Newcastle Central Station and Gateshead Interchange and town centre.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=18129 Mar 2010A major scheme business case prepared by transport planner JMP for a £7.2 million A18-A180 link road to remove heavy goods vehicles from the port town of Immingham may attract £6.4 million of government funding. JMP was commissioned by North East Lincolnshire Council to prepare the scheme which this week was granted programme entry status by the DfT. If full approval is granted, the DfT will invest the £6.4 million in the scheme, which is designed to improved access from the south to the Port of Immingham. Currently a significant proportion of dock traffic arrives from rural Lincolnshire via the A18 and passes through the centre of Immingham to access the docks. The new link road is planned from the A180 Stallingborough Interchange to the B1210 – providing a direct link between the A180 to the A18. This will improve journey times to and from the port and remove heavy goods vehicles from the town, improving safety and the environment for residents.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=18023 Mar 2010London Borough of Haringey has enlisted the help of transport planner JMP to help it with its aspiration to become one of the first of the Mayor of London’s ‘Biking Boroughs ‘, with associated Cycling Hubs, JMP will be supporting and developing an innovative local cycling study that will identify a cycle route network around the Borough serving key destinations and which will contribute to the programme for Biking Boroughs across the capital. The study will address practically how cycling can best be promoted, given the ending of the London Cycling Network+ programme, changes in the Local Implementation Plan (LIP) funding system and the upcoming opportunity to feed into a brand new LIP strategy. The top ten initiatives which could achieve a step change in cycling levels in the area will be identified as well as means of bringing about a significant increase in positive attitudes towards this form of transport. JMP will assess which sites could potentially be used to focus cycle initiatives, for example Cycle Hubs, which could provide secure parking facilities, cycle maintenance and hire facilities and be close to key destinations. The study will also illustrate how these initiatives can be funded and provide indicative costs.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=17922 Mar 2010Transport planner JMP has been commissioned by the unitary authority Cheshire West and Chester Council (CWaC) to develop a staff and corporate business travel strategy for its 14,000 staff. CWaC was formed in April 2009 following local government reorganisation of the former Cheshire County Council, Chester City Council, Ellesmere Port and Neston Borough Council and Vale Borough Council. JMP has also prepared site-specific travel plans for the seven main office locations of the other new unitary authority to come out of the reorganisation, Cheshire East Council. The CWaC work will focus on developing a staff and corporate business travel strategy to help the council to deliver its services as efficiently as possible while considering staff wellbeing and the environment. It includes development of a site-specific travel plan for the council’s headquarters in the new Chester city centre development, the HQ Building. The travel plan will be ready by the end of April, with the wider staff travel strategy and corporate travel strategy work being completed early in the summer. There will be extensive consultation with staff and managers on their travel requirements.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=17815 Mar 2010Transport planner JMP, which already has a personal travel planning commission for the Dundee Travel Active project well under its belt, has now won a second PTP, this time for GoSmart Dumfries. GoSmart Dumfries is one of seven Scottish Sustainable Travel Town projects – including Dundee - being funded by Scottish Government to invest in smarter choices measures to promote alternative modes of travel. JMP has won two of the four PTP commissions already awarded The Dumfries PTP element runs from January this year until October 2011 and will seek to get a minimum of 5,000 households participating in the programme, as well as offering personal travel planning advice to employees, schools and at community events. JMP has been commissioned by SWESTRANS, the South West Scotland Transport Authority, and Dumfries and Galloway Council.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=17711 Mar 2010Transport consultant JMP has been commissioned by the Clear Zone Partnership to undertake an ‘after’ study of a newly implemented scheme in Great Queen Street to remove traffic lights and create a shared space on the edge of Covent Garden, central London. The study is set within a constrained, historic environment which is an interesting, attractive and very busy pedestrian space that also has a significant number of vehicles and servicing requirements. These are key criteria for the study to investigate in terms of how successfully pedestrians and motorists now negotiate this shared space. The traffic study will involve carrying out and analysing a combination of pedestrian audits, traffic and pedestrian flows, traffic speeds, and a road safety audit. This traffic study will be compared with the previously undertaken ‘before’ data (Figure 1) to indicate the changes from the traffic light controlled junction to a shared space (Figure 2). JMP will also provide an economic assessment based on current best practice. The approach will utilise the established relationships between street design and economic activity to establish the likely impact of the Great Queen Street scheme upon property and rental prices. This study will then form the basis of one of the Department for Transport’s forthcoming best practise examples in their research on shared space.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=17608 Mar 2010Transport planner JMP is working with Warrington Borough Council for the next 12 months to assist in the development of its third Local Transport Plan (LTP3) containing a long term strategy for the Borough. The LTP3 will be submitted to Government for implementation from April 2011 and will have to meet crucial national, regional and local goals around climate change, the economy, equality, safety and security and quality of life. JMP will be providing advice and assistance to Council officers at key stages of the project, including overseeing stakeholder consultation, policy development and programme planning and eventually Plan approval. This is JMPs second commission for LTP work in the Cheshire and Warrington sub-region, with staff already seconded to the Strategic Highways team in the new Cheshire East unitary authority (a commission undertaken through project resourcing consultant AMTEC). A team of environment and health specialists within JMP will also be putting Warrington’s LTP through an independent ‘sustainability appraisal’, critically evaluating it as it develops. This too follows on from a similar commission to review East Riding of Yorkshire’s LTP3.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=17505 Mar 2010Transport planner JMP has recruited John Pinkard, an expert in travel behaviour, as an Associate Director with a company-wide remit. Initially he will focus his activity on Scotland and the Midlands and be contactable through the Birmingham office. He is an experienced transport professional who specialises in interventions that are designed to change travel behaviour and has an extensive track record of project achievements. Australian-born Mr Pinkard first joined Steer Davies Gleave in his homeland in 2003 before moving to the UK operation the following year. He joined Vipre UK in May 2005, becoming a director in 2008. He is vice-chairman and board member of Transform Scotland, a Scottish sustainable travel alliance and a judge for the UK Green Business Awards. JMP Chairman, Gordon Baker, said: “We are delighted to welcome John to JMP. I look forward to him helping us to deliver an ever-increasing number of commercially sustainable travel solutions for our public and private sector clients. John will be joining forces with a number of our established professionals as we continue to apply our skills and experience in travel behaviour environments in facing up to the challenge of climate change.”http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=17426 Feb 2010Transport planner JMP has built an evaluation framework for Brighton and Hove City Council for use in the development of its Safer Routes to School programme. The Department for Transport-designated Cycling City has identified safety and encouraging cycling as the main objectives in its Safer Routes programme and initially JMP is working with 12 schools to evaluate progress. First indications are that mode switch is being achieved, following widening of footpaths and installation of crossing points near to schools and the use of paths through parks. JMP has also liaised with other councils to establish how and to what extent they evaluate the effectiveness of such schemes in building a framework against which to “score” individual schemes.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=17315 Feb 2010Transport planner JMP has promoted Victoria Balboa at its London Docklands office to director. Victoria, who was an associate director, has been with the consultancy since 1999 and has responsibility for development planning. JMP chief executive Darren Oldham commented: “We are delighted to announce the promotion. Vicky is an extremely popular and committed individual.” Other promotions are: Luke Craddy (Bristol office) to principal transport planner, Caley Slidders (Edinburgh) Sandra Hill (Glasgow) and Rob Holloway ( Bristol) to senior transport planners, Daniel Solomons (Docklands) to transport planner and Leslie Gamadeku (Docklands) to engineer.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=17215 Feb 2010Transport planner JMP has won a term commission from Hampshire County Council Property Services Transport Planning Framework to take forward the County’s development portfolio, providing input into highways issues for its sites and the planning process. The list of projects on which JMP is currently providing advice includes Merton Rise in Basingstoke, a mixed use development providing up to 800 new homes and community facilities.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=17109 Feb 2010Transport planner JMP, in partnership with economic and regeneration advisors Genecon, is working with ONE North East, the Tees Valley Joint Strategy Unit and the Highways Agency to develop the Tees Valley City Region’s long term transport priorities. The Tees Valley City Region: Connectivity & Accessibility Study is part of the North East of England’s programme of work in taking forward the Department for Transport’s “Delivering a Sustainable Transport Strategy” (DaSTS) in the region. Recently JMP also won work on the DASTS study for the North West when it was appointed by 4NW, the Regional Leaders Board, to explore the extent to which poor transport accessibility in North West England contributed to deprivation The new work in the North East will build on earlier research undertaken by JMP in 2008 to identify the critical transport challenges to be addressed in the city region and elsewhere in the North East. It will also build on the Tees Valley’s innovative approach to delivering the critical transport infrastructure necessary to support housing growth and regeneration in the city region in the short term. This is encapsulated in the Tees Valley Area Action Plan (AAP). JMP and Genecon will work closely with both public and private sector partners in the Tees Valley to develop options for delivering the necessary transport infrastructure and services to support the growth and regeneration of the Tees Valley until 2019. These options must be affordable and deliverable, and may include innovative approaches to making best use of existing services and infrastructure, as well as looking at investment in new transport systems. Work will focus on tackling the agreed priorities for transport within the Tees Valley. These include supporting important labour markets and helping people to access jobs, improving the quality and reliability of journeys on important freight and passenger links both within and beyond the city region, and ensuring that improvements reduce carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions from transport.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=17001 Feb 2010Transport planner JMP has won its latest significant commission under a major masterplanning framework agreement aimed at revitalising many town and city centres throughout Northern Ireland. The latest commission is to prepare a paramics microsimulation model of Bangor, a commuter suburb of Belfast, to cover the town centre road network and key radial routes into Bangor. It will subsequently be used by the Northern Ireland Department for Social Development (DSD) and other transport consultants in the assessment of major regeneration proposals in the town. The Bangor commission follows on from a number of microsimulation projects that JMP has won in Northern Ireland recently as part of a masterplanning team led by The Paul Hogarth Company, including traffic modelling commissions in Armagh, Coleraine and Lisburn. The Lisburn study is a significant body of work. JMP is tasked to develop a transport strategy to serve the significant growth aspirations of this emerging city, including its relationship to an extending out-of-town retail development that will become the largest retail complex in Northern Ireland.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=16918 Jan 2010Transport planner JMP has successfully renewed term commissions in East Renfrewshire, Scotland and the London Borough of Enfield, ensuring the continuation of long term relationships with both clients. In Enfield JMP has now been appointed to the traffic, transportation and highways consultancy framework for the third time, extending the consultant’s seven year relationship with the borough. The framework, which is for a further three years with the option to extend for another year, has an estimated fee value over the initial three years of some £950,000. JMP is one of three consultants appointed. It covers a wide range of activities including traffic and transportation, place shaping and highways services. For the highways services element JMP has sub-contracted Camden Consultancy Services, part of the street management division of the London Borough of Camden’s environment department, to provide specialised local authority experience in highways maintenance and asset management. In Scotland, East Renfrewshire Council has appointed JMP as preferred consultant for both transportation engineering and traffic engineering as well as reserve consultant for development control and civil and structural engineering. JMP was originally appointed in November 2004 with extensions in 2006 and 2007 for the transportation engineering commission and has been actively involved in the preparation of several Scottish Transport Appraisal Guidance projects, including assessment of the council’s Finalised Local Plan. The latest commissions are for three years with the potential for a year’s extension.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=16814 Jan 2010Transport planner and engineer JMP has appointed Martin Lloyd an associate director to look after the consultancy’s development planning interests in Wales and the South West. A Fellow of the Institute of Highways and Incorporated Engineers, he previously worked for Pell Frischmann for three and a half years before joining JMP. JMP has also recruited Sabine McLean as a senior engineer in its Glasgow office. She specialises in structural design work and joined from Jacobs where she was also a senior engineer and worked for several years.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=16712 Jan 2010Transport planner JMP is exploring the extent to which poor transport accessibility in North West England contributes to deprivation, as part of a study into delivering a sustainable transport system The study commissioned by 4NW, the Regional Leaders Board for the North West, aims to provide useful insights and information to assist regional and local authorities and others in understanding accessibility issues and developing effective interventions. It will seek to identify ways to remove the barriers that poor access creates to economic participation by people in the poorest communities. The “Delivering a Sustainable Transport System” (DaSTS) study will conclude at the end of March. During January JMP will be holding a series of sub-regional stakeholder workshops to explore issues and challenges, while looking for common themes and interests. Information from the workshops and other sources will be used to determine a number of different types of areas and highlight case studies to be examined in detail. Learning from the case studies will be used in suggesting the types of interventions that might be appropriate in particular circumstances or situations. http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=16604 Jan 2010Transport planner JMP has designed the public highway and associated surface and foul drainage infrastructure for the first phase of a housing development on council-owned brownfield land close to Barking Town Centre. Phase 1 of the 2.5 hectare William Street Quarter – which once housed tower blocks and was known as Lintons Estate - consists of three residential developments of three-storey town houses and a residential shared space access road. The development occupies about a third of the site and total housing of around 460 one, two, three and four bedroom homes is envisaged when the masterplan is complete. There will also be a business centre, community facilities and parking for about 115 cars. JMP has been working as part of a large design team appointed jointly by the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham and the development manager First Base. JMP designed the civil engineering elements of the 170 metre shared surface access road in conjunction with the landscape architect Gillespies and is undertaking an independent Stage1/2 Road Safety Audit to supplement the final design layout. Construction work is scheduled to begin in March with completion in 12 months.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=16504 Jan 2010JMP has been appointed by Somerset County Council to provide transport planning advice for the assessment of the proposed Hinkley Point C Nuclear Power Station, a proposal by EDF for twin reactors that will generate about six percent of Britain’s energy needs. The consultant’s key tasks include scrutinising EDF’s transport strategy, transport assessment, strategic and micro-simulation modelling and travel planning. JMP will provide ongoing pre-application advice to the Council up to next June with EDF expected to submit a planning application to the new Infrastructure Planning Commission in July. The transport of goods and staff during both the construction and operational phases require a variety of associated works. Some of the proposals being looked at by EDF include a by-pass for Cannington, park and ride facilities, freight consolidation centres, a temporary jetty at Hinkley Point, upgrading of Combwich Wharf and accommodation for workers.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=16421 Dec 2009Transport planner JMP, which is already working with the East Riding of Yorkshire Council on developing its third Local Transport Plan (LTP3), has now been commissioned to produce the accompanying strategic environmental assessment (SEA). The LTP3, which will be submitted to government next year for implementation from 2011 will focus on achieving national, regional and local transport goals. The purpose of the SEA is to examine the policy options of the LTP with a view to removing or offsetting any negative environmental effects. This involves collecting baseline data across a variety of environmental and socio-economic parameters in order to identify areas of sensitivity. The LTP policy options are then applied to the baseline data to assess the degree to which the options lead to positive or negative effects on the environment, enabling alternative steps to be taken where necessary. http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=16311 Dec 2009Transport planner JMP has carried out highway investigations for a proposed major development in Blackpool that would open up a new approach into the popular seaside town and the Fylde and could create 5,000 to 10,000 new jobs. If the proposal is selected as the preferred option for growth through the Blackpool and Fylde core strategies it could eventually contain up to 7,000 new homes, a new district centre, a country park, lakes and woodlands, a new secondary school, four new primary schools and 50 hectares of new employment land. The M55 Hub, named after its proximity to the motorway, would see development of lands at the south eastern approach to Blackpool. It encompasses Whyndyke Farm, land at Peel Hill, lands around Whitehills Park and large areas of Marton Moss, as far out as School Road. The investigation of highway operations involved using the recently developed Paramics traffic microsimulation model of Blackpool and the strategic TRIPS model, which was developed by JMP and covers Blackpool and the Fylde Coast. The modelling work utilised good linkages between the strategic and microsimulation modelling tools to allow a better understanding of the potential impacts of such a large scheme over a much wider area than would have been possible using any other approach.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=16203 Dec 2009Transport planner JMP’s office in Newcastle has won a Gold Award for its innovative carbon footprint-based Office Travel Plan. The gold accreditation has been awarded by Tyne & Wear Smarter Choices Team for the office’s ability to demonstrate a change in travelling patterns and a proven long term commitment – a minimum of three years – to travel planning. Dr Alan Beswick, a JMP executive board director, said: “We are particularly pleased to have won the award in Tyne and Wear as we authored their Smarter Choices strategy two years ago. The Newcastle office’s success is in line with our corporate travel plan which has resulted in a big modal shift across the company. And because it is carbon based we are able to show demonstrable savings. “Across the whole of JMP we have achieved in just two years a 29% reduction in carbon from staff commuting and a 25% reduction in carbon consumption from business travel by car.” The award was presented at a Tyne & Wear Smarter Choices event which preceded the ACT Travelwise National Autumn Conference. JMP was commended by the Tyne & Wear Smarter Choices Project Manager Stephen Psallidas for its “walk the talk” attitude.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=16102 Dec 2009Following the completion of scoping and feasibility studies for the Route 97 Third Generation Bus Priority corridor in the London Borough of Waltham Forest, transport planner JMP is now developing a package of traffic management measures through to the preliminary design stage. As part of the initial scoping and feasibility studies for the London Bus Priority Network, JMP proposed a number of alterations to the highway layout, waiting & loading restrictions and traffic enforcement capabilities to accommodate the expected growth in demand along the route. The proposals also sought to provide reductions and improved reliability to bus journey times along the route corridor, which stretches from Leyton to Chingford via Walthamstow. Although the aims of the project, funded through Transport for London’s Local Implementation Plan allocation, were primarily to facilitate improved bus priority measures, JMP was also tasked with ensuring a neutral impact, or improved facilities, for other road users, particularly cyclists. The proposals put forward to preliminary design stage include two inset loading bays , a number of CCTV cameras and two southbound bus lanes.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=16023 Nov 2009Transport planner JMP is undertaking two transport studies for Burnley Borough Council as part of 15 year Area Action Plans to breathe life back into two areas which have suffered from industrial and housing decline. The studies are designed to support the long term development aspirations for south west Burnley, where large areas are being cleared for new housing and other developments as part of the Housing Market Renewal Initiative, and the protection and improvement of Padiham, a historic market town. Burnley’s Planning Policy and Environment team is working with JMP on the development of a strategy that takes full account of the cumulative impact of development in the areas on transport networks. A package of measures will be identified to meet additional demand across all transport modes in a sustainable manner and which will support both Area Action Plans.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=15920 Nov 2009A report by transport consultants JMP into the wider economic and social impacts of re-opening the TransPennine railway between Skipton and Colne was the trigger for a major conference organised by the Skipton East Lancashire Rail Action Partnership (SELRAP). The conference, attended by leading politicians and more than 100 delegates, heard JMP director Dr Alan Beswick say that the city links on the key route between the city regions of Liverpool, Manchester and Leeds/Bradford were vital to the campaign. He said that the likely cost of reopening the 11.5 mile rail link that closed in 1970 was £40 million as a single track and £80 million as a double. But he pointed out that railway use had grown phenomenally in the past 15 years. “There is a consensus that rail is going to form part of our future,” he added. Leading lights from the rail industry, such as Adrian Shooter (Chiltern Railways) and Dr Paul Salveson (Northern Rail) were among those who outlined the benefits of rail development and how they could be taken forward in the current economic climate. Among the politicians who spoke were the Shadow Secretary for Transport, Stephen Hammond, Liberal Democrat Shadow Transport Secretary, Norman Baker, North West Euro-MP Chris Davies and Pendle and Skipton MPs Gordon Prentice and David Curry. A conference report by SELRAP is being prepared and will be available shortly, but in the meantime the report by JMP is available at www.selrap.org.uk.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=15816 Nov 2009The feasibility of establishing freight consolidation centres to ease traffic congestion and air and environmental pollution in Perth and Dundee is being studied by transport planner JMP. Tactran, the regional transport partnership for Dundee City, Perth & Kinross, Angus and Stirling, has commissioned JMP to look at the possibility of a centre for retail consolidation in Perth and retail and/or construction consolidation in Dundee. JMP will be liaising with retailers, council teams, the freight industry, supply chain operators, developers and construction companies. The aim will be to reduce the requirement for several vehicles to enter congested areas to deliver part loads to individual units or shops by using common vehicles to supply several outlets. The potential for return loads of recyclable materials will also be considered. JMP will also study the potential for a construction consolidation centre specifically to serve the Dundee Waterfront development project where regeneration is planning up until 2031. Perth is notable for services such as finance, insurance and banking, with hotels, catering and tourism contributing significantly to the economy, and is also renowned for the number of independent specialist retailers. The town lies at the junction of the two main supply chain routes north from the Central Belt – the M90 from Edinburgh and the A9 from Glasgow. Dundee is the regional centre with a high quality city centre retail environment, with competing edge-of-town retail facilities, and proposals for the Dundee Waterfront open up more retail, employment and service sector opportunities. Freight supply routes to/from Dundee are dominated by the A90 from Perth with the supplementary routes of the A90 from Aberdeen, A92 from Arbroath and the A92 Tay Road Bridge.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=15709 Nov 2009Transport planner and engineer JMP has been commissioned by North Lanarkshire Council for the preliminary and detailed design of a single storey car park deck above an existing at-grade car park to improve parking capacity in Airdrie town centre. The new deck will increase parking on the Hallcraig Street site by approximately 170 spaces Opening to the public is planned for Spring 2011. JMP will be responsible for specification and supervision of ground investigation works, submission for planning consent, preparation of contract documents and site supervision during construction.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=15606 Nov 2009The first personalised travel plan (PTP) project in Tyne and Wear is being developed through a partnership between transport planner JMP and Tyne and Wear Smarter Choices Team. Some 2,000 households are being targeted in the Low Fell area of Gateshead, with the Smarter Choices Team managing overall and day-to-day operation, overseeing temporary travel advisor staff and conducting before and after monitoring. Local lessons learned through this pilot project will be applied in any further PTP plans for the region. The partnering arrangement will allow expertise to be developed within the commissioning authority enabling PTP to be mainstreamed into everyday activity, rather than being reliant upon commissioning consultants for one-off projects. JMP has assisted with advice on project implementation and has organised the recruitment and training of staff. As well as providing the Team with advice on office procedures, JMP has also used its specially developed PTP database for managing the household engagement process. The Smarter Choices Team is a partnership working on behalf of the regional transport body Nexus and the five local authorities of Tyne and Wear. http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=15522 Oct 2009Transport planner JMP is working with Tactran, the regional transport partnership covering Perth & Kinross, Stirling, Angus and Dundee City, to develop a Health & Transport Action Plan to improve the integration between transport and healthcare in the region. The work follows a similar commission with Nestrans, the transport partnership for the North East of Scotland, and NHS Grampian, which is now delivering significant improvements in cross sector working in that region. JMP will be working with Tactran and the main service delivery partners from healthcare and transport sectors, including NHS Boards, Community Health Partnerships, the Scottish Ambulance Service and local authorities. This will help to identify opportunities and specific proposals for more integrated and efficient service provision, in line with Regional Transport Strategy objectives of promoting active travel, reducing the adverse impacts of transport on public health and improving access to healthcare. http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=15420 Oct 2009Transport planner JMP is providing transport and highway advice in support of an outline planning application with access arrangements for a 15.5 hectare business estate in the Lake District National Park. The £70million-plus estate is proposed for land on the A591 between Windermere and Kendal. The developer, The Ratherheath Partnership, is proposing developing 40 per cent of the site – 25 per cent with a mix of B1, B2 and B8 buildings and 15 per cent for car parking. JMP will be producing a schematic junction design, transport assessment, framework travel plan, a brief Park and Ride feasibility study and car parking management strategy. At present Stagecoach operates its 555 bus service past the site hourly and JMP will be considering proposals to improve this to a 15 minute service with the introduction of Park and Ride for visitors wanting to visit Windermere and Kendal where parking can be restricted. The Partnership says that the estate is a unique opportunity to provide much needed high quality employment land without detracting from the landscape, while at the same time benefitting the overall environmental quality of the Lake District National Park. It adds: “The active participation of Stagecoach at Ratherheath will ensure an informed sustainable public transport system is focused on the site, serving both local communities and visitors. With collaborative participation Ratherheath could contribute to the Lake District vision of a prosperous economy, vibrant communities and world class visitor experience in a spectacular landscape.”http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=15307 Oct 2009Transport planner JMP has assisted the Smarter Travel team at London Borough Richmond upon Thames (STR) to set up two ‘Connecting Businesses’ travel plan networks. They are designed to engage local businesses in travel planning and to introduce them to the benefits of promoting walking, cycling and public transport to their employees. STR is funded and delivered in conjunction with Transport for London (TfL) and is the second integrated behavioural change programme introduced in the capital, the first being established in the London Borough of Sutton in which JMP played an integral role. In Sutton, the consultant developed a strategy to ‘lock in’ the benefits of the programme by implementing infrastructure measures in locations where travel plans were in place, to assist people to walk, cycle and take public transport. The aim of the two STR Connecting Businesses Networks is to encourage local businesses to become members of STR and develop, implement and promote a travel plan. In return, membership entitles businesses to a range of exclusive benefits including challenge grants, assistance to implement suitable infrastructure and access to subsidised services, such as cyclist training for employees. JMP has assisted in establishing the two local networks, which consist largely of small to medium size enterprises. Key to this was the development of a communications strategy to raise the profile of Smarter Travel and increase participation in the programme and to better engage businesses in the travel planning process.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=15205 Oct 2009Transport planner JMP has provided transport and highways advice for a four hectare expansion of Kent Science Park near Sittingbourne which will ultimately lead to 500 new jobs. Kent Science Park (KSP) has been granted planning consent by Swale Borough Council for the four hectare expansion and a development of start-up technology units, which have been designed in response to the success of a previous similar development on the site. The expansion, which is expected to bring £15 to £20 million of investment to Swale, also includes detailed planning permission for a new headquarters building for an existing client, Ecologia, an environmental consultancy/contractor. Ecologia was named Swale Company of the Year at the Swale Business Awards in 2007. Already one of the largest science park campuses in the South East, KSP’s expansion will provide accommodation for up to 400 additional employees, with a further 100 jobs in the technology units. JMP, commissioned by the site managers LaSalle Investment Management, has provided transport and highways advice throughout the development of the schemes and the planning application process, and produced a comprehensive transport assessment and a draft travel plan. The highway package developed includes on-site highway improvements to the local road network, new signage to improve vehicle routing, a travel plan to promote sustainable travel choices and car sharing and the improvement of local bus services. JMP has been retained to assist with the implementation and monitoring of the highways package. http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=15128 Sep 2009Transport planner JMP has piloted a new standard to help planners to measure how far people should have to travel from their homes to buy healthy food, in particular fruit and vegetables. The new standard, developed for the Department of Health West Midlands, improves upon previous ways planners measured access to food and does not confine itself merely to shops and town centres and ‘fresh’ food. It brings the focus on all places that sell fruit and vegetables, such as markets, farm shops, petrol filling stations and pubs in rural communities that sell produce. And it asks councils to measure the percentage of households within 20 minutes of outlets selling fruit and vegetables by walking, cycling or public transport. Primarily the standard has been developed for use within the next phase of local transport plans to firmly anchor principles of healthy lifestyles within accessibility planning. A region-wide mapping exercise has taken place to identify retail outlets likely to sell fruit and vegetables; a first for the West Midlands Accessibility maps. The original data sources will be provided to each local authority to assist them in their plans and strategies for the future. JMP says that the measurement standard seeks to capture a wider range of food outlets in order that access solutions are not skewed to promoting travel to large out-of-town outlets at the expense of sustaining smaller, community outlets. The report emphasises that for future food security to be achieved people need to be able to access food without the use of a car. Therefore it is important that access solutions provided do not threaten the sustainability of local outlets. The consultant adds that unhealthy diets in the West Midlands are most commonly deprived of fruit and vegetables, rather than any other food group.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=15023 Sep 2009Transport planner JMP has provided transport and highways expertise for the proposed redevelopment of a brownfield site on London’s Isle of Dogs into a hotel-led referable scheme of 305 boutique hotel suites, conference facilities, gymnasium, swimming pool, bars, restaurants, cafes and serviced offices. The development at 40 Marsh Wall is highly sustainable as it is essentially car-free, with just one disabled car parking space at lower ground level for ease of access. Cycle parking for staff and visitors will also be provided and South Quay Docklands Light Railway Station, Canary Wharf Underground Station and local bus services are close by. A planning application has now been lodged with the London Borough of Tower Hamlets by the developer, Marsh Wall Chelsea LLP. The architect is BUJ. With the close proximity of Canary Wharf, hotels in the area primarily serve the business community. There is also a high tourist demand, particularly at weekends, given the close proximity to central London, the Thames Path and north Greenwich, including the Cutty Sark and Greenwich Park World Heritage Site. JMP’s transport assessment report included a detailed multi-modal trip assessment of both the existing and proposed land uses, a detailed servicing trip assessment and identified the potential impact of the scheme, and other area schemes, on the local highway network. A draft workplace travel plan to promote and encourage the use of sustainable travel modes, particularly the very good transport accessibility, was also drawn up. There was extensive liaison with Transport for London (TfL) and JMP’s draft travel plan was reviewed by TfL’s Smarter Travel Unit and considered to be of “excellent quality”.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=14914 Sep 2009Transport planner JMP is developing a microsimulation tool to investigate the impact of transport schemes and proposed developments in the Warwickshire borough of Nuneaton and Bedworth up to 2016 and 2026. The modelling project has been awarded by Warwickshire County Council and will extend the existing North Nuneaton PARAMICS microsimulation model to encompass the whole borough, as well as the bordering sections of the M6, M69 and A5 trunk road. JMP aims to finish the base model by the end of December and then build 2016 and 2026 forecast year PARAMICS models by the end of February next year. These will be used by Warwickshire County Council to test the land allocated for growth as part of the West Midlands’ regional spatial strategy and the borough council’s core strategy.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=14810 Sep 2009Transport planner and engineer JMP Consultants has promoted Associates Dawn Guegan and Philip Marshall to Associate Directors and appointed Ian Coles and Robert Tams as new Associates. Dawn Guegan in the Birmingham office joined JMP from Atkins last year and has responsibility for project management and financial reporting to the business unit. Philip Marshall in the central London office, joined in 2007 from WSP and runs the development planning and urban design team. New Associate Ian Coles in central London office has been with JMP since 1991. He was a Principal and in his extended role will continue to manage TRICS on behalf of a local authority consortium. TRICS is a process which challenges and validates assumptions about transport impacts of new developments. The other new Associate, Robert Tams of Manchester office, joined JMP three years ago as a principal transport planner from East Riding of Yorkshire Council. His responsibilities include private development, regeneration and transport strategy. Other promotions include Esther Bridie and Paul Cranley (Central London), Carl Peers (Docklands) and Suzy Wild (Leeds) to principal transport planners, and James Quigley (Newcastle) to principal engineer.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=14724 Aug 2009Transport planner JMP has provided transport, flood risk and drainage expertise for a proposed Eco Quarter on land adjoining the committed section of the Bognor Regis Relief Road to the north west of the West Sussex town. The planning application, submitted to Arun District Council by the Church Commissioners and land owner David Langmead, is for a sustainable mixed use community including 2,000 homes, business, education facilities, retail, food and drink and financial and professional services, leisure and recreation uses, health and community facilities and open space. It forms the 140 hectare western section of the Eco Quarter, which will eventually also incorporate land to the east with potential for a further 500 residential units. JMP has advised on highways, transport, flood risk, drainage and foul water and prepared a Transport Assessment, Flood Risk Assessment and Drainage Strategy in support of the planning application. The proposal is intended to be an urban extension rather than a stand-alone new settlement, with the ability to contribute to and improve the infrastructure in the regeneration of the town. One of the key principles of the development is to improve the existing highways and public transport provision to enable better connectivity with Bognor Regis town centre and other parts of the district. The western end of the proposed Relief Road joins with the A259 at North Bersted in close proximity to the eastern boundary of the site. The scheme will deliver an extension to the proposed Relief Road around the west of the site to adjoin the B2166.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=14613 Aug 2009Although it only came into being on April 1 the Cheshire East Council is already looking to reduce its carbon footprint. The council, formed out of part of Cheshire County Council and the Macclesfield, Congleton and Crewe & Nantwich borough councils, has commissioned transport planner JMP Consultants to prepare site-specific travel plans for its seven main office locations. JMP has to identify and develop means of implementing a corporate business and staff travel scheme for three offices in Crewe and others in Sandbach, Macclesfield, Congleton and Wilmslow. The commission will have a strong carbon focus. Cheshire East Council employs around 14,000 staff and JMP’s work will focus on delivering an innovative and holistic approach to staff commuter and business travel to help to smooth the transition to the new authority, and the relocation of a number of its staff to new offices. JMP will review all aspects of business and commuter travel and help the Council to establish new operational cultures and to build in flexible and mobile working practices from the outset. It aims to achieve a range of benefits, including financial savings, carbon reduction and more efficient service delivery. There will be extensive consultation with staff and managers on their travel requirements.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=14510 Aug 2009A Victorian garden square in Southend-on-Sea, which in its present form discourages visitors and often attracts anti-social behaviour, is to be transformed by a multi-disciplinary team that includes transport planner JMP. The aspiration of the team, led by landscape architect Gillespies and appointed by Renaissance Southend and Southend-on-Sea Borough Council, is to turn the square and surrounding roads into a valuable green public space for residents, businesses, visitors and students. Warrior Square Gardens is a key project for Southend and the Thames Gateway partners.and the park works are currently out to tender. The expansion of public spaces and public realm developments to support regeneration of the High Street is crucial to establishing central Southend as a Regional Centre. JMP, commissioned for traffic/transport and civil/structural works, is identifying the traffic implications of introducing shared use facilities for vehicles, pedestrians and cyclists and developing engineering solutions sympathetic to the immediate environment. JMP has considerable expertise in designing and constructing high quality public realm in congested urban environments with such projects in London such as the Duke of York Headquarters and Aldgate Union City Park.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=14406 Aug 2009The people of Greater Glasgow appear to be flexible in their view of how to get about their city. They are as happy to get on a bus, train or walk as they are to use their car, as long it makes sense for them to do so in terms of convenience, time, and cost savings. However, in many circumstances the car still remains the most convenient mode for those who have the choice. Transport planner JMP Consultants found in a study of attitudes and cultural norms that the majority of respondents did not identify strongly with a particular mode of travel. Their motivations in choosing transport modes included health benefits, time savings, cost savings, sociability, image of the bus and safety and risk. These findings provide important pointers for the commissioning body, the Glasgow Centre for Population Health, for the successful promotion of more healthy, sustainable and active travel in and around Glasgow. Two innovative data collection techniques were used by JMP in the qualitative research. Two minute ‘vox pop’ video interviews were edited into a film to show planners, policy makers and the general Glasgow public what the views were of participants travelling in and around the city. There were also shared focus group sessions, with participant groups travelling by different modes brought together to learn from each other’s experiences of various travel modes in Greater Glasgow. This methodology was designed using expertise from the Centre for Transport and Psychology, a joint venture between JMP and three universities. Recommendations were made regarding policy and infrastructure improvement such as improved provision of information on bus travel and cycling, training in the use of alternative modes and provision of improved cycling facilities and their promotion. Further recommendations include examining bus priority and service scheduling, improving customer services, particularly on buses, crime prevention and promoting car clubs. The study showed that on the whole walking was regarded positively, with strong health benefits and some cost and time advantages, as was cycling, although cycling was also perceived as very dangerous. For those who do own a car, travel from the city centre was frequently undertaken on public transport to avoid parking costs and difficulties, and also due to high levels of traffic. For other study locations car owners were likely to drive, unless they had time and wanted to travel for free (those qualifying for free bus travel) or were motivated by health or cost concerns to walk or cycle.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=14303 Aug 2009Since Sutton became London’s first “sustainable borough” with the launch of Smarter Travel Sutton three years ago, the project has seen a 50% increase in cycling since last year, a 13 % increase in bus use and a reduction in car trips. Now transport planner JMP will be working to lock in these benefits by delivering the borough’s first integrated transport package in Wallington, aimed at implementing a range of physical measures to maintain and encourage further travel behaviour change. Last year the Council developed a strategy for doing just this. Enabling Smarter Travel Choices, authored by JMP, showed how such integrated transport schemes could be used to improve public transport, walking and cycling networks within and around district centres, projected as hubs of local trip-making. After receiving a favourable funding package from TfL in last year’s Local Implementation Plan, Sutton has now recommissioned JMP to deliver the first integrated transport package. The project will be based on substantial community consultation and engagement to ensure that measures to promote sustainable travel reflect local needs and can be taken forward with the support of the local community. A completed package of measures coming from these consultations will be finalised by early 2010, ready for implementation.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=14228 Jul 2009Natural England, the independent body dedicated to promoting a healthy natural environment, has selected a Rights of Way Improvement Plan (ROWIP) developed by JMP Consultants as an example of best practice. The plan, commissioned by Warrington Borough Council, assesses all rights of way within the borough, including footpaths, cycle tracks, bridleways and restricted byways while the statement of action identifies the best way to develop and manage the network in the future. In nominating it as an example of best practice, Natural England made specific reference to JMP’s consultation work, the policy review undertaken, its clear action plan and the close alignment between the ROWIP and Warrington’s Local Transport Plan (LTP2). JMP’s report highlighted the need for better publicity and marketing of routes, physical improvements and more regular maintenance regimes, the introduction of new routes and improved partnership working between the council and external organisations. Indicative costs and timescales of these improvements were also outlined.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=14114 Jul 2009Senior transport planner Amy Tigg from JMP Consultants’ Glasgow office has been named the Institution of Highways and Transportation’s “Young Transportation Professional of the Year 2009”. Amy, who has been with JMP for three and a half years, joined the IHT a year earlier. The national award is presented to a young person who is considered to have made a significant voluntary contribution within the branch and/or national organisation of IHT for a period of not less than two years. She became a member of the Central & Southern Scotland Branch Committee in 2007 and immediately impressed colleagues with her enthusiasm and energy. She has worked tirelessly to raise the profile of the branch and to deliver and support the branch events programme. She also organises meetings and workshops with an emphasis on qualifications and young members.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=14013 Jul 2009Transport planner JMP is working with the East Riding of Yorkshire Council to develop its third Local Transport Plan (LTP3), containing a long term strategy for the Riding, together with separate implementation plans. The LTP3, which has to be submitted to the Department for Transport next year for implementation from 2011 will focus on achieving national, regional and local goals. It will ensure integration with the DFT’s “Delivering a Sustainable Transport Strategy” approach, the integrated regional strategy for Yorkshire and the Humber, the Hull and Humber Ports city region policy framework and Local Development Framework proposals in the East Riding. Formal DfT guidance on developing LTP3 is expected this month and JMP will be working with the Council over the next 12 to 18 months. JMP has a successful track record of working with local transport authorities in developing LTPs, including helping at least one authority improve its final LTP2 by one grade in a DfT assessment of the quality of plans.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=13902 Jul 2009Transport planner JMP is working as part of a team designing new bus and railway stations, both significant components of a £100 million Wolverhampton Interchange scheme linked across the city’s ring road. The project, with its associated hotel, retail, leisure facilities and high quality public space, will transform a key part of Wolverhampton city centre, creating a 21st Century gateway to one of the Midlands’ fastest growing business and leisure destinations. JMP, appointed by the developer Neptune and Wolverhampton City Council as the highways and transportation consultant, is working with the team on outline design, planning, detail design, road safety audits, tender and production of construction information for the development infrastructure. The scheme, project managed by Rider Levett Bucknall, is being developed in two phases, the first being the development of the new bus interchange on the footprint of the existing bus station, the busiest in the West Midlands. The Listed Queen’s Building, which currently forms part of the ticket office, will be retained as a stand-alone building for retail and leisure purposes and surrounded by a pedestrianised area. In the second phase the railway station on the other side of the ring road will be replaced by a new building incorporating a 1,200 space car park on the roof. The existing multi-storey car park will be demolished to make way for two hotels providing 212 beds. The existing Railway Drive Bridge over the ring road will be supplemented by a new pedestrianised bridge and a new access to the car park will be provided. The design team has been working with Centro to incorporate the design of the future Metro Train extension into the designs.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=13825 Jun 2009The Highways Agency’s Influencing Travel Behaviour programme is designed to promote sustainable travel and reduce congestion on England's 'strategic road network'. Through this the Agency aims to cut congestion and improve journey time reliability by influencing travel behaviour, providing access to information to help people make smarter travel choices, and introducing demand management measures in areas prone to congestion. In the last five years, JMP, acting on behalf of the Highways Agency, has worked to influence travel behaviour amongst employers and their employees at over 20 sites across the UK including: Solent Business Park in Hampshire; Fifth Avenue and Team Valley in the North-East; Exchange Quay (Salford Quays) in Manchester; and Cambridge Science Park in the South-East. The experience from these sites has informed the development of a series of guidance documents, aimed at HA staff and their term consultants. The documents, produced for the HA by JMP, provide definitive guidance on how to carry out ITB work. Guidance includes area-wide travel strategy guidance, monitoring guidance, working in partnerships, a short guide to voluntary travel planning work, and production of the online SmartGuide tool. For further information, please see http://www.highways.gov.uk/itb or talk to Ian Smith, Team Leader, Highways Agency on 0123 479 6276, or Stacey Silverman, Principal Transport Planner, JMP on 0161 831 5607.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=13711 Jun 2009Transport planner JMP has been commissioned by Lambeth College to prepare a transport assessment to support a new planning application for redevelopment of its Brixton Centre campus in South London. The proposal is to demolish existing buildings and re-develop the site to provide approximately 12,750 sq m of education gross floor space, situated within a single building, with a maximum height of four storeys on the northern boundary. This will increase the existing floor space by approximately 5,000 sq m. A number of classrooms and workshops will include: media studios, motorcycle studios and workshop, building & construction workshops, hairdressing & beauty, fitness suite, activity centre, multi-use exhibition and meeting place, and a café. JMP has provided a comprehensive assessment of the existing travel demands of the site, and the impact that the Brixton Centre development proposals may have on the existing public transport infrastructure. It has also updated the College’s Travel Plan to support the planning application.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=13608 Jun 2009Some 13,500 Dundee homes are to be contacted over the next 18 months by transport planner JMP in a determined bid to encourage the city’s residents to improve their health by walking and cycling more. By also engaging university students, school children, employees and visitors to the city from the wider catchment area, and offering ongoing help to health referrals, it is anticipated that 31,000 people will be given the healthy exercise message – “travel more actively”. Dundee City Council has commissioned the Personalised Travel Planning project, under which engagement with local people will take place between August 1 this year and December 2010. The work, which is part of the £2.2 million Dundee Travel Active programme (DTA), is due to report by March 2011. It is largely funded from the Scottish Government’s Smarter Choices, Smarter Places programme. DTA also includes infrastructure improvements to the pedestrian and cycle route network, encouraging families to try out cycling under an Active Kids, Active Parents programme and the establishment of a “bike library”. This facility will allow eligible local residents and university students to hire a bike at low cost for a few months to test whether they would wish to cycle regularly. A team of local people will be recruited and trained to assist with the Personalised Travel Planning doorstep visits. These people will provide advice and follow-up with information suited to the individual’s particular needs. Tim Steiner, an Associate Director at JMP, said: “Travel behaviour choices impact on health generally and body weight specifically. One in four adults in Scotland is obese and rates have trebled since 1980. Nearly two-thirds of adults do not take the recommended amount of physical exercise; for many people walking or cycling for some of their journeys is an easy way to incorporate more exercise into the daily routine. “This is an exciting and challenging project, which we see as a major opportunity for Dundee and for showcasing behavioural change in the context of promoting active travel and healthy lifestyles.”http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=13501 Jun 2009Increasing the number of trains on the Aberdeen/Edinburgh line from one to two per hour, calling at Leuchars in Fife, is attracting commuters and putting pressure on capacity at the town’s railway station car park. Couple this with the fact that some Dundee commuters feel it is more convenient for them to drive the 9 miles to Leuchars and pay a relatively cheaper fare on the train to Edinburgh and the demand for parking spaces escalates. Transport planner JMP was commissioned by the two statutory transport partnerships, SESTRAN and TACTRAN, to assess parking demand and has recommended that the current 150 space park should be extended onto open adjacent land to add a further 100 spaces, maximising the potential for this site to be used for Park and Ride. Leuchars Station is an interchange with good bus services towards the Royal Burgh of St Andrews to the east and Wormit Newport and Tayport to the north. It is currently attracting more than 1,200 single trips per day with more than 50 per cent of those having Edinburgh as their destination. With the improved frequency and running times of the alternate ‘fast service’, usage is projected to increase. The consultant says the projected £635,500 scheme should be taken forward to identify funding mechanisms in partnership with Fife Council, Transport Scotland and the train operators. JMP director Iain Sherriff said:” This is a good example of when increasing the frequency and improving the running times of trains achieves a modal shift. It is important that the facilities to accommodate increased demand are in place to attract the trips normally undertaken by car, many of which are single occupancy.”http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=13419 May 2009Transport planner JMP has urged that work should begin at the earliest possible opportunity on a park and ride/choose site on the southern side of the Tay Road Bridge to discourage car traffic into Dundee. The consultant has recommended expanding the existing car park on the Landfall Site at the southern bridgehead onto adjoining land alongside the A92 and promotion of bus use, car sharing, cycling and walking. Failing that – because there might be land ownership or planning policy issues - then the Forgan Roundabout site two miles further south should be considered as the next best alternative. There is relatively little congestion on the bridge at present but this will most likely increase, particularly with the regeneration of the Dundee City Centre through the large Waterfront development. JMP was commissioned by two statutory transport partnerships covering a wide area north and south of the Tay, SESTRAN and TACTRAN, to identify a package of sustainable measures that would reduce single occupancy car trips across the Bridge. This included the location and feasibility of a park and ride/choose site on the A92 corridor. The provision of such a facility in north east Fife has been listed by both partnerships as a high priority and approved by the Scottish Transport Minister as a project of strategic importance. JMP has recommended that detailed designs and negotiations with all stakeholders, including bus operators, Tay Road Bridge Joint Board and other landowners should be progressed as soon as possible. Both sites have existing bus services that access the key traffic and people attractions in Dundee, the Landfall Site offering the best frequency and catchment areas. It is suggested that the design should encourage park and choose with a small number of spaces set aside for car sharers and those who wish to park and cycle or walk into Dundee. Adequate parking should be provided for cycles and the possibility of buses providing ‘bad weather’ transport for cyclists and pedestrians should be explored by bus operators. http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=13313 May 2009Transport planner JMP is preparing a Travel Plan for a new prison being built in Scotland in a move to encourage staff and visitors to cut down on private car use and instead move to more sustainable modes of transport. The new prison is being built on the site of a 15 hectare site, a part of which was the previous HMP Lowmoss in East Dumbartonshire. The site is close to a retail park and accessed by a frequent bus service from Glasgow, some 5.5 miles away. Enabling works for the new prison have already begun with the prison planned to come into operation in 2012. The prison will have around 500 staff – both from the prison service and external agencies – and around 700 prisoners. It is expected that there will be approximately about 300 staff on site at any one time. The new prison will have 300 parking spaces for staff and 84 for visitors and JMP will be looking to encourage car sharing, together with cycling and walking, and ways of enhancing public transport. There is a local railway station about two miles from the prison. The Travel Plan is required to meet not just the Scottish Prison Service’s sustainable transport strategy but also to comply with the requirements of East Dunbartonshire Council. The prison service’s target is to achieve as a minimum a “Very Good” rating under the Building Research Establishment’s Environmental Assessment Method for prisons. http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=13212 May 2009Chartered planner Deborah Livingstone has returned to the Glasgow office of transport planner and engineer JMP as a senior transport planner after eighteen months working as a planner with the DPP town planning consultancy. She had previously worked as a transport planner with JMP for three years and in her new role will be involved in development planning work, particularly with Transport for Scotland.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=13128 Apr 2009Transport planner and engineer JMP is advising on expanding the benefits of the real time passenger information system available to bus passengers in Aberdeen city to also include Aberdeenshire. As well as examining the possible extension to encompass the shire, together with the required enhancement/upgrading of the existing city system, JMP has been instructed by Nestrans, the North East Scotland Regional Transport Partnership, to also consider the options for an entirely new system in the shire area. A new system would give the opportunity to use the capabilities of the GPS-enabled electronic ticketing machines currently being installed on buses across both city and shire authorities. Real time passenger information was introduced “on-street” in 1998 by Aberdeen City Council in partnership with First in Aberdeen and has subsequently been expanded to consist of 170 displays, principally on street, but also in a number of public buildings. Aberdeen City is a relatively compact urban area of 186 sq km with a population of 209,000. In contrast Aberdeenshire is a diverse and essentially rural area of 6,313 sq km with a population of 239,000. Its rural nature is reflected in the fact that only five settlements exceed a population of 10,000. JMP is also required to address any potential cross-boundary issues which may arise associated with existing or proposed real time passenger information systems in neighbouring authorities of Angus, Highland, Perth & Kinross and Moray. http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=13024 Apr 2009Transport planner JMP has developed an interactive scoring tool for the identification and prioritisation of 20mph zones on behalf of Gateshead Council. Gateshead Speed Management Plan outlined a road hierarchy where residential areas, local centres and near schools would usually be designated as 20mph zones. The mass implementation of 20mph zones is obviously cost prohibitive and therefore needs be progressed incrementally. The Council was, however, keen to develop a long-term strategy allowing for a consistent and transparent approach to the introduction of 20mph zones. The tool includes an interactive automated scoring tool and GIS mapping system. This allows council employees to identify the relevant information needed to quickly and efficiently operate the scoring tool and provides an up-to-date way to analyse information using a visual approach. A wide range of criteria have been considered, including national and local policy, road safety, sustainable travel, land-use characteristics and socio-economic conditions. The tool will be used in the short term to develop a programme of 20mph zones to be implemented over the next few years. The tool can be easily updated allowing for its continuing use in the future.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=12906 Apr 2009Transport planner JMP is developing proposals for new local or community bus services to improve accessibility to employment, services and facilities in West Yorkshire. The outcome will support a future application from Metro (West Yorkshire PTE) to Yorkshire Forward for funding from the European Regional Development Fund. JMP’s main tasks are to work up existing conceptual proposals for improving accessibility, including bus links from Leeds city centre to the Lower Aire Valley and from south east Wakefield to Glasshoughton. Options will be explored for additional new bus links to improve accessibility between south east Wakefield and the Dearne Valley and in Bradford, Calderdale and Kirklees Districts. Evidence of need will be identified in broad terms and at this stage there will be no consultation with bus operators. JMP will also provide indications of costs, patronage and the level of support required. JMP will use knowledge of key employment, retail and leisure sites and future employment development to help in identifying route options. Where possible the aim will be to serve more than one journey purpose to try to deliver some financially robust options. There will be consultation with the five districts in West Yorkshire, Jobcentre Plus West Yorkshire, the Coalfields Regeneration Trust and the Aire Valley Project in Leeds. http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=12804 Apr 2009Transport planner and engineer JMP is helping the National Trust with a key bridge project as part of its most ambitious landscape-scale habitat restoration project, the Wick Fen Vision in Cambridgeshire. National Trust has appointed JMP, together with Transport for Leisure, to undertake a feasibility study for a new bridge crossing the Burwell Lode as part of delivering the Wicken Fen Vision. This will build on a recent collaboration between the two companies to develop a visitor travel plan for the Vision area. The Wicken Fen Vision is an ambitious 100 year project by the Trust to create a landscape- scale nature reserve covering 56 sq km to the north of Cambridge, in an area under extreme pressure from population growth and housing and infrastructure development. Keen to reduce the environmental impact of visitors, the National Trust wants to encourage walking, cycling and horse riding to access and move around the Vision lands. The central spine route will need to cross a number of historic fenland waterways, known as lodes, and the crossing of Burwell Lode is an important element of providing access through the area. The existing Wicken Fen Nature Reserve and neighbouring Anglesey Abbey currently attracts in the region of a quarter of a million visitors each year. Providing a strategic link in the form of a central spine route between the two Trust properties is a fundamental element in encouraging visitors to explore the area while ensuring that the important areas of conservation interest are protected from the avoidable impacts of human activity. Martin Revill, a JMP associate director, commented: “Providing this new crossing of the Burwell Lode will help to unlock a range of links to local communities through the fen.”http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=12703 Apr 2009Regeneration of the Mardyke Estate in Rainham has moved a step closer following the submission of a detailed planning application for the first phase of the scheme, supported by a transport statement by transport planner JMP. The scheme as a whole will see demolition of the 1960s high-rise tower blocks dominating the estate with the replacement or refurbishment of up to 555 homes in three and five storey blocks of flats. Phase 1 will provide 121 new affordable dwellings and will also include the construction of an energy centre that will eventually serve the whole estate. It will also provide significant improvements to the local road network, upgraded public transport facilities, new public open spaces and play areas and new premises for existing local shops. Regeneration follows the transfer of the Mardyke Estate into ownership of Old Ford Housing Association – part of Anglia Circle – in March 2008. The outline application for the whole scheme was submitted to the London Borough of Havering in November 2008. JMP’s transport consultancy advice has included a transport assessment at the outline stage, a full draft travel plan and a transport statement to support the first phase application. There has also been consultation with TfL London Buses to ensure that the route 365 bus service can operate a full service throughout the construction period. The travel plan includes measures to improve access to key services by walking, cycling and public transport, and also provision for an on-site Car Club. http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=12623 Mar 2009Transport planner JMP has been appointed for an initial two years, with the option of a two year extension, as a consultant in three categories for the South Lanarkshire Council Framework. JMP can be called upon to provide services in roads design, structures and geotechnical services, traffic and transportation planning and traffic modelling/assessment. http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=12518 Mar 2009Transport planner and engineer JMP has moved its Newcastle-upon-Tyne activities into new offices in the middle of the city’s prestigious Quayside regeneration area close to Millennium Bridge. For the past eight years JMP has been operating out of Cathedral Chambers in Dean Street and will continue to offer all the transportation and engineering consultancy services from the new address at Rotterdam House, 116 Quayside, Newcastle-upon-Tyne NE1 3DY. (Tel: 0191 206 4085. Fax: 0191 206 4001) Associate director Steve Pickard will continue to lead the team. http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=12412 Mar 2009Transport planner JMP has been commissioned by NHS County Durham to evaluate an innovative approach to providing transport to hospital appointments and for visiting. A new service provides transport for people in East Durham to access five hospitals in the Wearside and Teesside areas. The aim of the scheme – funded by the PCT and in partnership with Durham County Council and North East Ambulance Service - aims to make best use of non-emergency ambulance resources, as well as providing accessible direct public transport options. People requiring transport to hospital call a central telephone number at the County Council. Callers are then allocated non-emergency transport if they are eligible, or they are booked on to the dedicated East Durham Hospital Link service – a demand responsive service operating on semi-fixed routes but also, if necessary, offering a door step service. The outcome of JMP’s evaluation will determine the way forward for the scheme.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=12312 Mar 2009Sustrans, the impetus behind the national cycle network project, has commissioned transport planner JMP to prepare an economic assessment of the benefits that the Spen Valley Greenway in West Yorkshire brings to the local community. The Greenway, together with the Calder Valley Greenway, provides a 20km-long traffic-free cycling and walking route along a former rail line in Kirklees. The aim is to put an economic value on the route, using the recently announced Department for Transport appraisal guidance for cycling projects. JMP project director Dr Alan Beswick said that this would be one of the first attempts to use the new appraisal guidance, developed with the assistance of Sustrans, to get a broader assessment of the value that such routes bring to the local community. http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=12205 Mar 2009Transport planner JMP is assisting Mid-Cheshire College with the implementation of a Travel Plan for its Hartford Campus near Northwich, Cheshire, which it hopes could eventually embrace some ten other educational sites in close proximity. Although the Campus, two kilometres to the south of the town, has direct access to rail and bus services the College has on-site parking and there is a current heavy reliance on single-occupancy vehicle use among the 2,000 students and 500 staff. While a significant proportion of the catchment can and do access the site by alternative modes, there is a perception by many that there is no suitable alternative to the car. In addition, the availability of a private travel allowance for qualifying students has served to provide further incentive to its use, at a significant cost to the college. Now the College is keen to reduce the impact of private car use and to encourage neighbouring educational sites – encompassing primary, secondary and residential schools - to co-operate in promoting car sharing at an area-wide level. A number of these schools immediately surround the college and share the same access routes. This is seen as a positive contribution to reducing the effect of the ‘school run’ at times of peak congestion as well as ensuring viability and shared financial commitment.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=12026 Feb 2009The employee-owned transport planning and engineering consultancy JMP Consultants Ltd is forming a new executive board with a chairman and a chief executive officer to replace its existing managing director-led structure. The new chairman Gordon Baker said: "The executive board has been part of our forward strategy for the last couple of years and we have decided that now is the time to implement our new structure to improve our client-facing delivery and strengthen our operations in readiness for the upturn when it happens. The new board will assume its responsibility from February 26." He will be joined initially on the executive board by Darren Oldham as chief executive officer and Dr Alan Beswick, with a financial director to be appointed shortly. Additional executive board members, including non-executive roles may be added in future. Gordon Baker was previously responsible for the Scottish and Northern Ireland operations and Darren Oldham and Alan Beswick for the North West and North East regions respectively. The current managing director, Ian Cameron, will be stepping down from his role on February 26, but will, with David Gooden, remain as a board director of JMP. Gordon Baker commented: "We need to have clear leadership roles structured for the strategic development ahead of us. The current board has always envisaged that a new executive board would evolve in this way to lead the company. The present structure does not sit well with the larger more complex organisation that we have become, even compared with five years ago. "Ian led us through a period of considerable change during which we evolved our leading-edge capability to deliver high quality transport planning services underpinned by our engineering knowledge. He has given us a great foundation on which to build and I genuinely believe that the strong values held by our staff will see us continue to go from strength to strength."http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=12118 Feb 2009Planning permission is now being sought for the first two phases of Barking Riverside, a nationally significant regeneration project for which transport planner JMP has designed the streets and the integration of local transport. An initial 4,000 homes are planned on the bank of the Thames at Barking Reach - ultimately there will be some 10,800 homes housing 26,000 people – and with the planning application for the first two phases come the first visual impressions of the 150ha regeneration. As well as new homes on the 2km river frontage site, previously occupied by three power stations, there will ultimately be new schools, shopping, parkland and excellent transport connections. Some 40 percent of the site, at the heart of the Thames Gateway, will be designated as open space. JMP has been the street designer for these first two stages. The consultant’s involvement has encompassed the design of high quality streets, shared surfaces and other public and private spaces, incorporation of step-free designs and integration of East London Transit and Docklands Light Railway infrastructure and interchanges into street space. There will also be improvements to access from the A13. JMP, which also provided design advice on car parking and secure on-site cycle parking, has worked as part of a multi-disciplinary team of master planners, architects, landscape architects and engineers. This team includes Maxwan (masterplan), Sheppard Robson (stage 1 architecture), Maccreanor Lavington/ KCAP (stage 2 architecture), Hyder Consulting (highways/ geotechnical engineers) and Gustafson Porter (landscape architecture). The developer, Barking Riverside Ltd., is a joint venture between national regeneration agency English Partnerships and Bellway Homes, working together with the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=11917 Feb 2009Transport planners JMP has been commissioned to research the handling of bus complaints in England (outside London) for leading consumer watchdog Passenger Focus. Passenger Focus is the independent statutory watchdog for rail passengers, and is now preparing to extend its remit to perform a similar role for bus passengers. Current arrangements for handling bus complaints in England, outside London, have been described by some as inconsistent and unclear, with a lack of clarity over who passengers should complain to and how they can go about making their complaint. JMP will provide Passenger Focus with an understanding of the current arrangements for handling complaints and of passenger experience of making a complaint. This will be achieved after discussion with a variety of stakeholders, including bus operators, local authorities, and members of the travelling public via in-depth interviews and focus groups. Passenger Focus carries out research and campaigns on behalf of passengers, for example through the National Passenger Survey which consults over 50,000 rail passengers a year, to produce a network-wide picture of passenger satisfaction with rail travel. Its mission is to get the best deal for passengers. http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=11717 Feb 2009Planning permission is now being sought for the first two phases of Barking Riverside, a nationally significant regeneration project. An initial 4,000 homes are planned on the bank of the Thames at Barking Reach - ultimately there will be some 10,800 homes housing 26,000 people – and with the planning application for the first two phases come the first visual impressions of the 150ha regeneration. (see attached impressions). As well as new homes on the 2km river frontage site, previously occupied by three power stations, there will ultimately be new schools, shopping, parkland and excellent transport connections. Some 40 percent of the site, at the heart of the Thames Gateway, will be designated as open space. Transport planner JMP has been the street designer for these first two stages. The consultant’s involvement has encompassed the design of high quality streets, shared surfaces and other public and private spaces, incorporation of step-free designs and integration of East London Transit and Docklands Light Railway infrastructure and interchanges into street space. There will also be improvements to access from the A13. JMP, which also provided design advice on car parking and secure on-site cycle parking, has worked as part of a multi-disciplinary team of master planners, architects, landscape architects and engineers. This team includes Maxwan (masterplan), Sheppard Robson (stage 1 architecture), Maccreanor Lavington/ KCAP (stage 2 architecture), Hyder Consulting (highways/ geotechnical engineers) and Gustafson Porter (landscape architecture). The developer, Barking Riverside Ltd., is a joint venture between national regeneration agency English Partnerships and Bellway Homes, working together with the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=11816 Feb 2009Transport planner JMP was the sole UK representative in a nine nation team that has won the Sustainable Energy Europe Award in a programme run by the European Commission aimed at promoting eco objectives among the young. CONNECT, the name under which the nine co-operating nations operate, beat off challenges from more than 240 entries to win the category award for “Promotional, Communication and Educational Actions”. Its project was aimed at “developing and disseminating excellent mobility management measures for young people”, in which JMP was the partner responsible for monitoring and evaluation. The ongoing project involves thousands of children in the United Kingdom, Belgium, Austria, The Netherlands, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Hungary, Greece and Italy. JMP also implemented a campaign in several London schools which attracted 3,533 participants from 12 primary schools in Newham and a further 400 pupils in three secondary schools in Sutton and Haringey. The younger children took part in a Traffic Snake Campaign to achieve more sustainable trips to and from school while the older ones designed their own short video clips. The top nine will be put on DVD and from those three will be selected for showing at film festivals. As the project is a three year programme with two years still to go JMP hopes to roll it out to a lot more schools in the UK. http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=11612 Feb 2009Transport planner JMP has won a further significant commission under a major masterplanning framework agreement led by the Paul Hogarth Company that is aimed at revitalising many town and city centres throughout Northern Ireland. JMP has been appointed to provide transportation expertise in the regeneration of Carrickfergus, whose character is described as having a failing transport structure. The demand is for a coherent transport plan that links emerging land-use proposals, overcomes the severance problems caused by the A2 passing through the town and gives priority to pedestrians, cyclists and public transport. Carrickfergus is a commuter town for Belfast with road and rail connections under stress, capacity problems on the A2 both within the town and in outlying areas and an overflowing park and ride at the railway station. Access to public transport also needs to be improved. The commission follows on from earlier work by JMP in Coleraine, where it further developed the existing VISSIM microsimulation model of the town centre to take account of a number of significant development proposals within the town, and projects in Armagh, Omagh, Enniskellen and Ballymena. JMP is part of the masterplanning team led by The Paul Hogarth Company, appointed under a four year framework agreement. The work to date has been initiated by Northern Ireland’s Department for Social Development, which has responsibility for revitalising town and city centres using a variety of mean, including comprehensive development. The team is delivering master-planning and town planning, evaluation of proposals and planning and urban design advice. http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=11510 Feb 2009Familiarity with the internet, telephone and texting still hasn’t replaced paper-based documents as the most popular source for information on public transport, according to a sample taken by transport planner JMP among bus users in Leicestershire. Research for Leicestershire’s Accessibility Partnership was undertaken through workshops looking at people of all ages’ use and knowledge of public transport information. The workshops gave participants the chance to try the various ways of sourcing travel information - leaflets and maps, internet, phone and text. They were then invited to give their views, as well as thoughts on potential improvements. Amongst the participants Traveline phone enquiries were liked and even those people who had not tried it before agreed they would use it again. The general view being that it provided correct information and it was good to speak to a real person. But paper-based information won the day as the firm favourite as it was judged to be easy to understand, to contain the right level of detail and have the benefit of being suitable to carry while on journeys.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=11405 Feb 2009A pioneering scheme designed by transport planner JMP that uses technology to track buses and measure their punctuality has been launched in Dundee, It is the first time in Scotland a Bus Punctuality Improvement Partnership between local councils and bus operators has been set up to help to make journeys more efficient. The scheme will collect real time information on the time taken on four Dundee and Angus routes, which will then be used to look at where and how precious minutes can be shaved off journey times. Since January 1 data on Routes 13, 14, 22 and 73 has been collected every 21 seconds, detailing where the vehicle is on its route and what it is doing. Dundee City and Angus councils have teamed up with National Express Dundee and Stagecoach, with the financial support of the Scottish Government, to run the pilot which was given its formal launch in Dundee’s City Square on January 26.The partnership is committed to work together for five years to deliver reliability and punctuality improvements on the routes. After six and 12 months the data will be analysed to identify any “choke” points or parts of a route that can be speeded up. If the Bus Punctuality Improvement Partnership proves successful it is hoped that other councils and operators will take up the idea. Leading figures in the industry including Scottish Transport Minister, Stewart Stevenson, and Traffic Commissioner for Scotland, Joan Aitken, were at the launch to witness the official partnership signing ceremony.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=11328 Jan 2009Transport planner JMP has advised on road and pedestrian access to overcome accessibility constraints on a site planned for development in Liverpool city centre for leisure, hotel, retail and residential purposes. Central Regeneration has applied for planning permission for Central Village, adjacent to Liverpool Central Station, which will also incorporate a 170 space underground car park for the residential and hotel development and a street level car park for a further 470 vehicles. The site, which will provide 5,000 sq m of commercial use and currently used for parking and rail related purposes, is about the size of a football pitch. The planned apartment development will provide 292 homes and the hotel will have 240 bedrooms. The masterplan for the area incorporates the iconic Lewis’s and Watson buildings, which will be regenerated to provide high quality office, hotel, leisure and commercial space.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=11220 Jan 2009Transport planner JMP is helping the National Trust with its most ambitious landscape-scale habitat restoration project, the Wicken Fen Vision in Cambridgeshire. The National Trust has appointed JMP, together with Transport for Leisure, to prepare a Visitor Travel Plan for the Wicken Fen Vision and its nearby Jacobean-style Anglesey Abbey. Wicken Fen Vision is an ambitious 100 year project by the Trust to create a landscape-scale nature reserve covering 56 sq km to the north of Cambridge in an area under extreme pressure from population growth and housing/infrastructure development. The Existing Wicken Fen Nature Reserve and Anglesey Abbey currently attract in the region of a quarter of a million visitors each year, the overwhelming majority arriving by car. National Trust is keen to reduce the environmental impact of visitors and to encourage people away from private cars to other modes of access such as public transport, walking and cycling to access and move around Vision lands. The strategy will help to reduce visitor carbon footprint and also provide opportunities for healthy exercise. Martin Revill, a JMP Associate Director, commented: “Any travel plan needs to be visionary and innovative in its understanding of the major international, national, as well as local, issues that will affect the future management of the Wicken Fen Vision area in the decades ahead.” It is likely that the action plan drawn up will include new and improved physical measures to improve access on foot, by cycle and by public transport.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=11113 Jan 2009Transport planner JMP is helping the Scottish town of Alyth (population 2,000) to investigate setting up a communal “hot desk” facility to encourage locals to abandon the daily commute to work. It is one of a range of initiatives being pioneered by the proactive Alyth Climate Action Town project to combat climate change and is funded by the Scottish Government’s Climate Challenge Fund. JMP is undertaking a major study of current travel patterns and in February will be sending out surveys to residents to establish the demand for a “hot office” function. At the last count, in 2001, about seven per cent of the population worked from home and this is likely to have increased somewhat considerably over time. One of the prime purposes of the travel survey will be to identify the main employers and commuter journeys of Alyth residents. This will provide evidence to show if there is potential for residents and in particular employees, to expand their travel choices. It will also identify the potential for a community “hot office” facility where employees can “hot desk” in a cost-shared office building equipped with modern ICT equipment, desks, phones, audio and video-conferencing, photocopiers, reception and meeting rooms. It is anticipated that a hot office could lead to a number of other sustainable transport carbon reduction initiatives as part of a green transport plan for the village, such as local cycle schemes, local lift share schemes and public transport enhancements. Alyth Climate Action Town project also believes that “hot office” workers using local facilities would enable start-up ventures or expansion of small businesses where dedicated office facilities could be too much of an overhead. JMP is expected to produce its final report on the feasibility of the project in March.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=11018 Dec 2008Warrington Borough Council has appointed transport planner JMP as a consultant on its Transport Consultancy Framework for a period of up to four years. The consultancy work involves all facets of transport planning and modelling, highway design and traffic management, embracing future transport strategy and potential involvement in major scheme proposals. Among them “Cycle Warrington” and “Network Warrington +” are required to deliver significant improvements to the cycling and public transport networks JMP has worked with Warrington Borough Council for a number of years on a range of projects from policy development, accessibility planning and Rights of Way, through to junction analysis, modelling and traffic engineering.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=10911 Dec 2008Transport planner and engineer JMP has recruited Timothy Hapgood from Bristol City Council as a senior transport planner based in its London Docklands office. He had worked at Bristol for five years, latterly as a member of the Policy and Programme Team engaged on EC-supported projects. JMP will be making particular use of his background in freight and logistics.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=10802 Dec 2008Transport planner and engineer JMP has prepared a car parking strategy linked to a regeneration plan for the pretty Cumbrian harbourside town of Whitehaven, which is seeking to increase its tourism appeal. The town has about a dozen car parks, two of which could disappear in the regeneration programme, and JMP has considered existing and potential off and on-street parking capacity and the need for any additional parking provision. The work has been carried out for Copeland Borough Council, Cumbria County Council, a regeneration company West Lakes Renaissance and Whitehaven Harbour Commissioners, which owns a number of the off-street car parks. Among its recommendations JMP has included an option for a fee differential between long and short-term car parking, which does not exist at present. It has also analysed the extent of illegal on-street parking.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=10726 Nov 2008Transport planner JMP is assisting in the design of a signing strategy, with variable message signing, for up to ten car parks in the Irish town of Dundalk, Co. Louth. The project, commissioned by Dundalk Town Council, includes the identification of suitable routes to car parks, the definition of a car park zoning system and recommendations on sign locations, their appearance and content. As well as fixed plate signing, requirements for the VMS system will be investigated and recommendations made on which of the ten car parks – four of them privately operated - should be included in the system.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=10620 Nov 2008Transport planner JMP has been commissioned to provide an update statement on the North East Regional Rail Strategy, to include all wide ranging developments in the region and the rail industry since the current strategy was adopted four years ago. The objective is to identify changes in the North East and in the rail industry, assess their significance and provide an interpretation in the form of a discussion document to assist in formulation of the Integrated Regional Strategy (IRS). At the time the current strategy was adopted the North East Assembly called for improved north and south links via the East Coast Main Line and the provision of better quality public transport between the two city regions of Tees Valley and Tyne & Wear. The Assembly highlighted five priorities that should be progressed in parallel – the East Coast Main Line, City Regions, Rail Freight Access to/from Regeneration Areas and Sustainability. JMP, which revised and updated the current strategy in 2004, has been commissioned to provide a well argued critique of the role that rail can and should be expected to play in supporting delivery of the IRS, and the challenges that will have to be met if it is to be successful in these aims. Account will be taken of the proposals for Metro Re-invigoration and developing proposals for a Tees Valley Metro and a number of national initiatives. These include the Eddington Report “Towards a Sustainable Transport System” – setting out government investment and policy plans to 2014 - the White Paper on delivering a sustainable railway and the accompanying High Level Output Statement, together with the Network Rail Business Plan published earlier this year.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=10518 Nov 2008Transport planner JMP is working on expanding Argyll and Bute’s small-scale Real Time Passenger Information System that currently includes long distance bus corridors linking Oban and Campbeltown with Glasgow and a handful of local services in Mid Argyll, Kintyre and Oban. At the same time the consultant is assisting with the expansion of another RTPI system across Inverness. HITRANS has commissioned the work on behalf of Argyll and Bute Council with a view to identifying expansion opportunities that could in time see real time introduced on all the local public services in Dunoon, Bute, Oban and Kintyre. The project, which is GPRS-based, will provide new on-street signage at key locations in the major settlements. The system will also provide real time feeds to websites and on-street information kiosks in Oban. In Inverness JMP has been commissioned by Highland Council, this time to expand the original RTPI scheme funded by HITRANS and covering a number of local services. The brief also includes assistance with the procurement of a UTMC Common Database. The RTPI project will build on the existing small-scale system in Inverness, ultimately providing full tracking of all bus services operating in and around the city. It will include additional on-street signage at key locations and also provide a real time feed to websites and the Traveline Scotland SMS information provider. The Highland Council is seeking to purchase a UTMC Common Database to link to its existing Urban Traffic Control and Remote Monitoring systems and a future Car Park Management system as well as the RPTI system. The database will need to act as a central store for data management and also as a portal for publishing of information to websites. JMP will be responsible for preparation of tender documents and the assessment of tender returns in both commissions.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=10412 Nov 2008Transport planner JMP has been named “commended runner-up” in the Consultant category of a national awards scheme promoting carbon reduction . . . even though there was no category winner. The judges for the Institute of Transport Management’s Project ICARUS Supplier Awards declared that no Consultant submission demonstrated actual reductions in CO2 emissions for clients, but that was “not altogether surprising” as it was a relatively young market. However, they wanted to commend JMP for category leadership. JMP has developed an integrated management process, has introduced an ISO 14001 standard Environmental Management System and created a Centre for Transport and Psychology in conjunction with three universities to better understand traveller behaviour. Jonathan Green, Associate in the JMP carbon reduction team commented: “In the absence of an outright winner we are very pleased with our performance and the judges’ complimentary comments. Next year we hope to fill that 1st place slot which has remained empty since the awards were launched two years ago.” Project ICARUS and the awards were introduced by the Institute to promote carbon reduction and to create greater sustainable development of the travel and meetings management market. More information on the awards can be found at: http://www.icarus.itm.org.uk/go/awards_and_accreditation/winners_gallery.htmlhttp://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=10306 Nov 2008On behalf of the Highways Agency, Flintshire County Council and Wirral Council, JMP are undertaking a feasibility study at Deeside Industrial Park in North Wales in order to assess the likely effectiveness that the introduction of an Influencing Travel Behaviour (ITB) programme would have on both improving access to the industrial park, and promoting sustainable travel options. The Taith Joint Transport Board (comprised of the six county authorities in North Wales), and the Mersey Dee Alliance (partnership of Authorities across the West Cheshire, Wirral and North East Wales Area including Welsh Assembly Government and Merseytravel) have also had some involvement in guiding and informing the study given the importance of Deeside Industrial Park as a regional employment site. A key task to be undertaken as part of the study includes liaison with numerous companies on site in order to attempt to engage their staff in a travel behaviour survey. The survey is intended to provide an understanding of staff modal split on the journeys to and from work, the key transport issues at the site, the potential for encouraging an increase in the use of sustainable modes and investigating the demand for an increase in Borderlands services to Hawarden Bridge Railway station. A full site audit will be undertaken in addition to the identification of any relevant work and proposed transport improvements in the area in order to assess their impact on access to Deeside Industrial Park. An accessibility mapping exercise will also be carried out in order to fully appreciate access issues at the site. The various tasks aim to identify the potential beneficial impacts which could result from ITB work in order to develop a series of recommendations for the successful implementation of an ITB programme at Deeside Industrial Park.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=10205 Nov 2008Transport planner JMP, which “grows its own managers”, has won through to a place in the finals of the National Training Awards 2008. JMP successfully introduced an “Emerging Managers” training programme to help middle managers to bridge the gap between senior and principal grades, which won it the accolade of the best large company training scheme and a place in the final. Peter Hardy, Director, People & Systems, commented: “Even the most capable of staff sometimes found themselves poorly prepared for this change. The step was highlighted as a difficult transition, with negative impacts for the company.” He said that the judges recognised JMP’s commitment to training and the enthusiasm with which the programme had been developed and undertaken. “Despite the geographical challenges of drawing candidates from different offices, we were commended for using this to advantage in respect of networking and reinforcing the One Company ethos,” he added.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=10114 Oct 2008WWF-UK and transport planner JMP have joined forces in challenging companies and government agencies to cut one in five business flights within five years and make a big impact on their carbon footprints. JMP has been commissioned to design and audit the validation process for the One in Five Challenge scheme, the first guidance scheme and award for reducing business flying. Jonathan Green, an Associate on JMP’s carbon reduction team, said: “Understanding business travel profiles and getting to grips with the carbon impact of travel is an opportunity for business. We will work with WWF-UK to provide One in Five members with information, resources and advice that will help them to understand and control their business flights and to quantify the benefits of flying less.” JMP will also provide annual reports on participants’ progress. Businesses can begin working towards the One in Five Challenge from 1 January 2009. The scheme will encourage the greater use of alternatives to flying, be it low carbon transport or the use of videoconferencing. The Government will also be lobbied to lead by example, by cutting its flights and introducing tax incentives for companies purchasing videoconferencing systems. “Aviation is one of the fastest growing sources of emissions in the UK, accounting for 13 per cent of UK climate damage, said Peter Lockley, Head of Transport Policy at WWF-UK. “We hope to demonstrate to businesses that if they were to cut down on unnecessary flights, they would not only reduce their environmental impact but they could also save themselves time and money.”http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=10010 Oct 2008Transport planner JMP is advising the Dublin Transportation Office (DTO) on the development of a long-term transport strategy for the Greater Dublin Area (GDA), in an extensive study that will shape networks, developments and future travel patterns. The GDA incorporates the Counties of Dublin, Kildare, Meath and Wicklow and covers more than 1.5 million people, providing nearly half of Ireland’s jobs and economic output. But it suffers from heavier and longer peak hour traffic problems as commuters working in Dublin increasingly move out beyond the historic suburbs into the Mid-East region. And commercial and business developments sprawl out from the metropolitan area into the hinterland, creating ever-longer and slower journeys between home and work. JMP Project Director Lynn Basford said: “This is a very challenging commission – due to the huge area it covers, the breadth of options to be investigated and the wide scope of this strategy to influence emerging land-use patterns and travel demands over time. “But it is a very rewarding one, with the potential to change the culture of future travel behaviour, and to create real opportunities to support the GDA economy and its varied communities, avoiding unsustainable impacts on the urban and natural environments”. The final recommended GDA transport strategy is due to be published in early 2010. Over the next 20 months, JMP will look at proposed measures – put forward by the public (who are being consulted throughout), transport operators and local authorities. These include rail, bus and light rail projects, improvements to walking and cycling, and imaginative proposals to manage travel demand – building on the Dublin area plans in Transport 21, the Government of Ireland’s current €34 billion investment programme. The strategy is to be developed by a steering group and various technical groups – which JMP will advise – made up of the seven GDA local authorities – which oversee the local planning system and manage regional highway networks They will work alongside all the main transport operators, with the Department of Transport and the Department of Environment, Heritage and Local Government. JMP’s transport planning role will concentrate on identifying a wide range of options – including ideas from community groups, politicians and businesses ¬– assessing their feasibility in relation to the agreed objectives of the strategy. This will create several packages of potential transport measures, which are evaluated for their contribution to meeting future transport needs and their ability to cope with a broad range of possible future changes in the economy, planning policy and the development market. The work will take full account of emerging population and employment trends, and requires broad experience of best practise in travel behaviour change, public transport, traffic management and strategy development. JMP’s input will be closely integrated with the DTO’s other consultant teams – who are managing public engagement and consultation, advising on environmental assessment, and developing transport models.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=9907 Oct 2008Two consultancies that specialise in strategic transport advice have been commissioned to assist in identifying the East of England region’s transport investment priorities through to 2018/19. MRC McLean Hazel and JMP have been appointed by a partnership of the East of England Regional Assembly (EERA), the East of England Development Agency (EEDA), and the East of England Regional Transport Forum They will identify and test a methodology for prioritising transport in support of EERA and EEDA’s advice to government under the Regional Funding Allocation (Transport) programme. This work will build upon initial advice provided from the region in 2006, and will develop the thinking from EEDA’s recently published transport economic evidence study (TEES). The East of England is one of the largest English regions and a key element in its future is the management of growth-related investment and travel demand so that the projected growth in homes and jobs is sustainable. The region’s plans identify the need for 508,000 new homes to be built between 2001 and 2021, supported by planned growth in employment in the region of 452,000 additional jobs in the period to 2021. With the region stretching from the fringes of London to the Norfolk coast in the north, its largely rural nature and low population density has led to long distance commuting and a higher rate of travel per head than any other region in the country. Consequently, there is significant congestion within many of the region’s urban areas and on its strategic road network. Furthermore, there is major overcrowding on the rail routes into London. According to the Regional Economic Strategy the private sector constantly identifies failings in the transport infrastructure as a key constraint in improving productivity. In developing the new method of prioritisation MRC McLean Hazel and JMP will apply it to potential schemes and interventions and work closely with regional stakeholders to ultimately achieve consent to the identified priority investment programme.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=9803 Oct 2008Over 50 local authority planning and transport professionals, from across the north of England, attended a JMP workshop in Manchester on 16 September, on ‘transport and land-use plans’. The half-day event started with an excellent presentation from academic Peter Headicar (from Oxford Brookes University). Well known amongst the planning profession, Peter lived up to his reputation for both academic rigour and controversy, giving a critical run-through of 30 years of Government’s shortcomings in getting land use planning and transport to work better together! Martin Revill of JMP outlined the changing Government agenda and how the ever-growing role of regional transport decision-making is likely to affect local authority transport planning in the future; while Highways Agency network strategy manager Jonathan Reade, along with JMP’s Nicola Kane, explained how ‘accessibility mapping’ and related tools can anticipate a transport impact, to inform better decisions on the location of development in local planning frameworks. Three workshops sparked broad debate and addressed delegates key concerns, which ranged from: how the climate change agenda could affect transport and planning options; linking Local Development Framework policies to Local Transport Plan accessibility targets and objectives; through to and how far ‘smarter choices’ measures can help limit the vehicle traffic impacts of developments and allow greater levels of regeneration to be accommodated within local areas and networks. Copies of presentations from the event will be available on the website shortly. A post-workshop summary highlighted some other areas where JMP has skills to help address local authority concerns on modelling, strategy development, transport evidence reviews, and using DfT’s Guidance on Transport Assessments to improve the development control process. Feedback suggests that the attendees found the workshop fulfilling and useful, and JMP will now be seeking to organise similar free events on other major topics, elsewhere in the country.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=9703 Oct 2008One of the biggest travel projects of its kind outside London was launched in Merseyside this summer. JMP has been appointed by the Merseyside Local Transport Plan Partnership to manage the Personal Travel Planning project from 2008 – 2011. The aim of the project is to support local people to change their travel behaviour and encourage use of the bus, or cycling and walking as preferred modes of travel - particularly for peak hour trips into Liverpool city centre - and help reduce congestion and carbon emissions. The initiative which started in July, has initially targeted more than 3,500 households along a popular bus route through Childwall, Liverpool, offering personal travel planning (PTP) advice in a bid to establish sustainable transport patterns in the city region. The first year of the project has been branded TravelWise Childwall and has featured an innovative package of personally tailored support; including free travel passes, public transport information, tips on smarter driving and a local area guide. Throughout August and September, the JMP TravelWise team has been speaking directly with Childwall residents; knocking on doors and attending local events; to help encourage people to take the bus, cycle or walk. The Childwall pilot will be evaluated by TTR in autumn, with a view to rolling the scheme out across other areas of Merseyside next year. It is hoped that up to 30,000 people will be approached overall, as part of the three-year project to promote TravelWise journeys across the city region. A pilot PTP engagement project working with residents of new developments is planned for later this year. The project will incorporate in-depth discussions with householders following an initial approach by letter and will be designed to test whether working with New Movers has a large impact. This will be done by including a ‘control’ group for whom intervention is not offered. It is hoped that the project will help develop ‘best practice’ on the most effective way of engaging with New Movers and identify potential procedures for embedding this approach into development planning and for delivering on an on-going basis.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=9602 Oct 2008JMP has been commissioned by the London Borough of Enfield to undertake a strategic review of the processes and criteria used for the provision of disabled person’s parking bays across the Borough. The work is in line with the reform being carried out at national level by the Department for Transport and includes a complete review of the processes used in assessing disabled persons bay applications to the delivery of the service to residents. The Borough wants to identify areas for improvement, as well as the means for overcoming some of the more difficult issues faced with regard to disabled persons parking bay provision. There are currently 1,232 on-street bays in Enfield, with an increasing demand for this service. JMP will be benchmarking the criteria used in Enfield for the provision of this service against the legislative framework, guidance and information from stakeholders, used by other London Boroughs to highlight any areas for improvement. New ways of working are being considered to deal with the volume, location and operation of disabled persons bays, using similar processes already in use within other service areas to bring about coordination and consolidate activities that will result in economies.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=9523 Sep 2008Transport planner and engineer JMP is to provide transport consultancy advice for the regeneration of the Mardyke Estate in Rainham. London Borough of Havering. The scheme will involve the replacement or refurbishment of about 546 homes on the estate. It will also include significant improvements to the local road network, upgraded public transport facilities, new public open spaces and play areas and new premises for existing local shops. The present 1960s high-rise tower blocks will be replaced with new housing stock of between three and five-storey blocks of flats that will maintain the current number of homes and be more in tune with the surrounding suburban housing areas of Elm Park and Rainham. Regeneration follows the transfer of the Mardyke Estate into ownership of Old Ford Housing Association – part of Circle Anglia – in March 2008. First planning applications are anticipated before the end of the year. JMP have been appointed by specialist social housing provider Inspace to prepare a transport assessment for the whole scheme and will also provide transport statements for each individual phase of the redevelopment. Work has already begun with local residents and other stakeholders on producing a travel plan for the site to assist residents in making sustainable travel choices. It will examine ways of increasing accessibility to key services, which has been identified through recent consultants as an important local concern. The travel plan will include measures such as a car club, improved walking and cycling routes and enhanced local bus services.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=9411 Sep 2008The Highways Agency is working with Manchester Airport and travel planner JMP to develop an area-wide travel plan for the airport’s ‘Westside’ where about 2,00 people are employed. The plan focuses on the World Freight Terminal, which is situated to the west of the main airport site and builds upon the established travel plan for the main terminal buildings. Working in partnership with Manchester Airport and its travel plan co-ordinator, JMP is identifying and helping to implement measures that can influence travel behaviour of employees and freight carriers. Westside is home to about 70 companies, ranging from large to small, providing employment for about 2,000 people. The project is being carried out for the Highways Agency as part of its Influencing Travel Behaviour work. A feasibility study has been completed and JMP is now working with Manchester Airport to identify stakeholders, set up a steering group and assess current travel patterns before moving on to develop the travel plan.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=9309 Sep 2008Transport planner JMP has played a key role in helping Dundee City Council and East Renfrewshire Council to win financial support for their green travel plans from the Scottish Government’s £15m Smarter Choices Smarter Places initiative. Dundee looks set to become one of the first local authorities in the UK to run a self service cycle hire scheme while East Renfrewshire is targeting a whole range of green initiatives, many of which link to its £100m Barrhead regeneration project. JMP assisted Dundee by helping to define the content of its £2.1m bid, facilitating discussions with stakeholders and writing the final bid document, while in East Renfrewshire it advised on the content of the £1m bid document and its structure. Dundee’s cycle hire scheme is one of a number of initiatives designed to encourage healthy living by cycling and walking within its communities and using the facilities within them, rather than using the car. In East Renfrewshire energies will be directed at personalised travel planning, piloting a travel plan for council employees and rolling it out to the wider business community, the Go Greener Partnership and a Green Travel Map to promote cycling and walking.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=9228 Aug 2008Transport planner and engineer JMP has recruited Chris Sibthorpe as an Associate Director to manage the consultancy’s transport planning team in its London Docklands office. Previously he was a managing consultant at Atkins, where he had worked for three years. Chris specialises in strategic transport studies, development planning and urban regeneration. Another managing consultant recruit from Atkins is Andrew Battye who has joined the Leeds office as a Principal Transport Planner. A specialist in transport modelling, he was with Atkins for six and a half years. Kelly Aldridge has joined the Central London office as a Senior Transport Planner after holding the same position at RPS, where she worked for three years. Kelly’s experience is based within development planning, specialising in accessibility, inclusive design and access statements.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=9120 Aug 2008Transport planner JMP has teamed up with Bath, Exeter and Surrey Universities to establish a centre of excellence in travel behaviour change. The Centre for Transport and Psychology will provide a lead in travel behaviour change for public sector bodies and transport operators, indeed, anyone implementing transport initiatives or needing to influence the way people travel. The goal of CTP, to be launched next month, is to provide evidence-based and practical proposals for surface transport across a wide range of issues and it has the ability to deliver bespoke products for a “what works” approach. Three workstreams have been identified: the influence of attitudes and perceptions on travel behaviour, driver behaviour as a key factor in road safety and the need to influence travel behaviour in achieving more sustainable and health-promoting transport systems. JMP director Lynn Basford said: “The CTP team has extensive collective experience in all three of these streams and has the capacity to develop a range of tailored travel behaviour change interventions and assist in their long term monitoring.”http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=9015 Aug 2008Transport planner JMP has provided a transport assessment and travel plan for Harrow Estates plc to support the successful planning bid for a new 1,100-home “village” on a 44-acre former chemical works site in east Manchester. Master developer Harrow Estates received planning permission from Manchester City Council for a mixed use scheme encompassing 1,100 homes and approximately 8,000 sq ft of commercial space, including offices, retail and leisure facilities. The site will be known as Dreyfus Village, after the French entrepreneur industrialist Charles Dreyfus who founded the Clayton Aniline Company that was originally on the site. JMP’s travel plan framework, which reduces unnecessary car use at the site, was pivotal in helping to secure planning permission for the development that will regenerate the brownfield site for benefit of the local community. The plan provided a clear framework for improving access to the site and effectively managing travel demand. The transport assessment analysed current traffic flows and sustainable transport provision as well as assessing the capacity of various strategic junctions to meet predicted demand. JMP also contributed to the noise and air quality assessment undertaken to support the planning application. Harrow Estates is now working with urban regeneration company New East Manchester, in partnership with the local community, to further develop the masterplan.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=8914 Aug 2008Transport planner JMP has provided transport and highways consultancy services to support a successful planning application to redevelop property within London’s famous Hatton Garden jewellery quarter. Diamondpool Limited has received consent from the London Borough of Camden for mixed-use development of 18-28 Hatton Wall, which is situated within a mainly commercial area characterised by small-scale ground floor retail units and jewellery workshops. It is also close to the daily Leather Lane market. Given the site’s Central London location the development is essentially a car-free scheme, but with disabled parking provided. It will consist of 3,417 sq m of office space, 646 sq m of workshop and 235 sq m of retail and three residential units. JMP’s Transport Statement Report included a Sustainable Transport Strategy, as required by the London Borough of Camden.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=8812 Aug 2008Four regional transport priority schemes totalling £26.4million, identified as priorities by transport planner JMP in an interim review, are being submitted by Yorkshire and Humber Regional Transport Board to government under the Regional Funding Allocations process. The schemes are Leeds City Regional Rail Growth (£14.3m), and exceptional maintenance schemes on the A636 Denby Dale Road, Wakefield (£3.3m), A639 Colorado Way, Castleford (£4m) and A630 Centenary Way, Rotherham (£4.8m). The priority schemes represent the latest advice from JMP to the regional transport board - which it has served for the last three years through successive commissions - in advance of the forthcoming full review of regional transport priorities in the autumn. Advice on the second round of Regional Funding Allocations is expected from the Treasury later this year. Over the course of the last three years JMP has devised a methodology for identifying priority transport schemes, and assessed over 50 schemes in two full reviews and a number of partial reviews. It has also developed a guide on the preparation of evidence on scheme submissions for local authorities, the Highways Agency and other bodies responsible for the development of major transport infrastructure bids to government. The assessments and advice to the Regional Transport Board demonstrated whether schemes will deliver the region’s wider policy objectives, represent value for money, and are deliverable within the Regional Funding Allocations timetable.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=8701 Aug 2008Transport planner and engineer JMP has been given the job of redesigning the highway and pedestrian areas immediately outside Blackpool’s iconic Tower as part of the town’s seafront regeneration. Blackpool Council wants to see greater freedom and safety for pedestrians on this part of the Golden Mile, which is currently dominated by a dual carriageway with central barrier and the town’s famous tram system. The unique transport demands placed on the promenade means that JMP will be planning non-standard bespoke solutions to allow the scheme to fit in with the ambitious future plans for the town. It is the third significant appointment of JMP in Blackpool within little more than a year. In 2007 the consultant was appointed transport planning adviser for regeneration of the famous promenade and seafront quarter. And in May was commissioned to investigate the impact of transport schemes and proposed developments on Blackpool’s town centre and surrounding areas. The latest project involves just 300 metres outside the tower and will form an integral part of the seafront regeneration. It will link in with other schemes such as refurbishment of the tram system and the provision of ‘headland’ areas along the Promenade providing space for leisure and recreation. The driving force behind the strategy is to provide a quality seafront corridor which will not only serve the town’s transport needs, but also provide better connectivity between the resort centre, the hotel districts and the newly developed seafront.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=8601 Aug 2008A “hearts and minds” campaign to encourage more people to use buses in Cornwall is being waged by transport planners JMP. Cornwall County Council wants to reach what it calls “the middle 50% of society” – those who currently do not use the bus on a regular basis but know they ought to for environmental and congestion reasons. One of the main study objectives is to understand why the 16-59 year age group has a negative perception of public transport and what further measures need to be taken to reach this particular group. JMP has been appointed to develop and implement a public transport publicity campaign to build on recent investment by the Council and bus operators in new vehicles, including easy access buses, and infrastructure. It is using its transport psychology team to understand the factors motivating mode choice. The Griffin Practice, with whom JMP is already working on the Merseyside PTP project, is providing advice on development of a communications strategy, and together they will come up with a marketing campaign. Provision of bus services in a rural county like Cornwall is seen as extremely challenging. A significant element of the population is dispersed across a large rural area, with difficulties in accessing services and facilities. Conversely there is growing congestion in and around the main towns, impacting on the reliability of bus services. The impact of tourism trips in the county also puts additional pressure on parts of the transport network at peak times of the year. The Council says there is a need to build upon the success of the last five years that have demonstrated that people are prepared to use public transport in Cornwall when the quality, frequency and reliability is right.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=8526 Jul 2008JMP Consultants, the transport planner and engineer, has moved its Lichfield area Midland office and 50-strong staff from Shenstone Business Park to new-build premises in Lichfield city centre, close to the City railway station. Richard Pettitt, JMP’s director in the Midlands, said: “An important part of JMP’s business now is about achieving greater sustainability and reducing carbon footprint on behalf of our clients, so we see this move as leading by example. “City House, being a new development, is more environmentally sustainable and, whereas our old offices were in a village, we are now in the city centre close to the public transport hub.” The new address is City House, City Wharf, Lichfield, Staffs WS14 9DZ. Tel: 01543 440700. Fax: 0800 066 4636. JMP also has offices in Birmingham, London West End, London Docklands, Manchester, Leeds, Liverpool Glasgow, Edinburgh, Newcastle-upon-Tyne and Bristol.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=8418 Jul 2008Transport planner and engineer JMP has promoted Martin Higgitt, Steve Pickard and Jon Bunney as new Associate Directors. All were previously Associates. Higgitt who joined JMP’s Leeds office last October is part of the Smarter Choices team in the north east business unit and his main strength lies in promoting sustainable transport. Pickard has been with JMP for three years and heads up the Newcastle office and engineering activities in the north east unit. Bunney was recruited by JMP for its Central London office in 2005 as a principal transport economist and he also specialises in strategic transport planning. Ten other principal engineers and principal transport planners have been promoted to Associates. They are Steve Fisher, Marghoob Mohamed and Lee White (all Lichfield), Emma Grayshon and Emma Warman (both Leeds) Neville McKenzie (Manchester), Peter Carver and Mark Powers (both Central London), Debbie Walker (Edinburgh) and George Smith (Glasgow).http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=8301 Jul 2008JMP, the transport planner and engineer, has established travel patterns and indicators in Woolwich town centre in preparation for extension into the town early next year of the Docklands Light Railway with a station at Woolwich Arsenal. The DLR extension and station is one of a number of large-scale developments proposed in the regeneration of the town centre. Other committed and prospective transport schemes proposed in and around the town centre include Greenwich Waterfront Transit, Crossrail and the Thames Gateway Bridge. The 2.5km extension from King George V Station at North Woolwich includes a bored tunnel under the River Thames and the scheme is designed to create better community links and cross-river employment opportunities. Working with Social Research Associates, JMP was commissioned by DLR to review the traffic data and transport user and pedestrian data for a baseline analysis study and establish travel patterns and indicators in the town centre. In order to fully understand current movement in the town centre JMP undertook extensive multi-modal studies. These included a comprehensive bus and rail origin and destination data review, analysis of public transport interchange patterns at Woolwich Arsenal Station and pedestrian research to establish individual journey patterns.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=8221 Jun 2008Transport planner and engineer JMP has recruited Dawn Guegan as an Associate in its Birmingham office. She has joined from Atkins where she was a managing consultant and has completed a full time MBA. Previously she worked for nine years in the USA on her speciality, traffic modelling. Another specialist in traffic modelling, Winfred King, (ChMILT) has joined the London Docklands office as a Principal Transport Planner. He worked previously as a senior transport planner and team leader at Mouchel. Winfred specialises in traffic modelling, transport assessment and engineering and joins colleague Olaf Eberhard to significantly extend JMP's modelling capabilities, particularly in London and the south. There, a highly effective team delivers a wide range of projects for public and private sector clients. Winfred will take a lead on JMP's work supporting London Borough of Southwark on the £1.5bn Elephant & Castle regeneration." Alfred Larnyoh has joined the Leeds office as a Senior Engineer from Mouchel where he was a transport planner for three years. His speciality is development planning.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=8119 Jun 2008Transport planner and engineer JMP has recruited Dawn Guegan as an Associate in its Birmingham office. She has joined from Atkins where she was a managing consultant and has completed a full time MBA. Previously she worked for nine years in the USA on here speciality, transport modelling. Winfred (correct) King has joined the London Docklands office as a Principal Transport Planner after working previously as a senior transport planner and team leader at Mouchel for two and a half years. He has also worked for Hyder Consulting and Atkins. He specialises in traffic modelling, transport assessment and engineering. Alfred Larnyoh has joined the Leeds office as a Senior Engineer from Mouchel where he was a transport planner for three years. His speciality is development planning.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=8017 Jun 2008Transport planner and engineer JMP has been appointed to the lead role as Transport Scotland’s development planning/management adviser and auditor in a new term commission lasting for at least three years. The appointment adds to about 12 years ongoing and increasingly complex involvement by JMP including both The Scottish Executive – now Scottish Government – and Transport Scotland. Under the new commission JMP will provides support with a range of activities and skills in assessing development impact on traffic on the rail and trunk road networks. Transport Scotland is the national transport agency for Scotland and is responsible for helping to deliver the Scottish Government’s £3 billion capital investment programme over the next decade, overseeing the safe and efficient running of Scotland’s trunk roads and rail networks. A dedicated JMP team will cover a range of tasks across development planning, modelling, transport assessment, travel planning, travel behaviour, environmental assessment and appraisal. JMP Board Director Gordon Baker commented: “This new appointment reinforces our confidence and abilities in delivering a high quality service on what is a challenging commission. “The challenges will be even greater under the momentum of the National Transport Strategy and the Climate Change Bill as we find ways to reduce transport’s contribution to global warming through robust and innovative advice. Essential to this process will be engagement with the wider planning community as the planning system undergoes extensive change.”http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=7904 Jun 2008Transport planner and engineer JMP is helping Bedfordshire County Council with a push for more sustainable travel to school in the county. School and college travel plans will be at the heart of a full Sustainable Travel Modes Strategy for Learning with which JMP is assisting the County Council and which has to be reviewed by August 31 this year. JMP’s project lead in this area, director Peter Hardy, commented: “At long last travel and education considerations are being forced together. Sustainable travel mode strategies provide the opportunity for education and transport people to get together to create better access to learning, develop integrated and effective solutions and to influence the travel behaviour of many people.” Issues relating to accessing all types of learning will be considered, with the Strategy providing a framework from which to address these in the promotion of sustainable travel. The Strategy will consider some particular challenges that are emerging from developments within the education sector, notably the access requirements from extended school services and the introduction of the new diplomas associated with the 14-19 curriculum.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=7831 May 2008Jonathan Green is leaving Defra to join transport planner and engineer JMP as an Associate on its carbon reduction team. He will be working with businesses and organisations that want a better understanding of the issues with a view to reducing their carbon footprint and achieving cost savings. At Defra Jonathan was a member of the Sustainability Strategy Board with a lead role in business travel. Commenting on his new appointment at JMP he said: “I am passionate in exposing the alignment between procurement, sustainability and carbon management to identify and deliver business opportunity. “I am excited about the opportunity of working with my new colleagues at JMP and helping them to deliver the sustainable transport solutions of the future.” JMP Board Director Gordon Baker described Jonathan as “a focused professional with a real passion for helping organisations to address their travel carbon footprint. He will offer significant benefits to client operations while enabling them to deliver on their corporate social responsibility.”http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=7730 May 2008Transport planner and engineer JMP is developing a multi-modal model to investigate the impact of transport schemes and proposed developments on Blackpool town centre and surrounding areas. Blackpool Borough Council and the urban regeneration company ReBlackpool have commissioned the 12 month study, which will involve extensive origin and destination surveys to see how the road network currently performs. A number of key issues need to be addressed in Blackpool, including what the consequences would be if various planning developments proceed. There is also a need to identify how economic regeneration and improvements in average earnings will accelerate growth in local car ownership from the low current levels. And also how visitor traffic can be encouraged into car parks, with greater use made of public transport for journeys in the borough.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=7620 May 2008Jessica Anderson was installed as Chair for the 2008/09 session of the North Eastern Branch of the IHT (Institution of Highways & Transportation) at the 55th AGM held in the Vermont Hotel, Castle Garth, Newcastle on 15th May 2008. The AGM was followed by a presentation on the restoration of the High Level Bridge by May Gurney.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=7515 May 2008Bruce Allan, former Transport Policy Manager for Blackpool Council, has joined transport planner and engineer JMP as an Associate Director in its Manchester office. He specialises in transport strategy development and before working for Blackpool Council was employed as Transport Policy Officer at Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council. Bruce has also worked in the public policy research unit at Queen Mary and Westfield College in London and run the local government-led think tank, the Public Transport Information Unit.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=7409 May 2008Transport planner and engineer JMP has helped London Borough of Brent in unlocking highway land to provide greater potential for redevelopment and expansion of shopping and housing in Church End, Harlesden. The £2 million transportation improvements, which are now almost complete after two years, have involved road and central reservation narrowing, a reduction in roundabout size and wider footways. Design and planning works have now begun on the first phase of providing the area with new shops and homes, a new market, park and sports facilities, with construction likely to start next year. The transport-focused regeneration project was finally turned into reality when JMP was commissioned to move the design from feasibility through to detailed design and ensure the transport works could be delivered within two years. The Brent transportation team was responsible for implementing the works, which were delivered on time and to budget. The scheme also looked at making substantial changes to bus facilities to increase public transport accessibility and the integration of improved pedestrian and cycle links. JMP undertook an extensive consultation exercise, including exhibitions and public meetings, on both the transportation measures and the wider regeneration proposals put forward by Brent.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=7329 Apr 2008Large-scale implementation of current policies for reducing carbon emissions of transport will not enable the Yorkshire and Humber Region to meet emission target levels set for 2021. The best that can be achieved without even more radical measures will be to retain them at 2008 levels, says new research. A report by transport planner JMP to the Yorkshire and Humber Assembly suggests that the only way to cut carbon significantly would be to introduce a wide-ranging package of up to 26 measures. Currently, 24 per cent of the region’s carbon emissions come from transport and the report concludes that without radical intervention it is impossible to reduce these to the 2021 target level, the equivalent of 1.8 tonnes per person. Increased investment in current policies means emissions are likely to remain at the current level of 2.8 tonnes. And if carbon dioxide emissions from transport continue to grow at the rate they have done the projected levels could be four tonnes per person by 2021. The research by JMP, in partnership with the Stockholm Environment Institute at the University of York, shows that achieving a reduction will require a crucial step change in the investment and delivery of transport policies and measures. The measures modelled included improved rail and bus networks, more widespread introduction of homeworking, school and work travel plans, more walking and cycling, car sharing and car clubs, road pricing and congestion charging and the introduction of car free zones. Better planning could lead to new developments where the need to travel far is actively reduced. The report acknowledges that to achieve targets there may be a need to consider rationing the amount of carbon each person could emit, or a constraint on housing growth and air travel. The desk top study identified evidence from planned investment programmes and realistic policy conditions within the region and modelled the carbon emissions likely using the Resources and Energy Analysis Programme (REAP). This enables policy makers to understand and measure the environmental pressures associated with human consumption.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=7225 Apr 2008After 35 years working in local authority Frederick Abercrombie has joined the Glasgow office of transport planner and engineer JMP as a principal engineer in road design. He was previously a principal engineer in the transportation section at East Renfrewshire District Council, where he worked for 11 years. Before that he was with Strathclyde Regional Council as a senior engineer. JMP has also recruited Carl Peers to its London Docklands office as a senior transport planner, working on development planning and urban regeneration projects. He previously worked for more than five years at Atkins where he was a senior consultant.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=7124 Apr 2008Up to 30,000 households in the Merseyside area are to be offered personalised travel planning (PTP) advice by transport planning consultants JMP, the first PTP project of its size to promote sustainable transport in a metropolitan area outside of London. JMP has been appointed by the Merseyside LTP partnership for a three year contract as part of the partnership’s TravelWise campaign. The overall aim being to reduce private motor vehicle kilometres among the participants, particularly on peak hour trips into Liverpool city centre, and to reduce carbon emissions. Pilot projects for sustainable towns have been carried out in Peterborough, Worcester and Darlington but this is the first time PTP has been applied on this scale to a metropolitan area. The area of Merseyside that will participate has still to be chosen and the PTP advice will be provided across groups of households within that conurbation. The work is to integrate with existing TravelWise initiatives, such as its travel awareness, workplace, school and residential travel planning activities. A team of travel advisers will engage directly with households through face-to-face discussions, the provision of tailored travel information, incentives and resources to help people to change their travel behaviour. There will also be an aftercare service to provide ongoing support and advice to participants. The work will be backed by community events and marketing initiatives to gain local participation and raise the profile of the project. TravelWise Merseyside is the Local Transport Plan partnership’s campaign to help people in Merseyside to make smarter travel choices – to walk, cycle and use public transport.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=7018 Apr 2008Transport planner and engineer JMP has recruited Ben Dobson as an Associate in its Newcastle office with a brief to build upon the consultancy’s intelligent transport systems expertise. Ben was previously a principal consultant in the transport consulting group at Serco, where he worked for the past ten years. He has more than 15 years experience of intelligent transport systems in the UK and overseas, with an extensive knowledge of driver information systems, traffic management solutions, journey time event and incident response, fault and asset management systems.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=6915 Apr 2008JMP has been commissioned by the PXP West Midlands consortium to provide transportation input for a regeneration development of 300 new homes in Smethwick, West Midlands. As part of a multi-disciplinary team of planners, engineers and architects, JMP has provided key transportation advice and produced relevant technical documentation to support the outline planning application for the project known as Brindley II. PXP, a consortium of Langtree Group plc, regional development agency Advantage West Midlands and Bank of Scotland, is seeking to provide the new homes in the area of Lewisham Road, Smethwick and these will be carefully planned with the existing local community in mind. JMP’s brief is to provide advice and guidance to create a safe and sustainable residential area with maximum access to local transport and encouragement to use other sustainable modes of transport. Subject to planning consent, building work will begin in 2010 with completion due in three years.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=6808 Apr 2008JMP, the transport planner and engineer, has made a number of senior promotions including the appointment of Paul Smith as a director in the Central London office. Paul who joined JMP in 2004 specialises in development planning and urban design. Five others have been promoted to associate: Anthony Kirby and Terry McLaughlin in London Docklands, Sean McKenzie in Liverpool, Rachel Fogg in Leeds and Walter Smyth in Glasgow. Sarah Wixey and Simon Bradbury, both Docklands, become principal transport planners and Ian Arthur in Glasgow a senior transport planner. Miguel Santos is promoted to senior engineer. Four others were promoted to transport planner: Sandra Hill (Glasgow) Stuart Allan (Birmingham) James Wilson (Edinburgh) and Emma Anforth (Leeds). Kevin Farries of Glasgow office is promoted to engineer.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=6702 Apr 2008JMP has rebranded nationally to underline its sustainability credentials in transport planning and engineering, and at the same time moved its Birmingham offices to new premises to accommodate its growth to 25 staff from first opening two years. George Webb and Alan Bain, the directors based in Birmingham stressed that it was important to bring the company’s sustainability credentials to the fore. "As an industry leader, JMP is constantly challenging the way it works and delivers for its clients," George Webb said. "In the ever-changing climate of transportation policies and agenda JMP has refocused and is promoting its sustainable approach to all of its services." Since the opening of a Birmingham office in early 2006, servicing key clients like Centro and the Highways Agency, growth has been such that it has now moved to larger premises at 85-89 Colmore Row. This provides open plan offices and conference room facilities for the team, right in the heart of Birmingham. There is a strong track record of experience in both public and private sector commissions among staff and Mr Webb added: "We are looking forward to continuing our success in the forthcoming year and extending our client list, alongside improving our existing client relationships."http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=6620 Mar 2008After a break of 40 years, passenger rail services are to return to Alloa in Clackmannanshire from 18 May and JMP has won the job of ensuring that as many of the Wee County residents as possible have access to the station by integration of bus and rail services. More than £70 million has been invested in reopening the disused rail line between Stirling, Alloa and Kincardine to provide both passenger and freight services. An hourly direct rail passenger service will be provided between Alloa, Stirling and Glasgow and those travelling to Edinburgh will be able to do so by connecting services at Stirling station. JMP has been commissioned by SEStran, the regional transport partnership for South East Scotland, of which Clackmannanshire is a constituent member, to examine the potential for linking local bus services with the new rail station at Alloa. The study will investigate if the road network and bus facilities in Alloa town centre need to be changed to allow better integration between bus and rail, while also maintaining or improving access to the town centre by bus. JMP has already sought the views of bus operators, the council, representatives of the rail industry, health representatives and users of Alloa town centre on the potential options to improve bus access and intend to complete the study work by the end of April.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=6513 Mar 2008JMP has recruited Peter Harries (AffCILT) as an Associate in its central London office where he will specialise in demand forecasting, scheme appraisal and public transport studies. He has joined from Atkins where he had been carrying out similar work for the past 10 years and was a senior transport consultant. Before that he worked for four years at Colin Buchanan. Among demand forecasting projects he has completed recently was a study for the Olympic Delivery Authority concerning the potential for visits to the London 2012 Olympics by use of river services.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=6411 Mar 2008JMP has been commissioned by the Murray Hall Community Trust to examine ways of best meeting the transport needs of people living with cancer in Sandwell and neighbouring areas of Birmingham. The Sandwell-based charity has a programme called Macmillan Bridges Support Service, which provides volunteer car transport as part of an integrated package of support for users of cancer health services and their carers. It is funded by Macmillan Cancer Support, Sandwell and Heart of Birmingham Teaching Primary Care Trusts. As changes in healthcare practices occur and the demand for services grows Murray Hall has formed a group of stakeholders to address some of the challenges of meeting transport needs for cancer service users. This transport group has turned to JMP to determine how it can identify effective transport solutions and at the same time embrace an even wider area.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=6329 Feb 2008Visitors to Dundee from south of the Tay may soon be encouraged to leave their cars in park and ride or park and choose facilities and travel over the Firth and into the city by bus, train or car sharing. JMP has been commissioned for the Cross-Tay study by SEStran, the statutory transport partnership of eight local authorities, Clackmannanshire, East Lothian, City of Edinburgh, Falkirk, Fife, Midlothian, Scottish Borders and West Lothian. The study is also examining the potential for increasing car sharing and high occupancy vehicle lanes on the approaches to the bridge. The Tay Road Bridge corridor could face a significant change in traffic flow with the removal of southbound tolls on the bridge. The provision of park and ride/choose, together with possible enhancement of public transport services, would encourage car users to leave their vehicles in the car park and complete their journey into Dundee by bus, rail or car sharing. JMP will identify potential locations for new park and ride/choose sites that are capable of intercepting the maximum number of car trips into Dundee and beyond. Strengthening of existing park and ride facilities will also be considered as part of the study The proposals will have to take account of Dundee City Council’s masterplan for redesigning the area at the northern end of the bridge over the next few years.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=6227 Feb 2008JMP has provided the highways and transportation planning and detailed design input for The Rock, an ambitious £330 million mixed use development underway in the centre of the Lancashire town of Bury. An integral part of the project, the £10 million Derby Way link road, has been under construction for 12 months and was opened on February 21. More than 50,000 sq m of retail space and a 1,250-space car park is incorporated in the scheme by Thornfield Properties and will provide a seamless extension to the town centre. Part of JMP’s brief was the closure of a busy road known as The Rock, which divided the two areas, and the design of the new Derby Way on the opposite side of the site, where it completes the Bury inner ring road.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=6122 Feb 2008JMP Consulting has been selected as the street designer for the first two stages of the Barking Riverside regeneration project, which will see the design of the first 4,000 homes for one of the most important new communities in London. Eventually some 26,000 people will enjoy new homes, schools, shopping, parkland and excellent transport connections on the bank of the Thames. Developer Barking Riverside Ltd, is a joint venture between national regeneration agency English Partnerships and Bellway Homes, together with the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham. Barking Riverside is a nationally significant regeneration project at the heart of the Thames Gateway. The 150ha regeneration site is situated at Barking Reach and was previously occupied by three power stations. Outline planning permission was granted in November 2006 and JMP’s initial commission will be to support detailed planning permission for the first two phases of the work. As well as a projected extension of the Docklands Light Railway (DLR), and the incorporation of the East London Transit (ELT) there will also be improvements to access from the A13. JMP joins an established multi-disciplinary team of master planners, architects, landscape architects and engineers, including scheme masterplanners Maxwan architects, stage 1 architects Sheppard Robson, stage 2 architects KCAP-ML, geotechnical engineers Hyder Consulting and landscape architects Gustafson Porter. JMP’s involvement will encompass design of high quality streets, shared surfaces and other public and private spaces, incorporation of step-free designs and integration of ELT and DLR infrastructure and interchanges into street space. The consultant will also provide design advice on car parking and secure on-site cycle parking. The project, along 2km of river frontage, will eventually deliver 10,800 homes, employment opportunities for 1,500 people, three new schools, a district centre, neighbourhood and district shopping centres, local shops, healthcare facilities and leisure spaces and an ecology park. Some 40 per cent of the site will be designated as open space.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=6011 Feb 2008Ian Turvey has rejoined JMP Consulting as a Consultant Director after ten years away. He will work on a part time basis and continue with his other interest in Turvey Consultancy. His leading reputation in transport-related environmental work, plus strategic modelling and economic appraisal, has led to him providing specialist advice to JMP on a range of projects over the last few years. These have included Transport Urban Benefit Appraisal on potential high occupancy vehicle lanes and ecological, environmental and economic inputs into the ongoing A57 studies. He is currently assisting JMP’s Leeds office with appraisal work surrounding the expansion of Doncaster Airport. JMP has also recruited award-winning Rhian Lewis as a Senior Transport Planner working out of the Liverpool office. She won the National Association of Commuter Transport Award for Travel Planner of the Year in 2006. Rhian has spent six years developing and managing projects related to sustainable and accessible travel. She joins JMP after three years developing and managing the Workwise Programme on behalf of the Merseyside Local Transport Plan Support Unit. Before that she worked for three years as a Travel Plan Co-ordinator for Cheshire County Council, working with businesses and organisations across Cheshire to develop workplace travel plans.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=5923 Jan 2008Research carried out by JMP Consulting for Yorkshire Cities has identified synergies and gaps in the transport visions of the three Yorkshire and Humber City Regions as they formulate development programmes to help to close the north/south divide. In particular the research suggests how the City Regions can best influence policy development and funding decisions, and where there are opportunities or identified need for collaborative working. JMP’s evaluation of the work so far showed that there had been a positive response to formulating development programmes and associated transport visions. These will feed into the Northern Way, the Government initiative to reduce the economic gap between the north and south of the country. Yorkshire Cities consists of ten local authorities – Bradford, Calderdale, Doncaster, Hull, Kirklees, Leeds, North East Lincolnshire, Sheffield, Wakefield and York – who make up a significant component of the three City Region areas. The research has highlighted a series of issues that they may wish to address collectively and individually as they strive to establish a city region-based approach to planning and economic development. It says that an improved economic evidence base would justify transport strategies and schemes and show how transport helps or hinders the economic potential of the region. JMP urges that this should focus on which policies and interventions can deliver the greatest benefit to the economy within a wide social and environmental context. This must address how managing demand for travel can contribute equally as well as infrastructure investment.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=5815 Jan 2008The continuing popularity of the Cornish seaside resort of St Ives, its perpetual car parking problems and overcrowded trains has led to JMP Consulting being appointed to develop a business case for a new park and ride facility. Cornwall County Council has a scheme in its Local Transport Plan programme to provide a greatly expanded car park with a capacity for 600-700 cars at St Erth Station, which is the junction on the Great Western Main Line for the St Ives branch. This would supplement the 200-car capacity park and ride facility operated by Penwith District Council at Lelant Saltings station, which was opened in 1978 to relieve parking pressure in St Ives. At the height of the season there is substantial overcrowding on the half-hourly service on the St Ives branch. Strengthening of the branch train from two to four cars in the summer often fails to provide sufficient capacity. JMP’s primary purpose is to provide a financial and economic business case for investing in park and ride at St Erth and to assess options for the strengthening of the branch train to five cars in the summer holiday period, the maximum number possible for the line. The study will also identify whether there is any need to provide a relief bus at any time of the day or week in the peak season to cater for passengers who cannot find space on the train. Consideration is also being given to the feasibility and the case for a connecting bus service linking Penzance and Hayle to St Erth Station to connect with the St Ives train and provide a sustainable leisure travel opportunity.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=5708 Jan 2008JMP Consulting has been commissioned by the London Bus Priority Network to identify ways of improving traffic flow and enhancing the environment for residents, visitors, businesses and for all class of road users on Chase Side, Southgate in the London Borough of Enfield. Southgate town centre is a busy shopping area well served by public transport with Southgate Tube Station, a listed building designed in 1932, acting as a focus for the area. There are also competing needs for road space, which has sometimes led to conflict between bus operations, parking and loading activities and pedestrian movements. JMP will explore measures to reduce congestion and improve bus services, while bringing wider benefits to pedestrians, cyclists and general traffic, together with better management of parking and loading demands. The study is seeking to make the town centre a more attractive environment that will encourage regeneration and growth and promote more widespread use of active travel modes, such as walking and cycling, as well as public transport.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=5605 Jan 2008A blueprint for good practice in the adoption of rail stations by train operating companies, community groups or commercial interests has been drawn up by JMP Consulting for Rail Safety and Standards Board (RSSB). The comprehensive report, compiled with independent consultant Martin Higginson, identifies and reviews similar projects overseas, reports on the scope and extent of adoption in Great Britain and suggests they provide many benefits to the travelling public at low cost. There are some 750 adopted stations in the country and the report says that a key element of such schemes is that they add value to the work done by station managers and the cleaning and maintenance teams employed by train operating companies. For a station adoption scheme to be successful it must be able to attract a sufficient number of volunteers of the right calibre. Three main characteristics will make major contributions to its success: minimal bureaucracy, flexibility so that local initiatives are not stifled and incentives such as a ‘reward’ system based on free rail travel and recognition in the form of small grants of contributions in kind. The need for ongoing contact between train operators and adopters is underlined and it is stressed that monitoring the performance of adopters would be the main indicator of satisfactory or unsatisfactory performance. JMP concludes that there are no particular restrictions on who can form a station adoption group. It could emerge from some other group in the community such as a ‘Britain in Bloom’ committee or simply through a group of people deciding to work together to improve the environment at their local station. The key requirement for an adoption group is to agree a clearly defined set of objectives and a clear definition of the task they want to undertake before meeting the train operator to agree the scope of their activities. Many examples of group adoption of stations are sufficiently developed to illustrate the impact that can be achieved, says JMP, with the report providing a series of case studies. These schemes range from regular visits to stations by adopters to check for damage, vandalism, graffiti and litter, to schemes where community groups have improved the station environment by providing gardens, planters, hanging baskets, artwork and removal of graffiti. There are also schemes where tenants of station buildings make a real contribution towards making stations more attractive and safer places. The great majority of adopted stations are unstaffed. Some have booking offices that are staffed on a part-time basis. The final report is/will be published on the RSSB website (www.rssb.co.uk/research/allsearch.asp) as Research Report T639 Good Practice in Station Adoption Schemes.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=5503 Jan 2008JMP Consulting, the nationwide traffic planning and engineering consultancy, has recruited Arun Bhatti as a principal transport planner and Christopher Clements as a senior transport planner. Bhatti, who will be based in the group’s Birmingham office, specialises in strategic modelling and was previously a transport modeller with Mott MacDonald for five years. Clements, who specialises in travel planning, will work from the London Docklands office. He was previously a consultant with Vipre for 18 months and before that was a senior transport planner with Savill, Bird & Axon for two years.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=5429 Dec 2007JMP Consulting has been commissioned by the Kirkintilloch’s Initiative and East Dunbartonshire Council to construct a microsimulation model of the town of Kirkintilloch, covering around 15 sq km. It will form a medium-long term tool that can be used to assess future transport proposals within Kirkintilloch. Network coverage of the model includes a complex town centre as well as the main radial routes into the town. Option testing to be undertaken within the microsimulation model will include assessing the effects of a new link road, junction upgrades, traffic management measures, bus-only routes and pedestrianisation.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=5311 Dec 2007JMP Consulting is developing a unique web-based tool - to be called YETI (Yearly Emissions from Travel Information) - that aims to facilitate and promote the use of carbon footprinting in travel plan development. The tool, which will be freely available to anyone, effectively automates the data manipulation and calculations required for carbon footprinting travel data in the fight against climate change. The development of YETI follows on from completion of a commission for Transport Scotland, the national transport agency for Scotland, that has already led to the landmark development of the UK's first 'carbon-focused' travel plan. Dr Debbie Ross, a principal transport planner, who is leading YETI's development, explained: "Users will simply upload a data file containing commuter and business travel information. YETI will then provide a detailed report including breakdown by mode, journey type and common journeys within each mode." The tool is being developed in discussion with key transport stakeholders, including the Department for Transport, Defra, Transport 2000, the Energy Saving Trust and the Institute of Travel Management. Dr Ross, who gained her PhD in atmospheric chemistry at Cambridge University, project managed the Transport Scotland commission to deliver the landmark travel plan. Transport Scotland was keen to manage its staff travel needs, following a recent relocation and was particularly keen to understand the contribution of employee travel to its overall carbon footprint. She added: "The carbon-footprinting exercise means that the corresponding travel plan actions and targets are meaningful, realistic and, most importantly, founded on a solid understanding of the baseline travel emissions."http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=5208 Oct 2007JMP Consulting is a Partner in a European Commission project to identify and improve upon the current accessibility for disabled people to urban and rural transport systems in all 27 EU member states. There is a general lack of information on accessibility and JMP's role is to lead the way in establishing, from all the information collated, a deeper understanding of the effect that accessible public transport has on the employment and social inclusion prospects of people with disabilities. Another work package will tackle good practice and innovation in making public transport accessible and provide a sound assessment of the costs and benefits involved. The 'Public Transport Systems' Accessibility for People with Disabilities in Europe' project (PTaccess) will run until January 2009, after which the findings will be downloadable from the project website and will be distributed to European stakeholders. The project partners will be analysing accessibility in each member state from the point of view of national disability organisations, transport operators and governments. For regions where public transport is not accessible, alternative transport solutions will be identified and analysed.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=5102 Oct 2007JMP Consulting has recruited Christopher Evans, a specialist in traffic engineering, as an Associate in its Birmingham office. He has joined from Waterman Civils, where he was an Associate Director, and has also worked for Atkins, Traffic for London and the London Borough of Wandsworth. Two Senior Transport Planners have also been appointed; Mohsin Munshi in the London Docklands office, who joins from Mott MacDonald, and Neil McAlpine in the Edinburgh office who previously worked for Atkins.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=5025 Sep 2007JMP Consulting, the transport planning and engineering consultancy, has moved two of its offices, Manchester and Bristol, into new accommodation to allow for continuing expansion of the nation-wide business. Darren Oldham, director at the Manchester office, said the 40-strong staff had moved within Blackfriars House, Parsonage to a new office suite with 50 per cent more floor space. "This provides us with better facilities to service existing and future clients and for JMP's centralised facilities which are based here to expand to meet the demands of the company's growth." At Bristol the nine-strong office, which opened two years ago, has moved to The Crescent Centre, Temple Back (Tel: 01173 763300. Fax: 01173 763301) where it will be possible to double staff to cope with growing business. It will allow the Highways Agency term consultancy work to grow and for more private and public sector work to be introduced.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=4925 Sep 2007A feasibility study into replacing a defunct river boat crossing with a footbridge on a four and a half mile beautiful scenic walk along the south bank of Scotland's Firth of Forth is being carried out by JMP Consulting. For 47 years a ferryman in a rowing boat provided the link across the River Almond between the Dalmeny Estate and the village of Cramond, in the north west of Edinburgh. But the service was discontinued during the 2000 foot and mouth outbreak and was never resumed because the jetty was then declared unsafe. SEStran, the South East of Scotland Transport Partnership, is committed to the development of a continuous Round the Forth cycling route in its Regional Transport Strategy, for commuting and leisure cycling. The River Almond is a major barrier to achieving this goal. JMP has now been commissioned by SESTran to consult with the local community and stakeholders and come up with a potential bridge design sympathetic to the surrounding environment, which is a conservation area. It will have to accommodate walkers and cyclists. At present the "missing link" on the footpath between South Queensferry and Cramond entails a three mile detour via Cramond Brig for those who want to use the footpaths through the Dalmeny Estate, home to Lord Rosebery, to reach Cramond and on towards Edinburgh. A bridge with a span of 25 to 30 metres is envisaged, positioned well clear of the yachts which moor at the mouth of the river at Cramond and which will not interfere with prime angling waters. JMP Consulting is expected to report on the feasibility of the project and prepare potential bridge designs by the end of the year. Consultation with stakeholders and local groups is underway and a public exhibition will be held for local residents to give their views in November.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=4819 Sep 2007JMP Consulting has been appointed by North East Lincolnshire Council to prepare the Major Scheme Business Case for the A18 - A180 Link Road to improve access to Immingham docks and the environment for local residents. The case, to be submitted to the Department for Transport, will show that currently a significant proportion of dock traffic arrives from rural Lincolnshire via the A18 and passes through the centre of Immingham to access the docks. This results in significant safety and nuisance issues for the residents of Immingham. Also, the lack of a direct, appropriate dock access from the south is a barrier to economic growth of the docks and surrounding industrial area. The creation of a new link between the B1210 and the A180 will allow traffic from the A18 to the south to access the docks and will provide relief to the residents of Immingham. A previous study identified a number of potential solutions. A number of constraints on some of the options led to the new link between the B1210 and the A180 being taken forward as the preferred scheme at a total scheme cost of around £7m. This scheme has considerable local and political support and was included in the longer term programme of major schemes within the 2006 Local Transport Plan 2. Subsequently the scheme was submitted to the Regional Transport Board (RTB) and is now included within the region's priorities for the 10 year Regional Funding Allocation (RFA) programme.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=4712 Sep 2007The changing and increasingly important role that sustainable transport and travel plans play in the early stages of the planning of new developments is being highlighted by JMP Consulting on a new dedicated website, www.transportassessment.org . The message is contained within the new one stop website that has been launched to help anyone with a query on the new Transport Assessment process, and is supported by the TRICS consortium. It was conceived in response to the new 'Guidance on Transport Assessment'published by the Department for Transport earlier this year to replace old standards in use in England for some 13 years. The approach to transport assessment has changed quite markedly and the website highlights the need for transport issues to be introduced into the design process much earlier than has previously been the case. In particular, the role of the travel plan and sustainable transport measures should be considered as part of the suite of planning documents. The website explains what transport assessments are, identifies when they are needed and provides an explanation of how they fit into the planning application process. It provides a brief over-view of the new Guidance on Transport Assessment, and highlights the key changes and implications of these both for local authorities and developers in England. Links to the relevant guidance for Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales are also being developed, while the site also features a help function whereby anyone with a query can make use of this interactive feature.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=4630 Aug 2007JMP Consulting has been commissioned as part of a multi-disciplinary team to formulate a strategic development framework for North Kirklees in West Yorkshire, incorporating an urban area traditionally characterised by the heavy woollen industry. The study is being conducted at three levels, incorporating strategic links across the Leeds City Region and beyond; internal movement between the principal settlements of Dewsbury, Batley, Cleckheaton and Heckmondwike; and local accessibility within the Dewsbury South area as part of the Housing Market Renewal Initiative. The consultant's role is to identify areas for economic growth that can meet local and strategic needs in a sustainable fashion, without reliance on the private car. The study output will form the basis of future land use decisions within North Kirklees, incorporating improvements to mitigate against the potential traffic impacts of development.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=4528 Aug 2007The Skipton-East Lancashire Rail Action Partnership (SELRAP) has appointed JMP Consulting to develop a business case for reopening the trans-Pennine rail line between Skipton and Colne to both passengers and freight. SELRAP has been campaigning since 2001 for reinstatement of the 11-mile link, which was closed and dismantled in 1970. It argues that it will connect the economies of Yorkshire and Humberside, Leeds, Bradford and the Aire Valley with those of East Lancashire, Manchester, Preston and the Mersey ports beyond. The first aim has already been achieved by securing protection of the track bed in the Joint Lancashire Structure Plan and the Local Plans of Pendle Borough and Craven District Councils. Now a new business case is to be developed for submission to Network Rail's consultation process during preparation of the Route Utilisation Strategies for Lancashire and Cumbria and for Yorkshire and Humber. It could also pave the way for more detailed appraisal of the scheme by the train operating companies. The business plan will contain estimates of the cost of constructing the new railway, the annual costs of operating train services and forecasts of demand and revenue. The study is being funded by a number of partners, including the North West Rail Investment Campaign, local authorities in the area and Railfutures, together with private donations from dozens of local residents. Andy Shackleton, Liaison Officer for SELRAP says that existing trans-Pennine routes are known to be operating at or near capacity and that reopening the Skipton-Colne line - the missing link between the rail networks of the North West and Yorkshire - fits in with regional transport strategies. It would also address the Government's own policies aimed at developing integrated and sustainable transport, while cutting road congestion, delivering accessibility, safer roads and better air quality.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=4421 Aug 2007JMP Consulting has recruited two senior members of staff from Newcastle City Council and Gateshead Council to work in its Newcastle office. Paul Gray joins as a principal transport planner, having worked for the past 18 months as a senior transportation officer for modelling with Newcastle City Council. Previously he was employed by Jacobs Consulting as a senior consultant and MVA as an analyst. James Quigley, who joins as a senior engineer, was a traffic engineer in Gateshead Council's transport and highways services for six years. In addition Tom Palmer has joined JMP's Central London office as a transport planner specialising in transport economics. He previously worked for URS, the engineering and environmental consultancy as an economic consultant.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=4321 Aug 2007The increasingly important role that taxis and private hire vehicles can play in improving accessibility in Tyne and Wear is being studied by JMP Consulting with a view to influencing future policies on taxi provision. The Tyne and Wear Local Transport Plan Team has commissioned JMP to examine the contribution made by taxis and private hire services to public transport in the region. The five districts of Tyne and Wear - South Tyneside, North Tyneside, Gateshead, Sunderland and Newcastle upon Tyne - will be researched for a wide range of quantitative data on key aspects of taxi provision. JMP will collect information from a variety of sources, namely the local authorities, the operators, taxi and private hire drivers and the public. This will enable them to build a holistic view of current taxi and private hire resources across the five districts, the role taxis and private hire vehicles play in the community, the unique service that they can offer and whether current resources are satisfying the public demand placed upon them. This information will generate a picture of how taxi and private hire services currently fit into the pattern of public transport provision and what can be done to increase their role in future public transport strategies. An audit of taxi facilities, including safety and security of drivers and passengers, will also be carried out as part of the study.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=4214 Aug 2007JMP Consulting has been contracted to help PTI Cymru identify future requirements for travel information in Wales and assist in the development of its next five-year business plan. The three-month project will identify future business areas and services to be provided by PTI Cymru, analyse the existing services and recommend any improvements and enhancements to the current offering. In the first phase JMP will invite interested parties to a series of stakeholder meetings to be held throughout Wales during late August and early September. These will include representatives from national government, local authorities, public transport operators, passenger interest groups and disability groups. Any groups who have not received an invitation can register their interest by contacting Amy Denton of JMP Consulting on amy.denton@jmp.co.uk or by telephoning 0113 244 4347. JMP's ultimate report will be used by PTI Cymru in development of a business plan, to provide the Welsh public with the travel information they need through the coming years, and remain at the forefront of public transport travel information services in Wales.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=4107 Aug 2007Warwickshire County Council's latest successful Major Scheme Bid is planned to bring a substantial package of improvements to public transport in the Leamington and Warwick areas including a new park and ride scheme. JMP Consulting is currently reviewing the demand and revenue forecasts for a Southern bus park and ride scheme to the south of the two towns and close to the M40. Consideration is being given to two sites in order to identify which has the greater potential. While reviewing the Southern scheme forecasts JMP will also investigate the feasibility of a Northern park and ride scheme close to the A46 near Kenilworth. This would be based on utilising spare capacity on existing bus services passing the site, rather than the more costly option of a dedicated park and ride bus service. The key requirement for JMP is to identify an optimum solution in terms of delivering transport objectives and minimising the annual need for financial support. A spreadsheet model has been developed for use in testing different combinations of bus frequency, park and ride fares, town centre parking charges and quality of passenger facilities at the park and ride sites.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=4002 Aug 2007Derek Palmer, who has previously held positions in the House of Commons and Confederation of British Industry, has been appointed an Associate Director in JMP Consulting's Central London office. He is a specialist in policy development, transport planning and accessibility planning. Derek began as a researcher at the Centre for Environmental Studies, subsequently became an adviser to the House of Commons Environment Committee, director of transport policy at the CBI, technical director of the IHT. He then worked as a principal consultant with Steer Davies Gleave before establishing his own business as PACT Consultancy. A number of other new recruits include: Simon Bradbury, a senior transport planner in the London Docklands office who joins from Buckinghamshire County Council where he was senior public transport development officer; principal engineer Nigel Harvey in Lichfield office and transport planners Heng Chen (Docklands) who joined from Mayer Brown and Tom Palmer (Central London).http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=3924 Jul 2007JMP has been commissioned by the 'Access to Services' sub-group of East Durham Local Strategic Partnership to look at ways of co-ordinating transport resources across the district of Easington. The aim is to identify ways of improving service delivery through more effective use of resources and an integrated approach. The Partnership is made up of county and district councils, primary care trust, community transport organisations and community representatives. JMP is talking with stakeholder organisations across the district, gathering information about current transport services. This includes public, community, social care, education and health transport. All transport resources and operations will be mapped. Discussions will also focus on opportunities and barriers of collaborative working. Evidence of unmet transport need is also being researched. While the co-ordination of vehicles is an important aspect of the work, the study will look at opportunities for closer joint working in all possible ways. This includes policies and eligibility for transport, pooling of funding, co-ordinated planning, joint commissioning or procurement, sharing of technology, information and resources and joint evaluation.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=3824 Jul 2007A five-year car parking strategy has been developed by JMP Consulting for staff and visitors to the three hospital sites operated by Gateshead Health NHS Foundation Trust. The three hospital sites of Queen Elizabeth, Bensham and Dunston Hill provide community, mental health and acute hospital services for 200,000 people. This, together with the fact the Trust is a major employer in the areas, impacts upon the local road network. A more rigorous and onerous parking enforcement by the Trust in tandem with a gradual increase in visitor parking charges will encourage the use of more sustainable transport and ease on-site parking. JMP's strategy expands the existing staff permit scheme based upon Agenda for Change pay scales, together with a gradual increase in visitor parking, to bring the authority in line with other NHS sites. The new strategy is an essential element of the travel plan JMP assisted the Trust to develop earlier in a move to cut down on the use of cars by staff, patients and visitors in favour of more sustainable forms of transport.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=3720 Jul 2007The practicalities of building a southern relief road for the Lincolnshire town of Grantham, to be part privately-funded by extensive housing development, have been investigated by JMP Consulting. Detailed drawings of the various alignment possibilities of a link between the A1 (T) and A52 - which passes through the town centre - have been produced for a major land owner. Over the years there have been many proposals to construct a bypass to ease congestion in the town centre, but these have failed due to lack of public funding. Grantham is located on the banks of the River Witham and on the East Coast Main Line and for many years traffic levels in the town centre have posed a problem. This is exacerbated by the significant number of bridge impacts from high vehicles passing under the railway. The limited number of bridges also causes 'pinch points' to be formed around the town. JMP has carried out research into the current traffic and people movement around the town to highlight the need for a relief road and the facilities that could be used by residents of the new development.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=3612 Jul 2007JMP Consulting has produced, on behalf of the Yorkshire and Humber Assembly, a guide for local authorities, the Highways Agency and other bodies responsible for the development of major transport infrastructure bids to government. The guide, aimed at scheme promoters, outlines evidence required by the Regional Transport Board in assessing proposals for inclusion in advice to government on regional transport priorities. This advice is provided under the framework for Regional Funding Allocations. JMP Consulting has developed the guide in consultation with regional stakeholders in order that the Regional Transport Board can identify priorities for investment over the next ten years. It updates the work undertaken by JMP in 2005/06 to devise a methodology for assessing regional priorities. On the evidence provided it will be possible to assess whether schemes will deliver the region's wider policy objectives, represent value for money, and are deliverable within the ten-year timetable.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=3505 Jul 2007The Highways Agency, which has been influential in encouraging businesses in the use of sustainable Travel Plans, has now committed itself to lead by example. The agency has appointed JMP Consulting to develop a National Travel Plan Strategy for application across all nine of its main offices in the UK and its seven regional control centres. The intention is to have a national strategy in place by September this year and two travel plans implemented in Bedford and Exeter by March 2008. The other sites will follow in due course and 'Green Champions' have been established at each one as part of the site audit process. All government agencies are required to reduce carbon emissions from road vehicles by 15 per cent by 2010/11 and the Highways Agency will use the Travel Plan as the tool for making this happen. The HA's Influencing Travel Behaviour team, responsible for the Smarter Choices sustainability agenda within the agency, has recently recruited a Travel Plan Co-ordinator who is working closely with JMP senior transport planner, Jacqueline McLeod, on achieving its goals. Staff surveys will be rolled out to staff in early July to complete the collection of all baseline data, followed by the formation of staff focus groups and steering groups to progress consultation. Bedford and Exeter have been selected for early implementation because both sites have a good existing platform to build on. Bedford has many existing measures and Exeter has joined the Sowton Transport Management Association, where the potential to benefit from a variety of measures is likely. It is likely JMP will be working with the Highways Agency into the programme's implementation stages.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=3402 Jul 2007Innovative solutions to car park design have been developed by JMP Consulting, working with Galliard Homes on turning the disused 'Jumpin Jaks' nightclub into a 22-storey mixed use development in the heart of Ilford town centre. The residential-led scheme for a sculptural tower with some 150 homes and ground floor commercial premises, has a restricted car parking area so a mechanical car-stacking system was chosen to maximise space. The parking strategy provides for one allocated space per five flats and works in conjunction with an on-site Car Club. Reserved Car Club spaces will provide a more sustainable alternative to private car ownership, allowing residents easy access to a car, as required, and reducing the amount of scarce urban space given over to car parking. The London Borough of Redbridge has granted planning permission for the redevelopment after an application supported by a Transport Assessment (TA) and Noise Assessment provided by JMP. Construction is expected to begin later this year. This scheme also included a Travel Plan which will influence the travel behaviour of future site residents through a range of proposed measures, including Welcome Packs, discounted car club membership and provision of charged pre-pay Oyster cards. In addition JMP had to achieve a reduction on the transport side approaching one-third in CO2 emissions to match the achievements of the scheme's energy strategy of solar panels and biomass heating.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=3325 Jun 2007Reinstatement of the Keswick-Penrith rail line as an integral part of the national rail system would cost between £85 million and £107 million to implement, according to a study by JMP Consulting for the Northwest Regional Development Agency. The study included an economic appraisal of options for the railway's reconstruction and operation of a rail passenger service, together with a commercial business plan. Analysis from the study shows that the economic benefits of the project would exceed the costs of construction and operation, with a total net value of between £8 million and £17 million over a period of 60 years. Forecasts indicate that the service would attract additional passenger numbers of between 240,000 to 320,000 per year in 2016 - broadly equivalent to current usage of the Windermere branch line - generating visitor spend of over £1 million each year. In addition, the construction and operation of the railway would create the equivalent of almost 200 full-time jobs, worth £127 million over the next 60 years. But while the study demonstrated positive results and showed a value for money case, it is not strong enough to be classified as a strong case for investment by the Department for Transport. To improve the project's funding prospects, the report proposes a number of recommendations. These include using the positive conclusions arising from the report to actively engage with the public sector to bring the project into the appropriate regional and national strategies and ensure its prioritisation for investment. Bryan Gray, chairman of the Keswick-Penrith Steering Group, commented: "These benefits are clear, however we are realistic in that the project still requires significant intervention. The Steering Group will continue to engage with relevant local stakeholders to confirm that the proposal can bring worthwhile economic benefits, along with lobbying for the project's inclusion within appropriate regional and national transport strategies." Although the line has been closed for 35 years, much of the trackbed and many of the structures remain in place. The railway between Keswick and Penrith was part of a longer line linking Penrith, Keswick, Cockermouth and Workington, Then, in 1963, the Beeching Report recommended closure of the line. In 1966 the line west of Keswick was closed, but it was not until 1972 that the passenger service between Penrith and Keswick was withdrawn.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=3222 Jun 2007Steven Petitt-Coombes has joined JMP Consulting, the transport planner and engineer, as an Associate in its London Docklands office, specialising in design and implementation within infrastructure. He has 20 years experience and was previously 12 years with Atkins, latterly as a senior consultant, and also worked for the Corporation of London. Steven is a Freeman of the City of London. Two other new recruits are Steve Fisher, a Principal Engineer in the Lichfield office, who was previously six years with Mouchel Parkman, where he was a design and build team manager, and Stephen Moody, a senior transport planner, who joins Central London office after four years as a transport planner with Peter Brett Associates.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=3121 Jun 2007The Area Travel plan launched at Cambridge Science Park on May 9 is already showing greater awareness among staff of sustainable travel options and has recorded a big jump in car sharing. Awareness of sustainable travel options among the 5,000-plus employees has leapt from 3.3 per cent previously to 21.8 per cent (1,093 people) in the latest survey. And the additional number of staff registering with CamShare, a county-wide car sharing scheme run and managed by the local Travel for Work Partnership, represents 54 per cent of its new registrations for the whole of Cambridgeshire. The Area Travel plan has been launched through a partnership between the Highways Agency, JMP Consulting, Cambridgeshire County Council, Cambridgeshire Travel for Work Partnership and local businesses. The Steering Group has been working together since April last year to achieve travel to and from the Park other than by car, thereby reducing congestion on the A14. It has also successfully made a case for retaining the subsidised X14 bus services, between Huntingdon and the Park. Pledges have been signed in order for businesses on the site, Cambridgeshire County Council and the Highways Agency to formally declare their support for the Plan and the ongoing encouragement of more environmentally friendly modes of transport to achieve a better environment. The Science Park has its own Area Travel Plan website (www.travelplanclusters.co.uk/ cambridgesciencepark) to inform people about the Plan and travelling to the area by sustainable modes.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=3008 Jun 2007JMP Consulting has been commissioned to design all the onsite highways, foul and surface sewers for the regeneration by Astral Parkridge and George Wimpey of the 33.6 hectare former Peugeot car company works at Stoke in Coventry. The new mixed-use Stoke Urban Village being planned includes 1,700 homes, sports facilities, a new local business centre and the realignment of Humber Road. JMP, working as part of a design team with Wimpey's in-house architects, WSP, WSP Environmental, Wardell Armstrong and Barton Wilmore, will be responsible for highways and drainage design, achieving technical approval and legal agreements. Peugeot is relocating its UK headquarters from the northern to the southern part of the site to state-of-the-art corporate premises to allow the major part of the residential construction, which will begin on site in March 2008. Some residential development has already begun on another area of the site. The development will bring benefits to housing, education, transport and community facility improvements at nearby Stoke Aldermoor.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=2904 Jun 2007JMP Consulting has been commissioned by Transport for London to undertake the Harlesden Town Centre Study in the London Borough of Brent. This work builds upon JMP's continuing work on the Flagship Bus Route 18 through the area. Harlesden town centre forms part a busy gyratory, with poor public areas and motor traffic domination caused by historic priorities that have favoured motorised movement. The study has been commissioned to resolve these issues, encouraging more widespread use of walking, cycling and public transport. One of the key aims is to improve the public areas through the careful application of urban design principles and revisions to the traffic management regime. By creating a more pleasant environment it is expected that the area will regenerate while encouraging more sustainable travel modes. Options will be developed, which will include investigations of the potential for shared space, removal of unnecessary street furniture and two-way bus operations. Micro-simulation modelling techniques will be used to consider the potential impacts in terms of pedestrian crossing delays, bus journey times and general traffic. The study will include extensive liaison with local people and key stakeholders to ensure all users have been consulted.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=2831 May 2007JMP Consulting has been appointed by Gallagher Estates as engineering consultant and planning supervisor for infrastructure design of the 252Ha Western Expansion Area of Milton Keynes. The project, close to the A5 and mainly residential development, will provide approximately 6,550 homes, some office, light industrial and warehousing use, a secondary and primary schools site and a local centre. JMP will be responsible for the detailed infrastructure design and technical approvals, including the entire length of the main City Street, along with some 5km of secondary road and all footpaths, numerous junction improvements. The consultant will liaise with other design team members such as the masterplanning and landscape architects, geotechnical consultant and services specialists. In addition, JMP will develop a surface and foul water drainage strategy, negotiate public transport provision and assist in production of a movement and road hierarchy design code that will form the basis of the infrastructure design. The infrastructure work involves specialists in JMP's Birmingham, Lichfield, Glasgow, London Docklands and Leeds offices and is due for completion April 2008.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=2719 May 2007JMP Consulting has undertaken the detailed design of highways works for a new 8,175 sq m Tesco food store and petrol filling station now being built at Failsworth in Oldham. The store, with more than 500 parking spaces, is being constructed on a vacant site between the A62 Oldham Road and Ashton Road West and adjacent to a newly built medical centre. JMP was originally commissioned by Oldham Property Partnerships in 2003 to provide transport and highway consultancy advice. The scheme involves the upgrade of a priority junction to a signalised junction and construction of 150m of new road over the Rochdale Canal bridge, which is currently used only by pedestrians, to connect with Ashton Road West and the new store car park. Ashton Road West is also being widened at its junction with an existing mini-roundabout at Lord Lane and public transport facilities will be enhanced. As well as detailed highway design JMP has also co-ordinated all the sub-contractors for signals, street lighting, drainage and bridge work design and worked closely with Oldham Borough Council to obtain necessary approvals. JMP Consulting continues to provide ongoing design/advice/liaison and co-ordination to the design team.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=2617 May 2007Construction tenders have been sought for a new three-arm roundabout and car parking facility to serve a major distribution centre on the A775 adjacent to the M8 at Newhouse near Airdrie. The design and contract documentation has been prepared by JMP Consulting for Prologis, a leading provider of distribution facilities and services worldwide. JMP has already been involved since 1999 in design, procurement and site supervision of two new roundabouts, interconnecting roads and an existing roundabout upgrade. The latest phase is for a further access upgrade with a new three- arm roundabout on the A775.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=2516 May 2007JMP Consulting has been appointed, together with Urban Initiatives, to develop two Area Action Plans within the Upper Lea Valley on behalf of the London Borough of Enfield. They will ensure a coordinated approach to future land use and infrastructure provision in each area, with due consideration for transport, open spaces and environment. The objective is to enhance economic vitality and contribute to the wider regeneration of the sub-region. The Central Leeside Area Action Plan is being produced for the London Boroughs of Enfield and Haringey and the North East Enfield Area Action Plan for Enfield. JMP, which has worked extensively in the Upper Lea Valley in developing strategic transport plans, local accessibility schemes, and implementation programmes, will assess the movement and access issues for each area and develop an integrated package of measures to complement any development proposals. Following on from the baseline reports projects will be developed, tested and consultation will be undertaken on a range of preferred options before preparation of the final submission.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=2415 May 2007Sean McKenzie has joined the Liverpool office of transport planner and engineer JMP Consulting as a principal engineer after two and a half years working as a senior engineer at the Project Centre. He has also worked for the London Borough of Wandsworth and specialises in all aspects of traffic and transportation engineering.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=2309 May 2007Options are being investigated by JMP Consulting for improving the movement and management of traffic around Helensburgh in Argyll and Bute, as part of a programme to enhance the town centre and waterfront areas. JMP will propose improved traffic flow into and around the town centre by considering route diversions, one-way systems and partial or full-street pedestrianisation of key town centre streets, as well as improved parking provision. The study, for Argyll and Bute Council in association with the Helensburgh Partnership, will involve extensive consultations with interested parties like business groups, transport providers, and community groups including both the elderly and the young. This study is not intended to be merely an examination of how best to move vehicles around the town. It is intended to examine the accommodation of all movements within the urban townscape, such as the location and integration of existing land uses, the pattern of activity including focal points and where people congregate, prime shopping areas and public open spaces and linkages between such facilities. One of the key objectives of the regeneration aspirations is to increase the vibrancy and vitality of the town centre by improving the connectivity with the waterfront area. A main barrier to this, as with many seaside towns, is the severance effect of the main traffic routes.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=2202 May 2007Following a management restructuring and creation of associate directors JMP Consulting, the transport planner and engineer, has made a number of further promotions at its countrywide network of 12 offices. They include Principal Transport Planners: Denise Faber (Birmingham), Sarah Levantis (Central London) and Debbie Ross (Edinburgh); Principal Engineers: Peter Carver, Mark Powers (both Central London) and Neville McKenzie (Manchester); Senior Transport Planners: Luke Craddy (Bristol), Lisa MacCuish (Central London), Caroline Hedger (Lichfield) and David Kinloch (Leeds); Senior Engineers: Albert Cheung (Docklands), Shaun Phillips (Glasgow) ; and Transport Planners: Amy Tigg (Glasgow). Irfan Akram and Carl Hicks (both Lichfield) and Jonathan Parsons (Manchester). Phil Radnor (Lichfield) becomes Principal IT Co-ordinator.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=2126 Apr 2007Motorists could be encouraged to leave their cars at home when they visit Lancashire's Forest of Bowland, an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, in favour of a more sustainable approach to tourism. A new report, produced jointly by JMP Consulting, Transport for Leisure, and Lydia Speakman Associates, identifies a number of key actions to encourage visitors to travel to and within the AONB without resorting to their car. It explores ways in which more people can be attracted to use, and therefore help sustain, existing bus and rail services in and around Bowland. A number of practical proposals have been drawn up to attract more visitors and tourists to use local public transport, or cycle and walk within Bowland. The work, commissioned by the Forest of Bowland Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty Unit, includes improving information for existing services and events in Bowland. This will be together with proposals for additional tailored services based on experiences elsewhere in the UK that will enable more people to enjoy the wonderful countryside in Bowland. A number of longer-term actions have already been identified. If successful in attracting support and necessary funding specific public transport services could be run for events forming part of the Forest of Bowland Festival in 2008, including an "experience bus". The bus would run on selected summer weekends from neighbouring towns in Lancashire and would be modelled on the Northamptonshire Saunterbus and a similar service into the Yorkshire Dales. A timely complement to the publication of this report has been the launch of a new Community Interest Company, a form of social enterprise, the Dales & Bowland Community Interest Company. This wholly-owned subsidiary of the Settle-based charity, the Yorkshire Dales Society, has been established to help to provide long-term stability to public transport services in both Bowland and the Dales, initially through brokering the operation of such services.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=2024 Apr 2007JMP Consulting is to carry out a full modal study of the congested 2 km Southbury Road Corridor between the A105 London Road and A1010 Hertford Road for the London Borough of Enfield. The route is an important conduit between Enfield Town Centre and three key arterial routes to London. Because of the way in which funding is allocated by Transport for London, the previous approach to solving problems resulted in a patchwork of 'improvements'. While that often applied the right solutions within a given funding stream it did not address the optimal functioning of the route as a whole, resulting in an unsatisfactory combination of schemes. JMP is seeking to reveal a more complete picture of the corridor in terms of moving people and goods, both along and across it. The consultant will be using its network management planning expertise, and a Route Strategy prioritisation and selection technique developed by Enfield through a pilot study carried out on a particularly complex route in the borough. The comprehensive data analysis includes not just traffic and modal split but also urban realm and environmental indicators. In contrast to more central boroughs, residents and commuters in Enfield are much more dependant on their cars for transport, particularly on orbital routes, causing a perceived conflict between the need for better access to public transport and the desire for the free-flow of private vehicles. JMP will arm the Borough with powerful and accessible evidence to help all parties to quickly understand the key problems on the route, whether in time, place or mode, allowing effective dialogue and innovative solutions to be found.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=1918 Apr 2007JMP Consulting, the transport planner and engineer, has undertaken a senior management restructuring, including the creation of a new Associate Director role, to support continuing growth. Managing director Ian Cameron commented: "The new Associate Directors will have a particular role in promoting corporate policies and procedures within their business units and contribute to the development of company-wide initiatives" The new Associate Directors (office base in brackets) are: Tim Steiner (Edinburgh) for Scotland; Martin Revill and Roger Hacker (Leeds) for the North East; Nicola Kane (Manchester) for the North West; Chris Brown (Lichfield) for the Midlands; Paul Smith, Jane Powers, Greg Hart (Central London); Adrian Davis (Bristol) for Central and Bristol and Vicky Balboa (Docklands) for Docklands and Brighton. All were promoted from within the ranks of Associates and will continue with those duties. JMP has also appointed two new Associates, Jon Bunney (Central London) and Max Matteis (Docklands).http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=1817 Apr 2007JMP Consulting has been commissioned by South Cheshire College to produce a Transport Assessment and Travel Plan in support of a bid to the Learning Skills Council for a full redevelopment of the Crewe Campus on its existing site by 2010. Plans are well underway for the £59 million campus redevelopment project which will lead education in Crewe and Nantwich into a new era. The high-flying college is the main provider of post-16 education within Crewe & Nantwich and currently caters for approximately 3,850 full time equivalent students. Jefferson Sheard Architects are masterminding the design for the new three-storey building while Turner and Townsend are project managers for the scheme. A staff and student survey is being undertaken to develop a site travel plan that will promote sustainable travel habits in advance of the proposed reopening.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=1717 Apr 2007JMP Consulting has identified a new parking strategy for Grimsby to support the town centre regeneration plans. A report to North East Lincolnshire Council demonstrates that economic renaissance of Grimsby Top Town requires additional car parking capacity. It suggests that this could be provided within the town centre or as park and ride, the latter having the additional benefit of reducing town centre congestion. JMP's report outlines the current situation for off-street publicly available car parking, assesses changes to both car park supply and demand deriving from the Urban Renaissance proposals, and has modelled the potential future demand for car parking. The study supports the work of the council in delivering the Yorkshire Forward -backed Urban Renaissance Programme, which was launched in December 2001 to support the physical, social and economic regeneration of towns across the region. The first six towns within the programme were Barnsley, Doncaster, Grimsby, Huddersfield, Scarborough and Wakefield. The initial 25 year visions and strategies for these towns are now being developed into delivery plans. Regeneration of Grimsby through Urban Renaissance is at the centre of future development of North East Lincolnshire, and the JMP report on parking is part of a wider programme of work to ensure that the development of the area is sustainable.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=1612 Apr 2007JMP Consulting has undertaken the detailed design of highways works for a new 8,175 sq m Tesco food store and petrol filling station now being built at Failsworth in Oldham. The store, with more than 500 parking spaces, is being constructed on a vacant site between the A62 Oldham Road and Ashton Road West and adjacent to a newly built medical centre. JMP was originally commissioned by Oldham Property Partnerships in 2003 to provide transport and highway consultancy advice. The scheme involves the upgrade of a priority junction to a signalised junction and construction of 150m of new road over the Rochdale Canal bridge, which is currently used only by pedestrians, to connect with Ashton Road West and the new store car park. Ashton Road West is also being widened at its junction with an existing mini-roundabout at Lord Lane and public transport facilities will be enhanced. As well as detailed highway design JMP has also co-ordinated all the sub-contractors for signals, street lighting, drainage and bridge work design and worked closely with Oldham Borough Council to obtain necessary approvals. JMP Consulting continues to provide ongoing design/advice/liaison and co-ordination to the design team.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=1531 Mar 2007JMP Consulting has been appointed by Darlington Borough Council to research the travel needs of young people, aged 16-19, to assess the potential for a concessionary travel scheme. Darlington's Local Area Agreement (LAA) has the travel needs of young people as one of its priorities. However, it is unknown to what extent transport issues, particularly travel costs, impact on young people's lives and choices about education and employment choices. A series of surveys and focus groups is being undertaken among Year 11 pupils and other pupils, students in further education, and those not in education, employment or training. The findings will be used to assess needs and likely demand for a concessionary travel scheme, and then to assess the financial implications. This study links to the wider consideration of the Tees Valley Young Peoples' Access Partnership, which JMP facilitates on behalf of the local authorities. The Partnership, consisting of a range of partnership organisations including the Learning and Skills Council, Job Centre Plus, Connexions and Colleges, is assessing a variety of ways of improving access to services and facilities and activities for young people across the area.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=1421 Mar 2007JMP Consulting has been helping the University of Liverpool to develop proposals to strengthen controls on access points to its campus as part of a parking and security strategy. Work to implement the proposals has just started on site. Apart from the main roads that pass through the University, all other streets have already been closed as public highways and are now private streets in the University's ownership. JMP has examined each access point to the University's campus and parking areas to determine the best physical solution for each location. Formal arrangements will provide for permit parking, daytime visitor parking, and for public use of some parking areas 'out of hours'. There has been liaison with the local highway authority to ensure that the operation of the public roads is not affected, and the University has been advised on the capabilities of various types of equipment and control mechanisms. The scheme will be fully integrated into the University's security systems, with monitoring being provided from a central location within the campus.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=1320 Mar 2007JMP Consulting has been commissioned by the Isle of Man Department of Transport to assess options for alleviating traffic congestion and improving pedestrian facilities on the Peel Road corridor in Douglas. Peel Road is a main distributor route into the island capital's business and retail quarter. JMP will be looking in particular at alleviating traffic at two congested junctions and introducing pedestrian crossings at certain points. The first stage of the study involves combining and extending the existing Lower Douglas and Quarterbridge microsimulation models prepared by JMP in earlier commissions into one comprehensive traffic model. This will be used to test a number of proposed improvement measures in the areas including amendments to existing roundabout and signal junctions, as well the potential impact of a Ballakermeen Link Road.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=1215 Mar 2007Transport planning consultant JMP is preparing the detailed design for a new controlled parking scheme in Central Paignton on behalf of Torbay Council. The scheme will reduce parking congestion in the town centre and residential areas to the north and south of the town centre. Steps are being taken to protect residents with the issue of parking permits. Details of the controlled parking zone plans have already been made available to the proposed area's 3,500 residents through a major consultation exercise, which has been approved by Torbay Council. With the need to implement some of the parking controls before the start of the holiday season in the Spring, JMP is tackling the seafront area first. Parking will be a mixture of limited waiting and residential, with parking bays available to holidaymakers to load and unload luggage at hotels and guesthouses in the seafront area. Problems created by long-term parking in the town centre will be addressed by introducing more short-stay parking to provide increased parking turnover and promote access to retail outlets. There will also be a clampdown on inconsiderate and illegal parking to ensure free flow of bus routes. In residential areas to the north and south of the town centre, residential parking will be protected by permit, with only a small amount of visitor parking allowed. DfT authorisation is currently being sought for the use of special signs for some of the towns historical residential streets, which are particularly narrow.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=1114 Mar 2007JMP Consulting has recruited psychologist Michaela Jurasek to put her knowledge and experience to work on travel behaviour change issues. Michaela, who has been recruited as a transport planner in the Bristol office, graduated from Exeter University with a Masters in Psychology. Previous work includes research that looked at the relationship between breaking traffic laws and the propensity to break laws in general.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=1006 Mar 2007Fiona McCorquodale has been recruited by JMP Consulting as a principal transport planner in its Manchester office after three-and-a-half years as a research and evaluation officer with Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive. She has always worked in the transport planning field, beginning with West Sussex County Council, then moving on to market research with MVA. At GMPTE she was involved in managing consultants engaged on commissioned work. Neal Byers has also joined JMP's Manchester office as a transport planner. He spent the last 18 months as a travel adviser at South Yorkshire PTE. He specialises in travel plan work.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=921 Feb 2007JMP Consulting is assisting in a move to extend the Welsh heritage Llangollen Railway further along the route of the old Barmouth to Ruabon line closed after the Beeching Review of the 1960s. Llangollen Railway Trust has been operating the heritage railway out of the town since 1985 and it reached its current operating length of eight miles in 1996, terminating at Carrog. The long term aim has been to extend the railway a further two miles into Corwen and plans to develop a single platform station to the east of the town centre have now reached the development stage. To enable the project to go ahead JMP has been appointed by the Trust, in conjunction with the Welsh Assembly Government and Denbighshire County Council, to support preparation of an application for powers under the 1992 Transport and Works Act. Planning consent from the Welsh Assembly Government will be sought as part of the application. JMP project director Alan Beswick said the scheme was an exciting opportunity to extend into Corwen and its surrounding community the economic benefits that the Llangollen Railway has been delivering to the Llangollen local economy for 20 years.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=820 Feb 2007The real time information system operating on Dundee city buses to help passengers plan their journeys is now being used by JMP Consulting to assist with the design of bus priority measures. Three main corridors within the city, the A92 and A930 towards Arbroath and the A923 towards Coupar Angus, are being studied but the system could be used anywhere on the city's bus network. Actual drive times between stops will be collected via the real time information system to identify locations where periodic delays occur. These locations will be investigated and proposals made for bus priority measures that can be implemented over the coming year. The project follows up JMP's involvement in the successful "Bringing Confidence into Public Transport" and "SmartBus" projects, which also highlighted the importance of efficient bus services in a city where about half the households do not have access to a car.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=715 Feb 2007Principal Transport Planner Dr Debbie Ross, a specialist in the impacts of transport pollution on the atmosphere, is transferring from JMP Consulting's London office to Glasgow, where she will be part of the team leading JMP's UK-wide environmental initiative. Her doctorate on the chemical and radiative impact of man-made pollutants on the atmosphere led her more than three years ago to join JMP, which provides specialist air quality and climate change input to many transport projects. Gordon Baker, JMP's Director in Scotland, commented: "The timing of Debbie's arrival at JMP in Scotland could not be better. There is an urgent need for businesses to be smarter in dealing with their transport-related emissions alongside their HR policies and travel plans. "Debbie's understanding of transport planning issues coupled with her passion for environmental concerns helps to consolidate JMP's leading expertise in this important area." Before joining JMP Debbie graduated with a first class Masters degree in Chemistry from Glasgow University and completed a PhD in Atmospheric Chemistry at Cambridge University under the supervision of leading climate scientist Professor John Pyle.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=606 Feb 2007Architect Levitt Bernstein has appointed JMP Consulting as transport consultant for the first stage of the redevelopment of the Aylesbury Estate built in the London Borough of Southwark during the 1960s. JMP will provide the architect with transport and highways advice, as well as a transport assessment and travel plan for the new development. The project involves demolition of the Aylesbury Day Centre, together with housing, which is necessary to facilitate work on the first stage of the redevelopment. A new day centre, shops and 260 housing units comprising affordable flats, shared ownership key worker flats and private flats will be provided in the first stage. Further homes will be built as the development progresses.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=501 Feb 2007The recruitment of Alan Bain (ChMILT) as a Technical Director at JMP Consulting will be the catalyst for nation-wide expansion of the company's strategic modelling, with particular emphasis in the micro-simulation field. Alan and his support team, based in Birmingham, will assist all JMP offices in maximising further modelling opportunities, thereby enhancing the existing JMP modelling capabilities and projects portfolio. Alan joins us at a time when JMP has made a step-change in scale of its micro-simulation modelling team and he will use this substantial base from which to lead integration of the nationwide JMP modelling resource. Richard Pettitt, the Director responsible for the JMP's Midlands offices in Lichfield and Birmingham, said "Alan and the additional modelling team members will double the number of staff in the Midlands with modelling capabilities and bring the total within the group to over 20. "It will make us a very significant force, enabling us to be really competitive in winning a wider and higher profile range of modelling work. This is a priority for us this year. We can now probably field as big a team of strategic and micro-simulation modellers as any of our competitors and we aim to win our share of the available business." Alan has been Associate with SIAS in England for the last eight years and was previously with Scott Wilson between 1996 and 1998, and before that with WS Atkins.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=431 Jan 2007JMP Consulting has been appointed by Blackpool Council and ReBlackpool as transport planning adviser for the regeneration of the Lancashire holiday town's famous promenade and seafront quarter. Blackpool's central seafront is to be transformed into a national and international leisure destination with approximately £100m public funding being invested to bring benefits for both residents and visitors. Key projects within the 'Seafront Experience' include the remodelling of Blackpool's coastal protection walls and promenade, refurbishment and realignment of the town's iconic tram system and the renewal and revision of transport infrastructure from footpaths to crossings and tram stops. The end result will be a quality seafront corridor which will not only serve the town's transport needs, but act as a 'people's playground' for recreation and leisure. JMP will provide transport advice and develop the Movement Strategy that accompanies the regeneration masterplan. In addition the consultant will provide advice on transport impact on public realm improvements, tram realignment and regeneration proposals. The creation of distinctive and attractive public spaces and the provision of innovative transport infrastructure along the corridor will promote pedestrian activity and provide links from the seaside into the town centre. A series of themed 'headlands' will be built out from the coastal defences, acting as attractions for the coastal area throughout the year.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=320 Jan 2007JMP Consulting has won a further important contract at the Sheffield International Rail Freight Terminal at Tinsley with its appointment by developer HelioSlough to develop a framework travel plan. The consultant has already been involved in early project planning work and has also been appointed by the developer and Network Rail to carry out detail design of the site access and highway infrastructure. The travel plan will cover all staff and visitor journeys to the development, as well as giving consideration to the transportation of goods to and from the site of what will become South Yorkshire's primary rail-linked warehousing facility. The overall objective of the travel plan will be to reduce the impact upon air quality of traffic generated by the development, as well as to minimise the development's overall environmental impact. With rail-focused warehousing on site, the individual travel plans will be taken forward by the unit occupiers, in conjunction with Sheffield City Council.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=216 Jan 2007JMP Consulting has had its interim contract as traffic and transport planning adviser to assist in developing options for 'Renewing the Royal' - The Royal Liverpool University Hospital - made permanent. This major project is central to the provision of quality health services to the people of Liverpool. Options under investigation have included refurbishment, new-build at the existing site, anticipated to be confirmed as the preferred option, and new-build at alternative sites. The Royal is the biggest and busiest hospital in North Mersey, is the main base of the largest Trust (the Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospital Trust), the region's teaching hospital and most significant tertiary centre. This brings with it the most complex estate challenges. While the basic structure of the hospital is generally sound, the complete mechanical/electrical/engineering services will need to be replaced over the next 10 to 15 years, and this cannot be done without major disruption to the services provided within the building. JMP's role will be to investigate access to the site (s) in relation to the wider transport network, the interface between the hospital development and the network, circulation and movement within the hospital site and car parking, emergency access, patients and visitors, staff and goods, and by whatever mode of transport. The project will be delivered through a PFI process, and JMP's role will cover the outline planning permission phase, and assisting the Trust through the PFI procurement process.http://www.jmp.co.uk/news.aspx?id=116 Jan 2007