Plan for two shadow sub-national transport bodies in South West advances

GOVERNANCE

Two shadow sub-national transport bodies could be set up in South West England later this year.  

A Peninsula shadow STB would cover Cornwall, Devon, Plymouth, Torbay, Somerset and Dorset. 

The other STB, which is likely to be called the Western Gateway,?would cover the West of England Combined Authority, Bristol, South Gloucestershire, Bath and North East Somerset, North Somerset, Gloucestershire, Wiltshire, and the new unitary covering Bournemouth, Poole and Christchurch.

Swindon Borough Council has joined the England’s Economic Heartland strategic alliance, which stretches to Cambridgeshire.  

Julian Gale, Somerset County Council’s strategic manager for partnerships governance, told the Heart of the South West Joint Committee: “The DfT seem accepting of the proposal to have two STBs covering the South West but there is a need to develop a shared narrative on the reasons as part of a formal proposal to the DfT, and ministers.”

He added: “‘Corridor alliances’ such as the A303 alliance and A38 South Bristol Link group are likely to continue as an important mechanism to promote the need for investment on corridors that straddle STB areas.”

He said the first meeting of the Peninsula shadow STB could take place in September.

Nigel Riglar, Gloucestershire County Council’s commissioning director for communities and infrastructure,?told councillors that the first board meeting for its shadow STB could take place in September. He said statutory status for the STB was not envisaged before 2021/22.