Neighbourhood Transport Plans

The Neighbourhood Transport Plans outline the improvement proposals for each ward in the city for the next three years.

Work has already started on the delivery of these plans, with survey and design activities. In some cases, work has already started to construct elements of the plans.

The following explains the plans and why we changed policy as a response to the increases in funding over multiple years.

Emergence of East Midlands Combined County Authority (EMCCA) and additional funding 

To improve our planning and delivery of Neighbourhood projects the Council policy and programme was changed in 2024. The emergence of East Midlands Combined County Authority (EMCCA) and the additional funding is the key reason for these changes.

In the years before EMCCA, the direct grant to the Council from central Government created a total annual budget of approximately £800k. This was to be spread across the whole city to deliver ward schemes. There was no guarantee of the level funding from year-to-year. The additional investment from EMCCA now means that there is approximately £3M per year, for each of the next three years, with an adjustment for inflation.

The Neighbourhood Transport Plans have been developed in coordination with the Neighbourhood managers to bring together investment throughout each ward. 

The plans have been discussed in neighbourhood boards and agreed with ward councillors. 

Additional future funding is likely to be subject to demonstrating delivery and the development of meaningful Neighbourhood projects.

Micro interventions 

Requests for very simple minor interventions, (such as an additional bollard), will be technically assessed and, if appropriate, added to the asset maintenance list. These interventions will be straightforward easy to resolve and require no or restricted design. 

Where a simple request is assessed as having health and safety implications, it will be prioritised as part of the statutory functions of the authority to ensure a safe and functional environment for all users.  

Small and medium interventions 

As part of the Neighbourhood planning process and creation of Neighbourhood Transport Plans, local areas will be considering their longer-term ambitions, priority problems, issues and opportunities. There will not be a pot of traffic and transport funding allocated to individual Neighbourhoods. Neighbourhoods will consider instead which medium-term interventions in transport and traffic could facilitate or compliment their desires to deliver their Neighbourhood Transport Plans.   

Neighbourhood officers will work with specialists to assess current proposals and work with neighbourhood boards to move to a programme of small scale interventions. These may be based around a single, specific local priority, such as, a new school building, or may be a coherent theme across the Neighbourhood area which can be developed into a 3-year plan.

Large and major interventions – strategic schemes

It is anticipated that this will make up most of the programme and use most of the team specialist and project resources. These projects will make a significant contribution to city-wide and regional priorities and will have to satisfy the funding criteria and delivery assurance. The scale of these complex projects will mean multiple years of development, planning and longer stages of delivery.

Communication and training 

We recognise that these changes will take time to embed and may need to be adjusted as we gain greater clarity from EMCCA in their governance processes and delivery models. Alongside these changes councillors, Neighbourhood teams and officers, will look to ensure improved communication so that the relevant constituents are informed about the project.