TRAC/CYCLE Final report

8/10/2019 TRAC/CYCLE Final report

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TRAC (Tourism andRural Access inCornwall) & CYCLE

Project Evaluation

Date 21/07/14

Environment Team


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1034906 - TRAC - CYCLE Evaluation - Final Copy - 210714b Page 2 of 12

Table of Contents

Legacy Landscape and Urban Design Unit (LUDU) Projects

TRAC Project

-Project Summary

- Caradon Hill- Launceston- Bude- Project Financials

CYCLE Project- Project Summary- CYCLE Trail Creation Works- Trail Waymarking and Seminar- Project Financials

Lessons Learned

Future Project Development

Conclusions


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96,000 grant from the East Cornwall Local Action Group was also granted to theproject to support project development costs.

By the time of grant approval in November 2009 the TRAC Project had beenmodified to set out to deliver three sub-projects, these being the creation of multi-

use trails at Bude and Launceston together with enabling a 3km extension of theLaunceston Steam Railway.

Works at Caradon Hill have progressed well with the works to the engine housesnow having been completed and works to create the trail in hand and scheduled todeliver within the overall timescales for the project. The Caradon Hill project is setto provide outputs far in excess of those originally envisaged for the original levelof investment.

The scheme for Launceston was beset with difficulties from the outset, not least

around the original budget allowance made for the works and land assemblyissues. It is estimated that the project was under-funded and some landownersopposed to the proposed extension of the Launceston Steam Railway.

At Bude difficulties have been encountered in securing the land required to deliverthe substantive works. A section of the proposed trail has been delivered, securinga safe passage beneath the A39 via an underpass, linking the pre-existing trailfrom Bude, beyond to the existing National Cycle Route at Helebridge. Land hasbeen secured by Cornwall Council beyond this point allowing a further 570 metersof trail to be created. As an interim position this extension of the trail is seen todeliver a useful off-road section of trial. Works delivered have seen theachievement of 16% of the length of the original trail, for an overall investment of277,790.


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Caradon Hill

Changes introduced by the Environment Team upon inheriting the project weremainly around the management of the project team, introducing an externally

appointed Project Manager.

On handover to the Environment Team, the project was significantly adrift in termsof delivery having only 10% of the grant claimed whilst already 2/3 of the projectduration had passed. The changes introduced and approved by the funders saw afurther 9 months added to the delivery programme and the project has since beensuccessfully delivered with many of the original project outputs having beenexceeded.

Works to consolidate and preserve the historic mining engine houses at CaradonHill have now been completed bringing the total spend against the mining heritage

works to 261,532. With regard to the creation of the on-road cycle trial atCaradon Hill. Works to develop the trail were undertaken during November andDecember 13.

Works which have already been undertaken to the heritage structures have beenfar less costly than originally estimated and the number of structures / featurespreserved, has risen from 7 at the bid stage to 22 due for completion. Similarly theoriginal funds to secure 14km of the new Caradon Trail have realised the creationof 27km of trail.

LauncestonWhilst the transfer of the management of the project to the Environment Team,gave the opportunity to review the project, it was clear that that by that time thatthe funding allocated to the delivery of the project was insufficient to deliver theoriginal scheme intent.

Relationships with many landowners had been soured by protracted negotiationsand the Launceston Steam Railway had been frustrated by changes to scope fromthe original proposals.

Works to create the multi-use trail and enable the parallel extension of the railwayhave not been delivered. Post funding award, further survey work has beenundertaken to develop the proposals and has shown that the funds originallyrequested to deliver the scheme were insufficient.

Whilst it had been possible for a compulsory purchase order (CPO) to be pursued inrelation to the creation of the new trail, the same CPO powers could not be used toobtain rights on behalf the railway. DEFRA subsequently confirmed that the schemebeing developed had departed from the original scheme objectives to such anextent that they would not continue to support the scheme as amended.Accordingly the CPO actions were halted.

Cornwall Council considers that the CPO proceedings were appropriate andspecialist legal advice in this regard was provided by Cobbetts.


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In preparation for the making of the CPO, assembling information on landownerships and preparatory legal work was undertaken. Furthermore, survey anddesign work has been undertaken to develop the proposals to seek the requiredplanning consents. This includes, ecological surveys, bridge assessments and stafftime spent in forwarding the proposals.

Expenditure to the end of December 2013 for the Launceston proposals was255,778.

Whilst the trail creation works have not been delivered, survey works undertakenwill be of use in informing future proposals to create an off-road trail and/or anyproposal to extend the existing narrow gauge steam railway.

BudeThe transfer of the project to the Environment Team again gave the opportunity toreview and introduce changes to the scheme.

At Bude difficulties have been encountered in securing the land required to deliverthe substantive works. It had been hoped that the land required could be securedby negotiation with the respective landowners. Two of the key landowners haverefused to sell the land required to deliver the trail, on the basis that the trailwould severely compromise their farming operations.

An action to instigate a CPO to assemble the required land had not been started bythe team in time for the CPO to be carried though within the project timescales.Even if this had been the case, the CPO and the resulting compensation costs couldnot have been met from the available project funds.

A section of the trail securing a safe passage beneath the A39 via an underpass,has been delivered. In addition a further 570 meters of new trail along the route ofthe former railway line has been created. There would be the potential for a futurescheme to build from this section to fulfil the full extent of the original scheme.This coupled with the works already delivered would see the achievement of 16%of the trail, for an overall investment of 277,790 inclusive of administration costs.

Project Financials

The final grant position with DEFRA has just been settled, resulting in CornwallCouncil having received approximately 452,000 of funding from DEFRA in supportof the overall project, this being against an original grant allocation of 1.5M.

Cornwall Council has taken considerable time and effort in developing the originalproject proposals. At the time of approval the projects were known not be straightforward and to have significant risks around their delivery, which wereacknowledged by all, including DEFRA as the principal funder.


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CYCLE

Project summaryCYCLE is an Anglo French project working to promote cycle touring in the southwestern counties of Cornwall, Devon and Dorset and also in Brittany and Normandy

in France.The key wider project deliverables are the creation of waymarked cycle touringroutes and their marketing.Cornwall Council was to deliver the waymarked sections of the Velowest routeswithin Cornwall, improve sections of the trail in particular to the Eastern side ofLaunceston and to contribute to the wider marketing and promotion of the routes.Grant funding was confirmed by INTERREG in September 2009 for this project withcompletion of all works being required by the end of November 2013. TheINTERREG funding was match funded by Cornwall Council and LSTF moniestotalling 451,737.Of the works to be undertaken by Cornwall Council of the trail creation works only

a small section of trail upgraded from footpath to cycleway between NewportIndustrial Estate and Ridgegrove Hill has been completed.

The delivery of the independent seminar and waymarking projects have beensuccessfully completed and the CC project has contributed toward the wider projectmarketing.

CYCLE Trail Creation Works

For the purposes of explanation, the works have been broken down in to thefollowing works sections:

1) Ridgegrove Lane to Ridgegrove Hill

2) Co-op spur link

3) Ridgegrove Hill to Kensey Meadow Estate

4) Newport industrial Estate to Ridgegrove Hill footpath upgrade

Following provisional agreement with landowners sections 1 and 2 were put out totender in early August to the Councils framework contractors. Three tenders werereceived all of which were substantially over budget.From the tenders received it is clear that the construction of section 1 could not becompleted without substantial additional funding. From discussions with the mainproject funders, Interreg and LSTF it was clear that additional funds were notavailable.

Subsequently the land required could not be secured by negotiation as envisaged.

Works have been completed to upgrade the existing footpath connecting fromRidgegrove Hill to the eastern end of Newport Industrial Estate. This will enablecyclists on the Velowest Route to cross the town safely but does not provide the

links from Ridgegrove Estate and Kensey Valley Meadow which were acknowledgedto be a priority.


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The project has obtained planning approval for all of the proposed route sectionsand has completed two minor landowner agreements. The remaining landownershave been informed of the position and advised that the Council will not beproceeding to completion of the agreements.

The Velowest route through Launceston has been modified to bring it on roadthrough the Newport industrial Estate. Route signs have been installed with a fewsmall outstanding items to be resolved.

Trail Waymarking and SeminarThe waymarking of the Cyclewest route which links from the principal Velodyseeroute between Plymouth and Ilfracombe into Cornwall has been successfullycompleted.

The waymarking has seen the opportunity to give a much needed refresh to the

waymarking of the national cycle routes (NCR) 3, 32, 304 and 305. In addition theproject has secured the creation of a new national cycle route numbered 327linking the former NCR 3 with the NCR 27. The newly designated route linksOtterham Station to Tavistock running via Launceston. The creation of this route isof benefit to Launceston and other areas taken in by the route, given the additionalvisitors which this will generate to the area.The wider promotion and marketing which the project will bring should begin to berealised now that the marketing information has been published.The seminar held at Eden in October to promote the project and wider cyclingopportunities made links with interested businesses which may benefit from thetrail creation. The seminar was well received.


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Project FinancialsThe grants funding CYCLE are based upon reimbursement against defrayal, so assuch there will be no grant to be handed back. The original funding package forthis project was 451,737 with 102,442 of grant having been used in support ofdelivering what has been completed.


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Lessons LearnedClearly the failure to deliver the entire project is regrettable. Cornwall Council hasreviewed the delivery of this project in order to learn how project delivery can bestrengthened for future projects.The review of the project has identified the areas below where it is felt that

improvements can be made:-

PartnershipsAt Caradon Hill a project partnership group has been formed. Thegroup has been properly constituted and has had structured quarterly meetingsthroughout the project lifetime. Whilst there have been project working groups setup for both Bude and Launceston, these have been run less formally and havebeen groups that have been largely reported to, rather than the group beingengaged in steering the project. This has led to tensions with the project partners.

At Launceston in particular, there had been particular tensions between theLaunceston Steam Railway and Cornwall Council, as the project was unable to

deliver the original scheme intentions within the constraints of the project withparticular reference to budget. Latterly relationships with the Launceston SteamRailway have been rebuilt, with them having expressed a continued enthusiasm torealise the original project aims and work with Cornwall Council to deliver them.Future projects would benefit from using the Caradon Hill Partnership model whichhas worked well in keeping the project partners both informed and engaged.

Locally elected members raised concerns over the lack of progress in delivering theproject. Had appropriate and decisive action been taken at this early stage, then itis thought that the project could have been delivered.

Budget EstimatesWhilst the estimated costs for the works at Caradon Hill hadbeen overestimated, costs for the delivery of the Bude and Launceston trials hadbeen underestimated.

At Caradon Hill this has resulted in a significant increase in project outputs fromthose envisaged at the bid stage.

At Bude and Launceston project funding allocated to Caradon Hill has left the trailcreation projects at Launceston and Bude without sufficient funds to fully deliver allof the project outcomes originally set out.

Whilst the project team has worked on the basis of previous trail creation projectsand their associated delivery costs, the above projects were more significant inscale and would have benefited from the appointment of cost consultant servicesfrom the outset to inform the budget setting.

Land AssemblyFrom the project outset there was a belief that the land couldbe assembled by negotiated purchase. However, it transpired that there werelandowners at both Bude and Launceston who vehemently opposed the project.

At Launceston, the use of the Councils CPO powers could have been used soonerand subject to there having been sufficient budget as mentioned above, theprojects aims could have been met.


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At Bude, the lack of the threat of a compulsory purchase order weakened the landnegotiations to a point where the route was diverted around several constraintsand departed significantly from the original route intended.A clear land assembly strategy needs to be put in place for such projects involvingmultiple acquisitions, prior to bidding for funds and adequate time needs to be

factored in to the project to permit such a strategy to be played out.

Project ManagementThe delivery of the project was through a multi-skilledteam, with project management from within the team. Given the complexity of theland assembly required and numerous relationships to manage, the project wouldhave been better served by a bespoke project manager to drive the projectforward.

Structure ChangesThe recent re-organisation of the Environment Directorateat Cornwall Council seeks to learn from the above. The new structure will see theestablishment of a Capital Projects Team which will oversee the delivery of all

projects of significant value. The new structure will see the bringing together ofsignificant expertise in land assembly and project management, beingsupplemented by other specialist resources as required.


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Future Project DevelopmentWhilst it is very disappointing that the potential projects have not been realised,certain aspects of the original schemes have been delivered.

Where significant parts of the projects have failed to be delivered, there is now a

great deal of survey and project data which has been built up. This informationwould be of great use to inform any future project proposals.

With particular reference to Launceston, heads of terms have been agreed with allrespective landowners associated with the CYCLE project, planning consents, EAconsents and designs have all been provided.

Subject to funding aspects of the original scheme could be readily delivered, albeittaking on board the lessons learned and recommendations made.

There is the potential through early developer discussions to accommodate the

proposed routes as an integral part of the development proposals which maydeliver the routes in the absence of other funding.

There is also the potential for the Ridgegrove Lane and Kensey Valley Meadow linkto contribute to the forthcoming transportation improvements and could potentiallybe realised by the Local Transport Plan funding.

The original TRAC proposals require significant funding and resolve to deliver theBude and Launceston trails. Given the councils present budget pressures it isdifficult to see how these trails, if created, could be sustained unless there wereproject partners able to make a significant contribution for their ongoing repair andmaintenance. Whilst the trading model for the Camel Trail at Wadebridge does takesome revenue from licenses granted to cycle hire firms, this revenue is modest incomparison to the overall cost of operation.

ConclusionsReview of the projects has revealed the following failings:-

The complexity of project delivery had been underestimated prior to bidsubmission and inexperienced staff put in place to deliver the schemes.

Funds required to deliver the projects had been underestimated. The projects lacked a clear land assembly strategy. Concerns raised by local members over the lack of project progress were not

adequately addressed.

Certain aspects of the projects have been successfully delivered, these include:- Partial trail creation at Bude. Survey and landowner information compiled which will assist in supporting

any future proposals. Planning approvals gained for the trails relating to CYCLE at Launceston. On road trail creation and way-marking. The Caradon Hill Area Heritage Project has been successfully delivered within

budget, significantly exceeding the key project outputs which had beenenvisaged.

Key lessons have been learned and the departmental staffing structures have beenaltered to address how major projects are delivered in the future.

TRAC/CYCLE Final report

Documents

Transcript of TRAC/CYCLE Final report