The Essex Story - Choice

Choice

A democratisation of information has swept the world during the past twenty years. People are able to work, learn, shop and socialise in ways which would have been unimaginable just a decade ago. Social networks connect otherwise remote communities and organisations.

The social and economic effects of the information revolution are well-documented but there are also important implications for the way society is governed. There is a clear and growing divide between the standardised, uniform services provided by many public sector monopolies and the innovative, personalised services now available in the private sector. Citizens who can order obscure books on Amazon for overnight delivery are increasingly unwilling to deal with the Weberian hierarchy of public services which can be slow, bureaucratic and impersonal.

An increasingly informed public are making independent choices about the options available to them. The intensely personal decisions, those around schooling and social care, are best made by those who are affected by them. And individual choices - such as taking the bus and leaving the car at home – can have a positive impact on wider society.

Expanding childcare and school choice

In 2001, the administration pledged to provide high quality early-years provision and the Councils success was acknowledged in the 2004 Audit Commission report

"Essex has met government targets for the expansion of provision for the early years and there is provision available for all three and four year old children whose parents want it. Essex are national leaders in the provision of accredited childminders offering nursery education.''

We actively promote parental choice in the selection of schools for their children. Last year some 90.7% of parents saw their child gain a place at a school of their choice (80.76% first choice; 9.96% second choice).

Increasing Direct Payments and Personal Budgets

Essex has always been a very strong proponent of the provision of Direct Payments where adults and older people receive money directly so they and their carers can choose their own care. The Direct Payments national performance indicator was introduced in 2002 and at the end of the first year (March 2003) we ranked the third highest council in the country. From a base of 361 in 2001 there were over 2,400 individuals at the end of March 2008 enjoying the freedom and flexibility direct payments bring.

Personal Budgets (formerly called Individual Budgets) are a natural progression from Direct Payments. Essex County Council was one of thirteen pilot areas that launched Individual Budgets in November 2005. Since then Essex has mainstreamed individual budgets as part of the implementation of self directed support.

The 2008 EssexWorks pledge to increase the number of personal budgets tenfold is simply the latest commitment to extending individual choice first highlighted in 2005. The 2007 Direction of Travel statement reports:

"Improvements include care packages based on individual choice which are helping people to continue to live independentl..the successful piloting of individual budgets for people with disabilities is being rolled out to all clients.
The service is having a positive impact on the quality of care for older people."

Promoting public transport

In 2001, the administration pledged to improve public transport and maximise its use, thereby making leaving the car at home a realistic choice for Essex residents. This was complemented in the 2005 manifesto by a series of specific pledges such as reducing journey times on a number of major trunk roads, incorporating every school into the Safer Journeys to School scheme, introducing park & ride schemes and improving cycling routes. In 2004, the Audit Commission said that

"The County Council has implemented a number of schemes to improve transport choice and to encourage people to use healthier and more environmentally sustainable travel modes.''

Since then Essex County Council has bucked the trend of declining public transport use - the number of bus journeys rose steadily from 37.8 million in 2003/04 to 43.3 million in 2007/08. In 2004, prior to the launch of the first park & ride, the Audit Commission acknowledged that

"Overall bus use increased by 5% in 2003/04 and the introduction of quality bus partnerships in Chelmsford and Colchester has seen passenger numbers increase by 20%."

In March 2006 we launched a successful Park and Ride service in our County town, which, in its first year, helped citizens avoid making 250,000 car journeys. In fact, it was so successful that the original 608 places were expanded to a total of 926 in December 2006. We are currently developing plans to introduce a second scheme in Chelmsford and one in Colchester. This has been a successful part of our overall strategy to increase bus use even further.

Colchester has also recently been successful at winning support to develop a Station Travel plan which aims to improve facilities and access at Colchester North station. The aim of the programme is to provide a package of environmentally friendly access options for people travelling to and from train stations. Just prior to this, Colchester won CyclingTown status which sees over £2.1 million of government investment match funded by Essex County Council to develop cycling - working towards the pledge to increase cycling routes in the county with a specific CyclingTown aim to increase cycling by 75% in Colchester by 2011.

Having committed to 240 Safer Journeys to School schemes in 2001, Essex County Council continued to recognise their importance and pledged to ensure all Essex schools were participants. As of 1st September 2008 we have 386 schools, which have implemented Safer Journeys to School schemes - 63% of all schools in Essex. We score even better with 80% of all schools (including independent schools) having travel plans as of March 2008, up from 43 in 2004

The Essex Traffic Control centre, launched in 2004, provides a comprehensive traffic service - traffic and travel information (including availability of car parking spaces and bus information), influencing travel patterns, and detecting and responding to incidents on the network. This, with our broad partnership working and dedicated highways teams, helps to meet our pledge to reduce congestion and increase the use of public transport.

In addition to improving public transport, improving the quality of roads has been a long-term focus, meriting commitments in both the 2001 and 2005 manifestoes. In 2005, our £45 million 'pothole blitz' was launched. As a result, the number of roads in need of repair is down from almost a quarter to 10% in 2006/07, and the Council's 2007 Direction of Travel Statement reported that

"effective maintenance programmes place the council amongst the best performing 25% nationally for the condition of principal roads…independent research by MORI has identified a high and increasing level of satisfaction with highway maintenance".

As well as improving the existing roads, the Council’s commitment to improving the road network is well demonstrated. Very recently, we commissioned an independent inquiry into the current and future performance of the A12, our major trunk road - the first authority in the country to do so. The Audit Commission recognises our excellent work at improving the road network - from being thirty-first out of thirty-four county councils for quality of our road system; we are now in the top three. As the Audit Commission put it:

"A number of recent major highway schemes, such as the A130, stage 1 of the A120 and the A131 Great Leighs by-pass, have helped to reduce journey times in the county and improved access to centres such as Stansted airport, while er scale improvements have reduced problems in particular hotspots."

The Audit Commission also recently (2007) recognised that our solid commitment to improving transport since 2001 has been a success:

“Improved outcomes are being achieved in the key transport priorities of tackling congestion, improving the transport infrastructure and encouraging passenger transport.”