A LOCAL authority’s latest transport plan could help transform residents’ lives, it has been claimed, amid warnings the authority needs to enable people to make changes such as walking to school, rather than just encouraging them.

A meeting of Darlington Borough Council’s cabinet heard its Local Transport Plan aimed to deliver a wide range of benefits, from cutting traffic and enabling more people to travel on public transport to improving the environment and residents’ fitness.

The meeting was told public satisfaction with transport and highways was generally positive with Darlington scoring above the national average across all categories in an annual independent survey.

As the authority approved ploughing an extra £500,000 into improving unclassified roads, its leader Councillor Heather Scott said the number of the minor roads needing maintenance had dropped from 16 per cent to eight per cent. She said while a greater emphasis was being placed on preventing potholes, leading to significantly less potholes across the borough needing repair, recent wintry and wet weather was likely to have led to numerous road surfaces suffering.

Cllr Scott added while she was “very hopeful” a bid to government for funding to relieve congestion at hotspots on the A68 roundabouts in Cockerton would be successful, initiatives such as the Wheels To Work scheme for people who struggle to reach workplaces were “extremely useful” and needed promotion to increase the take-up in Darlington.

She said the authority was committed to developing sustainable travel choices, creating a fare structure to support commuting by bus, encouraging more walking and cycling and emphasised how the plan featured a travel behaviour change programme for short trips such as travel to work and journeys to school.

Cllr Scott said: “This is something that all ward councillors get concerns about, particularly parking around schools. We should be encouraging less use if cars and more use of walking trains.”

After Liberal Democrat group leader Councillor Anne Marie Curry questioned whether bus routes that were axed due to austerity would be reinstated to encourage more people to take public transport.

Cllr Scott replied the council was in talks with bus operators and that Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen was keen to work with the firms to make routes more inclusive, She said demand-responsive Uber-style buses had been introduced in rural areas and if further government funding was available it could be expanded into urban areas.

Green group leader Councillor Matthew Snedker told the meeting there had been decades of “encouragement”, but bus use had plummeted and cycling had flat-lined. He called for a bold change to enable people to change their travel habits. He said the authority had the opportunity to copy national best practice and include it when helping shape housing developments.