Issue - items at meetings - Public Questions

(The closing date for receipt of public questions is 12 noon on 17 September 2009)

(copy attached).

35.1         The Cabinet Member reported that one public question had been received.

35.2         Mr Hooper asked the following question:

“Why was this Safety Audit conducted after going out to Tender for its construction, not received by B&HCC before a successful Tenderer was informally selected, conducted by the same company (Amey) as designed the roads on behalf of B&HCC; and did not considerthe question of the design of the road leading from the A270 to both Stanmer Park and Sussex University having no traffic calming measures (other than a restricted width), or the conflict of both the road into Stanmer Park, and the new access road into that University having, at different times, larger traffic flows than the other?”

35.3         The Cabinet Member gave the following response:

“I can assure you that it is acceptable and common practice for a consultant designing a scheme to carry out the required safety audits, as long as they are by different teams.  In this case the Second Stage Safety Audit was undertaken by Amey’s Euston Office and the design was completed by the Lewes office.

The junction design will significantly improve public safety whilst passing, entering or leaving the park and meets the strict standards of the council.  This audit considered the safety implications of the detailed design and the recommended and agreed changes to the scheme are considered as minor variations to the contract.

The junction into the park and university has been designed to a standard that will accommodate the varying flows of traffic throughout the year, which were taken into consideration at the design stage.”

35.4         Mr Hooper asked the following supplementary question:

“Will the Council now instruct officers to consider the problems associated with the roads experiencing larger traffic flows and report back to the Cabinet Member Meeting?”

35.5         The Assistant Director for Sustainable Transport gave the following response:

“The roads were fully future-proofed and the safety audit would have picked up the probability of larger and more varied traffic flows.”