Agenda item - Member Involvement

To consider the following matters raised by Members:

 

(a)          Petitions: To receive any petitions;

 

(i)            Traffic Calming measures on Vale Road- Councillors C Theobald, G Theobald and Wares

 

(b)          Written Questions: To consider any written questions;

 

(i)            Parking Enforcement procedures- Councillor Nemeth

 

(c)          Letters: To consider any letters;

 

(i)            Verge posts- Councillors Janio and Wares

 

(ii)          Road Safety Measures for Mile Oak Road- Councillor Atkinson

 

(iii)         Parking in the Surrenden Road area- Councillors A Norman, K Norman and Taylor

 

(d)          Notices of Motion: to consider any Notices of Motion referred from Full Council or submitted directly to the Committee.

 

(i)            Clean Air Day

(A)         PETITIONS

 

(i)            Traffic calming measures on Vale Avenue

 

61.1      The Committee considered a letter from the Patcham ward councillors requesting the Council undertake traffic calming measures on Vale Avenue to reduce the speed of traffic coming from the A23 and A27 on to residential streets.

 

61.2      The Chair provided the following response:

 

“Due to the substantial cost involved to carry out large scale traffic calming schemes, local authorities are moving away from undertaking those and carry out smaller scale measures where there is a proven speeding issue and there are injury causing collisions occurring.

In Patcham the residents were asked as part of the 20mph city wide speed limit proposals if they would like to see the speed limit in their streets reduced to 20mph but the majority voted against the proposals and were supported in this at that time by their ward councillors. This means that Vale Avenue remained at 30mph and, as part of the 20mph monitoring process; speeds were recorded in this road at 30mph which is very close to the posted limit. With the speeds at the posted limit and no injury causing collisions recorded in the past three years there isn’t any firm evidence to suggest that we should divert funding to this area at this time.

However, I will ask the Road Safety Officers to review this location in accordance with their agreed programme to consider what other measures might be appropriate to reduce speeds”.

 

61.3      RESOLVED- That the Committee note the petition.

 

(B)         WRITTEN QUESTIONS

 

(i)            Parking enforcement procedures

 

61.4      Councillor Nemeth put the following question:

 

“Following discussions with a group of local plumbers, gas engineers and other tradesmen, who ultimately fund the Council’s trader permit scheme, would the Chairman explain the disparity in parking enforcement procedures between local tradesmen (whose work may include emergency call-outs) where enforcement is strict, and regional or national firms (such as BT) whose work often has no safety element but who are allowed to park illegally or dangerously for hours on end?”

 

61.5      The Chair provided the following reply:

 

“Trader permits allow parking in all permit zones until 5pm. Works vehicles can only be parked on double yellow lines if they are part of the site and signed and guarded appropriately. BT vans can park on yellow lines and in bays when working on junction boxes to maintain the phone network. If national firms need to work within parking bays they have to pay for the suspension of the bays so they have the space they need to work, and any vehicles parked within those suspensions have to be part of the works site.

BT vehicles and national firms can and do receive Penalty Charge Notices and any vehicles parked where they should not be can be reported directly to our enforcement contractor”.

 

61.6      Councillor Nemeth asked if the council’s parking enforcement contractor could be reminded of their duties relating to issuing PCN’s to national firms parking illegally.

 

61.7      The Chair confirmed a reminder could be sent.

 

(C)         LETTERS

 

(i)            Verge posts

 

61.8      The Committee considered a letter from Councillors Wares and Janio requesting clarification on various matters relating to the continuation of the verge post installation service.

 

61.9      The Chair provided the following response:

 

“Officers apologise for any confusion on this matter, there was a temporary issue with the Contractor who undertakes this work for a period of time which meant there was a delay in being able to deal with residents requests.

I’m pleased to say this matter has now been resolved, therefore in relation to your second question I can assure you that the service is now running as normal albeit with a queue of resident requests.

In relation to your last point, Officers will now be contacting those residents who have raised their concerns; the conversations with residents will include providing guidance on the correct type of infrastructure to avoid residents installing inappropriate solutions. I have also asked Officers to offer you a meeting to provide an update on progress”.

 

61.10   RESOLVED- That the Committee note the letter.

 

(ii)          Road Safety Measures for Mile Oak Road

 

61.11   The Committee considered a letter from Councillor Atkinson requesting an urgent safety and traffic assessment be undertaken on a stretch of Mile Oak Road.

 

61.12   The Chair provided the following response:

 

“In the stretch of Mile Oak Road referred to there have been three slight injury causing collisions and one serious injury in the past three years. Two of these slight collisions were caused by drivers hitting parked vehicles and the third involved an unattended car rolling down the hill into a car that was parking. The serious collision was the motorcycle referred to in your letter that was speeding and failed to stop behind a vehicle that was giving way to a vehicle approaching from the opposite direction. Officers have investigated the road’s safety record and on the ranking scale it does not figure in the top 30 of the roads and junctions within the city that give greater cause for concern.

During the implementation of the city wide 20 miles per hour limit, a seven day count was undertaken at two points in Mile Oak Road and these showed that the highest average speed was 24.2mph.This is broadly in line with the posted limit

With this in mind I am afraid that we cannot justify any expenditure at this time from our very limited road safety budgets.

It should also be noted that the Highway Code rule 243 specifically states that drivers should not stop or park on or near the brow of a hill and it will be a matter for the Police to tackle this dangerous parking. Officers will make them aware of this.

Waiting restrictions can also be considered, however, that may have the effect of speeding up the traffic.

Officers will be happy to discuss these last two points further with you meanwhile residents should, if possible, report any dangerous parking to the Police via the Operation Crackdown website”.

 

61.13   RESOLVED- That the letter be noted.

 

(iii)         Parking in the Surrenden Road area

 

61.14   The Committee considered a letter from the Withdean ward councillors requesting that the Surrenden Road area be brought forward in the resident parking priority timetable to address parking stress in the area.

 

61.15   The Chair provided the following response:

 

“At this stage we cannot move the consultation forward. Our consultation is planned around the resources available to us and officers move very efficiently to keep that programme moving forward. Consultations and implementations are all being carried out in sync. It’s not possible to do everything across all of those areas on that timetable all at once; we simply do not have those resources.

However, your letter will be considered alongside the deputation that we have received on the agenda and we are planning a further parking report in 2018 to consider the Surrenden Road area and a consultation based on the representation received alongside other parking demands in the City. Officers will be in touch with you and Ann and Ken Norman to seek your views in relation to the area to be consulted as well as having listened to the views of your residents”.

 

61.16   RESOLVED- That the Committee note the letter.

 

(D)         NOTICES OF MOTION

 

(i)            Clean Air Day

 

61.17   The Committee considered a Notice of Motion referred from the Full Council meeting of 1 February 2018 requesting a report be brought to the Committee exploring the potential to introduce a Cleaner Air Day from 2018 with consideration of the roads to be closed, the most practicable date and any economic and environmental costs and effects.

 

61.18   Councillor Wares noted that Cleaner Air Days had previously taken place in the city but had unfortunately been stopped under the previous Green Group administration and he welcomed their change in view on the matter.

 

61.19   The Chair provided the following statement:

 

“We do support the aim of this Motion and we would agree for a report coming back because I think it’s important to manage expectations around budgets as there is no obvious budget for this. I think we do have a different opinion as to the approach and how effective just one day would be. I can remember the annual car-free days that we used to have that were only shown to have a limited impact and they do involve a lot of officer time and cost. But since then, I think much more is being done as a matter of course in relation to sustainable travel and improving air quality through local transport planning and behaviour change schemes such as those in our Active Travel programme. To outline so of that work, as it doesn’t get much publicity: in 2017/18 2,500 travel conversations have been held with residents, employees, students and parents. Regular travel events are being held in businesses, Universities and schools. Cycling is also a priority for the project with over 300 adults trained and 400 bikes fixed so they can be ridden again.

The ‘Love to Ride’ cycle challenges are ongoing with 132 organisations taking part and 2,300 individuals so far.

Cycle counters on the arterial routes show a 5% increase in cycles counted in 2017 compared to the previous year and I’m sure this is the progress we would all want to see. 

So a Clean Air Day may be a way of promoting some of this work and encouraging people to take part and therefore, we would agree to a report coming back that may identify where the resources would come from and perhaps the scope of the day”.

 

61.20   Councillor West stated that the Green Group had made a step-change in the city on environmental projects and the benefits of that were now being to be seen. Councillor West added that there was a lot more that could be done and more attention to detail was required by the current administration.

 

61.21   RESOLVED- That the Committee receive a report on the matter.