Executive	13 January 2022
Report of the Director of Transport, Environment and Planning Portfolio of the Executive Member for Transport

City Centre Access – Security Measures

Summary

1. Keeping residents and visitors safe by protecting the public is a key role and priority for the Council.  The Executive have previously made a number of decisions to minimise the likelihood of a hostile vehicle attack on the city.

2. The Government have recently consulted on proposals for local councils to have a “Duty to Protect”, which will have wide reaching implications with regard to the obligations on local councils to respond to counter terrorism advice to protect publicly accessible locations. 

3. At the Executive meeting in November 2021, members decided to minimise vehicle access to the City footstreets by regulation to respond to the risk of a hostile vehicle attack on the city, following advice received by North Yorkshire Police and the North East Counter Terrorism Police (see Annex E).

4. Regulation alone will unfortunately not protect the footstreets, therefore, physical Hostile Vehicle Mitigation (HVM) measures are necessary.  The proposed installation of these measures is the primary purpose of this report.

5. To strengthen the effectiveness of the new regulations and the HVM, as requested by Executive, all remaining exemptions to accessing footstreets by the use of a vehicles have been reviewed.  Annex D lists the existing exemptions and the proposed revised list, which will be subject to Statutory Consultation. It is proposed that the majority of the exemptions will be removed.  The existing waiver system will replaced with a new system that will require all drivers, other than the emergency services, to apply for a time-limited waiver access.  For security reasons and to follow the Police advice in full, it is proposed that only those vehicles essential to safety in the city centre will be granted these time limited waivers.

6. Executive have previously recognised the need to consider appropriate temporary safety measures until permanent measures are in place.  Christmas 2021 again saw the deployment of additional temporary barriers, as advised by the North Yorkshire Police and the North East Counter Terrorism Police.  The Council will continue to be advised by the Police as to the deployment of such temporary measures. Until September 2022 the Temporary Traffic Regulation Order will remain in place, the barriers that have been in place over the last year will therefore remain and are currently staffed, for which there is an on-going cost.

7. This report seeks to progress the installation of permanent hostile vehicle mitigation measures in the locations detailed in Annex A.

8. The design and appearance of the bollards was approved at the August 2019 Executive meeting, imagery is attached in Annex B. 

Recommendations

9. Members are asked to consider the following recommendations:

a) To note the locations of static and sliding bollards as detailed in Annex A and give delegation to the Director of Transport Highways and Environment for minor amendments to exact locations in consultation with the Executive Member for Transport.

Reason: to give security rated effect to the traffic restrictions in the Traffic Regulation Order changes approved by Executive in August 2019 and November 2021 and the statutory consultation which seeks to remove the remaining exemptions.

b) To approve an additional £500k from unallocated highways funding to increase the Hostile Vehicle Measures capital budget to £1,832k.

Reason: To enable the delivery of the scheme of permanent measures for city centre security.

c) To approve that a procurement process be undertaken to engage contractors to supply, install and maintain the permanent hostile vehicle mitigation measures and to delegate to the Director Transport Highways and Environment, in consultation with the Director of Governance and Chief Finance Officer, the authority to take such steps as are necessary to both award and enter in to the resulting contracts.

Reason: To enable the delivery of the scheme of permanent measures for city centre security.

d) To approve the statutory consultation for the advertisement of the revocation of the exemptions as proposed in Annex D.

Reason: To allow a secure system to operate with minimal vehicular access permitted during the footstreets hours.

e) Request that Officers report to the Executive Member for Transport to present an update on the statutory consultation to remove the remaining exemptions to access the footstreets and a summary of the operational protocols and procedures and associated risks. This will include confirmation of the ongoing revenue costs.

Reason: To enable the Executive Member to understand the procedures entailed in managing the scheme in line with the proposed changes to the Traffic Regulation Order.

f) To approve the continuation of the staffing of the current temporary city centre barriers.  The cost of this is between £67k and £93k and is met from existing budgets. 

Reason:  To maintain the management of access to the city centre footstreets with temporary measures, including access for market vehicles whilst the footstreets hours are until 19:00 under the current temporary arrangement.

Background

10. Like many ongoing capital projects during COVID, the original HVM installation project was paused.  COVID also further raised issues that needed resolving, such as the scope of the project in light of the way the footstreets were used in response to COVID safety measures and the emerging My City Centre Vision, which has now been approved.

11. Delivery of an effective secure boundary against hostile vehicles is dependent on two main factors. Firstly, restricting the number of vehicles within the identified area, keeping exemptions to the lowest possible level, and secondly, installing HVM measures that meet national standards. Executive has determined the first of these factors in November 2021, as advised by the Counter Terrorism Security Adviser for York and taking into account the impact on Blue Badge Holder access.

12. Further update on the delivery of the city centre access improvement action plan, as agreed by Executive in November 2021, is set to be brought to Executive Member for Transport for review in spring 2022, which will include an update on the progress of mitigation measures for blue badge access into the city centre.

13. The Executive approved the design of the bollard to be used for the permanent measures and the procurement and installation of the static bollards at the end of Parliament Street that comply with the national standards. Six of these static permanent bollards were installed at the south eastern end of Parliament Street before the Christmas market in 2019.  The approved design maximises pedestrian permeability, including for those with wheelchairs and mobility scooters.

14. Following the November Executive decision, the detailed designs for the hostile vehicle PAS68/IWA14 rated measures for the area to be protected are nearing completion.

15. The proposed measures consist of static bollards – as installed at Parliament Street prior to the 2019 Christmas market – and sliding bollard systems at each of the access and egress points, illustrated in Annex B. 

16. The sliding bollard systems are proposed at the following junctions, see plan Annex A:

· Parliament Street – Piccadilly/Coppergate/High Ousegate

· Spurriergate – Nessgate/High Ousegate/Low Ousegate

· Lendal – east of Museum Street

· Blake Street – south of Duncombe Place

· High Petergate – Duncombe Place

· Goodramgate - Deangate

· Colliergate – St Saviourgate

· The Shambles – Pavement

17. Locations have been selected to minimise the impacts on adjacent properties, maintain pedestrian and disabled user access and provide safe space for waiting vehicles as far as possible.

18. Businesses adjacent to the proposed measures have been contacted at the start of 2022, primarily with respect to the trial holes/ground investigation.  The detailed designs will be finalised once these investigations are complete and businesses will be engaged again.

19. Once implemented, the permanent measures will reduce the need for specific temporary HVM measures during the Christmas Market or other special events in the city centre throughout the year.  Temporary measures may still be used for events prior to completion of the installation, to offer flexibility in the areas protected at different times, and for future events outside the secure area.  As far as possible, the installation of the permanent measures will be programmed to minimise the impact of temporary barriers, should the work be expected to continue in to 2023. The uncertainty over dates for the completion of the permanent scheme is due to the fact contract is yet to be secured and the scheme could be affected by on-going supply chain issues and contractor availability.

20. The proposed scheme will provide a method of control which will only allow access for authorised vehicles in to the secure area and reduce the overall number of vehicles accessing the footstreets during pedestrianised hours.  This will also improve safety for pedestrians in the controlled area. In addition a means to prevent vehicles legitimately remaining parked in the footstreets area after 10:30 is also being considered.

21. Officers have liaised with the emergency services and other agencies and this work will be featured in the operational protocols and procedures for the operation of the scheme.  The outcome of this work will be reported to the Executive Member for Transport at a later decision session.

22. As agreed at the November 2021 Executive, the exemptions to the city centre TRO and the traffic waiver system for the footstreets area have been reviewed to minimise the permitted access during the pedestrianised hours.  Annex D lists the existing and proposed exemptions.  The outcome of the statutory process will be the subject of future reports to the Executive Member for Transport.

23. The Traffic Regulation Order regulates the access to the footstreets, and the statutory consultation will involve all affected city centre residents and businesses in the process to remove exemptions during footstreet hours.  Engagement with businesses with premises adjacent to the proposed security measures started with notice given prior to excavation of trial holes.

24. Any change to footstreet hours on a permanent basis beyond 5pm will be subject to a separate statutory consultation later in the year.

25. It is proposed that the council’s CCTV and security contractor will be trained to operate the system to ensure that legitimate access is maintained whilst preventing, as far as possible, unauthorised vehicle access into the protected area.  An important part of this role will be to ensure that emergency services access is available without delay.

26. The estimated capital cost of the phase 3 scheme is £1,800k.

27. The current capital allocation for the scheme is £1,332k.  An additional £500k has been identified from highway capital funding to increase the current capital budget allocation.

28. Investment is required to connect the CCTV and communications to the existing fibre network.  There are no links currently to the area around the Minster meaning that High Petergate and Goodramgate have no nearby infrastructure in place.  This will add CCTV coverage in an area without any as an additional benefit.

29. There will be ongoing costs associated with the servicing, maintenance and operation of these measures. It is currently estimated to be in the order of £120k for the 7 day a week control room requirement plus annual maintenance and servicing of the bollards, the CCTV and communications equipment. This work is yet to be subjected to commercial negotiation and benchmarking so is an estimate at this stage.   A significant proportion of the cost is for supervision, oversight and operation to ensure that these measuressupport a safe city centre whilst allowing emergency access.  A dedicated CCTV operator will be assigned to the monitoring and operation of the proposed eight access/exit locations during footstreets hours.

Implications

30. The following are the identified implications.

· Financial – The capital costs are estimated to be approximately £1,800k which will be within the proposed capital budget allocation of £1,832k but the market is subject to significant cost increases currently.  The scheme will be procured through an open tender to ensure best value.  As identified in paragraph 29 there will be additional revenue costs in operating the city centre access measures. Whilst there is an indicative value of £120k in a full year this still needs to be finalised. There is currently £60k revenue budget available to support this expenditure which will be utilised for 2022/23 as operation will be for a part year. Future funding will need to be considered as part of the annual budget process.

· Human Resources – additional resource will be required to manage the operation and maintenance of the measures.

· Equalities – An Equalities Impact Assessment is included in Annex C.

· Legal – Any contract commissioned for the supply, install and maintain the permanent hostile vehicle mitigation measures will need to be subject to a robust procurement/commissioning strategy that is line with both the Council’s Contract Procedure Rules and the Council’s legal obligations under the Public Contract Regulations 2015. 

Any existing supply, service or works contracts that need to be amended as a result of these proposals must also be varied in accordance with the Council’s Contract Procedure Rules and the Council’s legal obligations under the Public Contract Regulations 2015. 

The Council’s Legal Services Team will need to be involved in the preparation of the protocols, the procurement process and in the necessary adjustments to any other existing contracts.

· Crime and Disorder - These measures give effect to the decisions made by Executive in November 2021 and are in accordance with the advice from the Police and considered by the November Executive annexe C with the aim to deter and prevent vehicular access, during the agreed hours when the city is busiest, in the interests of public safety primarily from the vehicle as a weapon threat.

· Information Technology (IT) – Investment in IT to monitor and remotely operate some of these measures will be required.

· Property - There are no property implications for this report or its recommendations but there may be a planning review and permission requirement associated with the required CCTV cameras.

· Risk Management – This programme is tasked with delivering suitable measures to protect areas of high footfall and concentrations of people, in the city centre against the threat of a vehicle as a weapon and the risk to public safety based on Police, consultant and security services advice.  Once in operation, the Council and their partners will be responsible for ensuring reasonable endeavours are taken to maintain the security of the area during the footstreet hours.

Contact Details Author:	Chief Officer Responsible for the report:
Catherine Higgins Senior Transport Projects Manager	James Gilchrist Director of Transport, Environment and planning Neil Ferris Corporate Director of Place
	Report Approved	ü	Date	5.01.2022
Wards Affected:  Guildhall					All
For further information please contact the author of the report

Background Papers:

13 February 2020, Executive report and minutes that agreed the locations for the phase one scheme plus additional funding.

City Centre Access – Phase 1 Proposals (update)

http://modgov.york.gov.uk/mgAi.aspx?ID=53404

29 August, 2019, City Centre Access Experimental Traffic Order Conclusion and Phase 1 Proposals

https://democracy.york.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=733&MId=11108&Ver=4

8 February, 2018, Executive report and minutes that agreed to the

implementation of the hostile vehicle mitigation measures in the city

centre.

https://democracy.york.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=733&MId=10

196&Ver=4

27 September, 2018, Executive report and minutes that agreed to the

implementation of the hostile vehicle mitigation measures in the city

centre.

http://modgov.york.gov.uk/documents/s126199/Executive%20Report%2027%20September%202018%20-%20City%20Centre%20Access%20Update%20and%20Priority%201%20Proposals%20Post%20Scruti.pdf

Annexes

Annex A - City Centre map showing location of proposed measures

Annex B – Illustration of measures

Annex C – Equalities Impact Assessment

Annex D – Existing and proposed TRO exemptions

Annex E (1 and 2) – Advice received from the North Yorkshire Police and the North East Counter Terrorism Police. These are extracts from the November 2021 Footstreets report Annexes D and O.

List of Abbreviations Used in this Report

CCTV – Closed Circuit Television

HVM – Hostile vehicle mitigation

PAS 68/IWA14 - the latest Publicly Available Specification for vehicle security barriers and bollards

TRO – Traffic Regulation Order