Agenda item

Neil Ferris (NF), Acting Director of City and Environmental Services introduced himself and said he would like to speak about the parking issues within the ward and the approach taken by CYC.

NF said that it was important to note that it was inevitable that the University would have a parking impact on the surrounding area. The Council had recognized this from the beginning and the University’s planning permission included an obligation on the University to carry out regular surveys in the area and carry out more detailed surveys in areas of parking pressure.   The University had funded infrastructure improvements (for example the recently-installed double yellow lines on Heslington Lane) and sometimes subsidized the cost of implementing resident parking schemes.

In respect of University Road speed measures had been implemented just after the marathon last year but it had been found that they had not reduced speeds on the road sufficiently. The Executive Member Cllr Ian Gillies has recently instructed officers to install additional measures subject to a 6-month review. CYC were looking at the possibility of using the lay-by as a bus stop. It was because some pedestrians behaved irresponsibly that there was a duty of care upon CYC.

NF explained that in regards to signage and speed restrictions there were problems with enforcement as if the signage was even half a metre out of position then any enforcement could be challenged and from a policing perspective this presented difficulties.  Signage needed to be absolutely correctly positioned.  

Discussion

Q

Resident raised concerns that the surveying on Main Street in Heslington had been carried out in an unacceptable way.  When contractors arrived it was not clear to residents who they were (they had no identification) or why they were there so early in the morning.

A

NF agreed to pass these comments on to the University.

Q

Resident asked what speed on University Road would be acceptable.

A

NF said that this was defined as 85% of users complying with the limit (20mph) and the remaining 15% not more than 10% above the limit.

Q

Resident asked what would happen if the new measure did not sufficiently reduce speed.

A

NF said that in those circumstances it may be necessary to look at changing the limit. The limit must be supported by the road infrastructure. The alternative would be to look at changing the road layout, particularly to encourage pedestrians to use the bridge across the road.

Q

Resident said that often drivers on University Road were very frustrated as they were stuck behind buses which often took a long time for passengers to get on and off.  He asked NF why the buses did not use the lay-by which would improve safety for both drivers and pedestrians.  

A

NF said that University Road was a challenge.  If the speed could not be brought down then CYC would have to look at other physical interventions.   CYC were currently looking into the use of lay-bys and it would be interesting to see whether the use of lay-bys had any impact on the speed of the traffic using University Road.  

Q

Resident said that some of the rubber speed humps were excessively harsh.  Two rubber bumps had been installed a couple of years ago and they were particularly difficult for drivers due to their height.  

A

NF said that these bumps were some of the first bumps installed as an experiment and the specification has since been changed to take account of the impact on traffic.  CYC plan to change the original bumps to the new rubber bumps but it was an issue of cost.   The early rubber bumps were only marginally different from the new standardised bumps and they met the DFT specification for road bumps but they would ultimately be replaced.   CYC have a rolling programme for this work but they have to take into account equity of the work across the city.

Q

The issue of parking at the University was raised.

A

KA said he had had a meeting with the University management last week.   The University did not like the chicanes and restrictions at Field Lane and would like to have more parking facilities.    Residents had to be aware that if these restrictions were relaxed there would be knock on consequences i.e. more speeding.  

Q

Resident asked if Councillor Gilles could be encouraged to include in his six month review of the new measures on University Road data on the effectiveness of the cycle track.    Having spent so much money on it to improve the safety for cyclists, the cycle path would be expected to be more used than it appeared to be.   Such data could inform debate on where actually the cycle path needs to be in the long term.  

KA thanked NF for attending the meeting.