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City of York Council |
Committee Minutes |
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Meeting |
Decision Session - Executive Member for Economy and Transport |
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Date |
14 November 2023 |
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Present
In attendance |
Councillor Kilbane
James Gilchrist – Director of Transport Joanne Waddington – Senior Project Manager for Sustainable Transport Lara Thornton – Communication Manager, Transport Darren Hobson – Traffic Management Team Leader |
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20. Declarations of Interest (10:00am)
The Executive Member was asked to declare, at this point in the meeting, any personal interests not included on the Register of Interests or any prejudicial or disclosable pecuniary interests they might have in respect of the business on the agenda. None were declared.
21. Minutes (10:01am)
Resolved: That the approval of the minutes of the Economy and Transport Decision Session held on 19 October 2023 be deferred to the next Decision Session.
22. Public Participation (10:02am)
It was reported that there had been 7 registrations to speak at the session under the Council’s Public Participation Scheme.
Flick Williams spoke on item 5 of the agenda and stated that long journeys to and from disabled bays would mean that fewer disabled people with blue badges would be able to travel due to accessibility issues. She also noted that access features, such as wheelchair space, was missed off the strategy and that many people who could not walk or cycle relied on public transport.
Councillor Taylor spoke on item 5 of the agenda and requested that the Executive Member prioritised speed calming measures and safe travel.
Graham Collett spoke on item 4 of the agenda on behalf of York Bus Forum and asked the Executive Member for an update of the plan’s progress against its’ objectives. He asked for confirmation that York BSIP funds would continue to be spent on York buses.
Anthony May spoke on item 5 of the agenda on behalf of York City Trust and asked the Executive Member when objectives for the plan would be available to see. He asked the Executive Member to include the strategy’s objectives in the consultation process.
Anna Semlyen spoke on item 5 of the agenda and noted that there were no targets in the strategy and that there needed to be restrictions on HGV drivers if objectives were to be achieved. She supported ‘Operation Snap’ (OP Snap) which encouraged submission of recordings of driving offenses.
Lynette Mills spoke on item 5 of the agenda on behalf of York Cycle Campaign and noted that there was a lack of detail on improving access to the city centre for disabled cyclists or improving disabled cyclists’ access. She asked the Executive Member to include the strategy’s objectives in the plan.
Andy D’Agorne spoke in relation to all transport items on the agenda and stated that healthy active travel, public transport, and low pollution was important. He stated that targets which York’s Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP) was to deliver were getting less likely per week and asked the Executive Member for an annual progress update into this.
Councillor Fenton spoke on item 6 of the agenda. He stated that he would like to see options 1 and 3 improved, and meaningful consultation in regard to time limits on parking bays. He noted that many parking spaces outside shops were being taken up by park and ride users and were not being able to be used by potential customers and added that many loading bays outside shops were not being used as a loading bay. He noted that shops could be given the opportunity to transform loading bays into parking spaces and asked for this to be included in option 3 of the report.
Councillor Fenton made the Executive Member aware of an error in the report, and the Traffic Management Team Leader confirmed that the recommendations to the Executive Member were Options 1 and 3, not Option 2 as documented in the agenda.
23. Local Bus Service Update (10:29am)
The Director of Transport presented the report and detailed that the transport industry had deflated 20% since the COVID-19 pandemic and this update was a response to stabilise York’s transport network.
In response to questions from the Executive Member, it was confirmed that a wider update of BSIP would be presented to Executive alongside the Network Review, scheduled for early 2024.
The Executive Member noted that the Council was undertaking a review of York’s bus network which would inform the local transport plan.
Resolved:
That the Executive Member:
i. Noted and approved plans to extend the existing subsidy arrangements for some early morning and evening bus services on routes 1, 4, 6, 10/10A and 19 up to and including 30 April 2024.
ii. Delegated authority to the Director of Transport, Environment and Planning (and their delegated officers) to liaise with the Director of Governance and the Chief Finance Officer (and their respective delegated officers) to draft, negotiate and conclude any necessary documentation to properly extend the existing subsidy arrangements and/or bus service contracts for the aforementioned routes in compliance with (where applicable) the rules and regulations set out within Regulation 72 under Part 2 of the Public Contract Regulations 2015 or Regulation 43 within Part 4 of the Concession Contract Regulations 2016 (in respect of any extensions and/or variations to service contracts between CYC and the relevant operator(s)), the Subsidy Control Act 2022 (in respect of any extensions and/or variations to any existing grant funding arrangements between CYC and the relevant operator(s)) and CYC’s Financial Regulations set out within under Appendix 10a of the Council’s Constitution and CYC’s Contract Procedure Rules set out within under Appendix 11 of the Council’s Constitution.
Reason:
i. The rationale for this extension is to enable the outputs of the York Bus Network Review to be thoroughly considered and discussed with stakeholders, with a view to bringing recommendations for longer-term, better value, and more stable bus network to the Executive and York Enhanced Bus Partnership in January 2024, for a controlled and well-communicated implementation in c. May 2024.
ii. The extension will help to ensure that the Bus Network in York is stabilised and that the council can work with the statutory Enhanced Bus Partnership to deliver its stated Bus Service Improvement Plans objectives in line with the National Bus Strategy, by both improving passenger experience and increasing bus patronage.
24. Local Transport Strategy Consultation (10:35am)
The Director of Transport presented the report and noted that following Devolution, York would be the highway authority and the York and North Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority would be the transport authority. It was confirmed that the proposals in Annex A of the report, Detailed Transport Policies proposed for consultation, had been updated following consultation with Economy, Place, Access and Transport Scrutiny Committee.
Resolved:
That the Executive Member approved the detailed policies set out in Annex A to form the basis of the policy consultation for the Local Transport Strategy.
Reason:
If the detailed policies set out in Annex A are agreed, then consultation can commence in November to allow a Strategy to be put before Full Council in March 2024 and adopted by City of York Council for presentation to the Mayoral Combined Authority and the newly elected mayor at the start of their term of office.
25. Tadcaster Road TRO Consultation (10:34am)
The Traffic Management Team Leader presented the report and confirmed that the recommendations to the Executive Member were Options 1 and 3, not Option 2 as documented in the agenda.
Resolved:
That the Executive Member:
i. Implemented the proposed ‘No Waiting at any time’ restrictions as they were proposed.
Reason:
In order to help achieve the original benefits of the scheme as it was proposed. The introduction of the No waiting at time’ restrictions will also remove any potential parking away from the laybys on Tadcaster Road, which will reduce the congestion in the area.
ii. Engaged in further consultation with the businesses, local residents and Ward Councillors about potentially creating limit time parking for the laybys, to remove the all-day parking that has historically occurred.
Reason:
This will help create a better parking amenity for the local businesses.
Cllr Kilbane, Chair
[The meeting started at 10.00 am and finished at 10.48 am].