Agenda and minutes

At this point Members are asked to declare any personal or prejudicial interests they may have in the business on this agenda.

Members were invited to declare at this point in the meeting any personal or prejudicial interests they might have in the business on the agenda.

Councillor Merrett declared a personal non-prejudicial interest in agenda item 4 (Interim Report for Traffic Congestion Ad-Hoc Scrutiny Committee) as an honorary member of the Cyclists’ Touring Club and a member of Cycling England.

To approve and sign the minutes of the last meeting of the Committee held on 17 July 2007.

RESOLVED:             That the minutes of the last meeting of the Committee held on 17 July 2007 be approved and signed by the Chair as a correct record subject to the following amendments:

i)        The addition of the following bullet point under points raised by Members:

·          Impact of tour buses on congestion

ii)The deletion of the word “bus” and its replacement with “road” in the example in the final sentence of the first paragraph on page 7.

At this point in the meeting members of the public who have registered their wish to speak regarding an item on the agenda or an issue within the Committee’s remit can do so. Anyone who wishes to register or requires further information is requested to contact the Democracy Officer on the contact details listed at the foot of this agenda. The deadline for registering is Monday 3 September at 5.00 pm.

It was reported that there had been one registration to speak at the meeting from Councillor A D’Agorne.

Councillor D’Agorne referred to the information in Annex D particularly in relation to freight transhipment centres which he confirmed was fair but he stated that he felt the report did not go far enough in acknowledging other points.

He stated that the Local Transport Plans (LTP) included details of the Air Quality Management Area in the city centre, within which the annual average nitrogen dioxide levels had been exceeded at 5 locations and for which the target of reduction was by 2005. He also quoted from Annex I of the LTP on the Freight Strategy and to the proposal to establish Low Emission Zones, which aimed to cut polluting vehicles from certain area of the city. This had envisaged a 5-year action plan but he felt that this proposal did not go far enough. Reference was also made to Annex U of the LTP report, the Air Quality Action Plan, and the table relating to HGV emissions and their reduction with the use of transhipment centres. He also referred to the figures quoted in relation to HGV’s having a disproportionate impact on air quality. In particular to the figures quoted of 11-18% from emissions on major roads from HGV’s, which could be eliminated by transhipment sites thereby having a significant impact on air quality in the central area. He stated that a freight strategy did not appear to have a high priority in the report and he referred to the Freight Partnership formed in 2006, which could be engaged to assist with any works in this area.

He also raised points on the British Retail Consortium and delivery curfews, possible charging for out of town shopping centres and the need to consider economic factors in the longer term.

He stated that the scale of development now proposed in the area required a more radical approach.

New members questioned where they could view the findings referred to in the Local Transport Plan Reports. Officers confirmed that these were available on the Council’s website.

This report presents an update on work completed to date and asks Members to form some recommendations in relation to key objectives and a work plan for the Traffic Congestion Scrutiny review.

 Members considered a report, which updated them on the work completed to date on the Traffic Congestion Scrutiny Review. This included information gathered on the following areas recommended for improvement:

i.               Accessibility to services, employment, education and health

ii.             Air Quality, in particular looking at the five hotspots identified in the LTP2

iii.           Alternative environmentally viable and financially practical methods of transport

iv.            CO² Emissions

v.              Journey times and reliability of public transport

vi.            Economic Performance

vii.          Quality of Life

viii.        Road Safety

At the last meeting consideration had been given to the City of York Council’s view on journey times and reliability of public transport (Annex E) and further consideration of the remaining appendices A to D below had been deferred to this meeting.

Annex A    Programme for carrying out mapping works

Annex B    Evidence of the soft measures presently in place to encourage a reduction in car travel in York

Annex C    Statistics showing vehicle fleet in use in York         

Annex D    Paper on alternative environmentally viable and financially practical methods of transport

Members and Officers made the following comments in relation to the various annexes

Annex A – Programme for carrying out mapping works

Reference was made to staffing issues and training on ‘Accession’ and drawbacks to ‘Accession’ as it focussed mainly on public transport.

It was considered that “Improved interchange points in the city centre” would improve access and there were questions why the Scutiny Committee on 4 April 2007 had not considered this point as essential.

Mr Page queried how good the programme was for modelling, walking and cycling as opposed to its recognisedbenefits for bus access modelling.

The Officer’s view was that there was a staffing resource problem in this area.

Annex B– Smarter Choices Actions

Officers confirmed that Smarter Choices were considered a powerful tool and that they would like to do far more work in this area. It was confirmed that there was no longer a budget for this work so they were no longer in a position to promote large campaigns but were doing some one off work with the Government Road Safety Grant.

Members confirmed that smart choice work appeared to be more effective than physical measures on their own.There was a strong Officer view that Smarter Choice Actions were an important means of changing travel behaviour and achieveing modal shift.

Annex C – Statistics showing vehicle fleet in use in York

Members questioned the information contained in this report and Officers confirmed that they would:

·          check the area covered by the figures provided,

·          obtain national comparison figures

·          provide details for the missing years

·          provide Euro level information

·          confirm if company cars were excluded

Annex D – Alternative environmentally viable and financially practical methods of transport

Members commented that this briefing note contained some controversial and arguable points. In response, Officers said these had been included to elicit discussion on traffic congestion and the alternative methods of transport. They stated that it should be made  ...  view the full minutes text for item 13.