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-prejudical 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 4 September 2007.

RESOLVED:             That the minutes from the meeting held on 4^th September 2007 would be approved at a later meeting.

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 24 September 2007 at 5 pm.

It was reported that there had been no registrations to speak under the Council’s Public Participation Scheme.

This report asks Members to note the information provided, agree any further information and time required to conclude the review and whether to seek residents views prior to submission of a draft final report on the this scrutiny review (Annex A to follow).

Members considered a report which asked them to note the information provided, agree any further information and time required to include the review and sought their opinion on whether to seek residents’ views prior to submission of a draft final report on this scrutiny review.

There were three outstanding objectives left to consider and these were as follows:

(vi)              Economic Performance

(vii)            Quality of Life

(viii)          Road Safety

The Assistant Director of City Strategy advised that external consultation would be needed regarding objectives (vi) regarding Economic Performance  and (vii) regarding Quality of Life.

It was noted that there were a number of impediments to traffic flow that had not been covered by the objectives of this review and these included:

• Utility works on the highway
• Road works on the highway
• Accidents on the highway
• Junctions
• Signals and crossings
• Traffic calming measures
• On street parking
• Public events
• School terms and School run impact
• Inner city goods deliveries

It was agreed that the Director of City Strategy would report back on these to a future meeting.

In regard to Annex A, the Table of Issues, Identified Solutions, Possible Impacts and Draft recommendations, Members agreed to consider the contents in detail and send their comments and amendments to the Scrutiny Officer so that an updated version could be considered at the next meeting of the Committee.

RESOLVED:

(i)                 That the information provided in the report and annexes was noted

(ii)               That the Director of City Strategy report back on traffic management and impediments to traffic flow

(iii)             That the Scrutiny Officer update the table at Annex A of the report with Members’ feedback.

(iv)              Members agreed the following timetable for looking at relevant issues and completion of the review

§         Monday 19^th November at 6pm (to discuss cycling and the revised timetable)

§         Wednesday 12^th  December at 5pm (objectives vi and vii)

§         Wednesday 16^th January at 5pm (To look at appropriate ways of seeking residents views)

§         Monday 18^th February at 6pm (Road Safety presentation to Members)

§         Monday 10^th March at 5pm (final report)

REASON:      To ensure full consideration of all objectives