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) as an honorary member of the Cyclists’ Touring Club and a member of Cycling England.

Councillor Potter declared a personal non-prejudicial interest in agenda item 4 (Interim Report) as she was Chair of Governors at Tang Hall Primary School and her daughter attended Burnholme School.

Councillor Simpson-Laing declared a personal non-prejudicial interest in agenda item 4 (Interim Report) as she was treasurer of an out of school club.

To approve and sign the minutes of the meeting held on 16^th October 2007.

RESOLVED:             That the minutes of the meeting held on 16^th October 2007 be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chair with the following amendments (amendments in italics).

                                    Under the heading ‘Accidents on the Highway’, the first line of the second paragraph be amended to read:

 ‘Some Members felt that the Police were taking a different approach and were closing roads more frequently and for longer after accidents.’

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 Friday 16^th November at 5 pm.

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

To consider a report which updates Members on the work carried out for this scrutiny review. [Annex E to this report will follow]

Members considered a paper on ‘School Travel – The National and Local Picture’ (Annex B to the report), which informed them that nationally, more than one in four trips to school are now made by car. In urban areas in term time, around one in five cars at 8.50am are taking children to school. One out of every four cars on the road in the morning rush hour in York is on the school run.

Members felt that there were huge variations in the modal split with some urban schools having a very low usage of cars and others having a much higher use.  Some Members suggested that the variations might be linked with income and whether the parents were working. It might be the case that those children whose parents had a lower income were the ones that were most likely to walk to school.

Logistical problems with parents having to get children to two different schools were also thought to be a material factor in why so many people were driving their children to school.

Some Members suggested that more secure cycle parking for children, parents and staff could encourage people to cycle to school.  The Assistant Director of City Strategy reported that £650k was being spent per year on improving safer routes to school and this was an ongoing piece of work.

It was noted that the private schools were not included in the data provided.

Members considered an example of a school travel plan (Annex D to the report) and noted that one of the problems flagged up was ‘crossing major roads’. Members felt that in terms of safety and perceptions of safety this was a high priority point and therefore upgrading of crossings was very important.  Some Members thought that a soft marketing approach might have an influence on persuading people to set off earlier so that they could walk rather than drive with their children to school. The benefits of involving parents in cycle training for their children was noted. It was also realised that children tended to be older when they went to school by themselves and parents needed to be reassured that the routes to and from schools were safe.

Members considered an ‘Overview of Cycling in York’ (Annex E to the report). This briefed Members with an overview of cycle usage, cycle infrastructure, various targets and monitoring processes, measures to promote cycling, cycling policy, future initiatives and cycling’s contribution to reducing congestion. The Assistant Director of City Strategy reported that next year they would be looking at a programme for cycling on Clifton Bridge, Moor Lane Bridge and a route to the back of the hospital. Many of the bridges in York were very narrow and therefore problematic when trying to implement safe cycling routes. They were also looking at revisiting schemes that had already been introduced and felt that the cycling provision near York Railway Station still needed some more work. There were also issues with the pedestrian crossings in  ...  view the full minutes text for item 26.