Agenda and minutes

To elect a Member to act as Chair of the meeting.

RESOLVED:             That Councillor Hudson be elected as Chair of the task group.

Councillor D’Agorne declared a personal non prejudicial interest in item 3 on the Agenda (Water End Councillor Call For Action(CCfA) Progress Report and Further Information) as the Cycle Champion.

It is at this point in the meeting that members of the public who have registered their wish to speak can do so. The deadline for registering is by 5.00 pm on Monday 22 March 2010. Members of the public can speak on specific agenda items or matters within the remit of the committee.

To register please contact the Democracy Officer for the meeting, on the details at the foot of this agenda.

It was reported that there had been two registrations to speak under the Council’s Public Participation Scheme from two residents of Westminster Road in relation to Agenda Item 4(Water Lane CCfA Progress Report and Further Information).

The first local resident, spoke and was of the opinion that:

Ø      87% of the traffic using the road was through traffic.

Ø      The traffic modelling used should have included the surrounding residential roads.

Ø      The Water End scheme had been ineffectively planned and that the only viable solution was for the installation of a point closure on Westminster Road.

Another resident was of the opinion that:

Ø      There had been a 97% increase in the volume of traffic using Westminster Road since the scheme was implemented. 90% of this traffic was using it as a relief road to avoid traffic hold-ups at Clifton Green.

Ø      A speed limit of 20 mph would not change  the volume of traffic using Westminster Road and The Avenue .

The purpose of this report is to present Members of the Task Group with information received to date for analysis, including a summary of the views received at a public event held on 18^th February 2010.

It also provides information on Key Objective (iii) of the review remit, statistics in relation to cycle usage along Water End and information on questions arising from a public event held on 18^th February 2010.

Members received a report on the information received to date on the Councillor Call for Action relating to traffic issues at the junction of Water End and Clifton Green and Westminster Road and The Avenue.

The information provided in the report included a summary of views received at a public event held on the 18 February 2010. It also included statistics relating to cycle usage along Water End, and responses to questions arising from the public event.

Members focussed their discussions around the new information contained within the report (Annexes C to E of the report refer) and made the following comments:

Annex C & C1 – Public Consultation Event & Written Representations

Members welcomed the views of the public who had attended the event on 18^th February. They also noted the written representations received from those who could not attend. They made the following observations on the information received:

Ø            That the views of the public had remained consistent since the alterations to the junction had been made

Ø            There were constraints on the junction design due to its position within a Conservation Area

Ø            The need for a citywide picture in terms of point closures

Annex C3 – Questions Arising from the Public Event

Officers tabled further information from the Principal Air Quality Strategy Officer in regards to Air Quality statistics for Clifton Green, Westminster Road and The Avenue.

Members considered this information and the responses to the questions arising from the public event and made the following observations:

Ø            Traffic queues could be difficult to model; whilst queues may be longer the delays might be shorter dependent on how the traffic lights were sequenced

Ø            Lessons needed to be learned in relation to modelling  - the possibility of including peripheral roads into master models when planning changes to the layout of road junctions needed to be considered

Ø            Air quality levels had increased in the Water End area, but not significantly more than any other part of the City

Officers said that traffic using Westminster Road and The Avenue as a through route was not a new situation but the impact that the increased volume of traffic had had may not have been accurately predicted.

Officers confirmed that a full year of monitoring cyclists’ use of the area was not yet complete; however an overall evaluation of the scheme was being undertaken and the results of this would be presented to the Executive Member for City Strategy at a forthcoming Decision Session.

Annex D – Consultation Processes for Highway Schemes

Members considered information that compared how the consultation process for two highway schemes had been undertaken, namely the Water End scheme and the A19 Fulford Multi Modal Corridor Improvement Scheme.

Officers circulated examples of various consultation documents sent to residents for each of the schemes. Further discussion between Officers and the Task Group highlighted the following points:

Ø            The consultation process for the Fulford Road Scheme appeared to be more thorough than that for the Water End Scheme  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.