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.

Councillor D’Agorne declared a personal non prejudicial interest in item 4 on the Agenda (Water End Councillor Call for Action CCfA Progress Report and Further Information) as the Cycle Champion.

To approve and sign the minutes of the meeting held on Tuesday 23 March 2010 at 5.00 pm.

RESOLVED:             That the minutes of the meeting of the Task Group held on 23 March 2010 be approved and signed as a correct record by the Chair.

At this point in the meeting members of the public who have registered their wish to speak regarding an item on the agenda 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 Tuesday 13 April 2010.

It was reported that there had been three registrations to speak under the Council’s Public Participation Scheme in relation to Agenda Item 4(Water End CCfA Progress Report and Further Information.)

A resident of Westminster Road spoke and was of the opinion that:

Ø      The installation of speed bumps had not deterred use of Westminster Road as a ‘rat run’.

Ø      Point closure would be a preferable course of action to take to deter traffic and to improve safety in the vicinity.

Ø      Lockable bollards should be installed to allow passage for emergency vehicles.

Ø      The proposal to put in a 20 mph speed limit along Westminster Road and The Avenue would not work.

Another resident of Westminster Road stated that the central issue was that there had been an unnecessary amount of increased traffic volumes as a result of the Water End cycle scheme.

A representative of the Cycle Touring Club spoke and was of the opinion that the value of the scheme would not be realised until the city’s cycling orbital route had been completed. He felt that there should be further evaluation in regards to the Water End scheme and its effect on increasing cycling in the city.

The purpose of this report is to present Members of the Task Group with the further information they had requested. They are also presented with a draft final report and are asked to begin to formulate the recommendations arising from this review.

Members received a report presenting them with a draft final report and the further information that they had requested at the previous meeting of the Task Group on 23 March 2010. This report asked them to formulate recommendations arising from the review.

The further information provided in the report, was attached as a series of annexes. These annexes included; a briefing note providing analysis of the junction, the modelling output of the junction, an update on cycle flow statistics and traffic counts from the area affected. Also provided was a draft final report collating all the information provided and discussion that had taken place throughout the review.

Members focused their discussion around Annexes A, C and F of the report.

Annex A-Briefing Note-Junction Analysis

The Task Group welcomed the briefing note at Annex A to the report. They felt that paragraphs 14 and 15 of this note were particularly pertinent.

Discussion of the note illustrated that point closure would not work due to the physical limits of the junction. If there were to be a point closure this would need to be made in conjunction with a partial reinstatement of the left hand filter lane. The Task Group did not want to lose the cycle lane in order to reinstate the left turn filter lane.

Widening the road could be difficult because of the village green on one side and the cobbled area on the other. Also widening of the road would affect the conservation area around Clifton Green detrimentally.

They requested that this Annex be included in the draft final report.

Annex C- Cycle Flow on Clifton Bridge

The Task Group considered Annex C to the report and again asked for this information to be included in the draft final report.

Officers highlighted difficulties in monitoring cycle usage. They stated that any study must take place at least over a period of a year, due to seasonal fluctuations in results.

Annex F- Draft Final Report

Members discussed the Draft Final Report of the Task Group and reached the following conclusions that Annexes A and C of the agenda and the previously received information on air quality statistics in the vicinity of the junction should be included within the report.

They stated that it was clear that there were exceptional and unique circumstances at Water End.

An email was circulated outlining some findings and possible recommendations arising from the review. These were as follows;

• As a consequence of the Water End highway project, traffic levels in Westminster Road and The Avenue have increased substantially.
• These consequences were unforeseen during the testing of the future traffic flows using the macro traffic model which did not include Westminster Road, The Avenue or other side streets.
• The consequences were also unforeseen by the large number of agencies, councillors and residents who were consulted about the proposals.
• The junction arrangements were undertaken as part of a longstanding, well considered cycleway strategy and funded by the government grant for Cycling City.
• The increased use by  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.