Agenda item

Cllr Julie Gunnell welcomed everybody to the meeting and introduced the panel of councillors and Grantside representatives. Cllr John Galvin – elected member for Bishopthorpe Ward was also in attendance and residents from Bishopthorpe and Acaster Malbis were invited. It was noted that Cllr Galvin would not be able to comment on the planning issues raised as he is on the Planning Committee and this could result in a conflict of interest. Members of Dringhouses & Woodthorpe Ward Committee had also been invited but had declined the invitation.

Cllr Dave Merrett apologised that the Traffic Management Plan was not available for scrutiny at the meeting as had been intended. He, therefore, gave an outline of the specific traffic measures proposed based on the information received by councillors from council officers:

·        Campleshon Road / Bishopthorpe Road junction – Signals will be installed and the approach roads to the junction will be widened to include double entry lanes. This element of the plan will involve removing the entitlement for parking along the approaches including Bishopthorpe Road.

·        Scarcroft Road / Bishopthorpe Road junction – the existing signal controller will be improved along with altered pedestrian crossing phases.

·        Knavesmire Road / Tadcaster Road / Mount Vale junction – the junctions in and out of Knavesmire Road will both become 2 way access and will include a bus gate and bus lanes on Tadcaster Road north bound to the south of St Georges Place.

·        St Helens Road / Tadcaster Road junction – it is impossible to change the physical structure of this junction so the signal controls will be improved and queuing traffic will be relocated southwards to Moor Lane Roundabout.

·        Moor Lane Roundabout will be signalised and will have a two lane approach on the Tadcaster Road approach.

Q. Concern was raised that traffic at peak times is already congested along Tadcaster Road and the bridge. The resident was very keen to see the Traffic Management Plan and requested that councillors defer the planning committee date until residents had had a full opportunity to view the Plan.

A. The developers are pressing for a decision on the planning application. Members agreed to ask the planning committee to defer looking at this application until residents had been able to view the Traffic Management Plan in more detail. This was subsequently stated as not possible by Planning Officers but objections submitted up to the date of the hearing would be reported to the Committee. (Cllr Fraser) [Note: the application was further deferred with the latest date being 28^th August 2008]

A. City of York Council have commissioned a traffic modelling system called SATURN. The traffic generation data that Grantside produced was passed to Halcrow. (Grantside)

Q. Concern was raised that the plan includes removing parking spaces along part of Bishopthorpe Road near the Campleshon Road junction. Where are those residents supposed to park their cars?

A. Part of the proposal is to restrict parking on one side of Bishopthorpe Road to accommodate two lane traffic and speed cushions. Grantside offered to speak to the resident affected after the meeting. (Grantside)

Q. A resident from Bishopthorpe complained that the village had not been included in any of the display material on show.

A. Apologies were made to Bishopthorpe residents. (Grantside)

Q. Concern was raised again about the legally imposed parking restrictions planned for part of Bishopthorpe Road.

A. The restrictions have to be legally imposed because of Highways obligations. These are only proposals at this stage which will be followed by a more detailed design that will make the plans more compliant. (Grantside)

Q. At the next stage will another public meeting be held as this is clearly a waste of residents’ time.

A. The meeting was not called by Grantside. (Grantside)

A. The information requested for this meeting was not brought along. Several phone calls have been made and this matter will be pursued. (Cllr Galvin)

Q. How many journeys will be made on foot or bicycle?

A. The proposals for the Traffic Management Plan have focussed on not using a car. A feasibility study has been carried out on the site and Grantside have invested in a Travel Plan Co-ordinator. (Grantside)

Q. Concern was raised that they were not aware of any extra support for the No. 11 bus service.

A. The No. 11 bus service was considered when Grantside met with First York. A dedicated shuttle bus was viewed as being more economic. (Grantside)

Q. The original brief for this project included the view that it is important that the traffic is kept away from Bishopthorpe village. Assurances were sought that this has been adhered to.

A. Assurance was given to residents that the Traffic Management Plan encourages traffic to flow down Tadcaster Road rather than through Bishopthorpe. (Grantside)

Q. When the proposals for this development were first published, one volume was dedicated to traffic. Why has the latest revised plan for traffic been continuously revised downwards (originally 800 trips were coming by bus in the peak hour)? Are the developers following City of York Council guidelines? How can traffic movements be forecast from 8 directions if the developers do not know the origin?

A. The latest information is a supplementary document. The original report was a scoping document only, the subsequent reports were to deal with consequential issues. Grantside have employed a very robust approach to traffic analysis. The distributional information has been received from data analysis supplied by City of York Council and is the best information available to them. (Grantside).

A. Cllr Fraser also added:

• The developers should guarantee that none of the construction traffic will affect Bishopthorpe village.
• It was hoped that the developer would contribute towards keeping the No. 11 bus service.
• Members are unclear if the proposed shuttle bus service is for public use.

Q. What controls will there be on construction traffic?

A. An assurance was given that construction traffic would use Tadcaster Road and Knavesmire Road. (Grantside).

Q. A regular user of the No. 11 bus service was extremely concerned that the shuttle bus will not solve the problem as it is impossible to run an efficient bus service with the existing parking problems on local roads.

A. The shuttle bus service would be a dedicated shuttle between Askham Bar Park & Ride and the development site, and between the development site and the train station, and purely for people going to and from the Terry’s site. The service was intended to be permanent. (Grantside).

Q. Will there be any restrictions on opening times for the commercial aspects of the development?

A. It is early days at this stage but it is not envisaged that there will be any 24 hour operations on the site. (Grantside).

Q. The thought of commuters using the park & ride site is naïve as it is too small. Do the traffic management predictions on the SATURN software take account of the new football stadium being discussed for the area?

A. The football stadium would be an entirely new and separate planning application and is nothing to do with Grantside or the Terry’s site. (Grantside)

At 4.50pm, the meeting reverted to a drop-in surgery style.