Agenda item

Paul Thackray will give an update on the proposed Park & Ride schemes and answer your queries.  This is your chance to put forward your views.

Paul Thackray (PT) gave an update on the consultation of the schemes.  The public exhibition received 402 visitors over the four day period with 75 questionnaires filled in.  In addition, 106 emails and letters had been received and over a 100 online questionnaires had been completed.  A stakeholder event was also attended by 25 people.  Paul stated in terms of the typical responses the majority of those expressing an opinion were opposed to the scheme but this is not universal and feedback in favour of the scheme has also been received

Paul then covered the application process stating that the planning application was likely to be submitted in mid November, subject to approval by the Project Board.  Responses from the consultation would be included in the application.  The City of York Planning Officer would then take over the process and ask for responses to the application within 21 days of submission.  Paul emphasised that if the application was made, the City of York website would be updated.  It would then be passed to the Council’s Planning Committees within 12 weeks of the application being submitted.  The Planning Committee is open to the public however those wishing to attend to speak must register for a 3 minute slot.

Paul finished by providing information on why the current location was picked as the preferred site these were as follows:

• It would capture the main Park and Ride users from the Harrogate direction
• It allows for easy dispersal of traffic west from the site towards Harrogate
• It does not create a rat run along Northfield Lane
• It has the potential to reduce traffic on the A59/A1237 junction

Ruth Stephenson then gave a presentation on traffic information.  The SATURN model predicts how many vehicles will arrive at the site and from where that traffic will arrive. The model shows that between the hours of 8 to 9am, of the 229 arrivals predicted arrivals at the proposed site, 126 approached from Harrogate and 92 approached from York with 11 from Poppleton.  Of vehicles approaching the A59./A1237 roundabout, 22 came from the North, 25 from the city centre and 43 from the south.

Ruth then covered modelling of predicted queue lengths in and around the proposed Park and Ride site looking at the predicted positive impact of the Park and Ride scheme and developments of the outer ring road island.  In addition, analysis undertaken of a 12-hour number plate recognition survey on Thursday 17th September, Friday 18th September and Saturday 19th September revealed that currently on average between 5-10%of the traffic uses Poppleton village as a cut through during a 12 hours period although this can rise to between 18-22% during peak periods i.e. Thursday and Friday pm peak. 

Ruth also stated that analysis from traffic data approaching the outer ring road island from Harrogate revealed that , approximately 38% turned north onto the ring road, 35% carried onto the City Centre and 27% turned south onto the ring road. This data was provided from a 12-hour traffic count (7am-7pm) undertaken in June 2008. The total number of vehicles arriving from the Harrogate direction was 9163

Q - The modelling states that the Park and Ride site and island developments will alleviate the traffic queues but how can it when the park and ride will deal with only a small amount of the traffic and when the rest get to the island, it will still have no where to go?

PT – The Park and Ride would provide parking for 600 to begin with increasing to 1,250 with further development thus reducing the build up of traffic.  The changes to the A59 island will allow it to carry more capacity.        

Q - Why is the data not available?

PT – The data is available on the Council’s website (http://www.york.gov.uk/transport/Parking/Park_and_Ride/new/boroughbridgeroad/)

Q - Why was the Minster Park site overlooked?

PT – The current site was chosen as it was more visible to users of the A59 and people would not deviate off the A59 i.e. to go down Northfield Lane.

Q - The model is inadequate, why have you used it?

PT – The model used is a Department of Transport requirement.

Q  - What percentage of the traffic comes out of the City Centre?

RS – The SATURN model predicts that approximately17% of vehicles will travel from within York

Q (from Cllr Healy) - What is the margin of error on models for completed Park and Ride Sites?

PT – I am not aware we have done any measurement.

Q  - Will the Askham Bar scheme include a bridge over the Tadcaster road?

PT – Unfortunately this sits outside the schemes funding.

Cllr Gillies raised concerns about various traffic flow issues if the park and ride was approved.

Q - Has the Boroughbridge Road residents been consulted?

PT – Yes, I will be attending Acomb Ward Committee to discus with them.

Q - When will the meeting take place in November?

Damon Copperthwaite (DC) – The intention is to submit the planning application to the Planning Committee in mid November.  However all the data needs to be collated and processed, so we cannot give a precise date.  Once the application is submitted, notice will go out in the local press and on the Council website.  The norm is that the committee have 12 weeks to consider it, however this can be extended if the application is very large.  If you do not have access to papers or online facilities I am sure we can notify residents by post.

Q – How will the you reduce the traffic coming off the A59 island?

DC – The improvements to the island will reduce queue length and journey time thus reducing congestion, whilst the Park and Ride scheme will reduce numbers.

Q – But how can congestion be reduced on the island if two lanes go into one round the ring road?

DC – Journey time would be reduced.

Cllr Hudson thanked Damon and his team for their presentation