Agenda item

To consider the decisions made by the Executive Member for City Strategy on 1 June 2010 with regard to the above item, which have been called in by Councillors Horton, Pierce, and Simpson-Laing in accordance with the provisions of the Council’s Constitution.  A cover report is attached setting out the reasons for the call-in and the remit and powers of the Scrutiny Management Committee (Calling In) in relation to the call-in procedure, together with the original report to and decisions of the Executive Member.

Members received a report, which asked them to consider the decisions made by the Executive Member for City Strategy on 1 June 2010 in response to the receipt of two petitions requesting 20mph speed limits. The first covering Sovereign Park and the second for Dodsworth Avenue.

Details of the Executive Members decisions were attached as Annex 1 to the report. The original report to the Executive Member Decision Session was attached as Annex 2. The decisions had been called in by Councillors Horton, Pierce and Simpson-Laing on the grounds that:

 “Despite the fact that the proposal 'ticks all the boxes' of the criteria arbitrarily imposed by the Executive Member at the end of 2009 other than no reportable accidents in the last 3 years, the Executive Member has refused to move the item up the priority list where many of the suggested schemes above it fall short of meeting many of the criteria.  The lack of recordable accidents is down to the fact that the estate has only been occupied in the last 3 years and the highways only adopted recently making the criterion difficult to meet.

The Executive Member's insistence that until the city-wide consultation on 20 mph schemes across the City's residential areas is concluded, he is not prepared to move on any 20 mph scheme.”

Members were invited to decide whether to confirm the decisions of the Executive Member (Option A) or to refer them back to the Executive for reconsideration (Option B).

Councillor Horton addressed the meeting on behalf of the Calling-In Members. He confirmed that the call in only related to the request for a 20mph speed limit at Sovereign Park. He went onto reiterate the reason given for the calling in and detailed how Sovereign Park met and in some cases exceeded the prioritisation criteria for the implementation of such a scheme. He pointed out the overwhelming public support.

Representations in support of the scheme were received from a resident of Sovereign Park. She referred to the high percentage of young families living on the estate and confirmed that the Community Police Officer had witnessed a number of incidents involving children and vehicles in the area. She also referred to the road layout, which included blind bends and a lack of pavements, which exacerbated the dangers near to the play area. She pointed out that the petition, had received 233 signatures with 87% in support of the scheme.

Officers referred to references at the Executive Member Decision Session to injury accidents not being recorded on unadopted highways. Confirmation had now been received from the Police that injury accidents were recorded on unadopted highways but that these were not included in the official statistics provided to the DfT and that no injury accidents had been reported in Sovereign Pak in the last 3 years.

Following further discussion Cllr Galvin moved and Cllr Simpson-Laing seconded, that Option B be approved and the matter referred back to the Executive insofar as it related to Sovereign Park (Minute 6 (ii) of Executive Member Decision Session) with a strong recommendation that a 20mph zone be implemented on this development. On being put to the vote, this proposal was declared CARRIED and it was

RESOLVED:     That Option B be approved and Resolution 6 (ii) only relating to Sovereign Park be referred back to the Executive with a strong recommendation that a 20mph zone be implemented at Sovereign Park.

REASON:                  In accordance with the requirements of the Council’s calling-in procedure and the reasons given for the calling-in.