Agenda item

To consider the decisions made by the Cabinet Member for Transport, Planning and Sustainability at his Decision Session on 19 November 2012 in relation to the above item, which has been called in by Cllrs Ayre, Aspden and Jeffries in accordance with the Council’s Constitution. A cover report is attached setting out the reasons for the call-in and the remit and powers of the Corporate and Scrutiny Management Committee (Calling-In) in relation to the call-in, together with the original report and the decisions of the Cabinet Member.

Members received a report which asked them to consider the decisions made by the Cabinet Member for Transport, Planning and Sustainability on 19 November 2012 in relation to the City Centre Footstreets Review. In particular the decision to partially close off the route to all vehicles and allow access to St Sampson’s Square via Church Street by green permit holders.

Details of the Cabinet Members decision were attached as Annex A to the report, with the original report to the Decision Session attached at Annex B. The decision had been called in by Cllrs Ayre, Aspden and Jeffries on the following grounds:

“This proposal will see parking for disabled drivers cut by around a 1/3 and will effectively rule certain parts of the city out of reach for some residents. Given this, we would like to call-in the decision for the following reasons:

·       The lack of evidence of consultation with affected groups (badge/permit holders). The report admits that "The responses to the questionnaire (Annex A) on this issue demonstrate strong support for reviewing access and parking (Q1). However, it does also need to be said that of those responding to the questionnaire very few are holders of either Blue badges or Green permits (Q4), hence the views expressed are predominately from those with no or little difficulty with their own mobility.

·       The lack of an EIA (Equality Impact Assessment) or CIA (Community Impact Assessment).

·       The misleading claim that there are no equalities implications to this decision.

·       The policy did not go through the EAG (Equality Advisory Group) or face similar levels of scrutiny.”

Members were asked to decide whether to confirm the decision (Option a) or to refer it back to the Cabinet Member for re-consideration (Option b) as set out in the report.

Councillor Ayre addressed the meeting on behalf of the Calling-In members confirming the main reason for call in were concerns that the requirements of the Single Equality Act had not been incorporated in to this report. Although in agreement with much of the footstreets proposals, it was the lack of an Equality Impact Assessment and consultation. Particularly in relation to the proposal to cut parking for disabled drivers cutting off certain parts of the city to many vulnerable residents with mobility problems. A crucial part of the consultation did not appear to have been undertaken, including scrutiny by the Equality Advisory Group, when the authority had a legal duty to consult these groups in order to assess the impact and in an effort to mitigate any issues arising. 

The Cabinet Member for Planning, Transport and Sustainability confirmed that the City Centre Footstreets Review had arisen from the Reinvigorate York programme and the report to his Decision Session on 1 December 2011, which had set out the proposals in full. At that time, approval had been given to undertake consultation on the hours of operation of the foot streets and investigate issues surrounding the use of foot streets by blue badge and green permit holders. An EIA had also been undertaken in relation to this report and a study commissioned to examine how people with mobility issues could best obtain access to the city centre. He confirmed that the proposals had been reported to the Equality Advisory Group (EAG) earlier in the year and copies of the questionnaire sent to all groups represented on that body. A recent visit to Chester had provided useful additional information which was being examined for possible implementation in York. The work of the Scrutiny Committee, following their examination of city centre issues, were reported together with the detailed proposals set out in the report to his Decision Session on 19 November, paragraphs 16 to 33 in relation to the operation of the blue badge and green permit schemes in respect of the Davygate, St Sampson’s Square and Church Street route.

Members then went on to question the Cabinet Member about the proposals, he confirmed that the maximum travel distance for green permit holders would not change, that an EIA had been carried out in relation to the 2011 proposals with no further assessment undertaken in respect of the current details.

Further information was requested in relation to the Shopmobility scheme which hired out electric scooters and wheelchairs to enable members of the public to visit the city centre.

All Members agreed that it was unfortunate that details of the original EIA had not been flagged up in the current report.

Officers presented an overview of the background and proposals for the footstreet review, confirming that consultation had been undertaken with the EAG and that consultation would continue. In response to comments Officers confirmed that the proposals were only experimental with the results being reported back to the Cabinet Member in 12 months.

Following further lengthy discussion it was

RESOLVED:       That Option (a) identified in the report be approved and that the decision of the Cabinet Member be confirmed. ^1.

REASON:            In accordance with the requirements of the Council’s constitution.