Agenda item

This report asks Members to consider and agree any necessary changes/additions to the draft of an interim report, the method for carrying out a survey of residents and how much additional budget to request from the Scrutiny Management Committee.

Members considered the Traffic Congestion Ad-hoc Scrutiny Review interim Report which was due to be presented at the Scrutiny Management Committee on 28^th January 2008.

 

Annex A

 

Members made the following comments:

 

·        Members felt that the Interim Report to the Scrutiny Management Committee did not outline the position of the Council in relation to the level of influence they had on the local bus companies and asked for this to be reflected.

·        Paragraphs 5, 6, and 7 should be under the heading of ‘Background to Congestion Issues’. Members suggested that the maps included in the Assistant Director of City Strategy’s original presentation be included to assist people’s understanding of the scale of the problem.

·        It was suggested that an additional heading be added entitled ‘Overall Conclusions’. This should be added after ‘Background Information’.

·        In the section headed ‘Accessibility to Services, Employment, Education and Health’ reference should be made to the extent of the subsidies provided by the Authority and the routes of the subsidised services.

·        Paragraph 18 should indicate that the figure of 24,000 is a national figure and not a local figure.

·        An additional paragraph/sub-heading should be added to the section headed ‘Air Quality, in particular looking at the five hotspots identified in the LTP2’ and this should be entitled ‘Potential Actions’.

·        The ‘Alternative environmentally viable and financially practical methods of transport’ section should mention the fact that walking and cycling also have beneficial health factors.

·        Paragraph 26 should also include the walking figures.

·        Some Members felt that the list in paragraph 30 was too long for the amount of resources available. It was suggested that this be looked at again at a future meeting in order to prioritise.

·        That the following recommendation be added to the Table of Issues/Findings, Identified Solutions, Possible Impacts and Draft Recommendations: ‘More thought should be given to alternative environmentally friendly modes of transport when designing junctions on the inner ring road’           

·        Remove the first sentence from paragraph 36.

·        Delete the third bullet point regarding Fuel Cell Vehicles in paragraph 38.

·        Change the third bullet point in paragraph 39 top read ‘ Maximise the uptake of car sharing’.

·        In relation to paragraph 43 dwell times should be allowed for in constructing timetables in order that they do not effect the perception of bus reliability.

·        The additional information section should have a separate heading rather than a sub-heading and it was suggested that this section could re renamed ‘Other Issues Effecting Congestion’.

·        Under the heading ‘Utility & Roadworks on the Highway’ it was noted that a new phase of the Traffic Management Act 2004 was being phased in from April 2008 which would hopefully reduce disruption and improve traffic flow.

·        Under the heading ‘On Street Parking’ it was suggested that the paragraph be expanded to incorporate the fact that there were recognised hotspots which caused frequent delays i.e. along some of the major bus routes. It was suggested that pressure be applied to the Government regarding enforcement of bus lane usage and implementation of red routes. The Assistant Director of City Strategy informed Members that this was being trialled in London and as of yet there was no statutory guidance to enable this to be realised.

·        In relation to ‘Inner City Goods Deliveries’ some Members felt that this needed to be discussed in more depth as there were still concerns regarding deliveries to certain parts of the City centre and parking and unloading on main arterial routes during peak times.

 

Outstanding Objectives

 

The Committee has yet to consider the following three remaining objectives:

 

vi.                 Economic Performance

vii.               Quality of Life

viii.             Road Safety

 

In order to ensure full consideration can be given to the remaining objectives the Committee requires an extension to the timeframe of the review and Members made the following amendments to the proposed timetable:

 

18 February 2008

 

·        Presentation on road pricing by Paul Wadswoth of Capita Symonds Road User Pricing Consultancy.

·        Stakeholders to be invited to this presentation

·        Meeting to take the form of a seminar rather than a formal meeting.

 

Wednesday 27^th February 2008 (additional meeting with a start time of 5pm)

 

·        Consideration of a briefing paper on the broad strategic options available to York, to cover: ¹

·        Outer ring road

·        Continuation to LTP approach

·        Network Management

·        Modal Shift/soft measures

·        Demand Management e.g. further controls on car parking, road pricing etc

·        Impacts of developments going on in York

 

·        Stakeholders to be invited to this meeting

·        Meeting to take the form of a seminar rather than a formal meeting.

 

10^th March 2008

 

·        Professor John Whiteleg be invited to give a talk regarding the interconnection between traffic congestion and health

·        Meeting to take the form of a seminar rather than a formal meeting.

·        Stakeholders to be invited to this meeting

 

Thursday 17^th April 2008 at 5pm

 

Consideration of final objective – (viii) Road Safety. A Police Road Safety representative to be invited to attend.

 

Thursday 1^st May 2008 at 5pm

 

Final agreement in relation to the residents’ survey

 

June meeting

 

Cancelled

 

July 2008

 

Consideration of the final report.

 

September 2008

 

Final report to Scrutiny Management Committee

 

Annex B

 

Members discussed the costings for the production of a survey and its distribution via Your Ward/Your City.  It was noted that compilation and analysis costs still needed to be identified and it was suggested that enquiries might be made amongst undergraduates or post-graduates to see if there was anyone interested in undertaking such a project. Members felt that Option 2 would get the best results.

 

Annex C

 

Members were presented with a briefing paper regarding York Vehicle Fleet Euro Engine Specifications. The paper indicated that there was a general improvement in vehicle engine quality in Europe which was assisting the reduction in gaseous emissions and the improvement of air quality. The paper also gave information regarding the 2008 Euro rating data for buses on York routes from the companies involved in the Quality Bus Partnership, a comparison with previous years and information regarding Council vehicles.

 

An additional table was circulated by the Assistant Director of City Strategy which gave information regarding the Euro Standards of each of the Council owned vehicles. The Council were currently looking at the Euro V standard for newly registered vehicles (after October 2008) and new park and ride vehicles would be of a standard in excess of Euro V. It was noted that some of the smaller bus companies lagged behind in terms of the fuel consumption and emissions standards of their vehicles.

 

Members discussed the pros and cons of bus drivers switching their engines off when waiting. Some Members felt that stopping the engine and re-starting it could give out more emissions than if the engine was left switched on. Others felt that drivers should switch off their engines when waiting.

 

Members suggested that the Interim Report to the Scrutiny Management Committee should incorporate the information presented in Annex C and Members comments and recommendations regarding this.

 

Some Members felt that it was possible, to a degree, to encourage the use of smaller vehicles by amending parking charges to be relative to the size of the vehicle. It was also suggested that multi-occupancy vehicles be given the opportunity to use bus lanes to aid with traffic flow.

 

 

RESOLVED:             That members recommend the following:²

 

1.     Discussions to be had with the Quality Bus Partnership regarding the best way to manage waiting and ‘lay over’ periods in terms of air pollution.

2.     For future contracts, i.e. those after October 2008, City of York Council should look to specifying a minimum standard of Euro V for all its vehicles.

3.     Look at reviewing the way we can influence the private motorist i.e. encouraging smaller vehicles, changing the parking charges, for example; charge for parking in relation to the size of the vehicle.

4.     That new junctions and future alterations to existing junctions on the inner ring road are given more thought in terms of increasing the use of more environmentally friendly modes of transport.

5.     That representation be made to HM Government in relation to an early rollout of the relevant sections of the Traffic Management Act 2004 which gives powers to Local Authority regarding Moving Traffic Offences.

6.     That a request be made to the Scrutiny Management Committee as part of the interim Report for additional funds in order that the residents’ survey can be undertaken by way of inclusion in the Your Ward publication and Option 2 (as set out in Annex B to the report) be adopted with the addition of costs for the following:

·        Design

·        Distribution

·        Return postal costs

·        Compiling survey results

·        Analysis costs

 

REASON:                  In order that the information can be included in the Interim Report to be considered by Scrutiny Management Committee.