Issue - meetings

Forward Plan Ref: 2021/149

Contact: Tim Shickle, Group Manager – Traffic & Road Safety Tel: 07920 591545 / Jane Clark, Road Safety Officer Tel: 07545 459107

Report by Corporate Director Environment & Place (CMDHM7).

The report presents responses received to a statutory consultation on proposed no waiting at any time restrictions as a result of concerns over the obstruction of a turning area in a residential cul-de sac, in particular for access by ambulances/other transport for infirm residents.

The Cabinet Member for Highway Management is RECOMMENDED to approve the no waiting at any time restrictions in Bourne Close, Oxford as advertised.

Approved but in view of the concerns raised locally to ask officers to look to include Bourne Close and David Walter Close in the Cutteslowe CPZ and also to review other CPZs around the City in order to address similar anomalies.

The Cabinet Member for Highway Management considered (CMDHM7) responses received to a statutory consultation on proposed no waiting at any time restrictions as a result of concerns over the obstruction of a turning area in a residential cul-de sac, in particular for access by ambulances/other transport for infirm residents.

Andrew Siantonas speaking on behalf of a resident of Bourne Close who lived immediately adjacent to the turning circle advised that it was completely misleading to refer to a turning circle as that function had been entirely negated with vehicles always parked there. Properties with even numbers in Bourne Close were bungalows which had been designed for the elderly and infirm and that was very much the case here for this resident who was completely reliant on ambulances and transport for the infirm and deliveries of all kinds and those functions are regularly hampered as the turning circle was always blocked. The resident concerned needed to make regular hospital visits and as the ambulance was often forced to park some distance away he needed to be wheeled to it. This affected him physically and mentally as he felt trapped in his own home and so, on his behalf, he was urging the Cabinet Member to accept the recommendation.

Speaking in support of the recommendation and endorsing the comments made by Mr Siantonas City Councillor Liz Wade also highlighted a number of other measures to alleviate the problem namely that parking bays should be individually marked to encourage more considerate parking; reducing the length of the disabled bay and a consultation to extend the Cutteslowe CPZ to include several streets including Bourne Close and David Walter Close omitted from the zone when it had been agreed in 2013. Pending that consultation she asked that consideration be given for a dispensation to allow residents to apply for CPZ permits to enable them to park near their houses.

Also speaking in support of the recommendation County Councillor Andrew Gant endorsed the comments by both speakers. Regarding a possible extension to the Cutteslowe CPZ he agreed that due to the exponential increase in car use the situation had changed dramatically since 2013 when some residents had considered that a CPZ was not essential for this area. These changes had increased the pressure on streets outside the agreed CPZ area and it seemed sensible to now try to amend the zone to include the whole area and he asked the Cabinet Member to make a commitment to look at an extension.  He also raised the issue of green spaces in Bourne Close which, while not significant, needed to be preserved and protected.

The Cabinet Member thanked the speakers for their comments and being well aware of the pressure in the Cutteslowe area, particularly at weekends, acknowledged the potential knock-on effects for an area when CPZs were only partially imposed. However, the immediate concern now was to address the current problems in Bourne Close and protect vulnerable residents and so having regard to the information in  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7