Agenda and minutes

Councillor David Turner declared a personal interest in Item 4 the item to which he had requested to speak insofar as he had submitted a claim to the County Council regarding damage to a vehicle.

Any county councillor may, by giving notice to the Proper Officer by 9 am on the working day before the meeting, ask a question on any matter in respect of the Cabinet Member’s delegated powers.

The number of questions which may be asked by any councillor at any one meeting is limited to two (or one question with notice and a supplementary question at the meeting) and the time for questions will be limited to 30 minutes in total. As with questions at Council, any questions which remain unanswered at the end of this item will receive a written response.

Questions submitted prior to the agenda being despatched are shown below and will be the subject of a response from the appropriate Cabinet Member or such other councillor or officer as is determined by the Cabinet Member, and shall not be the subject of further debate at this meeting. Questions received after the despatch of the agenda, but before the deadline, will be shown on the Schedule of Addenda circulated at the meeting, together with any written response which is available at that time.

Councillor Roy Darke

“Can the Cabinet Member for Transport confirm that S106 funding (from Rectory Homes development) is still available for needed road safety measures in Jack Straw's Lane?"

Councillor Rodney Rose replied

“We currently hold £74,986 of S106 funds, from two separate developments in Jack Straw’s Lane. However neither of the developers concerned is Rectory Homes. The S106 agreements state that the monies must be used on traffic calming measures in Jack Straw’s Lane or any alternatives which achieve similar benefits. Officers have investigated the feasibility of traffic calming measures and are now looking at other improvements in Jack Straw’s Lane which achieve similar benefits. Residents will be consulted in due course.”

Supplementary question from Councillor Roy Darke

“As local residents had identified simple measures to relieve problems would the Cabinet Member for Transport consider those as part of the investigation into improvements in Jack Straw’s Lane?”

Councillor Rose replied

“I haven’t yet seen all options but if residents were proposing something then those would be looked at.”

Councillor John Sanders

"In the light of the draconian cuts that the County Council’s Cabinet says it is compelled to impose on libraries, youth centres and older people, why does the Cabinet Member for Transport not offer to postpone major road works like the Cogges Link and the resurfacing of Iffley Road for three or four years until, according to the Government, the financial crisis will have been resolved and, presumably, Oxfordshire will then be able to afford such projects and in the meanwhile be able to maintain essential services? "

Councillor Rodney Rose replied

“The County Council’s Cabinet is enforcing cuts necessitated by the Labour Government’s ineptitude at controlling the country’s finances in recent years, as highlighted in Treasury Reports since 2001.

The Cabinet takes the view that a suitable road infrastructure is also an essential service in Oxfordshire, but actual spending will be decided at the Council next week.”

Supplementary question from Councillor Sanders

“Is the Cabinet Member for Transport suggesting that roads take priority over libraries, youth centres and care for the elderly?”

Councillor Rose replied

“I am surprised to hear a member for a City Division suggesting that resurfacing work of a major route into the City be postponed particularly as the Iffley Road was in need of repair.  Decisions regarding spending issues would be taken at the County Council’s budget meeting on 15 February 2011 and not at this meeting.”

Councillor Mohammed Altaf-Khan

“As you know Cllr Rodney Rose, the Highfield Residents Association (Headington Oxford) has worked closely with County officers and members for the past four years to deliver a traffic management scheme for Highfield. In doing so the residents have acted entirely in accordance with the aims of the Big Society as embraced by the Council. Despite the Council’s stated commitment to the scheme the scheme budget was halved in December 2010 without prior discussion or consultation with residents. Will the Cabinet Member for Transport and officers meet representatives of Highfield residents  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5/11

Forward Plan Ref: 2010/209

Contact: Kevin Haines, Highways Asset Manager Tel: (01865) 815687

10.05 am

Report by Deputy Director of Environment & Economy – Highways & Transport (CMDT4).

The Cabinet Member considered a revised policy for Statutory Safety Inspections noting the following amendments to the report:

Paragraph 16 to read “By aligning the response times to the relevant categories, the more urgent work can be prioritised and the less urgent work more efficiently programmed.  Although the response times have been reviewed, there is no justification for changing them other than to withdraw the 7 day response to facilitate more effective works programming. It is the aim to implement all these policy changes from April 2011.”

Paragraph 18, line 5 amend “in excess of £700K” to read “approximately £70K”.

Councillor Turner:

-                      asked whether the cost of highway repairs against costs arising from claims had been analysed;

-                      asked whether consideration had been given to reducing the 3 month inspection period for some routes to 2 and whether or not the costs of such a reduction had been compared against the costs of claims.  He submitted that although there might well be a negative cost implication a 2 month period would be more acceptable to the general public than 3;

-                      considered that the modified network hierarchy discriminated against rural roads even though the inconvenience from damage to a vehicle was the same;

-                      asked for clarification regarding responsibility for inspection and maintenance of roadside gulleys.

Officers confirmed that some analyses had been carried out. However, inspection periods had been set in order to provide a robust claims policy by demonstrating that the frequency and type of inspection was appropriate to the route.  Available resources had to be allocated in order to best meet the risk aspect. Roads would be inspected at the appropriate frequencies using this process, and defects reported by officers and other road users during intervening periods would also be investigated and acted on appropriately.  The Council was responsible for inspecting, emptying and maintaining roadside gulleys on the county highway network.  The Council could also take action where highway drainage or flooding issues were caused by water from private land.

Councillor Rose stated that the County Council needed to provide a safe highway network supported by a robust claims policy but needed to be realistic in how it allocated its resources.  He welcomed greater public participation in bringing potential problems to light.

Having regard to the arguments and options set out in the documentation before him, the representations made to him and the further considerations set out above the Cabinet Member for Transport confirmed his decision as follows:

(a)                     approve the Highway Safety Inspections Policy as set out in Annex A to the report CMDT4;

(b)                    approve the Highway Defect Investigatory Levels as set out in Annex B to the report CMDT4;

(c)                     to authorise the Deputy Director for Environment & Economy - Highways and Transport in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Transport to issue a written instruction to temporarily suspend service standards as set out in the Highway Safety Inspections Policy during or as a result of exceptional adverse weather conditions or other  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7/11

Forward Plan Ref: 2011/002

Contact: Mike Ruse, Traffic Regulation Officer Tel: (01865) 815978

10.15 am

Report by Deputy Director of Environment & Economy – Highways & Transport ( CMDT5).

The Cabinet Member for Transport considered a proposal to install a new disabled persons’ parking place in Hart Street, Jericho.

Having regard to the arguments and options set out in the documentation before him the Cabinet Member for Transport authorised a variation to the Oxfordshire County Council (Disabled Persons’ Parking Places - Oxford) Order 2010, to provide a new DPPP in Hart Street as shown on the plan annexed to the report CMDT5.