Agenda item

At their meeting on 3 November 2014 the Performance Scrutiny Committee considered the decision of the Cabinet Member of Environment made on 9 October 2014 following proper notice of call in.  The Committee agreed to refer the decision back to Cabinet for it to consider in the light of the following aspects of the decision:

(a) That neither the Officers report nor the Cabinet Members decision appeared to be based on the Department for Transport Guidance into the assessment of pedestrian crossing sites and;

(b)      The Cabinet Member did not take due account of the impact of the changes on the wider local traffic network.

The report before cabinet asks Members to consider the proposal in the round and specifically responds to the challenges from Scrutiny Committee.

Cabinet is RECOMMENDED to:

(a)            approve implementation of proposals for two proposed Pelican crossings on A415 Marcham Road and Ock Street, Abingdon as advertised and

(b)            (if approved) ask officers to monitor closely the safety performance and traffic delays following the completion of the works.

At their meeting on 3 November 2014 the Performance Scrutiny Committee considered the decision of the Cabinet Member of Environment made on 9 October 2014 following proper notice of call in. The Committee agreed to refer the decision back to Cabinet for it to consider in the light of the following aspects of the decision:

(a) That neither the Officers report nor the Cabinet Members decision appeared to be based on the Department for Transport Guidance into the assessment of pedestrian crossing sites and;

(b)      The Cabinet Member did not take due account of the impact of the changes on the wider local traffic network.

Cabinet had before them a report that asked Members to consider all previous papers for the proposal as well as the current report and specifically to respond to the challenges from Scrutiny Committee. Cabinet also had before them the petition submitted by Councillor. Samantha Bowring, Town Councillor for Ock Meadow Ward.

Roger Bush, speaking against the decision of the Cabinet Member for Environment made on 9 October 2014 explained the context of the decision within the planning framework and the current position with regard to planning applications. He commented that with the National Planning Policy Framework local control had been lost. He stated that he saw no sense in the decision on road safety or traffic grounds. He refuted that there would be no impact and believed that there would be adverse traffic consequences with lengthened queues. Mr Bush questioned the competence and integrity of officers, which statements were strongly refuted by Cabinet who noted that they were hard working, professional and experienced individuals.

Anthea Turner, queried the purpose of the changes when the Town Council and residents did not want them and in her view they were not designed to improve traffic. The County Council was afraid of being sued but it was clear that if the measures proved impossible to proceed then the development cannot continue. She expressed doubt over the modelling that had taken place and asserted that the changes would cause massive hold ups on Drayton Road.

Dr Jim Halliday, spoke against the proposals highlighting congestion and queues leading to air quality issues.

Andy Cattermole, Taylor Wimpey, spoke in support of the report from officers and asked that Cabinet follow its recommendations.

Councillor Constance, speaking as a a signatory to the call in expressed concern over increased congestion and argued that the Highways Authority had not exercised its powers to examine the wider congestion that she felt would be the result of the changes.

Councillor Neil Fawcett, speaking as a local councillor and as the originator of the call in stated that the views expressed reflected that the process followed was not trusted and was seen to be led by the planning decision rather than being arrived at objectively. He supported comments from Councillor Constance around congestion in the wider area. Referring to an assessment of safety he considered that the County Council had not done a proper assessment of the safest point taking into account the desire line of pedestrians. He added that a basic principle in the guidelines was that pedestrian safety was a prime factor.

Councillor Lovatt, speaking as a signatory of the call in, noted that as a member of the Vale of White Horse District Council and Deputy Chairman of the Planning Committee he would not be making any comment on the development. He was also Leader of Abingdon Town Council. He expressed surprise at the amount of analysis of air quality in the report, felt that it was insufficient to show the impact it would have and that it would lead to problems. He referred to strategic developments in the area that would be impacted by traffic problems in Abingdon.

Responding to a question from a cabinet member on why he expected the level of congestion to get worse Councillor Lovatt referred to the original objection from the Highways Authority and felt that nothing had changed.

Councillor Nimmo Smith introduced the contents of the report and supporting papers including the addenda. In moving the recommendations he highlighted the conclusions set out in paragraphs 27-30.

In response to a question from the Leader, Cabinet was advised that, whilst the call in raised two specific issues Cabinet was being asked to re-consider the proposals in full and not just on the two issues.

Mark Kemp, Deputy Director, Commercial and David Tole, Principal Engineer-Traffic & Safety Improvement set out the history of the matter. They commented that the Council had objected on traffic grounds to the planning application but had failed. The advice they had received was that unless something substantially different had come forward that the Planning Inspector’s decision could not be challenged. They explained that the report set out in detail how the guidance had been used and noted that the guidance did not address the scenario of moving crossings. Desire lines were heavily influenced in this scenario by the existing crossing. The report also set out how traffic congestion was addressed. Anthony Kirkwood, Assistant Principal Engineer, advised on the safety audit procedure that had been followed.

Mark Kemp and David Tole responded to detailed questions from Cabinet Members that included: confirming that the Police had been consulted as part of the consultation, accepting that there would be some increase in congestion at the junction but not a significant increase. Monitoring of schemes after implementation was normal and in line with guidance. Mark Kemp added that it was a difficult process and their consultation looked for substantive new information and had found nothing that had changed the position that had informed the Planning Inspector’s decision.

During discussion Cabinet Members supported the recommendations commenting that the process had been meticulously followed, as evidenced in the detailed papers in front of them. They particularly highlighted paragraph 27 of the report.

RESOLVED:           to:

(a)            approve implementation of proposals for two proposed Pelican crossings on A415 Marcham Road and Ock Street, Abingdon as advertised and

(b)            (if approved) ask officers to monitor closely the safety performance and traffic delays following the completion of the works.