Any county
councillor may, by giving notice to the Proper Officer by 9 am two working days
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.
Minutes:
Councillor Jean Fooks
The resurfacing works on the Cutteslowe and
Woodstock roundabouts have meant that traffic has had to be diverted along
Davenant Road in particular. Unfortunately they have had heavy vehicles of all kinds
using the road as well as the buses and much other traffic – and not only
during the hours of closure of the roundabouts. HGVs and others fail to follow
diversion signs earlier and it looks as if SatNavs
have started to direct people along this road at all times. It is not suitable
for the large volumes of traffic currently using it day and night
.
It would be very helpful if the County Council could ensure that
residents are forewarned about traffic diversions – both when and why they will
occur.
I am asking that the Council takes responsibility for this when
appropriate – this would much reduce the concerns.
I also ask that the Council investigates how to influence SatNav directions to avoid drivers being sent along
unsuitable routes – this is a wide problem I know but with so many people now
relying on a satnav, they need to be directed along suitable roads rather than
just the shortest.
Reply from the
Cabinet Member for Environment
Residents are not typically informed of
diversions because where practicable traffic is routed along a similar type of
road. However, where this is not the case, and traffic has to be diverted
on to a road of a different nature, such as a residential road, then residents
are and will continue to be informed.
I will however re-iterate the importance of
this to the project team as I appreciate that knowing about this and why it is
happening is important for residents.
The ability for the council to
influence SatNav companies is difficult, and
depending on the system used may only be updated periodically and not register
temporary changes such as diversions. Information such as diversions and
closures are publicised by the council electronically and available for SatNav providers to utilise. The County Council has, and
will continue to when opportunities arise, look to work with providers to
improve traffic information within SatNavs.
Supplementary question from Councillor Fooks
I’m pleased to see that some notification is given when traffic is diverted down a road of a different nature. However, there is now regular and unsuitable traffic down Davenant Road and that needs to be dealt with. In light of that and the view that traffic authorities do have some powers to require SatNav companies to blank out such routes would you please do what you can influence those companies to do that?
Reply from the Leader of the Council (Cabinet
Member for Environment)
“Unfortunately not all satnav companies agree to use updated network information and whilst some haulage companies do use industrial satnav systems which direct vehicles to the more suitable routes some lorry drivers do not and use car satnav systems, which do not have up to date information regarding lorry route diversions. However, I am happy to do what I can to influence SatNav companies.”