Minutes:
Council received the following public address:
Mr Scott Urban, Director of Oxfordshire Liveable Streets spoke in support
of Agenda Item 18 (Motion by Councillor Suzanne Bartington) He urged the Council
to build totally segregated infrastructure for cycles and human-friendly
junctions for pedestrians.
Currently, the UK in general had implemented the merging and urging lanes,
while the Netherlands had taken the approach ‘build it and they will come'. The
differences were remarkable. Oxfordshire Liveable Streets was created to help the
county council, continue in the journey toward the latter approach. They planned
to give the support needed in the districts for the hard steps that are
required to create space for active travel. He invited councillors, to join him
on a visit to Waltham Forest in London, where they could see first-hand how the
highway authority there had implemented a remarkable scheme to replicate what
happens in the Netherlands. We will be writing to cabinet members shortly with
some suggested dates.
Mr Robin Tucker, Chair of Oxfordshire Cycling Network in support of Agenda
Item 18 (Motion by Councillor Suzanne Bartington) on the basis that is was very
important to include health planning in all future infrastructure and planning
projects as activity greatly reduced sickness in people. He expressed the
importance of onward leadership and support and indicated that Oxfordshire
Cycling Network would like to support officers in developing future proposals.
Mr Simon Hunt, Chair of Cyclox spoke in support of Agenda Item 18 (Motion
by Councillor Suzanne Bartington) on the basis that If people choose cycling to
make their everyday trips, it benefited everyone in Oxfordshire who lives,
works or visits here, not just those on their bikes, it reduces traffic congestion
and its economic effects. Andrew Gilligan’s Report, which he profoundly hoped
Council would endorse later today as proposed by Cllr Buckley, was aptly titled
“Running out of Road”. Jams result when a section of road or a junction has to
carry more than its maximum capacity. If the traffic volume could be kept to
90% instead of 110% of capacity, then the jams disappear. Relatively few people
in cars or vans would need to switch to using bikes instead. The pollutions -
carbon dioxide; nitrogen oxides; particulates - caused by motor vehicles were
at unacceptably, often illegally, high levels. Two years ago, Council endorsed
Local Transport Plan 4, LTP4, and also the Oxfordshire Cycling Design
Standards. These key documents set out good high-level principles. Since then,
some new-build for cycling has been very good, but too many projects still ended
up with low-standards. He urged the Council to ensure better quality control in
future projects to reduce traffic jams, pollution and poor-quality projects.
Mr Adrian Townsend, spoke in relation to Agenda Item 12 (Growth
Board). He urged the council to take
back it duties and responsibilities of the Growth Board as he believed the
Growth Board was now outdated and environmentally disastrous. He queried the high number of new houses needed
in Oxfordshire to 2021, believing that only 23,000 was needed to sustain
economic growth. He further urged the
council to stand up to Central Government and challenge the need for an Oxford
to Cambridge expressway.
Mr Singh, 001 Taxis spoke in relation to Agenda Item 13 (Motion from Councillor
Eddie Reeves) against ride sharing apps on the basis that 001 believed the
negatives of sharing apps would far outweigh the positives, including a rise in
fares; a lack of local accountability; and app bookings that would limit
services to people who currently booked via telephone or the web or other
methods. He further believed the apps
could pose a safeguarding issue to the public as private hires drivers from
across the UK would come to Oxford. He
further believed that the sharing apps would negate Oxford City becoming zero
emissions by 2020.
Mr Mohammad, Royal Cars spoke in relation to Agenda Item 13 (Motion from
Councillor Eddie Reeves) against ride sharing apps on the basis that the 2 main
taxi companies that provided transport in Oxfordshire did so to a very high
standard with over 50% of cars now being hybrid; access for the disabled, with
20 wheelchair accessible cars and excellent coverage to all parts of the
County. He expressed concern about the safety
to clients if app sharing was introduced.