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 John Howson
“Will the Cabinet member consider
reviewing with coach operators and the City Council where tourist coaches could
be encouraged to drop passengers once such services restart, and specifically
away from St Giles with its proximity to a large number of bus stops, perhaps
to Speedwell Street with its easy access to Christ Church Meadow and the
'dreaming spires' of Oxford?”
Cabinet Member for Environment
. “A joint
Oxfordshire County Council and Oxford City Council working group was
established in 2019 to look holistically at coach strategy for Oxford. A strand
of this work focussing on immediate needs reviewed the coach drop off/pick up
in Oxford and the pressures placed on St. Giles. A comprehensive survey of
alternative pick up and drop off locations for coaches was completed and in
consultation with bus operators it was identified that stop S4 on Speedwell
Street could be used as an alternative drop off/pick up location in order to
relieve pressure on the St. Giles area. Officers are currently in the final
stages investigating the appropriate legal means by which to implement this proposal
with the aim to have the work completed in time for late summer should tourist
numbers increase later in the season
As part of work to support shops and business to start re-opening, the St.
Giles area improvements for cycling and pedestrian facilities may also help
encourage coaches away from this area.”
Councillor
Howson
“Thank you for the response. Might it now be possible to open up a dialogue with the City Council to explore the possibility of using the car park in Oxpens if the Speedwell Street change does go ahead for layovers for bus drivers with access through the bus gates if required?”
Cabinet
Member for Environment
“That
seems an eminently sensible suggestion pending any development of the site and I
will take that issue up with the City Council.”
Councillor
John Sanders
“The Government is providing funds for fast tracking safe
travel in response to the Covid-19 Pandemic. Will the Cabinet
Member please advise to what extent the plans to spend this money have been
updated since she published the document "Tranche 1 Priorities for
Inclusion in DFT Submission", and in particular the proposed £50,000 for
the introduction of modal filters in residential streets in my division?”
Cabinet Member for Environment
Oxfordshire
has been allocated £597,000 as tranche 1 of the Government’s Emergency Active
Travel Fund. Our plans for spending that have been set out in
correspondence provided to councillors and also in recent press releases.
Officers continue to work very hard to bring forward those measures within the
timescales outlined by Government; work is required to have started within four
weeks and have been completed within eight weeks. Councillors will be
kept updated on works that impact on their division, including the measures in
Councillor Sanders’ division. In addition a dedicated webpage has been
established which will include regular updates on progress; https://www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/residents/roads-and-transport/active-travel
We are
currently awaiting further information regarding tranche 2. The
indicative tranche 2 allocation for Oxfordshire is £2,388,000.
Councillor Sanders
“Is there anything more that councillors and residents can do to get all these improvements done having regard to the tight timetables involved?”
Cabinet Member for Environment
“Nothing really as officers are aware of all requests and there are a lot of them. They will be considering these with a view to achieving value for money and an equitable spread county wide. With regard to Tranche 2 we will in a position to provide more answers when we have the information from government.”