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
“Local residents are very pleased that the promised 50mph speed limits
have now been installed on the A40 east of the Cutteslowe
roundabout. However, there is concern that the signs are so placed that motorists
may not see them; the sign just east of the roundabout is so close to the
roundabout that drivers are more likely to be looking ahead at the traffic than
at signs on their left; the small repeater signs are some distance away and
only just before the entrance to the car park for Cutteslowe
Park, which has a short access slip-road anyway. Would it be possible to move
the sign some 10-20 metres east – or could 50mph roundels be painted on the
road to ensure that drivers are aware of the new limit here, when they have
been used to a 70mph one?
I have also been asked if it would be possible to have an ‘advance
speed limit’ sign of some kind – of a type that I have seen elsewhere in the
country – to warn drivers from the east that they are about to reach a new
speed limit area?”
Reply from
the Deputy leader of the Council
“The new 50mph speed limit replaces the national
speed limit that previously applied on this stretch of the A40 Oxford northern
bypass. The 50mph signs by Cutteslowe roundabout are
in exactly the same position as the national speed limit signs, and we are not
aware of any concerns of drivers understanding of the previous limit.
The cost of relocating the signs would be
significant, especially as they are required to be illuminated.
50mph roundels would be a cheaper option but would
still be comparatively expensive to provide and maintain given the traffic
management required for this very busy road.
In view of the costs and that the limit has been
only recently introduced, a more appropriate course of action would be to
monitor the speeds here within the next 3 to 6 months and then to assess
the need for any supplementary measures, subject to the availability of
funding.
There are no approved temporary signs to advise of
new speed limits (other than the specific case of new 30mph limits in
roads that have street lighting and where the speed limit was previously
higher) , and this is not therefore an option here.”
Supplementary question
Can I have
an undertaking that monitoring will be carried out and that you consider at
that time the provision of advisory signing for speed limit ahead as
used elsewhere in the country.
Response
from the Deputy Leader
Yes.
No. My
priority for spending is elsewhere.
Councillor
John Sanders
“To what extent has the
impact to users of the substantial cuts in subsidised bus services in Chipping
Norton and Charlbury been considered by officers and
by the Cabinet Member for Transport and Deputy Leader?”
Response
from the Deputy leader of the Council
“I
regret that I do not know what “substantial cuts” the Member is referring
to. The Member will have received a list of the service changes with the
documentation sent out by the Bus Services Manager and I list the changes here:
Service
23A, Wednesdays and Saturdays. Saturday service withdrawn due to low patronage
Service
50, Monday to Friday service maintained, Sunday service under discussion with Warwicks CC.
Service
243, service incorporated into new E2. Three return journeys reduced to one inward
and two return journeys to better reflect actual passenger usage. Service
increased to run on five days per week from two days per week.
Service
811, increased from one return journey to two return journeys.
Service
C1, timetable maintained.
Service
S3 (Sundays), timetable maintained.
Service
T1, service incorporated into new E1. Reduced from four on demand journeys to
two timetabled journeys.
Service
X8, hourly timetable maintained.
Service
X9, hourly daytime timetable maintained but withdrawn commercially from Ramsden (now covered by new service E2). Friday and
Saturday evening service withdrawn because of low patronage.
I
hope the member will agree from this list that, whilst there are some limited
reductions to reflect low patronage, the network has been maintained.”
Supplementary question from Councillor
Sanders
Contrary to your response I do feel that
substantive cuts have been made and I will discuss that with officers but in the
meantime are you able to confirm that when cuts are made the County Council is
able to guage the impact on users?
Response from the Deputy Leader
I do not consider that cuts to services
have been made. My priority is to maintain services where they are needed and
services have been reduced only where it has been shown that there is little or
no patronage.