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ITEM EX17

EXECUTIVE – 10 DECEMBER 2002

PILOT HOME ZONES

Report by Director of Environmental Services

1. This report summarises the results of the consultations that were carried out during September 2002 in the four potential pilot Home Zones. The reason for selecting these four areas was to trial schemes at different levels of intensity of treatment, so that if the County Council pursues Home Zones in the future, resources can be most effectively used.
2. As was authorized by the 23 July 2002 Executive, the consultation was conducted to measure the level of "in principle" support for introducing a Home Zone in these areas (i.e. people were not given details of possible schemes). The report recommended that, because of the need for Home Zones to have community involvement in their design and use if they are to be successful, the County Council would only move forward where at least 50% of questionnaires were returned and where, of those returned, a minimum of 70% would need to be in favour of a Home Zone being introduced in their streets.
3. It has become apparent that the requirement of 50% return rate was probably too high. As evidence of this, the County Council’s consultants working on the Saxton Road Home Zone scheme conducted an intensive house to house survey which only resulted in a 49% response. Postal surveys alone would be expected to have a lower return rate. In light of this experience, I have come to the view that the required return rate should be lowered to 40%, but that a 70% positive response from those replies received should be maintained.
4. The four areas or streets that were approved for investigation were:

• Hughes Close/Sturt Close – Charlbury

• Silver Street/Golden Street/Barnet Street/Catherine Street/Hertford Street/Essex Street and Percy Street – East Oxford

5. It should be noted that in the 23 July report the approximate cost of the East Oxford scheme was given as £150,000. This should have read £450,000 (1.8km @ £250/m).

Results of the Consultation

6. A consultation pack consisting of a letter explaining the proposal being consulted upon, a leaflet explaining the Home Zone concept and a prepaid return questionnaire was delivered to each property in the four areas. It was considered important that the questionnaires for the four areas be as similar as possible to each other, in order to allow results to be compared between them, but slight variations in the exact questions asked were necessary to reflect the specific nature of each area.
7. A summary of the main results from the consultation is given in Annex 1. A more detailed analysis has been placed in the Members’ Resource Centre. The conclusions drawn from the analysis are presented below for each of the four areas in turn.

Hughes Close/Sturt Close – Charlbury

8. Out of the 93 households in the two closes, (44%) responded and of these 93% were in favour of the scheme. There was a slight difference in the response between the two streets: in Hughes Close, 25 of the 50 households responded; while in Sturt Close, with 43 households, 16 responded. In both areas there was overwhelming support to the idea of introducing a Home Zone from those who replied. The issues of speeding and parking were highlighted by respondents as being the main areas of concern.

Stapleton Road – Headington, Oxford

9. Although the report to Executive of 23 July referred only to Stapleton Road, the area of the consultation was subsequently widened at the request of the Local Member. This was to include streets that might be affected by traffic diverting away from Stapleton Road. These streets are All Saints Road, Barrington Close, Bickerton Road, Cecil Sharp Place, Latimer Road, Lime Walk, Nursery Close and Old Road. In total 448 households were consulted. Two questions were asked: first if people would support a Home Zone for Stapleton Road alone, and second if they would support a Home Zone in Stapleton Road if a 20 mph zone were introduced on the surrounding streets.
10. There was a varied response in the area, both in terms of response rate and support for the either option. Stapleton Road itself had a 78% response rate and of these there was a very high yes vote of 91%. There were much lower levels of return and support for a Home Zone from the other roads, particularly the side roads. There was a greater degree of support from other streets for a Home Zone in Stapleton Road if surrounded by a 20mph zone. However, it is difficult to conclude that a Home Zone within a 20mph zone has widespread support and I would expect to draw this out during more detailed consultation on the specification of the Home Zone at a later date. It is also worth acknowledging that the HAMATS strategy includes proposals for traffic calming measures in the Lime Walk area.
11. As well as the returned questionnaires, Highfield Residents Association organised a survey of its own amongst residents of Lime Walk and Bickerton Road which showed clear opposition to a Stapleton Road Home Zone. Countering this a petition in support of the concept was organized by some of the residents of Stapleton Road and they managed to secure the signatures of 74 of the residents of that street. Copies of both of these have been placed in the Members’ Resource Centre. In acknowledging and welcoming the strong support for a Home Zone by Stapleton Road residents, the Council needs to be mindful of the potential for objection from elsewhere and deal carefully with the next stages.

Inner East Oxford

12. Not all the streets within the area bounded by Howard Street, Magdalen Road and Iffley Road and including Essex Street were listed in the report to the Executive of 23 July. However, the whole area, comprising some 485 households, was consulted with the assistance of the Inner East Neighbourhood Association (IENA) whose contribution is gratefully acknowledged.
13. Discussions in the past, prompted by the City Council’s earlier bid and work carried out by East Oxford Action, led to a focus for the Home Zone consultation being on Hertford Street. As with the Stapleton Road consultation a further question seeking the level of support for a surrounding 20 mph zone was included. This has subsequently proved to be a source of local controversy and confusion as it seems that there was an expectation that the consultation would seek views on a Home Zone covering the whole area, rather than just Hertford Street. This may have led to a lower return and neither I nor the local community would want this to lead to the delay or abandonment of the proposal to develop a pilot scheme in this area.
14. However, what is important, and has been difficult to get across up to now, is that in order to qualify for funding under the Council’s Home Zone programme (within the Community Safety Transport section of the Transport Capital Programme) there would need to be an acceptance locally of a level of treatment in part of the area that meets the Government’s and therefore the County Council’s definition of a Home Zone. The main problem at the present time is that the Government has yet to publish its Home Zone guidelines. These are expected in the Spring. What is almost certain however is that a Home Zone will be more than merely a 20mph zone.
15. The overall response was a 41% return and, of those, 78% would support just a Hertford Street Home Zone while 85% of responses were in favour when asked if they would support the introduction of a surrounding 20mph with the Home Zone in Hertford Street. Two issues caused residents more concern and these were parking and speeding. Perhaps surprisingly the residents of Hertford Street itself were less enthusiastic about the idea than the area as a whole, although even here 70% supported a Home Zone with a 20mph zone surrounding it.

West/East/North/South and Centre Streets – Grimsbury, Banbury

16. In total 345 households were consulted in this area. Only a section of West Street was surveyed, that between North and South Streets. Overall there was a 34% return rate and, while 83% said there were traffic problems in the area, only 62% of those returned supported the introduction of a Home Zone. This falls short on both the level of return and the level of positive responses required. The consultation identified issues of traffic volume and speed as the main concern and, despite a greater degree of support for a Home Zone in West Street (73% from 40% returns), it may be preferable to leave these issues to be addressed by the Grimsbury Traffic Study which is proposed as a follow-on to the Banbury ITS work. Indeed, funding traffic management measures through the ITS element of the Transport Capital Programme may be more forthcoming and timely than through the pilot Home Zone programme.
17. Following representations made by Councillor Sandra Mold to the Executive in July regarding the suitability of the area proposed for zoning in Banbury, Cherwell District Council have confirmed their support for the Grimsbury area as the most suitable area in Banbury for treatment

Moving Forward

18. The consultation process has been successful in identifying three of the four areas as potential pilot Home Zones. The strongest support came from Charlbury followed by Inner East Oxford and then Stapleton Road. I therefore propose that work on the next stage, setting up local liaison arrangements and carrying out more detailed analysis of the areas before embarking on design work, should commence in Charlbury this financial year and be followed in 2003/04 by Inner East Oxford. As noted earlier, there are some outstanding issues in the Stapleton Road area and we may learn some lessons from the first two schemes which will assist in resolving them.
19. In Annex 2 a set of processes and procedures for establishing a Home Zone developed from our experience with Saxton Road is outlined. Stages one and two have been completed and it is envisaged that stages three to eleven will take about twelve months to work through for each scheme.
20. Subject to funding availability a timetable for the programme is envisaged as:

	2002/03	2003/04	2004/05	2005/06	2006/07
Charlbury	Commence local liaison and identify issues and options.	Detailed design and consultation - commence implementation.	Complete implementation.
Inner East Oxford		Commence local liaison and identify issues and options.	Detailed design and consultation - commence implementation.	Complete implehmentation.
Stapleton Road			Commence local liaison and identify issues and options.	Detailed design and consultation - commence implementation.	Complete implementation.

21. Progress would not be as fast with this programme as was previously envisaged and, even with the completion of the Saxton Road scheme, could mean that the Local Transport Plan target of having 5 Home Zones in place by 2006 would not be met. The detailed requirements for designating Home Zones are not yet known. This may require the publication of Orders similar to Traffic Regulation Orders. If this is the case then the time taken to complete implementation may need to be extended to accommodate the required statutory processes.

Update on Saxton Road Home Zone

22. Since 19 February 2002 Executive, the consultants MVA Limited, in association with architects Building Design Partnership, have been appointed to carry out the project management and public consultation elements of the project. So far good progress on developing the Saxton Road scheme has been made. As recommended, a Steering Group has been set up and has been holding monthly progress meetings chaired by Councillor Fawcett, as local councillor, and made up of representatives of the County and District Councils, the Police, Vale Housing Association, Town Council representatives and a number of residents of Saxton Road.
23. The Saxton Road scheme has been broken into three stages of consultation. The first stage was carried out in mid June and comprised a household survey to highlight problems that exist in the street from which ideas for improvements could be identified. This information was used to establish the issues that were dealt within Home Zone Workshops, held at the end of July and beginning of August. The attendance at the Workshops was somewhat disappointing but even so it was a valuable exercise from the perspective of the residents and the consultants.
24. The final stage of the consultation was a public exhibition running from 10 to 12 October held in Saxton Road. The purpose of this exhibition was to show the residents a number of options that have been developed out of the ideas that had been raised in the first two stages of consultation. Attendance at this exhibition was much higher and comments were received on the options display. From these a final scheme will be developed. A preliminary plan showing the preferred option will be on display at the meeting. Implementation is expected to begin in the Spring of 2003.

Financial and Staff Implications

25. Experience of the emerging potential costs of the Saxton Road scheme, funded by a specific grant from Government, has led me to the view that the present indicative allocations in the Transport Capital Programme (Community Safety Transport budget) for the next 3 years are likely to be inadequate. Whilst at present it is difficult to anticipate total costs of the three proposed pilot Home Zone schemes, as this will depend on the extent and level of treatment of each scheme, I would now expect the capital costs to be somewhere between £750k and £850k over approximately 4 years. This would require adjustments to the latter stages of the 3 year programme and indicative funding allocation. The funding identified for 2003/04 (£150k) is however considered to be sufficient to make progress on the detailed design and consultation on the first two schemes and commence implementation in Charlbury.
26. I do not expect to be able to meet the requirements for consultation and design using existing staff resources and so would commission consultants. There will be a need however to manage the consultants work and provide the usual client officer support at public consultation events etc. All the consultation, design and implementation costs are chargeable to the capital programme.

RECOMMENDATIONS

27. The Executive is RECOMMENDED to:

1. approve the Hughes Close/Sturt Close, Charlbury; Stapleton Road, Headington, Oxford; and Inner East Oxford areas to be taken forward as pilot Home Zones in accordance with the report;
2. authorise the Director of Environmental Services to commence the next stages of these schemes in accordance with the schedule of processes and procedures in Annex 2;
3. note that the traffic issues in West Street, Grimsbury, Banbury will be investigated as part of the ongoing Banbury ITS work; and
4. note the progress of work on the Saxton Road, Abingdon Home Zone.

DAVID YOUNG
Director of Environmental Services

Background papers: Pilot Home Zones: Initial Consultation, Analysis of Responses

Contact Officer: Ben Fryer Tel: Oxford 810451, Roger O’Neill Tel: Oxford 815659

November 2002

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