Issue - meetings

Forward Plan Ref: 2020/180

Contact: Tim Shickle, Group Manager – Traffic & Road Safety Tel: 07920 591545 / Ryan Moore, Senior Engineer (Road Agreements Team – S&V) Tel: 07557 082568

Report by Corporate Director Environment & Place (CMDHM8).

At the former Cabinet Member  for Environment delegated decisions meeting on 19 November 2020, the Cabinet Member  approved proposals for a 20mph speed limit as shown at Annex 1 to the report CMDHM8 but  - taking note of representations made by residents objecting to or raising concerns  about  the traffic calming measures as shown at Annex 2 to the report CMDHM8 -  asked officers to investigate alternative provision of raised tables at junctions on the route (in addition to the 2 proposed at the Churchill Road junctions), namely at Morrells Close with Brasenose Road and possibly Icknield way and Oxford Crescent.. The above proposals as shown at Annex 1 & 2 were put forward as part of the approved residential development at Great Western Park and, if approved, would be funded by developers.

Following the Cabinet Member’s decision on 19 November, officers requested the developers to explore this alternative design and this report now sets out the original design details along with the results of the further discussions with the developer on the alternative scheme.

The Cabinet Member for Highways Management is RECOMMENDED to approve the traffic calming measures in Brasenose Road and Slade Road as originally advertised between 30 September and 30 October 2020 and as shown at Annex 2 to the report CMDHM8.

Approved

The former Cabinet Member  for Environment on 19 November 2020  had approved proposals for a 20mph speed limit but, having taken note of representations made by residents objecting to or raising concerns  about  the traffic calming measures, had asked officers to investigate alternative provision of raised tables at junctions on the route (in addition to the 2 proposed at the Churchill Road junctions), namely at Morrells Close with Brasenose Road and possibly Icknield way and Oxford Crescent.. The proposals had been put forward as part of the approved residential development at Great Western Park and, if approved, would be funded by developers.

Following the Cabinet Member’s decision on 19 November, officers requested the developers to explore this alternative design and the report now before the Cabinet Member for Highways Management set out the original design details along with the results of further discussions with the developer on the alternative scheme.

Speaking against the proposals Dawn Elsley highlighted that no previous accidentshad occurred in Slade Road/Brasenose Road and no traffic surveys had taken place in Slade Rd/Brasenose Rd either before the Great Western Park estate was built or since to measure whether the volume of traffic had increased or indeed decreased.  She considered that to be a fundamental and necessary measurement which should have been undertaken to assess whether a calming system needed to be installed. However, she considered that these proposed road calming measures were being installed without the benefit of sound data on road traffic history when it might actually be the case that the road had less traffic than before the GWP development. As the prohibitive cost of installing an improved road calming scheme (raised junctions only) had been mentioned she suggested that current road traffic levels should be measured, simple 20pmh signs installed and then measured again to establish their effect. That would allow for an informed decision to be made regarding next steps for road calming measures and potentially be cost saving?  Bedroom & lounge windows in their property were situated at the front of the house and noise from braking and accelerating vehicles between cushions would significantly increase noise and air pollution. A speed cushion would present another obstacle to negotiate when reversing on to or reversing out from their driveway over their dropped kerb causing a potential safety issue. On investigation, there appeared to be no specific criteria to the positioning of cushions in a road and that that this was solely an engineer’s decision. Therefore, they were requesting that the speed cushion proposed outside their property be moved to along the road where driveway access would not be affected or where residents had expressed support for the calming scheme. They had suggested additional raised junctions along the length of Brasenose /Slade Road (sited at Oxford Crescent/Icknield Close/Churchill Road) but had been advised that the cost of doing that was too high.   The proposal had caused major conflict between their immediate neighbour and neighbours opposite as they were all opposed to having speed cushions  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8