Issue - meetings

Forward Plan Ref: 2022/145

Contact: Geoff Barrell, Developer Schemes Coordinator and 20 Limits Project Manager.

Report by Corporate Director Environment & Place (CMDHM 9).

To consider responses received to a statutory consultation on the proposed introduction of 20mph and 30mph speed limits in Abingdon.

The Cabinet Member for Highway Management APPROVED the proposed introduction of 20mph and 30mph speed limits in Abingdon as advertised but with subsequent minor relaxations as outlined in paragraph 19, and providing that the text headed “Drayton Road” in the table at paragraph 19 be removed and replaced with “The 20mph limit is proposed to start immediately south of Mill Road”.

The report presented responses received to a statutory consultation on the proposed introduction of 20mph and 30mph speed limits in Abingdon as shown in Annex 1 of the report.

These proposals had previously been considered by the Chair in November 2022 and February 2023, but decision was deferred due to ongoing concerns regarding the schemes adherence to the Council’s 20mph policy and concerns expressed by bus operators.

Following a comprehensive review of the proposals by the Council, bus operators, and representatives of active travel, an amended proposal was agreed.

The scheme now being presented was a relaxation of the original proposals thus there was no requirement to undertake a new, formal consultation. The Chair thanked everyone who had contributed to discussions since the deferral in February.

The Chair invited speakers to address the meeting and responded to the points raised.

The Chair queried whether the bus companies, which had rejected this scheme in February, were now content with the proposals. Officers confirmed that extensive engagement with bus companies had been undertaken and agreement by all parties on the scheme presented had now been achieved

The Cabinet Member for Highway Management APPROVED the proposed introduction of 20mph and 30mph speed limits in Abingdon as advertised but with subsequent minor relaxations as outlined in paragraph 19, and providing that the text headed “Drayton Road” in the table at paragraph 19 be removed and replaced with “The 20mph limit is proposed to start immediately south of Mill Road”.

Forward Plan Ref: 2022/145

Contact: Geoff Barrell, Principal Engineer, 20mph speed limit project.

Report by Corporate Director Environment & Place (CMDHM 12).

This report presents responses received to a statutory consultation on the proposed introduction of 20mph and 30mph speed limits in Abingdon.

The Cabinet Member for Highway Management AGREED to defer the proposed introduction of 20mph and 30mph speed limits in Abingdon for the next meeting, 23 March 2023, to enable further consultation on this issue.  

This report presented responses received to a statutory consultation on the proposed induction of 20mph and 30mph speed limits in Abingdon. This was a revised report, having been previously presented to and subsequently deferred by the Cabinet Member for Highway Management at the 17 November 2022 meeting.

The Chair invited speakers to address the meeting and responded to the points made in their statements.

The Chair reiterated the Council’s commitment to the benefits of active travel, the hierarchy of road users and road safety. The Council was committed to delivering the benefits of the 20 is plenty campaign. 

The Chair thanked bus services for their engagement with and responses to the consultation but was dismayed to have received a late submission on the morning of the meeting from the Oxford Bus Company. This submission expressed discontent with the proposed speed limits in Abingdon and stated that, if agreed, they would cause a reduction in bus services. The letter included a detailed list of service reductions that would ensue following adoption of this plan. 

The Chair expressed disappointment that they were asked to factor in this information hours before the decision was due to be made. Nevertheless, the submission was relevant for decision making. The Chair was mindful of putting the Council in a position which would subject it to negative consequences and associated publicity.

While the Chair did not question the expertise of the bus companies, they believed the bus companies’ submissions were lacking evidence.

The Chair felt it would be irresponsible to approve this proposal given the feedback from Oxford Bus Company and informed the meeting that he would defer a decision on this matter.

The conditions of this deferral were:

·       further serious engagement with bus companies

·       submission of evidence from bus companies so the decision could be made based on evidence

·       deferral to 23 March 2023 meeting.

The Cabinet Member for Highway Management DEFERRED the proposed introduction of 20mph and 30mph speed limits in Abingdon as advertised, pending further discussions to assess the acceptability of reduced proposals that meet the needs of all parties.

Forward Plan Ref: 2022/145

Contact: Geoff Barrell, Principal Officer – 20mph programme implementation, 07392 318869

Report by Corporate Director Environment & Place (CMDHM5)

This report presents responses received to a statutory consultation on the proposed introduction of 20mph and 30mph speed limits in Abingdon.

The Cabinet Member for Highway Management is RECOMMENDED to approve the proposed introduction of 20mph and 30mph speed limits as amended to accommodate the concerns of bus operators and OCC’s Public Transport Development Team.

The Cabinet Member for Highway Management agreed to defer a decision on the proposed introduction of 20mph and 30mph speed limits in order to discuss a way forward.

The Cabinet Member received a report presenting responses received to a statutory consultation on the proposed introduction of 20mph and 30mph speed limits in Abingdon.

Cllr Andrew Gant invited the speakers to address the meeting and read out statements received (as per Appendix 1 of the minutes) and responded to issues and comments made by each speaker.

Councillor Gant noted that the scheme consulted upon was not the same as the scheme presented here.  The map on Page 80 still showed the original proposals and the speakers addressed those.

He noted the concerns expressed by bus companies that the proposals would result in longer times and reduced services.  However, he stated that there were other constraints on speed – not just the speed limit.  He wanted to consider this issue further.

The Council had adopted a policy that 20 mph should be the default and this decision was supposed to be about the implementation of that.

Councillor Gant believed that major changes had been made since the consultation.  He was not certain that a decision taken at this meeting would be robust.

DECISION

The Cabinet Member for Highway Management agreed to defer a decision on the proposed introduction of 20mph and 30mph speed limits in order to discuss a way forward.