Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Sally Povolotsky, Councillor Kieron Mallon and Councillor Jane Murphy.

Report by Corporate Director of Environment & Place (PSC4)

At its last Meeting, the Committee requested to consider this report prior to its consideration by Cabinet at its meeting on 19 October 2021.

The Cabinet at its Meeting on the 19 October will:

·            Provide any comments on the proposed Local Transport and Connectivity Plan (LTCP) document and supporting strategies.

·            Endorse the content of the LTCP document, and the supporting strategies as the basis for public consultation, commencing in November 2021 for a period of 6 weeks, and

·            Delegate the decision on the final LTCP document, including graphical format to the Corporate Director for Environment and Place in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Highways Management and Cabinet Member for Travel and Development Strategy.

The Committee is RECOMMENDED to consider the Cabinet report attached with its associated Annexes.

At its last Meeting, the Committee had requested to consider the Local Transport and Connectivity Plan report prior to its consideration by Cabinet at its meeting on 19 October 2021.

John Disley, Infrastructure Strategy & Policy Manager in introducing the report, explained that the report provided an update on the Local Transport and Connectivity Plan, and specifically, it outlined the context and key points included in the draft LTCP Document, on which it was proposed to undertake public consultation. It also included context about the supporting data (Annex 2), draft Freight and Logistics Strategy (Annex 3), draft Innovation Framework (Annex 4), draft Active and Healthy Travel Strategy (Annex 5), Bus Service Improvement Plan and the Integrated Sustainability Appraisal (Annex 6). It was proposed that the documents were all endorsed for public consultation commencing in November 2021.

Members made the following points during discussion:

·            Members felt that there should be more detail regarding of how/where freight consolidation would work.

·            Members queried the scale and ambition of the targets and whether thinking had been done around cause and effect.

·            The Committee indicated that it would like to see how officers were going to consult on such a large range of policies, what questions were going to be asked, what percentage of residents they hoped to reach whether any work had been carried out around reaching the right people.  A suggestion was made that officers could use representative sampling for public consultation and use of Citizens Panels.

·            Members would like to see more detail on how targets would be monitored and whether targets might need to be revised in the context of COP26.

·            Members requested that Scrutiny be added to timeline for future engagement.  Officers agreed for this to be done.

·            Members queried how scrutiny could feed into Oxford Transport Strategy.

·            Members queried how LTCP and OP2050 fit together, and which took precedent.

·            Members queried how officers would take account of policy to deliver the targets through planning applications.

·            Members queried why the KPI’s did not include car ownership, car club miles, share of different transport modes or carbon budgeting. Officers gave an undertaking to adding.

Following discussion, the Committee agreed to forward the following points to Cabinet for consideration:

·            The Committee felt that there should be further detail in the plan in relation to freight.

·            The Committee felt that the policies outlined should have an evidence base which linked cause and effect of how each policy was predicted to cause car-use reduction in line with the targets. The Committee also wished to see assurance in the document regarding monitoring progress against the targets.

·            The Committee expressed concern about how the public were going to be consulted; how the Cabinet were going to consult with the right people; whether a target had been set for how many residents they hoped to reach; whether that target had been benchmarked and what questions were going to be asked to cover such a wide range of policies.  The Committee requested to see the consultation  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6/21

Report by Corporate Director of Environment & Place (PSC5)

At its last Meeting, the Committee requested to consider this report prior to its consideration by Cabinet at its meeting on 19 October 2021.

The Cabinet at its Meeting on the 19 October will:

·                Endorse the Bus Service Improvement Plan, including the bidding list of schemes and other interventions proposed for inclusion in the document, to be submitted to Government by the end of October2021, subject to further refinement before submission.

·                Support the increased priority and investment to promote buses and the need for much closer joint working required in the forthcoming Enhanced Partnership, recognising the requirements for increased Council staffing and budget to support this area.

·                Delegate authority to the Corporate Director to make any necessary changes to the BSIP in consultation with the Cabinet member, prior to submission at the end of October.

The Committee is RECOMMENDED to consider the Cabinet report  attached with its associated Annexes.

At its last Meeting, the Committee had requested to consider the National Bus Strategy – Bus Service Improvement Plan report prior to its consideration by Cabinet at its meeting on 19 October 2021.

The Cabinet at its Meeting on the 19 October would:

·                Endorse the Bus Service Improvement Plan, including the bidding list of schemes and other interventions proposed for inclusion in the document, to be submitted to Government by the end of October 2021, subject to further refinement before submission.

·                Support the increased priority and investment to promote buses and the need for much closer joint working required in the forthcoming Enhanced Partnership, recognising the requirements for increased Council staffing and budget to support this area.

·                Delegate authority to the Corporate Director to make any necessary changes to the BSIP in consultation with the Cabinet member, prior to submission at the end of October.

John Disley, explained that the report provided an update on the Bus Service Improvement Plan which was being prepared for submission to Cabinet at the end of October.  This was the Council’s response to the requirements set out in the National Bus Strategy, with the aim of significantly enhancing the Oxfordshire bus offer, and addressing the main issues affecting passenger transport by bus in Oxfordshire, which would contribute significantly to Administration priorities for transport, carbon reduction and social inclusion.   The report also identified an indicative bid profile for the funding element of the BSIP document to be presented in late October, which illustrated the proposed capital funded projects (up to nine schemes directly aimed at supporting bus travel, along with other measures) alongside revenue funded elements (including up to six new rural bus services) of the Bid to Government. Annex 1 to the report, which was still being worked on set out progress to date on the various elements of the Bus Service Improvement Plan.

In general, there was a need to get buses moving much more quickly.  There was a significant emphasis on capital to improve services and they were currently looking at how they could bring services into rural areas and how there could be an effective commercial network.

Following discussion, the Committee agreed to forward the following points to Cabinet for consideration:

·                The Committee felt that more detail needed to be added around Bus Transport outside of the City, including Transport Hubs and how people would get to the Transport Hubs and consideration should been given to single ticketing by operators.

·                The Committee indicated that they would like the issue of Youth Fares considered, including the issue a loan system to enable parents to afford passes.

·                The Committee queried why there had not been enough of a review of the available evidence of what leads to a reduction of congestion – including, reducing the capacity of car parking and road space, road pricing and parking pricing and asked the Cabinet to consider asking officer to carry out a literature review of what reduces car use.

·               The Committee felt that lessons could be  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7/21

Report by Corporate Director of Environment & Place (PSC6)

At its last Meeting, the Committee requested to consider this report prior to its consideration by Cabinet at its meeting on 19 October 2021.

The Cabinet at its Meeting on the 19 October will:

·            Endorse the proposed approach to implementing 20mph speed restrictions across Oxfordshire which better reflects local requirements and aspirations.

·            Approve the update of the County Council’s Speed Limit Policy statement as attached at ANNEX A.

·            Support the criteria for consideration of 20mph at ANNEX B and the Funding Prioritisation Framework at ANNEX C to manage funding requests and the overall programme.

The Committee is RECOMMENDED to consider the Cabinet report attached with its associated Annexes.

At its last Meeting, the Committee had requested to consider the report on20mph Policy and New Approach prior to its consideration by Cabinet at its meeting on 19 October 2021.

The Cabinet at its Meeting on the 19 October would:

·            Endorse the proposed approach to implementing 20mph speed restrictions across Oxfordshire which better reflects local requirements and aspirations.

·            Approve the update of the County Council’s Speed Limit Policy statement.

·            Support the criteria for consideration of 20mph at and the Funding Prioritisation Framework to manage funding requests and the overall programme.

Paul Fermer, Assistant Director Community Operations introduced the report and explained that the report requested cabinet approval of a new countywide 20mph speed restriction approach in areas that had traditionally mainly been 30mph limits.  To accommodate this change there was a requirement for a new 20mph speed policy and the development of a new procedure to aid their implementation. 

Oxfordshire already had several roads that are 20mph, however, the current policy and approach meant that progress was slow, ad-hoc, and could be costly or cost prohibitive for some communities.  About 10% of Oxfordshire’s previously 30mph limits had been converted to 20mph over the years. If the proposed policy and new approach was adopted then, subject to funding and local opinion, it was considered that about 85% could have a 20mph speed restriction implemented. 

The Development of the Scheme would be through a Steering Group, comprising 3 Cabinet Members, 20 is Plenty Group and TVPC.

Following discussion, the Committee agreed to forward the following points to Cabinet for consideration:

The Committee welcomed the report but expressed concern over how priority amongst parishes would be decided and requested that specific mention was made in the Plan regarding the unique position of Oxford City not having parishes.  Concern was also expressed about 30 mph schemes being put in place in the meantime which would then be quickly replaced by 20 mph schemes and regarding police enforcement.