Agenda, decisions and minutes

Councillor Nick Hards had given notice of the following questions:

“Would the Cabinet Member for the Environment please supply an update on the progress with regard to the civil enforcement of parking across the county? I am particularly interested in South Oxfordshire but would also appreciate having this information for Cherwell, Vale of White Horse and West Oxfordshire Districts.”

The Cabinet Member for Environment replied:

“West Oxfordshire adopted Civil Parking Enforcement (CPE) in 2010. CPE requires both on street and off street parking to be included and therefore the County are required to work with the District Councils to implement a solution. South Oxfordshire have recently expressed a strong interest in also adopting Civil Parking Enforcement and Vale of White Horse and Cherwell District councils have subsequently expressed an informal interest in pursuing CPE depending on a proposal demonstrating that there is a business case to do so. The Council’s previous modelling of CPE has demonstrated that it would make a significant loss. WODC currently report a loss of approximately £250k per year which would substantiate the accuracy of previous modelling. There would be a significant saving in implementing and operating CPE across all 3 districts at the same time and therefore the Council officers from each authority are working closely to develop a proposal to bring to each authorities respective Cabinets later this year. The process for implementing CPE is quite lengthy and as such would take approximately 9-12 months following endorsement from each authority to formally introduce enforcement.”

Councillor Hards

“Is Oxfordshire County Council willing to consider residents’ parking schemes in South Oxfordshire? In the absence of a scheme, my predecessor arranged for a section of Station Road Didcot to be made No Entry Except for Access, but this arrangement is proving ineffective and is causing conflict, with residents being abused by people who flout the restriction and insist on parking all day while they go to work.”

The Cabinet Member for Environment replied:

“The County has previously stated that it would not seek to extend residents’ parking schemes to areas without Civil Parking Enforcement as without regular enforcement they typically prove to be ineffective and do not met the expectations of householders. Parking Enforcement is understandably not a high priority for the police who currently enforce within South Oxfordshire.

The exception has been areas close to Town Centres where very small schemes have been implemented to manage on street, limited time, pay & display parking to support the retail centres for which residents can purchase a permit. The Council has adopted limited powers to enforce these pay & display zones. Such schemes tend to only be effective where a turnover of parking takes place to balance the needs of residents and other parking and is therefore unlikely to be suited to the situation that Cllr Hards refers.

The County would therefore consider residents’ parking zones following implementation of CPE, but as is the case in Oxford would expect such schemes to be self-financing.”

The Cabinet Member asked officers to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 33/14

Forward Plan Ref: 2014/032

Contact: Jim Daughton, Service Manager – Delivery Tel: (01865) 323364

Report by Deputy Director for Environment & Economy – Commercial & Delivery (CMDE4).

The Cabinet Member considered objections received to a formal consultation on proposals to amend parking restrictions in several streets in central Headington.

City Councillor Altaf-Khan generally welcomed the proposals which he considered would go some way to addressing problems in the area but felt the CPZ would benefit from a full review. He sought clarification regarding arrangements for 45 Osler Road insofar as the report had referred to retention of current arrangements whereas the plans attached to the report indicated otherwise and raised the suitability of Osler Road for use by buses, which he suggested would be better using Headley Way.  He urged that the new flats development in All Saints Road should not be included in the controlled parking zone.

The Cabinet Member confirmed that there was little the County Council could do when faced with the terms of a planning permission granted by another authority.

Mr Tole agreed that the zone warranted a full review but that the County Council currently lacked the resources to do that and consequently only minor changes could be undertaken.  He confirmed with regard to:

·                      All Saints Road – that all new properties would be excluded from the CPZ as part of the planning permission.

·                      Osler Road - the proposal had originally been to introduce double yellow lines at the request of the residents and that had been reflected in the consultation plans.  However, they had since changed their minds and officers had been happy to recommend that the Cabinet Member accede to their request.

·                      Buses – he was aware that this remained a local issue and proposals to rebuild the road would help but that was not an issue covered by this report.

Responding to the Cabinet Member he undertook to explore the possibility of extending the existing shared use bays in All Saints Road and discuss the need for provision for blue badge spaces with the local Church.

Having regard to the arguments and options set out in the documentation before him and the representations made to him the Cabinet Member for Environment confirmed his decision as follows:

to approve the proposed parking restrictions for the Headington area as advertised and amended as described in this report ie excluding the proposed changes to parking outside 43/45 Osler Road and the proposed parking bay on New High Street adjacent to the church. 

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Cabinet Member for Environment

…………………………………………2014

Forward Plan Ref: 2014/031

Contact: Jim Daughton, Service Manager – Delivery Tel: (01865) 323364

Report by Deputy Director for Environment & Economy – Commercial & Delivery (CMDE5).

The Cabinet Member for Environment considered objections received to a formal consultation on proposals to introduce two new disabled persons’ parking places in Charlbury and noted comments in support of the proposals received from Amanda Epps a resident of Charlbury and County Councillor Rodney Rose the local member.  Both had been tabled with the published addenda.

David Moyes a resident of Browns Lane, Charlbury for 15 years objected to the proposal to install a space outside the Co-operative supermarket. The parking situation in this area of Charlbury had steadily worsened in recent years due in part to the opening of the Co-operative supermarket which had created a high demand for on-street parking from early morning into the evening 7 days a week which took up spaces previously used by residents despite space available in the shop car park and also to parking restrictions on Dyers Hill. Introduced to solve commuter parking issues they had displaced that problem elsewhere with commuters choosing to park for free rather than pay at the station car park where there was often space available. The installation of the current disabled parking space in Pooles Lane, seemingly positioned with no logical thought had also removed a space regularly used by residents. That space seemed rarely to be used by disabled motorists but was often used by able bodied motorists.  This pressure on parking meant that residents were often unable to park near their homes and he was loathe to use the Co-op car park because of vandalism issues. He urged that the interests of local residents be taken into account and that this proposal, certainly in its present form, not proceed while also undertaking a review of the need for the current disabled persons parking space in Pooles Lane.

Debbie Reeves also a resident Browns Lane for 15 years endorsed the comments of the previous speaker. She questioned the view of county officers that the new disabled parking bay addressed the needs of the more disabled users of the supermarket as the road outside the Co-op was narrow, busy with fast moving traffic and not conducive to use by severely disabled people. She referred to problems experienced by a disabled driver in her family, who had been unable to get out of his car in that space on that road. That appeared to be a common difficulty for disabled people who did not walk well, used two sticks and needed to open their car door at full width which presented a risk of falling between car and the kerb.  All of this took a great deal of time and under severe pressure from other vehicles using that road and personal stress from blocking other vehicles or even pedestrians on a narrow pavement. None of that seemed fair or safe for a disabled person.  Therefore, the space under consideration was only useful for disabled people who moved relatively well. This spot might be nearer the entrance, but it wasn’t fit for the purpose that people seem  ...  view the full minutes text for item 36/14

Forward Plan Ref: 2014/062

Contact: Tom Flanagan, Service Manager – Planning, Environment & Transport Policy Tel: (01865) 815691

Report by Interim Deputy Director for Environment & Economy – Strategy & Infrastructure Planning (CMDE6).

The Cabinet Member for Environment considered (CMDE6) a proposal to dissolve the Partnership in favour of informal coordinated working arrangements.

The Cabinet Member referred to the successful work undertaken by the Partnership.

Having regard to the arguments and options set out in the documentation before him the Cabinet Member for Environment confirmed his decision as follows:

(a)         to approve the dissolution of the Oxfordshire Waste Partnership in line with the termination date notified by the Host Authority;

(b)         to approve the proposed informal coordinated working arrangements to progress work between the County Council as Waste Disposal Authority and the Districts/City Councils as Waste Collection Authorities.

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Cabinet Member for Environment

…………………………………………2014