Minutes:
Council received the following public address:
Mr Scott Urban, Director of Oxfordshire Liveable Streets spoke in support of Agenda Item 18 (Motion by Councillor Suzanne Bartington) He urged the Council to build totally segregated infrastructure for cycles and human-friendly junctions for pedestrians.
Currently, the UK in general had implemented the merging and urging lanes, while the Netherlands had taken the approach ‘build it and they will come'. The differences were remarkable. Oxfordshire Liveable Streets was created to help the county council, continue in the journey toward the latter approach. They planned to give the support needed in the districts for the hard steps that are required to create space for active travel. He invited councillors, to join him on a visit to Waltham Forest in London, where they could see first-hand how the highway authority there had implemented a remarkable scheme to replicate what happens in the Netherlands. We will be writing to cabinet members shortly with some suggested dates.
Mr Robin Tucker, Chair of Oxfordshire Cycling Network in support of Agenda Item 18 (Motion by Councillor Suzanne Bartington) on the basis that is was very important to include health planning in all future infrastructure and planning projects as activity greatly reduced sickness in people. He expressed the importance of onward leadership and support and indicated that Oxfordshire Cycling Network would like to support officers in developing future proposals.
Mr Simon Hunt, Chair of Cyclox spoke in support of Agenda Item 18 (Motion by Councillor Suzanne Bartington) on the basis that If people choose cycling to make their everyday trips, it benefited everyone in Oxfordshire who lives, works or visits here, not just those on their bikes, it reduces traffic congestion and its economic effects. Andrew Gilligan’s Report, which he profoundly hoped Council would endorse later today as proposed by Cllr Buckley, was aptly titled “Running out of Road”. Jams result when a section of road or a junction has to carry more than its maximum capacity. If the traffic volume could be kept to 90% instead of 110% of capacity, then the jams disappear. Relatively few people in cars or vans would need to switch to using bikes instead. The pollutions - carbon dioxide; nitrogen oxides; particulates - caused by motor vehicles were at unacceptably, often illegally, high levels. Two years ago, Council endorsed Local Transport Plan 4, LTP4, and also the Oxfordshire Cycling Design Standards. These key documents set out good high-level principles. Since then, some new-build for cycling has been very good, but too many projects still ended up with low-standards. He urged the Council to ensure better quality control in future projects to reduce traffic jams, pollution and poor-quality projects.
Mr Adrian Townsend, spoke in relation to Agenda Item 12 (Growth Board). He urged the council to take back it duties and responsibilities of the Growth Board as he believed the Growth Board was now outdated and environmentally disastrous. He queried the high number of new houses needed in Oxfordshire to 2021, believing that only 23,000 was needed to sustain economic growth. He further urged the council to stand up to Central Government and challenge the need for an Oxford to Cambridge expressway.
Mr Singh, 001 Taxis spoke in relation to Agenda Item 13 (Motion from Councillor Eddie Reeves) against ride sharing apps on the basis that 001 believed the negatives of sharing apps would far outweigh the positives, including a rise in fares; a lack of local accountability; and app bookings that would limit services to people who currently booked via telephone or the web or other methods. He further believed the apps could pose a safeguarding issue to the public as private hires drivers from across the UK would come to Oxford. He further believed that the sharing apps would negate Oxford City becoming zero emissions by 2020.
Mr Mohammad, Royal Cars spoke in relation to Agenda Item 13 (Motion from Councillor Eddie Reeves) against ride sharing apps on the basis that the 2 main taxi companies that provided transport in Oxfordshire did so to a very high standard with over 50% of cars now being hybrid; access for the disabled, with 20 wheelchair accessible cars and excellent coverage to all parts of the County. He expressed concern about the safety to clients if app sharing was introduced.