Any county councillor may, by giving notice to the Proper Officer by 9 am two working days before the meeting, ask a question on any matter in respect of the Cabinet Member’s delegated powers.

The number of questions which may be asked by any councillor at any one meeting is limited to two (or one question with notice and a supplementary question at the meeting) and the time for questions will be limited to 30 minutes in total. As with questions at Council, any questions which remain unanswered at the end of this item will receive a written response.

Questions submitted prior to the agenda being despatched are shown below and will be the subject of a response from the appropriate Cabinet Member or such other councillor or officer as is determined by the Cabinet Member, and shall not be the subject of further debate at this meeting. Questions received after the despatch of the agenda, but before the deadline, will be shown on the Schedule of Addenda circulated at the meeting, together with any written response which is available at that time.

Councillor John Howson

“There are currently seven schools educating children of secondary school age within my Division. They may be joined, at least temporarily, by an eighth in September 2019. In total these schools educate more than 4,500 young people. The Marston Ferry Road is an important part of the daily journeys of many pupils. 

Will the Cabinet member ask officers to undertake a full review of current arrangements between the Banbury Road junction and the river Cherwell bridge to ensure that all possible safety measures are in place. Specifically, there is a VAR sign on the west bound carriageway; could officers be asked to advise on installing such a VAR sign on the east bound carriageway, especially if the Swan School opens in temporary premises in 2019 off the eastern end of the Marston Ferry Road.”

Reply from the Cabinet Member for Environment

“With the development of the Swan School and associated activity officers will continue to monitor the impact of traffic movements on the Marston Ferry road and instruct further survey work as required. 

In addition, the recent announcement of the Growth Deal funding includes consideration of the approach to Banbury Road from Marston Ferry Road as part of a wider policy objective to make travel more accessible, safer and convenient for pedestrian, cycle and public transport users. The scheme is required to be delivered by March 2023.

With regard to the installation of a new Vehicle Activated Sign [VAS], we don’t currently have a budget for installing or maintaining these signs, however if funding were made available from other sources e.g. through a community initiative or developer contribution we could consider it further if it met the criteria to justify installation. 

DfT guidance indicates that VAS should be considered only: -

·                                 where there is a collision problem at the site

·                                 and the collisions are associated with inappropriate speeds

At present based on those criteria there is no justification for installing a sign on the east bound carriageway of the Marston Ferry road.  The VAS installed on the west carriageway was installed several years ago [2005] as a trial site with what was then a new type of sign.  It was not subject to the same criteria applied today.

There are additional criteria which are considered in Oxfordshire but they don’t currently apply on this road.

Traffic flows and speed will remain under review during and after the development of the new school.”

Supplementary by Councillor Howson

“There are currently 2 VAS in my division on Kingston Road one of which at the northern end is of great value whereas the other at the southern end where traffic is already slowing down less so.  Would it be feasible to consider re-siting that sign?”

Reply by the Cabinet Member for Environment

“Officers will investigate the possibility of relocating that sign.”

Councillor Roz Smith

“At the 16 October Cabinet meeting I asked questions about the non-residential parking permits issued and the monitoring of them. Unfortunately, I don’t appear to have received a written response on “what could be done to monitor use”.  For ease of reference the questions and answers given are copied below.

I understand a new contract for civil enforcement is being considered by officers.  Can the Cabinet member assure me that the parking policy for monitoring the use of business parking permits will be in place before the new contract is awarded and that effect monitoring of misuse will take place?”

Response by the Cabinet Member for Environment

“Our current enforcement contractor NSL Services regularly notify us of vehicles displaying valid Business parking permits that are not being used in accordance with our Terms & Conditions. Therefore, to aid us in our decision to withdraw a permit we ask that they monitor said vehicles for one week by means of recording tyre valve positions at vital intervals during the day. This helps to establish if vehicles have moved throughout the day for business operational purposes.

It will also be made standard practice to monitor vehicles displaying valid Business permits in the new enforcement contract.

I am pleased to report that with NSL taking the above actions, three permits from the Headington CPZ in particular, are being withdrawn.”

Supplementary question from Councillor Smith

“Thank you for the response which I am happy with. However, can you advise when the new tender currently under review is likely to be finalised and what provision will be made on the issue of business permits.”

Reply by the Cabinet Member for Environment

“I understand early next year. The enforcement of business permits will be a separate category within that tender which will be of importance bearing in mind the roll out of CPZs.”