Agenda item

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

“What is the estimate of extra time required to travel from any point in North Oxford to Oxford Station using the diversion route that was in place during St Giles Fair?”

Reply from the Cabinet Member for Environment

“Unfortunately it has not been able to provide an estimate as we do not have any base data to compare the extended travel with. The journey time also varies greatly depending on the time of day or the day of the week.”

Supplementary question from Councillor Howson

“Would the Cabinet Member consider continuing the experimental traffic regulation order on Walton Street in order to create a safer cycle route and if so I would be happy put in a written statement of such a proposal.”

Reply from the cabinet Member for Environment

“I would be interested in seeing the detail of that proposal.”

Councillor Emily Smith

“There is growing concern in Abingdon about the lack of progress on the Lodge Hill southern slips. Residents and Parish Councils were told originally that a public consultation on the designs for the slips would be put out to public consultation in Spring 2019. The Vale District has now received two reserved matters planning applications for North Abingdon and North West Abingdon sites totalling 625 new homes, yet there is still no agreed design for the slips, let alone a contractor appointed to build them as required by the outline planning permission before some of the homes at North Abingdon are occupied.

Can the Cabinet Member confirm that the slips are indeed delayed, the reason for this delay and what the current timetable is? What action is the cabinet member taking to avoided North Abingdon having 600 extra homes but no diamond junction at Lodge Hill?”

Reply from the Cabinet Member for Environment

“Unfortunately, the Lodge Hill slip road scheme has experienced delays, as Highways England (HE) has changed their approach to the delivery of this scheme from that previously experienced. This will result in the original ‘end of 2020’ date not being met. HE are asking for much more detailed transport modelling. We also need to undertake ground investigation surveys on HE’s road network and this requires their permission (which has now been granted). This back and forth with HE has all added significant delay to the programme. Due to the A34 being part of the Strategic Road Network, any new scheme must be approved by HE, and therefore OCC have to comply with all modelling (and other) requests. OCC and HE met on 5^th September 2019 to discuss the latest modelling and OCC is expecting a formal response from HE over the coming weeks.

Officers have taken the view that public consultation will only be held once HE agrees to the modelling of the scheme. Until that point, the scheme could change, which might then require re-consultation and unnecessary public frustration.

Subject to agreement with HE the current programme for the scheme is below:

OCC is trying to expedite delivery by undertaking Early Contractor Involvement (ECI), which involves a contractor in the early design and planning stage to identify efficiencies in the construction of the project. To further expedite delivery OCC has continued with land purchase at risk, prior to Highways England consenting to the scheme. All the land parcels to deliver this scheme have been identified and negotiations with land owners have been concluded, subject to legal documentation.

In terms of new housing being built in the North Abingdon area before the new slip roads are open, this has always been a possibility and acknowledged in the granted outline planning permissions for the development sites in the area – including the North Abingdon (P17/V0050/O) and  North West Abingdon’ site (P17/V1336/O) to have housing before the slips are delivered.

I am confident that my officers are doing all they can to get these slips delivered and are having regular meetings with HE to enable this to happen. The A34 is on the strategic highway network and ultimately, the scheme is in the hands of Highways England who will make the final decision. Officers will keep all parties informed when we make further progress with HE and how this will affect the programme.”

Additional response from the Cabinet Member

“In Councillor Smith’s absence I would reiterate that officers are continuing to work hard to get this done but it was now in the hands of Highways England.  OCC were committed to Growth Deal housing needs and it was clear that the slip roads and housing developments were now both mismatched.  Officers would continue to keep all parties who were involved informed.”

Councillor Judy Roberts

“In 2015 Highways England was given £100m to improve air quality on its road network between 2015 and 2021, with £75m having to be spent before March 2020 on measures that cut air pollution. In May they had only spent £7.7mill of this. District Cllr Emily Smith and Parish Cllr Laura Jones (who also represent North Hinksey) are working with local schools, air quality experts and the Vale on applications to this fund that will help relieve air pollution around the A34 in Botley. Highways England have told them that cycle infrastructure that relieves air pollution in the Botley area could qualify for funding but any scheme would need to be ready to start before March 2020. Cllr Smith thought of the B4044 Community Path that was removed from the HIF bid and they notified the B4044 Community Path campaign group. This could be an alternative funding source for the Community Path from Eynsham to Botley if the county council are willing to submit an application and if action is taken very quickly.  

How can the Cabinet member support our efforts? “

Reply from the Cabinet Member for Environment

“Since the B4044 cycle scheme was removed from the HIF2 bid, officers have been working with Bike Safe to progress the design of the scheme ready for alternative funding opportunities.  The brief for the options and feasibility stage has been agreed and officers are now discussing the work with Skanska who will undertake this stage of the scheme.  This is expected to complete at the end of the financial year. 

Officers have been looking into whether the B4044 cycle scheme would be eligible for the Highways England Air Quality Funding. There was concern over whether the B4044 cycle link would be seen as too far from the A34 to qualify, but timing of the funding is the main issue. The completion timeframe for spending the funding is March 2020, but only the optioneering and feasibility design components of the B4044 cycle scheme will be completed by then. 

The scheme will continue to progress through this current stage which will provide more certainty over the exact route to be taken, including any land issues, and a better estimate of costs.  At the same time, officers and with the ongoing support of Bike Safe will continue to look for opportunities for funding the delivery of the cycle route.” 

Supplementary Question from Councillor Roberts

“Could the County Council also consider a bid for provision of noise and air pollution barriers along part of A420 as provided along parts of the A34?”

Response by the Cabinet Member for Environment

“Yes to the bid for barriers.  The Leader of the Council was also lobbying the Government Minister with regard to the community path from Eynsham to Botley following its removal from the HIF bid.”