Minutes:
Ms Aodhin MacBride had given written notice of the following question to Councillor Duncan Enright
To what extent has the provision of early years educational settings (nurseries) been considered in the design of the Marston Ferry road traffic filter?
There are no nurseries in New Marston, so like many other parents of young working families in this area, we are required to send our children to nursery in Summertown. Our daughter is too young to be transported on a bike and so we have to travel by car. Implementing the traffic filter will force us to make a very large detour via the ringroad (with greater co2 emissions). The proposed additional bus route from Summertown to the JR does not solve this issue as it doesn't actually go into New Marston
Councillor Enright replied:
An Equality Impact Assessment (EqIA) has been developed by Steer, an independent transport consultancy, which was informed through direct engagement with Oxford City Council’s Transport and Movement focus group. An EqIA is a process designed to ensure that a policy, project or scheme does not unlawfully discriminate against any protected characteristic. A summary of the EqIA can be found on our Let’s Talk Oxfordshire consultation webpage: https://letstalk.oxfordshire.gov.uk/traffic-filters-2022.
The EqIA identified that the Traffic Filters may inconvenience some drivers and those who rely on cars, which may include some parents/carers with children at nurseries and primary schools. To mitigate the impact on these people, the EqIA recommended a series of permits and exemptions from the Traffic Filters. These mitigation measures were developed to strike the balance between lessening the negative impacts of the Traffic Filters without overly diluting the wider benefits of the scheme.
A series of additional mitigation measures are also outlined within the EqIA, which range from implementing bus priority and service improvements to maximise the benefits of the filters, to accelerating Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plan (LCWIP) schemes to enable more people to switch from driving to cycling or walking. Oxfordshire County Council, in partnership with Oxford City Council, intend to deliver these mitigation measures following the implementation of the Traffic Filters scheme
In the case of New Marston, quite a large area will be within 5 minutes’ walk of the improved bus route (Marston Ferry Road, Cherwell Drive and Headley Way) that would enable residents to get to Summertown without having to take a detour via the Ring Road. So in reality this may well be an option for quite a number of people in this area.
We would encourage people to complete the questionnaire survey on our consultation website to give us their views on the proposals for trial traffic filters
Mr Richard Parnham had given written notice of the following question to Councillor Andrew Gant
Can Councillor Grant explain why the TRO orders, purporting to make the Cowley LTNs permanent on 22 August 2022, did not appear on https://letstalk.oxfordshire.gov.uk/, the location specified in the order’s official public notice, until 12 October 2022, a full seven weeks after we might reasonably have expected to see these TRO orders published on this specific website?
Councillor Gant replied:
This was an omission which was rectified as soon as it was brought to our attention. The public notices of the orders were published in the Oxford Times in accordance with the relevant regulations (Local Authorities’ Traffic Orders (Procedure)(England and Wales) Regulations 1996) and the subsequent omission from the Let’s Talk website did not affect the legal status of the retention of the measures on the ground. However, officers have reviewed their processes to ensure that such an omission cannot happen again.
In reply to a supplementary question, Cllr Gant undertook to provide a written response detailing the procedures for advertising the Cowley LTN traffic regulation order and the communications with consultees
Mr Peter West had given notice of the following question to Councillor Andrew Gant:
Can Councillor Gant explain why the online public notice, announcing that the Cowley LTNs had been made permanent, were added onto the bottom of a completely unrelated draft traffic order regarding speed restrictions close to the East Oxfordshire village of Great Milton – thereby rendering the online notice invisible to anyone searching on the online public notices section of the Oxford Mail for the Cowley LTN notice within three miles of Cowley, the correct location to where the notice should have been geographically tagged to?
Councillor Gant replied:
The online versions of notices are uploaded through a central portal. Unlike the hard copy version we do not have control over the final format. The online version is different from the hard copy as it does not show a division between the notices. As the Great Milton and Cowley LTN notices were submitted at the same time this meant that they appeared together in the online version. I note the issue regarding tagging and have asked officers to explore what might be done to address this.
Question from Mr Peter West to Councillor Andrew Gant