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.
Minutes:
Councillor Jean Fooks
“Local residents are very pleased that the promised 50mph speed limits have now been installed on the A40 east of the Cutteslowe roundabout. However, there is concern that the signs are so placed that motorists may not see them; the sign just east of the roundabout is so close to the roundabout that drivers are more likely to be looking ahead at the traffic than at signs on their left; the small repeater signs are some distance away and only just before the entrance to the car park for Cutteslowe Park, which has a short access slip-road anyway. Would it be possible to move the sign some 10-20 metres east – or could 50mph roundels be painted on the road to ensure that drivers are aware of the new limit here, when they have been used to a 70mph one?
I have also been asked if it would be possible to have an ‘advance speed limit’ sign of some kind – of a type that I have seen elsewhere in the country – to warn drivers from the east that they are about to reach a new speed limit area?”
Reply from the Deputy leader of the Council
“The new 50mph speed limit replaces the national speed limit that previously applied on this stretch of the A40 Oxford northern bypass. The 50mph signs by Cutteslowe roundabout are in exactly the same position as the national speed limit signs, and we are not aware of any concerns of drivers understanding of the previous limit.
The cost of relocating the signs would be significant, especially as they are required to be illuminated.
50mph roundels would be a cheaper option but would still be comparatively expensive to provide and maintain given the traffic management required for this very busy road.
In view of the costs and that the limit has been only recently introduced, a more appropriate course of action would be to monitor the speeds here within the next 3 to 6 months and then to assess the need for any supplementary measures, subject to the availability of funding.
There are no approved temporary signs to advise of new speed limits (other than the specific case of new 30mph limits in roads that have street lighting and where the speed limit was previously higher) , and this is not therefore an option here.”
Supplementary question
Can I have an undertaking that monitoring will be carried out and that you consider at that time the provision of advisory signing for speed limit ahead as used elsewhere in the country.
Response from the Deputy Leader
Yes.
No. My priority for spending is elsewhere.
Councillor John Sanders
“To what extent has the impact to users of the substantial cuts in subsidised bus services in Chipping Norton and Charlbury been considered by officers and by the Cabinet Member for Transport and Deputy Leader?”
Response from the Deputy leader of the Council
“I regret that I do not know what “substantial cuts” the Member is referring to. The Member will have received a list of the service changes with the documentation sent out by the Bus Services Manager and I list the changes here:
Service 23A, Wednesdays and Saturdays. Saturday service withdrawn due to low patronage
Service 50, Monday to Friday service maintained, Sunday service under discussion with Warwicks CC.
Service 243, service incorporated into new E2. Three return journeys reduced to one inward and two return journeys to better reflect actual passenger usage. Service increased to run on five days per week from two days per week.
Service 811, increased from one return journey to two return journeys.
Service C1, timetable maintained.
Service S3 (Sundays), timetable maintained.
Service T1, service incorporated into new E1. Reduced from four on demand journeys to two timetabled journeys.
Service X8, hourly timetable maintained.
Service X9, hourly daytime timetable maintained but withdrawn commercially from Ramsden (now covered by new service E2). Friday and Saturday evening service withdrawn because of low patronage.
I hope the member will agree from this list that, whilst there are some limited reductions to reflect low patronage, the network has been maintained.”
Supplementary question from Councillor Sanders
Contrary to your response I do feel that substantive cuts have been made and I will discuss that with officers but in the meantime are you able to confirm that when cuts are made the County Council is able to guage the impact on users?
Response from the Deputy Leader
I do not consider that cuts to services have been made. My priority is to maintain services where they are needed and services have been reduced only where it has been shown that there is little or no patronage.