Agenda item - Public Involvement

To consider the following matters raised by members of the public:

(a)          Petitions: To receive any petitions presented by members of the public to the full Council or at the meeting itself.

(i)            Speeding up the consultation for residents parking north of Preston Drove

(b)          Written Questions: To receive any questions submitted by the due date of 12 noon on the 13 January 2015.

(c)          Deputations: To receive any deputations submitted by the due date of 12 noon on the 13 January 2015.

(a)          Petitions

Speeding up the consultation for residents parking north of Preston Drove- Jan Furness

70.1      The Committee considered a petition signed by 366 people requesting the council to bring forward the proposed controlled parking consultation of the area to the first quarter of 2015 rather than the summer of 2015 as currently proposed.

70.2      The Chair provided the following response:

“Thank you for your petition.

As you may be aware the Parking Infrastructure Team have recently completed two parking schemes in the city with other extensions to existing parking schemes due to begin operation in early March 2015 so it is a very busy time.

Before any resident parking scheme consultation with residents takes place we need to compile parking surveys indicating vehicle duration and the road capacity. This helps officers with the detailed design for example how long shared pay & display parking should last for and the percentage of residents parking required. This has been authorised by members of the ETS Committee in a previous meeting.

The plan is currently to do these parking surveys as soon as possible but the authorisation on taking forward a resident consultation has yet to be agreed. A parking scheme consultation lasting for six weeks is impractical after early March until mid-May due to the election period and the potential issues during the purdah period which has been outlined in guidance to officers so there would not be the opportunity or time to achieve this.

Therefore I'd like to propose that the Committee ask officers to prepare a report for our next Committee on 17th March outlining the proposed way forward seeking agreement to proceed with the Consultation as soon as possible which is likely to be in the summer”.

70.3      The Chair moved a motion for a report to be presented the next meeting of the Committee outlining options to proceed with consultation on a CPZ in the area specified.

70.4      Councillor Davey formally seconded the motion.

70.5      Councillor Mitchell noted that the Committee would be considering further requests at future meetings and queried whether the request could be funded under the current budget constraints.

70.6      Councillor Davey clarified that the Committee had already agreed to conduct parking surveys in the area when it approved the recommendations of the Citywide Parking Review report and that Preston Drove would be the next location to be consulted. Councillor Davey stated that the report requested would present the results of the surveys, set out whether a consultation should take place and to agree the boundaries of the area to be consulted.

70.7      The Chair put the motion to the vote that passed.

70.8      RESOLVED- That the Committee receive an officer report to its next Committee in relation to the above.

(b)          Deputations

(i)            Brighton & Hove Liberal Democrats- Sunday Parking Charges- Jeremy Gale

70.9      The Committee considered a Deputation that request a 50% reduction to charges at council managed car parks on Sundays; a 50% reduction to on street parking charges on Sundays and a  7.14% reduction to the cost of residents parking permits (the equivalent of a half day reduction).

70.10   The Chair provided the following response:

“Thank you for your Deputation.

Car park charges are set to encourage sustainable transport choices, manage demand for spaces and promote short term parking ahead of longer term, commuter parking. The pilot 40% tariff reduction of charges in Worthing’s under-utilised car parks, quoted in the petition is said to have coincided with an increase in occupancy of 11%. What is not clear is whether the increase in car park usage coincided with a shift away from sustainable transport modes. In any case, it seems incredible that this change could be attributed to a fivefold increase in the duration of visitor stays.

Some of the proposed tariff changes before Committee today are aimed at encouraging better use of underutilised space outside the city centre, such as the 50% reduction proposed in the cost of season tickets at Regency car park which too has spare capacity. However, this is not at all the case for our other car parks in central Brighton where almost every Sundays car parks are full between 11am and 3pm. Reducing car park charges on one of the busiest parking days of the week would add to these lengthy queues for a space

On street parking is similarly busy on Sundays in central areas and encouraging additional traffic through reduced charges would make it harder for residents to find a parking space, add to congestion, be bad for air quality and in turn the health of residents. All parking and permit charges are set with traffic management objectives in mind and our obligations to meet legal air quality standards. A growing number of permit holders, currently over 10% pay just half the standard cost of a permit as they qualify for a low emission vehicle discount.

The total cost of the proposals contained in the deputation is estimated to be £1.25m annually and, given that job creation in the city over the past decade is the fourth highest in the UK, I would suggest that the well balanced parking policies of this council are a great support to our lively local economy”

70.11   Councillor Cox asked if he could receive the statistical information outlying the cost of providing the measures stated in the response which was agreed.

70.12   RESOLVED- That the Deputation be noted.

(ii)          Road safety improvements for Holmes Ave & Nevill Avenue- Phillipa Sen

70.13   The Committee considered a Deputation requesting the council to install a zebra crossing with flashing beacons opposite Blatchington Mill School and to widen the ‘pedestrian refuge’, or put another zebra crossing with flashing beacons in this area on safety grounds.

70.14   The Chair provided the following response:

“Thank you for raising the concerns of residents about the safety of children crossing Nevill Avenue near to the junction with Holmes Avenue and at the private access road to Blatchington Mill School.

We will be considering two reports today, firstly on introducing a 20mph limit for Holmes Avenue area and secondly the addition of a pedestrian refuge to Holmes Avenue south of Wayfield Avenue

As Members will know, the demand for formal crossing facilities across the city exceeds the funding available to provide them and the Council therefore has a policy of assessing requests annually through a programme of surveys with the results being reported to this Committee. Whilst the lists are annually reviewed this would not necessarily mean that surveys would be delayed by a year, it could be less if the Road Safety Team considered it to be a priority.

As Chair of this Committee I will request that officers arrange for the two sites identified to be included in that programme for the forthcoming financial year.

In the meantime, there are existing facilities to assist crossing movements by pedestrians at both locations.  The four pedestrian refuges and hatched road markings already present in Nevill Avenue go some way to providing for safer crossing movements and the Road Safety Manager advises that there is good visibility for pedestrians to enable them to determine a safe opportunity to cross.

There have been no reported injury accidents in this section of Nevill Road during the past 9 years and as stated I have been advised by the Road Safety Manager that whilst there is no obvious safety concern his team will be considering these locations within the Road Safety Programme”

70.15   Councillor Janio asked for clarification that the site could not have a zebra crossing as there was already a pedestrian refuge there.

70.16   The Head of Transport clarified that road safety officers would assess the location regarding safety and as part of that, the refuge could also be reviewed.

70.17   RESOLVED- That the Deputation be noted.