Agenda item - Safer, Better Streets - Infrastructure Priority Framework

Report of the Executive Director, Economy, Environment & Culture

1)             That the Environment Transport & Sustainability Committee approves the Safer, Better Streets – Highway Improvement Prioritisation Framework and grants permission to commence the assessment of outstanding concerns, listed in Appendix 1.

2)             That the Environment Transport & Sustainability Committee requests a review of the criteria listed to consider other metrics over and above the assessments outlined in the pre-qualification criteria outlined in Appendix 2, to ensure issues such as midnight ‘joyriders’ or regular non-peak time speeding are not overlooked, and report back on this review for committee approval.

3)             That the Environment Transport & Sustainability Committee notes that future concerns will be assessed under this framework and priority locations will be reported every six months at Committee to enable swift action if any new schemes highlight unintended accident spots, for example. Priority improvement measures will be recommended at Committee and implemented, subject to available funding, through the LTP’s capital programme or external funding streams.

4)             That the Environment Transport & Sustainability Committee agrees that in clarification of paragraph 4.5 of this report, officers will still consider requests from members of the public following petitions and deputations to committee, if committee members vote to refer said requests from petitions/deputations to the framework.

67.1      The Committee considered a report of the Executive Director, Economy, Environment & Culture that proposed the Safer, Better Streets – Highway Improvement Prioritisation Framework which provides a process to assess concerns creating a barriers for safe movement of pedestrians and cyclists. This process would enable officers to consider and prioritise improvements such as pedestrian crossings, traffic calming, speed reduction measures, modal filters and Low Traffic Neighbourhood (LTN) infrastructure.

67.2      Councillor Wilkinson moved a motion to amend the recommendations and struckthrough and in bold italics below:

2.1      That the Environment Transport & Sustainability Committee approves the Safer, Better Streets – Highway Improvement Prioritisation Framework and grants permission to commence the assessment of outstanding concerns, listed in Appendix 1.

2.2      That the Environment Transport & Sustainability Committee requests a review of the criteria listed to consider other metrics over and above the assessments outlined in the pre-qualification criteria outlined in Appendix 2, to ensure issues such as midnight ‘joyriders’ or regular non-peak time speeding are not overlooked, and report back on this review for committee approval.

2.23    That the Environment Transport & Sustainability Committee notes that future concerns will be assessed under this framework and priority locations will be reported quarterly annually at Committee to enable swift action if any new schemes highlight unintended accident spots, for example. Priority improvement measures will be recommended at Committee and implemented, subject to available funding, through the LTP’s capital programme or external funding streams.

2.4      That the Environment Transport & Sustainability Committee agrees that in clarification of paragraph 4.5 of this report, officers will still consider requests from members of the public following petitions and deputations to committee, if committee members vote to refer said requests from petitions/deputations to the framework.

67.3      Councillor Platts formally seconded the motion.

67.4      Councillors Heley, Simson, Platts, Nemeth and Wilkinson asked questions and contributed to the debate of the report.

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

67.6      The Chair put the recommendations as amended to the vote that were approved.

67.7      Resolved-

1)             That the Environment Transport & Sustainability Committee approves the Safer, Better Streets – Highway Improvement Prioritisation Framework and grants permission to commence the assessment of outstanding concerns, listed in Appendix 1.

2)             That the Environment Transport & Sustainability Committee requests a review of the criteria listed to consider other metrics over and above the assessments outlined in the pre-qualification criteria outlined in Appendix 2, to ensure issues such as midnight ‘joyriders’ or regular non-peak time speeding are not overlooked, and report back on this review for committee approval.

3)             That the Environment Transport & Sustainability Committee notes that future concerns will be assessed under this framework and priority locations will be reported every six months at Committee to enable swift action if any new schemes highlight unintended accident spots, for example. Priority improvement measures will be recommended at Committee and implemented, subject to available funding, through the LTP’s capital programme or external funding streams.

4)             That the Environment Transport & Sustainability Committee agrees that in clarification of paragraph 4.5 of this report, officers will still consider requests from members of the public following petitions and deputations to committee, if committee members vote to refer said requests from petitions/deputations to the framework.