Transcript

Excellent. Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to Cabinet Member for High Ways and Transports and Economic Growth Decisions on the 17th of December at just gone 12 p.m. I'm Matt Furness. I'll be chairing this meeting today. Just whizzing through the first part of the meeting agenda, item number one, declarations of interest. I have no interest to declare. On two, we do have a member question and... Councillor Barthes is online. Councillor Barthes, you've had a response in writing to your question. Do you have a supplementary that you would like to add? I do. Yes, please. First of all, thank you very much for the breakdown of the allocation of £5 million to improving the visual appearance and accessibility of the highways network. And I note that there's a contingency in there of £500,000, which is currently unallocated. So, my question is, when you're in the Cabinet meeting this afternoon discussing the Climate Change Delivery Plan, and especially the need for more adaptation to the impacts of climate change, could you consider reallocating the contingency in the £5 million budget to supporting delivery of the Climate Change Plan, which, as you know, is a there's a proposed cut in the budget for that of £500,000, please, could you consider moving the contingency from tidying up the highways to climate change delivery? Thank you. Thank you, Councillor Barthes. I mean, what I would say is it's been hard-fought to get this money to tidy up the highways, I would say. But what I would suggest is if there is no need for the £5 million at the end of the 25-26 financial year, I think that would be a good idea to make that suggestion then. At the moment, it's been allocated for this purpose. So, I think we need to see whether we need it or not first. But thank you. Okay. Thank you. And just moving on. We don't have any public questions. And we're just waiting for the Item 3 petitioner to arrive. So, maybe we could take Item 4 first, which is a petition on speed restriction and traffic calming measures in South Nutfield. And we've got Cara Doyle, who's here. You have three minutes. And then I'll ask the team if they would like to make any points due to your three minutes. But you've had the petition respond. But please, fire away anything you'd like to say. Thank you. I'm here to put forward the argument for traffic calming in South Nutfield, specifically reducing the speed limit from 30 to 20 miles per hour. At first glance, it may seem like a minor adjustment. However, the implications of this change are far-reaching, touching upon safety, community spirit, and the overall character of our village. Let me begin with the most obvious benefit of increased safety for the most vulnerable in our community. One of the most compelling reasons to reduce the speed limits is the direct impact on safety. We have an ongoing challenge with speeding through our village and the perception that this is becoming increasingly problematic. Higher speeds significantly increase the severity of injuries sustained by pedestrians and cyclists in the event of a collision. Research indicates that at 20 miles an hour, the chance of a pedestrian being killed by an accident is roughly 5% compared to a staggering 45% at 30 miles an hour. Lowering speed limits will create a safer environment for vulnerable groups, particularly our children and the elderly, and will give drivers more time to react to sudden changes in the environment, such as a child darting into the street or a car pulling out from a side street. Studies show lower speed limits correlate with fewer accidents overall, particularly in residential areas where on-street parking and road design don't support travelling at higher speeds safely. Our village roads, while picturesque, are quite narrow, winding in places, and often lined with cars. The higher speed limit has often led to dangerous situations, especially for pedestrians, cyclists, and children crossing the roads. Of particular concern are two areas in the village, the stretch of Kings Cross Lane running past Christchurch, which is flanked by a blind bend on one side and the brow of a hill on the other, and it is the site of frequent near misses and is of real concern to our parishioners. The second area is Midstreet, the village centre and community hub of South Nutfield, host of the primary school, the village shop, and the village hall, all within 50 metres of each other, and in desperate need of some form of traffic calming or speed reduction. By lowering the speed limit, we can significantly reduce the risk of accidents, and more importantly, the severity of potential injuries or fatalities. We've been fortunate enough to hold a meeting recently with Right Honourable Claire Coutinho, MP for East Surrey, and also with councillors at a local level. All are agreed that these small changes could have significant benefits to our community. I urge you to consider the positive impact that a reduced speed limit could have on our community. We also believe that reducing the speed limit is the right thing for our environment, as part of our responsibility to limit emissions. Research shows a 20% limit can reduce climate-harming CO2 and people harming nitrogen oxides by more than 25% compared to 30 miles an hour. With transport representing 27% of the total carbon emissions in the UK, reducing it by quarter is a substantive measure that can easily be taken to reduce climate warming. Finally, we're keen to work together to make our village a safer place to live. To do this, please heed our calls to reduce the speed limit to 20 miles an hour. Thank you for listening. Thank you. That was a tie, so excellent. Thank you. Thank you. We have Duncan Knox, our Road Safety and Sustainable School Travel Manager. Oh, no, it's you, Zena, is it? Sorry, Zena, Highways Engagement Commissioning Manager. Is there anything you'd like to say in response? Thank you, Councillor Furness, and thank you so much for bringing this to us and to the Cabinet Member for consideration of the issues that you've raised in Nutfield Village, and in particular around the Nutfield Church of England Primary School. Those are issues that are very close to us. We have instigated to have a speed survey into the village, which is the first step for determining what could be done, what measures are possible. I hope I've explained in the response, has been explained in the response, that we have a new 20-mile-an-hour speed limit policy, which should make it easier to introduce pushing this forward through your county councillor as well, so that once we've got that data and found out what is possible, we'll be having those conversations because there is an amount of... ...an amount of transport, highway matters, that type of thing. Lovely. Thank you very much for coming. Thank you. We'll just move back to item three, where we have another petition for traffic lights outside West Byfley Infants and Junior Schools on Cam Hill Road. We have our petitioner online, Celia Ford. I hope you're aware you've got a petition response that you've been sent, but you do have three minutes if there's anything else that you would like to say, and then I'll ask Duncan Knox, the Road Safety and Sustainable School Travel Manager, to come back on any points. Hello, yes. I'm not brilliant with computers. I'm just figuring out this. So can I say my part now? Yes, please. Okay. Thank you very much. So, on Monday, the 1st of July this year, I was taking my children to school. I remember it being one of those rushed, slightly stressful mornings, due to the increased traffic volume associated with the M25 junction works. As we approached the crossing, I was holding Ivy's hand, but not Luca's. I've missed the beginning. My name is Celia. I am a parent to two children, Luca aged five and Ivy aged eight, who attend West Byfleet Infant and Junior Schools. Including the nursery school, there are just over 700 children between the ages of three and 11 attending. They deserve nothing but safety and protection from our busy Camphill Road, and to be able to cross the road knowing every car will stop. On Monday, the 1st of July this year, I was taking my children to school. As I said before, it was a rushed morning. I was holding Ivy's hand, but not Luca's. We all reached the crossing at the same time. Luca was a little ahead, slightly out of reach for me to hold his hand. As I turned my head to the right to check it was safe to cross, to my horror, I saw a black van fast approaching. I quickly turned my head to the left to see Luca was poised and about to bolt across the crossing. It happened so quickly that I didn't even have time to think, but thank goodness a really loud scream came out of my mouth. Thankfully, Luca froze when he heard me. Then I watched the speeding van whoosh past my son inches from his face. I dread to think what would have happened had I not screamed. I will forever have this moment etched in my memory, the moment my child was so close to such a horrific end. It is my belief that a pelican crossing is too ambiguous for infants, and traffic lights would be the safest way of moving ahead, as well as the schools. Camp Hill Road is used by many people in the community for a variety of reasons. Starting from the top, there is the church and community hall, then the bowls club. There is Westby Fleet Park and play area used for various activities. The pavilion is used for my daughter's brownies weekly meetings, and I'm sure a lot of other things. The junior school next to the park is used at weekends for ballet and football classes. Then there's the infant school and nursery. Then there's an alleyway connecting to Diamond Park and accessible to Byfleet Village. This is used by many people to access West Byfleet, the train station and Fulbrook School. Adjacent to the alleyway are allotment gardens, and next to that is an independent hospital. Next to the hospital is a social club and then a scout hut. All of these places are in constant use by the community of all ages and abilities. Beyond these is the business park. The traffic in West Byfleet is heavier than it has ever been, and will increase more due to more commercial and residential building. If places continue to be built, then it is the responsibility of Woking Council to ensure the roads are safe for the community. Camp Hill Road is constant with traffic, especially at peak times. Not only is the crossing inefficient in its purpose for such a busy road, Camp Hill Road has inefficient signage, especially that a school is ahead. More obvious and up-to-date warnings of a school ahead coming from both directions must happen. A 20 miles an hour speed limit has to be enforced and traffic lights installed instead of a crossing. The only way every single child has a chance to be safe crossing that road is if they can press a button and the vehicles see a red stop light. As a matter of urgency, take that required action to keep our community safe from treacherous drivers before a child dies. Myself and a large number of other people came too close to it. Sorry, you've had about four minutes now. I've let you go for an extra minute, but I think we've got the gist of what you're saying. Oh, okay. That's okay. Sorry. I'll bring in Duncan Knox now, who's the Road Safety Sustainable School Travel Manager, just to come back on any points you would like on your speech. Thank you, and thank you, Mrs. Ford, for bringing your petition. It must have been very shocking, the incident you described, certainly, and I've got every sympathy for your experience there. You've got my response, and within that I explain how we have a road safety outside schools policy whereby we go and investigate such concerns, and we have had that meeting out on site. We met out on site alongside police colleagues and a member of the school staff, and the resident came out to talk to us as well on the 6th of December, and that was very helpful to observe what was going on. We were also able to, and we're pleased to say that some of the maintenance items that you raised have been addressed already, and that includes the white lining on the approaches to the zebra crossing and on the zebra crossing, and the Belisha beacon has been amended as well. So following that site visit, there will be a report which will outline the opportunities to make the site safer and what further could be done, and the kind of things which will likely to be included are consideration of improving the Belisha beacons further with LED, which makes them brighter, and perhaps some surrounding lighting upgrade. There's also, we identified, that people waiting to cross on the school site could be sometimes masked by vehicles parked in the lay-by alongside the zebra crossing, so there's maybe an opportunity to extend the footway so that no one parks right near where people are standing waiting to cross. There may be an opportunity to put some bollards in to prevent parking on the footway, which we did observe opposite the school for a brief period, and renewal of bus stop clearway markings further down the road. Just in regarding your point on requesting a signalized crossing, it's our feeling that it doesn't always have an advantage, and it's not always the best option, because there's always a gap between the green man and the next time that the green man becomes available, and that can result in quite a gathering of a larger crowd of people, especially on the way into school or on the way out of school, all wanting to cross at the same time. And on the footway opposite the school especially, it's quite narrow, and it can end up with quite a gaggle of children and parents waiting to cross, and some spilling out onto the footway or people wanting to get past them. So it's not always the best option to have a signalized crossing, and instead we think having a zebra that's enhanced with better belisha beacons and training of the children within the school of how to use the crossing would be preferable, certainly considering that there are other sites across Surrey that don't have any crossing facilities at the moment where we're looking at prioritizing funding so it can be available in future years. But we do understand what you're saying, and we're very sympathetic. So the other item on 20 mile per hour limit, absolutely, we agree with that, and that's something we'll be recommending in the report as well and hope to take forward in future years. We'll be talking to the local member about whether they want to allocate funding to that, but of course they'll have pressure for other schemes in their area as well. So I think, yeah, in summary, the maintenance issues you've raised have been addressed, and we've got some really helpful thoughts about making that site safer in the future. Excellent. Thank you, Duncan. Thank you very much. No, thank you very much, Ms. Ford. Yes, hopefully you can hear that they've already been to site, and they've addressed quite a few of the points that you've raised, but I'm sure we can share a copy of the report with Ms. Ford as well as the petitioner once it's completed. Yeah, absolutely. Brilliant. Thank you. Thank you very much for your time. That's been very kind. Thank you. That's come to the end of our agenda. So at, what was it, 18 minutes past 12, we'll close the meeting. Thank you.