Agenda item

Bow bus gateway and timed closures exemptions considerations

Decision:

The Pre-Decision Scrutiny Questions and officer responses were noted.

Final recommendation added to note reporting error.

DECISION

1. To note the content in this report and in particular the alternative options considered in section 2 of the report.

2. To agree the hours of operation for the Roman Road bus gateway to be 6.30am to 9.30am and 3.30pm to 7pm, Monday to Friday.

3. To agree the hours of operation for the Coborn Road timed closure to be 6.30am to 7pm, Monday to Friday.

4. To agree the following exemptions during the hours of operation for both the Roman Road bus gateway and Coborn Road timed closure: local buses, emergency services, blue badge holders, carers, Local GPs on-call, Taxicard users and Royal Mail vehicles while fulfilling their Universal Service Obligation as defined in 3.16 onwards within the report.

5. To agree to charge a £20 annual fee for exemptions to cover the cost of administration.

6. To agree that in line with the experimental traffic order procedures any necessary alterations are made within 6 months and the hours of operation and exemptions are reviewed between 6 and 18 months after implementation.

7. To note the Equalities Impacts as set out in section 4 of the report and the full Equalities impact Analysis (EqIA) in Appendix B to the report.

8. It was noted that the scheme boundary should include Clinton Road, Haverfield Road and Cadogan Terrace (from Wick Lane to Cadogan Close).

Action by:

CORPORATE DIRECTOR, PLACE (A. SUTCLIFFE)

(Divisional Director, Public Realm (D.Jones)

(Programme Director (C. Harrison)

Minutes:

Councillor Dan Tomlinson, Cabinet Member for Environment and Public Realm (Job Share) – Lead on Public Realm, introduced the report to Cabinet. He explained that the road closure and bus gate set out in the report had been supported by a significant majority of respondents in the recent consultation exercises. However, Aware that there was a potential impact on those who still needed to use their cars and so a number of exemption options were being offered as well as different timings and hours of operation.

It was noted that there was an error in the report in that the Western boundary to the scheme was by the canal and not on Grove Road.

The Cabinet then heard from a number of members of the public and councillors with a wide range of views on the proposals, including:

· Support for the changes and in particular encouragement to move forward on the Liveable Streets programme as quickly as possible.

· That the restrictions should be for much longer periods of the day/week.

· Concern about whether the taxi card scheme could be properly enforced.

· A variety of views on whether the consultation exercises had been sufficient.

· Would the closures just result in traffic being diverted to other roads and whether those who could be impacted in these areas should have been consulted.

· The potential impact on local businesses and the increased time residents may have to spend driving around the borough.

· Making sure the equalities impact had been properly assessed.

From the discussion the Mayor noted the thorough consultation with good response levels from different groups and types of residents. The negative health impacts of pollution on residents, especially the young. That the Council would continue to actively monitor the schemes and that it could react to any positive or negative impacts if required. The Pre-Decision Scrutiny Questions and officer responses were also noted.

The Mayor welcomed the report. Noting, the correction to the scheme boundary, the Mayor proposed the recommendations in the report with Option 1. This was agreed by the Cabinet without dissent and it was:

RESOLVED