Agenda item

To consider an e-Petition from local residents to address safety concerns in their area.

The Senior Road Safety & Network Management Engineer presented a report, a copy of which had been circulated to each Member and a copy of which appears as Appendix 'B' to these Minutes in the Minute Book.

Vicky Moss, lead petitioner, introduced herself and set out the reasons for bringing the petition forward which primarily came down to the safety of residents and exercising a desire to apply to spend CIL monies on making improvements to the cycling and walking network

When asked about the involvement of Ward Councillors, the Lead Petitioner explained that she had liaised with Cllr Haines who was fully supportive. She had also contacted Cllr Iyengar, but had not received a response to date, although he had previously indicated that applications for CIL monies could stand more chance of success if a particular area was focussed upon, which the Branksome Park and Canford Cliffs Residents Association was not prepared to do because this was an issue that affected a large geographical area and therefore needed to be looked at as a whole.

Officers responded to Members’ comments and requests for clarification, details included:

• It was not possible to provide Road safety statistics for the BCP area at this meeting as they were not to hand, although the number of KSI’s had been reducing over the years and currently were at their lowest historical figures, although there were still a significant number of hotspots across the conurbation.

Cllr T Trent declared that he was a Member of the CIL Panel, as did the Chairman and the Director of Growth and Infrastructure

• CIL charges could not be levied against development projects based on direct impacts that would occur as a consequence of a development being built, instead this was left to a Section 106 Agreement which would be agreed as part of the planning application process.
• The neighbourhood element of CIL was administered through a poole-wide bid process. The strategic element of CIL had a timescale for officers to come back with a strategic position – this was “a separate pot” based on the level of development. If the council determined that there was a strategic need in terms of highway infrastructure, then this could be added to a list. It would be competing against other strategic needs, such as school places. There was a need for the council to be compliant with government criteria.
• On the current round of TCF funding, whilst some measures were conurbation-wide, the area in question was not included for specific infrastructure, partially due to constraints made by the Government during the bidding process, although this did not prohibit funds being sought in the future.

In summing up, the Chairman stated that he welcomed the work undertaken by the Residents Association in trying to promote walking and cycling within the area, and that there was a need to bid for any available funding for such measures, CIL was a limited pot of money, and the bid would be considered as part of that process.

Vicky Moss summed up her views and highlighted that she felt that the CIL application form was overcomplicated and that it was her aim to ensure area was funded better in terms of road safety.

The Director of Growth and Infrastructure stated that he would liaise with the petitioner to establish where there had been difficulties with the CIL form in order to help streamline the process for future bidders.

RECOMMENDED that Cabinet approves:
(a) Acknowledgement of the petitioners concerns and they be advised that in the absence of any significant accident record in this area we could not justify any road safety engineering interventions at present.
(b) Forwarding of the petitioners concerns to Dorset Roads Traffic Policing Unit for their consideration relating to speed enforcement.
(c) Informing the petitioners that the Council will investigate and assess options to enhance pedestrian and cycle facilities in the area but that no funding has been identified for implementing this work.
(d) Advising the local resident group which submitted the petition that its bid for Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) Neighbourhood Portion funding is to be considered alongside all other similar bids received and a decision on potential funding will be made in due course.

Voting: Nem. Con