24 September 2013

Present:-

Devon County Council:-

Councillors Croad (Chairman), Brazil, Gilbert, Hart, Mumford, Rowe and Vint

South Hams District Council:-

Councillors Coulson and Hannaford

Members attending in accordance with Standing Order 25:-

Councillor Gorman (South Hams District Council)

Also in attendance:-

Inspector A Tomlinson and PC I Baggott, Devon and Cornwall Constabulary

*11 Minutes

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting held on 12 July 2013 be signed as a correct record.

*12 Highway Asset Management Plan

The Committee received and noted a presentation by the Head of Highways, Capital Development Waste on the County Council s Highway Asset Management Plan for the highway infrastructure owned, controlled or influenced by the County Council which was valued at approximately 11b and the work of the Highway Asset Management Team covering areas including inter alia: condition surveys; treatment selection; budgets, costs and maintenance backlog; preventative treatment regime; roads beyond economic repair; service levels; maintenance standards; drainage priorities; and storm damage legacy from 2012/13.

In response to questions from Members, the Head of Service indicated that:

under the preventative road surface treatment regime and the associated value for money principles, unless safety issues were involved, the worst road surfaces were not always given priority for repair;

the County Council worked closely with Town and Parish Councils on road maintenance issues;

improvements to ways of working with local Councils recommended by a recent Spotlight Review were being implemented;

a Parish Conference focusing on highway matters had been held on Saturday 14 September 2013;

a strategy was being developed for better communicating Highway Asset Management policies and programmes to local Councils and the public;

the County Council would be working with Town and Parish Councils to review priorities for gully cleaning to help alleviate the risk of flooding affecting the highway;

where appropriate the County Council exercised its powers of enforcement relating to flooding of the highway for which an adjacent landowner was responsible.

(NB: a copy of the County Council s Highway Asset Management Policy, Strategy and Plan endorsed by the County Council s Cabinet on 13 March 2013 may be viewed at:

http://www.devon.gov.uk/index/councildemocracy/decision_making/cma/cma_report.htm?cmadoc=report_htm1326.html)

*13 Totnes Experimental Traffic Order (Minute *5/12 July 2013)

(Councillor Hannaford (South Hams District Council) declared a personal interest in this matter by virtue of being a volunteer driver on the Totnes community bus service. Councillor Vint (Devon County Council) declared a personal interest in this matter by virtue of being a member of Totnes Town Council, Chairman of the Totnes on the Move community project and a participant in the Totnes Traffic and Transport Forum).

(Mr J Bellchambers, Mr J Burn and Mr R Saunders attended the meeting under the Council s Public Participation scheme and spoke as local residents in support of the Experimental Traffic Order (ETO). Mrs J Williams and Mrs E Young (Traders and Reopen Totnes), Councillors A Whitty and J Hodgson (Totnes Town Council), Councillor P Boswell (Totnes Town Council and trustee of two Totnes museums) and Councillor A Gorman (a member of South Hams District Council representing the Totnes Town Ward and a member of Totnes Town Council) attended and spoke in favour of discontinuing the ETO and introducing alternative traffic solutions)

(Inspector A Tomlinson, Devon and Cornwall Constabulary, attended and spoke to this item at the invitation of the Committee).

The Committee considered the further Report of the Head of Highways, Capital Development Waste (HCW/13/40 - text only | pdf HCW/13/40) on the Experimental Traffic Order (ETO) scheme involving reversal of flow on Station Road and Lower Fore Street, Totnes which covered:

casualty, car parking and traffic data; signing; and traffic movements;

investigations into shared space/surface options involving community consultation;

consultation responses and other representations received from the Totnes Town Council, Totnes Chamber of Commerce, Bob the Bus community transport provider, Reopen Totnes, Totnes Museum and the general public.

It was noted that:

traffic entering the town centre via Station Road in May 2013 had roughly halved compared with the volumes entering Fore Street from The Plains in December 2011;

the experiment had displaced traffic from Fore Street and High Street onto the main through roads in the area and access to the town centre via Station Road could sometimes be more congested than before the experiment;

signing to on and off-street car parking had been improved;

ticket sales for on and off-street car parking had increased by approximately 17% and 5% respectively in the summer of 2013 compared with the same period last year;

overall feedback on the ETO was evenly balanced - representations from traders were heavily in favour of discontinuing the ETO while those from residents were heavily in favour of its retention;

Totnes Chamber of Commerce had written to the County Council drawing attention to 152 letters of representation from the business community;

a 512 name petition had been collected by Reopen Totnes asking for the experiment to be reversed had been received via Dr Sarah Wollaston, MP for Totnes, who had asked that the strength of feeling on the matter be considered;

Totnes Museum had reported significant drops in footfall and takings in June 2013 compared to June 2012;

there was concern about the continued viability of Bob the Bus following the re-routing required by the experiment;

Totnes Town Council had proposed a way forward following a series of meetings and design events;

a shared space scheme could be implemented - in phases if necessary - from The Plains roundabout to the High Street/Plymouth Road junction at an estimated cost of 100,000 which would require right turn bans at both the High Street/Plymouth Road and Cistern Street/Kingsbridge Hill junctions to prevent a return to the town centre being used as a short cut by through traffic with the associated pedestrian safety implications;

the County Council had no budgetary provision for a shared space scheme and significant funding would be required from the community for it to be a viable option. Reopen Totnes had offered to raise funds towards implementing a shared space scheme;

the Experimental Traffic Order continued to achieve its objectives of reducing personal injury accidents (none had been reported since the introduction of the ETO) and providing a more pedestrian friendly town centre environment.

Inspector Tomlinson, Devon and Cornwall Constabulary, commented on possible alternatives to the experimental scheme, expressing concern about the road safety implications of drivers trying to circumvent the no right turn at the High Street/Plymouth Road junction or turning right from Cistern Street onto Kingsbridge Hill in the event that a no right turn prohibition was not applied at this point.

The Chairman also reported the receipt of a further letter of representation from a local resident in support of the ETO.

It was MOVED by Councillor Vint and SECONDED by Councillor Hannaford that:

(a) the latest observations on the Experimental Traffic Order be noted;

(b) the work currently being undertaken through a community consultation process together with Devon County Council to explore a shared space scheme be supported in principle;

(c) as agreed at its previous meeting, the Committee consider a further report on the Experimental Traffic Order on 29 November 2013 but this discussion to include the possibility of removing the current Experimental Traffic Order with immediate effect, providing that the engineered no right turn is implemented simultaneously in accordance with earlier Devon County Council proposals .

It was then MOVED by Councillor Gilbert and SECONDED by Councillor Hart that the motion before the Committee be amended by the deletion of all words and the substitution of the following:

(a) that the Experimental Traffic Order be extended by a further period of 6 months from the date of this meeting, and reviewed by the Committee after the extended period has expired;

(b) that the scheme for minor lane changes to improve traffic flow on the Coronation Road approach to the Station Road junction shown in Appendix IV to Report HCW/13/40 - text only | pdf HCW/13/40 be implemented as soon as practicable, subject to prior consultation with the Fire Brigade, Ambulance Service and Hospital who all require access at this location .

The amendment was put to the vote and declared CARRIED and was then put as the substantive MOTION and it was

RESOLVED

(a) that the Experimental Traffic Order be extended by a further period of 6 months from the date of this meeting, and reviewed by the Committee after the extended period has expired;

(b) that the scheme for minor lane changes to improve traffic flow on the Coronation Road approach to the Station Road junction shown in Appendix IV to Report HCW/13/40 - text only | pdf HCW/13/40 be implemented as soon as practicable, subject to prior consultation with the Fire Brigade, Ambulance Service and Hospital who all require access at this location.

*DENOTES DELEGATED MATTER WITH POWER TO ACT

The meeting started at 9.30am and finished at 11.55am.

The Minutes of the South Hams Highways Traffic Orders Committee are published on the County Council s Website at:-