Agenda and minutes

In accordance with the County Council’s Constitution, The Chair and Vice Chair must be County Councillors. County and District Councillors may vote.

RESOLVED that Councillor McGeough be elected Chair and Councillor Hellyer be elected Vice-Chair for the ensuing year.

Members of the Council will declare any interests they may have in any item to be considered at this meeting, prior to any discussion taking place on that item.

The other registrable interests of Councillors of Devon County Council, arising from membership of City, Town or Parish Councils and other Local Authorities will automatically be recorded in the minutes: A list of county councillors who are also district, borough, city, parish or town councillors.

The Chair reminded Members they should declare any interests they may have in any item to be considered, prior to any discussion taking place on that item.

Minutes of the meeting held on 10 October 2024, (previously circulated).

RESOLVED that the minutes of the 10 October 2024 be signed as an accurate record of the meeting.

Items which in the opinion of the Chairman should be considered at the meeting as matters of urgency.

There was no matter raised as a matter of urgency.

(An item to be taken under s18 of the Traffic Management Act 2004 relating to any reviews of parking policy sought in line with the Council’s Petition Scheme.)

There was no petition presented.

Report of the Director of Climate Change, Environment and Transport (CET/24/86).

The Committee considered the Report of the Director of Climate Change, Environment and Transport (CET/24/86) on requests for new or amended waiting restrictions. Officers had consulted the relevant local County Councillors and Chair/Vice Chair prior to advertisement from 26 September to 17 October 2024.

A summary of the proposals advertised was detailed in Appendix 1 of the Report with associated plans. Details of the comments/objections received to these proposals, and the Officers’ response was shown in Appendix 2 of the Report with a recommendation for each location.

The following points were made during Members’ consideration of the proposals:

-       ENV6142-383 (Taddiport) had been withdrawn from the programme pending further review, to be considered at a future meeting.

-       ENV6142-415 (Raleigh Hill) – that monitoring could take place following implementation of the Order to assess if any other proposals were needed; and that Officers would contact the local garage regarding parking obstructions.

It was MOVED by Councillor Saywell, SECONDED by Councillor Hellyer and

RESOLVED

(a) that the work on the local waiting restriction programme be noted;

(b) that the recommendations contained in Appendix 2 to the Report be approved; and

(c)  that a report on restrictions not considered in the Report be brought back to the next meeting.

Report of the Director of Climate Change, Environment and Transport (CET/24/87).

The Committee noted the Report of the Director of Climate Change, Environment and Transport (CET/24/87) and the Approach to Inclusive Design.

The report set out that the Council was committed to ensuring that its transport network enabled mobility for all and prevented barriers to opportunities. Inclusive design was key to delivering this in practice and required that the needs of all disabled people were considered from the outset of any transport and pedestrian infrastructure.

It further stated that following the submission of a supplementary question at Full Council in February 2024, a request had been made for a written statement relating to how the Council considered inclusive design within their transport schemes, particularly relating to people with visual impairments.

The report outlined how the Council ensured new walking and cycling infrastructure was accessible for individuals with protected characteristics and followed appropriate guidance during the design process. Impact Assessments were carried out; and the Council continued to engage with key stakeholders representing the disabled community ensuring their opinions were taken into account during design and construction of current and future projects. The resultant decision-making process had to take into consideration a range of factors, including the inclusivity of the design and the Public Sector Equality Duty.

Discussion points included:

-       Members should inform their Neighbourhood Highways Officer if improvements were needed for dropped kerbs, subject to available funding.

-       that illegal parking on a dropped kerb was enforceable.

The Chair thanked Officers for the informative presentation.

Report of the Director of Climate Change, Environment and Transport (CET/24/88).

The Committee noted the Report of the Director for Climate Change, Environment & Transport (CET/24/99), which detailed the actions take in respect of traffic regulation orders under delegated powers since the last meeting.

Verbal update of the Committee’s BUS Forum representative.  A summary of each Forum is available at Devon BUS Forum - Travel Devon

The Committee were updated as to the last BUS Forum that took place on 7 October 2024, a summary of which was available at Devon BUS Forum - Travel Devon.

Next meetings:  24 February, 30 June and 24 October 2025.

Please see link to calendar of meetings to check meeting arrangements: Browse meetings - Torridge Highways and Traffic Orders Committee - Democracy in Devon

The next meeting was on 24 February 2025 and it was requested that this take place in Bideford.