Agenda and minutes

To appoint a Chair for the remainder of the ensuing civic year.

Cllr Will Windsor Clive having been proposed and seconded, and there being no other nominations, the Committee

Resolved

That Cllr Will Windsor Clive be elected Chair for the remainder of the 2019/20 civic year.

To elect a Vice-Chair for the remainder of the ensuing civic year.

Cllr Alan Preest having been proposed and seconded, and there being no other nominations, the Committee

Resolved

That Cllr Alan Preest be elected Vice-Chair for the remainder of the 2019/20 civic year.

To approve as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 3 December 2018.

Resolved

That the minutes of the meeting held on Monday 3 December 2018 be approved and signed as a correct record.

Members of the Committee are invited to declare any disclosable

pecuniary interest or personal interests that they may have

relating to specific matters that may be discussed at this meeting.

No declarations of interest were made.

Up to 30 minutes is allowed for this item.

To answer any written member questions about matters which are within the powers and duties of the Committee.

The closing date for receipt of questions is 10.00 am on Monday 9 December 2019. Please send questions to the Chief Executive marked for the attention of Joanne Bolton (email: joanne.bolton@gloucestershire.gov.uk).

Questions received and proposed responses do not accompany this agenda but will be available prior to the meeting. Questions and Answers publication on the website: Friday 13 December 2019.

Twenty-seven questions had been received.  A copy of the questions and answers was circulated and is attached to the signed copy of the minutes.

Question 1: Cllr Klara Sudbury asked for clarification on why county councillors who had highways responsibility were not allocated a speaking slot, particularly as she had requested to speak as one of the county councillors with Boots Corner in their division.

Joanne Bolton, Democratic Services Adviser, explained that all individuals who had registered to speak had been allocated a slot in the public speaking block on the agenda (with the exception of Cheltenham Borough councillors who had been allocated a separate earlier block on the agenda so that they could also attend the Cheltenham Borough Council (CBC) full Council meeting taking place later the same day).

Question 2 - Cllr Klara Sudbury referred to paragraph 8.3 of the report and commented that county councillors were mentioned in regard to statutory consultees and stakeholders who were consulted.  She added at 9.1 that it stated that ‘No formal responses were received from any other statutory consultees/Gloucestershire County Council (GCC) standard Consultees’.  Cllr Sudbury asked that as her response to the amended Experimental Traffic Regulation Orders (ETROs) had been received did this mean the meeting papers were incorrect or were county councillors not statutory consultees.

In response, Hannah Bassett-Louis, GCC Lawyer, confirmed that from a legal perspective, county councillors were not defined as statutory consultees.

Question 3 – Cllr Klara Sudbury asked if the relevant legislation for ETROs specified that when an experimental TRO scheme was amended, the consultation for it did not just need to happen for an additional six months, but that it needed to be a new consultation with previous formal representations not taken into consideration when the entire scheme was decided.

In response, the Lawyer explained that that all individuals who had made formal representations on the original Cheltenham Transport Plan (CTP) Phase 4 ETROs, were informed of the amendments which were being made to the scheme.   Following implementation of the amended ETROs, a further statutory 6 month formal consultation period was then undertaken.

Question 7 - Cllr Klara Sudbury commented that the response to her question about the amount of money left for mitigation measures, did not make reference to how the pot of mitigation money agreed by GCC and CBC would be spent, or how much was left. Cllr Sudbury asked whether the pot of money still existed.

In response, the Lead Commissioner Community and Infrastructure, Gloucestershire County Council, explained that any surplus would be committed to improving cycling measures.  The scheme was still live at present so the outturn financial position was not yet known.

Question 9 - Cllr Klara Sudbury asked why the redacted responses to both the ETROs and amended ETROs were not published with the rest of the meeting papers.

The Lead Commissioner explained that redacting the personal information from all formal representations received, involved a considerable amount of work which was not completed before the date of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

Up to 30 minutes is allowed for this item.

To answer any written public questions about matters which are within the powers and duties of the Committee.

The closing date for receipt of questions is 10.00 am on Monday 9 December 2019. Please send questions to the Chief Executive marked for the attention of Joanne Bolton (email joanne.bolton@gloucestershire.gov.uk).

Questions received and proposed responses do not accompany this agenda but will be available prior to the meeting. Questions and Answers publication on the website: Friday 13 December 2019.

6.1      Four questions had been received.  A copy of the questions and answers was circulated and was attached to the signed copy of the minutes.

6.1      Question 2 – Trevor Dumbleton referred to the number of formal representations received during the second round of consultation on Phase 4 and asked for a breakdown on how many were against/in favour of the scheme.

6.3      In response, the Lead Commissioner Community and Infrastructure confirmed that 159 formal representations had been received during the consultation on the amended ETROs.   A total of 134 objections, 19 supportive, and 6 neutral (did not relate to the scheme at all).

a)        Member Site Visit

To approve as a correct record the notes of the Member Site Visit held on Wednesday 4 December 2019.  To Follow.

b)        Scheme Promoter – Cheltenham Borough Council – Cllr Steve Jordan

To receive a presentation from the Scheme Promoter.

c)         Highway Authority Report

To consider the report of the Lead Commissioner Community Infrastructure, relating to:

Gloucestershire County Council, Bus Lane Order 2017 (Clarence Street, Cheltenham Transport Plan Phase 4) (Experimental Variation) (Amendment no. 1) Order 2019

Gloucestershire County Council, (7.5 tonne Weight Restriction) (various roads, Cheltenham Transport Plan Phase 4) Experimental Order 2019

Gloucestershire County council , (Prohibition of Driving) (various roads, Cheltenham Transport Plan Phase 4) Experimental Amendment no. 1 Order 2019

Gloucestershire County Council, On-Street Parking Order 2017 (various roads, Cheltenham Transport Plan Phase 4) (Experimental Variation) (Amendment no. 1) Order 2019

d)        Cheltenham Borough Councillors

e)        Public Representations

Objectors

Supporters

f)          Committee Debate

g)        Committee recommendation to Gloucestershire County Council’s Cabinet

7.1      Member Site Visit

  In response to the question raised by Cllr Kevin Cromwell during his site visit on 9

December 2019, Fraser Reid, Project Manager, explained that due to the short

timescale involved, he had not been able to obtain data on Cheltenham General

Hospital’s growth since 2015, and therefore could not ascertain if there were any

linkages between this and traffic growth on College Road.

  The Committee Resolved

  That the notes of the Member’ Site Visit on 4 and 9 December 2019 be received

as a correct record.

7.2      Scheme Promotor- Cheltenham Borough Council – Cllr Steve Jordan

7.2.1   Cllr Steve Jordan, Leader of Cheltenham Borough Council, gave a detailed

presentation to the Committee, aided by a PowerPoint presentation.  (For information: A copy of the presentation slides is included in the minute book and has been

uploaded to the Council’s website.)

7.2.2   He informed the Committee that the concept of removing ‘through traffic’ from the town centre emerged as part of the Civic Pride Urban Design Framework within the Local Development Framework in 2008.  This reflected a CBC ambition to reduce town centre traffic and specifically the ‘severance’ at Boots Corner, making the town centre a more pleasant inclusive environment, focused on walking, cycling and public transport access. 

7.2.3   As part of the assessment process to test the potential impacts of removing traffic as part of the Phase 4 Boots Corner trial, Gloucestershire County Council as the Highway Authority built a ‘Paramics’ microsimulation traffic model.  The results of this traffic modelling and the economic case formed the basis for Gloucestershire County Council’s and Cheltenham Borough Council’s successful bid to the DfT Local Sustainable Transport Fund in 2012.  CBC and GCC had received over £600,000 from the DfT Local Sustainable Transport Fund in 2012 to undertake the Cheltenham Transport Plan (CTP) scheme.

7.2.4   Cllr Jordan informed members that each of the four phases of the CTP had been designed to loosen the grip of the ring road.  He gave an overview of key changes made during Phase 1-3 of the CTP. 

7.2.5   Phase 4 of the CTP, the Boots Corner trial, commenced on 28 June 2018 and was being undertaken by experimental traffic regulation orders (ETROs) that could run for a maximum period of 18 months period (the ETROs would expire on 28 December 2019).  A series of amendments were made to the ETROs, as a result of the concerns and issues raised as part of the feedback received during the first 6 month consultation period.  Those amendments were implemented on 3 June 2019 and a further six months consultation period was undertaken, ending on 3 December 2019.

7.2.6   In-depth public engagement had been carried out throughout the period of the trial.  Gloucestershire County Council had focused on seeking responses on the traffic impacts and CBC on gaining an understanding of the wider impacts, including the effect on air quality and the economy.

7.2.7   The Committee was informed that CBC had undertaken a major piece of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.