Hampshire County Council Universal Services - Transport and Environment Select Committee Meeting

All Members were present and no apologies were noted.

Members were mindful that where they believed they had a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest in any matter considered at the meeting they must declare that interest at the time of the relevant debate and, having regard to the circumstances described in Part 3, Paragraph 1.5 of the County Council's Members' Code of Conduct, leave the meeting while the matter was discussed, save for exercising any right to speak in accordance with Paragraph 1.6 of the Code. Furthermore Members were mindful that where they believed they had a Non-Pecuniary interest in a matter being considered at the meeting they considered whether such interest should be declared, and having regard to Part 5, Paragraph 2 of the Code, considered whether it was appropriate to leave the meeting whilst the matter was discussed, save for exercising any right to speak in accordance with the Code.

The minutes of the last meeting were reviewed and agreed.

The Select Committee received seven deputations at the meeting, all speaking with regards to item 8 on the agenda.

Dr Hannah Greenberg spoke about the health risks associated with pollution and confirmed that a Motion had been passed in some areas of Hampshire for a default of 20mph. It was felt that safety should be prioritised and it was important to consider vulnerable people that were travelling on foot and by bicycle.

Emma Street spoke on behalf of Cycle Winchester and asked the Select Committee to reject the report, feeling that it focused on reasons not to implement a 20mph speed limit and didn’t focus on people.

Helena Dale and Tony Higginson addressed the Select Committee as local residents about the Twyford area and the dangers of walking alongside the roads. Mr Higginson spoke of the cycle bus arranged for the local school accepted that transformational change was difficult but essential in a climate emergency to achieve results.

Anne Sayer spoke as a local resident and cycling instructor and emphasised the importance of lowering speeds to get more people, and in particular, women cycling as the amount of traffic and speed was deterring a lot of people from trying. Ms Sayer also felt that a lot of supporting evidence for introducing a 20mph policy had been missed from the report.

Mark King spoke as a local resident from the New Milton area, where walking was dangerous due to the speed of traffic and lack of pavements alongside long stretches of road

Caroline Tomlinson and Andrew Smith spoke on behalf of residents from Appleshaw and Redenham and the concern over lack of pavements in the local area, making walking anywhere very dangerous. An action group had been formed by the local Parish Council, which had been very well attended by residents.

Wilf Forrow addressed the Select Committee on behalf of Green Travel Hampshire, sharing that he felt the findings in the report were incompatible with the LTP4 document released for consultation. It was accepted that 20mph speed limits would not be enough on their own, but would be a good first step whilst other elements were implemented.

County Councillor Mark Cooper thanked officers and Members for their work looking at the 20mph policy as part of the working group and hoped that the County Council would work closely with Parishes and Districts going forward in implementing pilots. Councillor Cooper also requested that target dates were shared to show that the matter was being taken forward and looked at seriously.

There were no formal announcements.

The Select Committee considered a report from the Director of Universal Services and Director of Corporate Operations (item 6 in the minute book) on the Universal Services Capital Programme 2023/24, 2024/25 and 2025/26.

Members received a presentation that summarised the report, noting the importance of energy efficiency, reduction in funding and additional pressures including inflation.

During questions, the Select Committee learned:

-       It was important to review bids that had been made, particularly where they had been unsuccessful, to understand how bids could be improved for the future;

-       Bids would be coordinated by the Hampshire 2050 Directorate and potentially implemented by Universal Services depending on what the bid was for;

-       Maintaining the highway network remained a priority;

-       Further savings were anticipated following the establishment of the new Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) at Eastleigh and the capacity for third party sales

RESOLVED

The Select Committee supported the recommendations being proposed to the Executive Lead Member for Universal Services in the attached report.

The Select Committee considered a report from the Director of Universal Services and Director of Corporate Operations (item 7 in the minute book) on the revenue budget, which was discussed alongside item 6 on the agenda.

RESOLVED

The Select Committee supported the recommendations being proposed to the Executive Lead Member for Universal Services in the attached report.

The Select Committee considered a report from 20mph Speed Limit Policy Task & Fish Group (item 8 in the minute book), that had been established in January 2022.

The report was summarised by officers, and it was highlighted that the Select Committee was not being asked to make any decisions on a final policy, only to make recommendations for further consideration following the research and learnings from the Task & Finish Group.

It was acknowledged that that ambitions summarised wouldn’t be implemented all at once, and so would need to be prioritised. Achieving support from motorists would also be paramount in the success of any initiatives as there would always be an element of self-enforcement.

The Task & Group had researched other similar initiatives as part of its research, and it was agreed that it was important to not make restrictions too difficult to implement, and to focus more on creating new normal ways of driving in order to encourage a gradual culture change on roads and in particular areas.

It was noted that some Members of the Task & Finish Group did not support the final recommendations as they felt that some elements were too restrictive.

Councillor Nick Adams-King thanked the Select Committee for its consideration of the policy and also the deputations and officers, and assured that time would be invested in looking at it further ahead of any final recommendations going to Cabinet later in the year.

RESOLVED

The Universal Services - Transport and Environment Select Committee endorsed the recommendations below for submission to the Director of Universal Services for further consideration:

a)    The County Council should encourage wider use of 20mph restrictions and ease back on the current casualty focused criteria for 20mph speed limits, with casualty data to be an important factor in the prioritisation of requests.

b)    A hierarchy of road function to be used to identify and evaluate requirements for a 20mph speed limit to be established.  Routes serving a strategic function to have more stringent criterion whereas minor and local roads would have less conditions.  This would link directly to and reflect the ‘Movement and Place’ Frameworkset out in the Hampshire Local Transport Plan 4 (LTP4). 

c)    Relax the current 24mph mean average speed threshold to 26mph for non-strategic roads, subject to Police views.

d)    Enable 20mph speed limit schemes to be introduced in new and existing modern developments in slow speed environments built in accordance with Manual for Streets, subject to developers funding contributions.

e)    Enable 20 mph speed limits as part of significant area wide regeneration projects.

f)     Relax the current requirement to move Speed Limit Reminder (SLR) and Speed Indicator Device (SID) signs every 2-3 weeks and allow devices to be re-deployed at locations giving more flexibility to address key locations. Speed data from such devices to be used for assessing/supporting 20mph limits where appropriate.

g)    Wider use of Advisory ’20 mph When Lights Show’ signs. Prioritisation to be given to schools with active travel plans and those who participate in the County Council’s Road Safety Education, Training and Publicity programmes.

h)    Applicants must demonstrate that a 20mph speed limit is supported by the majority of the community and commit to the setting up and operation of a Community Speedwatch group.

i)     Requests for 20mph limits to be assessed and scored subject to prioritisation using assessment criterion for requests.

The Work Programme was deferred to the next meeting of the Universal Services Transport and Environment Select Committee.