Winchester City Borough Council North Whiteley Development Forum Meeting

Apologies were noted as above.

Mr Spencer Allen addressed the meeting regarding several points related to Bluebell Way. Mr Allen felt that a lack of effective traffic calming measures was causing numerous issues such as vehicles speeding, vehicle noise nuisance, damaged manhole covers and general safety concerns. Mr Allen also raised concerns regarding the signage on the local shared cycle/pedestrian paths which he felt didn’t clearly indicate a shared pedestrian/cycle path.

Mr Alborough from Hampshire County Council responded to the points raised by Mr Allen. He informed that a speed check had been carried out on the section of Bluebell Way referred to. This speed check had indicated that the 85th percentile speed was 31 miles per hour and so was not significantly more than the speed limit of 30 miles per hour for that part of the road. However, Highways Officers were considering the need for an additional traffic calming measure beyond the bottom of the hill. Regarding the concerns over noise nuisance, he recommended that the City Council deploy an Environment Health officer to undertake a noise assessment. Regarding the broken manhole covers, he advised that an order had been placed for the replacement and details were awaited, in addition an offer had been made by the consortium to fix this specific manhole cover which would resolve the matter more quickly. Mr Alborough confirmed that he would contact Mr Allen when further details were known on this. Regarding the cycle path signage, Mr Alborough confirmed that he would investigate the points raised and confirm if additional signage was needed to be in place and would contact Mr Allen accordingly. 

Several members of the forum also commented on the points raised by Mr Allen.

Councillor Hazel Croft-Phillips addressed the meeting on behalf of Whiteley Town Council.  She thanked officers for the reports she had received following the July and November meetings of the forum. She asked for a verbal update regarding the achievements made in the installation of measures to support local wildlife such as bat boxes and hedgehog corridors. She also asked that following the City Council’s declaration of Climate Emergency, had any developers altered their plans regarding solar panels, electric charging points etc to meet national or local carbon reduction targets?

These points were responded to by the Chairperson and Mrs Pinnock. Regarding the measures for local wildlife, an update would be provided by Mr Davis of Tetra Tech later on the agenda. Regarding carbon reduction measures, Mrs Pinnock explained that planning permission had been granted for the North Whiteley Development and developers would be required to build according to the permission granted, it would be for the consortium to advise of any measures over and above those required by the planning permission.

Several members of the forum also commented on the points raised by Councillor Hazel Croft-Phillips.

RESOLVED:

That the minutes of the previous meeting held on the 16 November 2021 be approved and adopted.

Following their agreement, Councillor Woodward questioned the accuracy of the previous minutes. Councillor Woodward advised that at the previous meeting of the forum he had asked why meetings continued to be held virtually which he felt was not the best approach. Councillor Woodward stated that his comments had not been documented within the minutes. The Chairperson noted this comment.

Members of the forum went on to discuss whether future meetings of the forum should be held in person or virtually. Several points were made both for and against each option.

Following the discussion, the Chairperson asked members of the forum to email the Democratic Services officer with their preference for future meetings and he would discuss the options with the cabinet member responsible.

Karen Vincent, Governance Manager, Winchester City Council provided the forum with a verbal update regarding the Community Governance Review (CGR).

As part of her update, the next steps were set out as follows:

• A paper was being prepared for the next meeting of the Licensing & Regulation committee concerning the review (Note. following the meeting, this committee was now scheduled for the 10 March 2022)

• Following that meeting of the Licensing & Regulation committee and subject to their approval, a variety of communication and engagement methods would be used to communicate the review, to seek views of residents and to seek interested residents in joining the advisory board.

The overall intention was for the re organisation order to be in place in November 2022 which would then come into place in April 2023. (Note. following the meeting, it was confirmed that elections would be held in May 2023 following the reorganisation order of November 2022).

Members asked several questions and made comments regarding; the meeting of the advisory group, the maintenance of bus stops in the interim period prior to the implementation of the results of the governance review and the availability of the Terms of Reference document.

These points were responded to by the Governance Manager.      

Hilary Oliver, Implementation Officer, Winchester City Council referred members to the short update regarding bus services provided by Hampshire County Council (HCC) which was available on the councils website here. Councillor M Evans advised of concerns regarding bus routes, specifically that routes did not include the surgery or community hospital and that a meeting had been arranged with HCC on the 17 February regarding this. Councillor Lumby agreed to extend the invitations to this meeting to include the Winchester city council ward councillors.

Duncan Stewart, Hampshire County Council provided a verbal update concerning the M27 Junction 9 scheme. He advised

that significant works had been completed and the scheme remained to be completed in the Summer of 2022. Mr Stewart outlined several key pieces of activity remaining including the resurfacing of the works, road closures, diversions and the subsequent communication with residents and businesses.

Members asked several questions and made comments regarding: the traffic signalling sequencing on the Junction 9 roundabout, the loss of lanes around the roundabout and issues regarding accessing Rookery Avenue from Parkway South roundabout.

These points were responded to by Mr Stewart who undertook to review the points raised and respond to members following the meeting.

Jeff Davis of Tetra Tech provided the forum with a presentation which was available on the council’s website here. The presentation covered a range of issues which included the following:

• progress on Bluebell Way,
• Cornerstone Primary School,
• progress on Station Hill to Whiteley Way/ Curbridge Way to Whiteley Way,
• Northern Access Junction,
• Whiteley Way South,
• off-site Whiteley Way progress,
• an update on housing delivery,
• the delivery of open space and an ecology/environment mitigation, which included details of wildlife features and photovoltaic delivery update.

Hilary Oliver, Implementation Officer, Winchester City Council addressed the forum and referred members to the report, ref NWDF17, available on the council's website here.  The Implementation Officer provided an update on progress on several issues including the collection of affordable housing monies and the status of the planning applications, 

Members asked several questions and made comments regarding;

• the completion date for Whiteley Way,
• the likely timescale to achieve 1100 occupations,
• concerns over a lack of traffic management and signage on Bluebell Way,
• general site maintenance including issues over litter,
• the responsibility of the balancing ponds and
• results of recent safety inspection of the ponds.

It was also requested whether an overall timetable of key milestones for 2022 could be provided to members of the forum.

These points were responded to by Jeff Davis and Hilary Oliver who agreed to respond to members on the outstanding points.

RESOLVED:

1.       that the report be noted

2.       that officers consider the comments of the forum

Members put forward the following items for future agenda items:

• The responsibility for the running of the proposed community centre
• Feedback from residents of their experience of resolving local issues
• An update on the M27 Junction 9 scheme
• An update from Hampshire County Council Education service
• An update on the community governance review