Agenda item

REPORT OF THE SENIOR TRANSPORT POLICY OFFICER

To introduce the Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plan consultation with a short presentation and to take questions.

RESOLVED:

(1)   That the Committee note the report

(2)   That Members are encouraged to respond to the North Herts District LCWIP consultation draft and encourage residents and local organisations to do so too

Audio recording – 33:23

Edward Leigh, Senior Transport Policy Officer, introduced the Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plan consultation and gave a presentation which included:

·         Presenting a draft Local Walking and Cycling Infrastructure Plan which is now out for consultation as of Monday. This will run until the 7^th November

·         This is important as it is the basis on which the County will be applying from large amounts of funding from Active Travel England and the Department for Transport as well as securing funding from developments through Section 106 agreements to improve the bult environment.

·         This includes wider pavements, safer junctions, more pedestrian and cycle crossings, protected cycle lanes and modal filters and other traffic management measures designed to make cycling and walking safer and more attractive

·         Modal filters means restricting the flow of vehicles to just cycles, or cycles and buses. This is to divert traffic away from areas where there is high conflict between cycling and walking and driving. This is particularly in the town centres

·         There are also other methods to diverting traffic, such as creating one way systems

·         This part of the plan will focus on North Herts towns, Knebworth and the interurban Hitchin-Stevenage route.

·         The routes within this plan were audited on the ground by WSP to evaluate and propose changes to improve this for cycling and walking

·         This needs to be done for rural areas but we don’t have the resources available to create this plan in rural areas.

·         Additionally we need to make towns safer for people to cycle and walk in, so when people commute in from rural areas it is also safer for them.

·         This plan will start in the towns and will be built outwards into rural areas

·         The County and District Councils have agreed to work in partnership to undertake a review of this plan within two years of its adoption.

·         Subject to having available funding, the intention is to commission a second iteration which takes into account all the rural areas and this is the time scale we are working to

·         We are still looking for input and feedback from rural areas now as this will help feed into the second iteration

·         There are key routes that aren’t covered but have been identified as priority routes, for example Ashwell to the railway station and some routes around Knebworth.

·         The consultation is live at Hertfordshire.gov.uk/LCWIP-NorthHerts until the 7^th November.

·         Councillors are encouraged to respond, as well as encouraging residents, local businesses and community groups to respond

·         This isn’t just about cycling, but also walking

·         It is also important for those who use a wheelchair or mobility scooter to respond

·         On the consultation website, there is a story board for each of the towns, Knebworth and the interurban route from Hitchin to Stevenage. In each of these, there is a page dedicated to what is happening in that area, as well as a map showing the details of each route and descriptions of the interventions.

·         You can click anywhere on the map in the district and you drop a pin. You then can enter details of what your observations are. For example, if you spot a junction that is particularly dangerous

·         These observations will be reported back to the County Council. The comments will be submitted anonymously, vetted by the web team, and then published to the public.

·         There is a general survey allowing people to feedback any thoughts or recommendations they may have about the plan

·         We are promoting this consultation jointly with the County Council, attending all area committees and town talks where applicable, joining Councillor community surgeries during the consultation and organising afternoon-evening drop in events.

·         One of these drop in events is in Knebworth on the 20^th October at the Knebworth Parish Centre from 3:15pm-7:30pm

·         We will do similar events in Baldock, Royston and Letchworth.

·         Hitchin is well covered due to the town talk and Councillor community surgery

·         The event details will be shared in the Members Information Service

·         The full report is available on the website.

The following members asked questions:

·         Councillor Mandi Tandi

·         Councillor Claire Strong

In response to questions, Edward Leigh advised:

·         This plan has been informed by the Emerging Local Plan so takes into account the plan of future developments. The County is already using the draft plan as a basis for Section 106 commitments from those developments. The delivery timeframe depends on funding coming forward from Active Travel England and how much we can secure from developers for sustainable transport. Hopefully we will get a significant amount of money from the government and the County will be able to deliver at pace. It will probably take around a decade to deliver everything, but we can expect to see a lot of progress in the next 5 years.

·         The government under the previous Prime Minister set the tone of raising the profile of Active Travel as a primary mode of people to travel. Every development needs to be connected in a wider network. Councillors are asked to support more controversial areas, such as taking away some road space to put in footpaths. These small sacrifices will be offset by the larger benefits for more people to walk and can help reduce congestion

·         The County has written to all the Parish Clerks on Friday. We will make sure at least one more communication goes out to all Parishes. We have posters being printed to be distributed to Parish Councils to put up on their noticeboards. Both the County and District social media teams have materials to share and promote on all platforms and hopefully this will be picked up by the Parishes and pushed out further.

·         The maps are at the back of the room with all the proposal details.

It was:

RESOLVED:

(1)  That the Committee note the report

(2)  That Members are encouraged to respond to the North Herts District LCWIP consultation draft and encourage residents and local organisations to do so too