Issue - meetings

The report is attached on Liveable Neighbourhoods.

Chris Major, Assistant Director – Highways and Transport, introduced the report.

Panel members asked the following questions and made the following points:

Councillor O’Brien stated that there is an emphasis on cycling and walking which is ok if you live near a centre/shops but this discriminates against people who live in rural areas, blue badge holders and those who cannot walk or cycle. The officer explained that walking and cycling is being encouraged for those who can do this, we are not saying that cars cannot be used. We are trying to change habits where possible.

Councillor Born raised the following points. Officer responses are shown in italics:

·  Welcome that communities are being asked to put forward proposals – the criteria must be clear and central to the consultation and the local proposals must work together across the city.

·  Regarding RPS (Residents Parking Schemes) – some areas of Widcombe and Lyncombe are already someway down the track to getting much needed schemes in place and will be concerned if the new strategy causes delay. A significant amount of time has been lost due to the lockdown, we are behind but we are working on those schemes.

·  Regarding Bear Flat – there are some difficulties with parking for people working in local shops and other businesses. Some were using the regular bus services but these are reduced currently and some people are not confident about using public transport. She requested that staff could have access to permits while Covid measures that make it difficult for them to get to work remain in force. Workers parking is always an issue, there is a fine balance with residents parking schemes, we are trying to look at it strategically, the LTN (Low Traffic Neighbourhood) scheme should help.

·  It is great to see the plan for EV (Electric Vehicle) charging points, this is welcome, and it is a good idea to use lampposts where they are sited at the front of the pavement. However, we will need to provide a mixture of rapid and slow chargers across all areas.

·  Regarding the query about EV car sharing clubs – this is part of the strategy and is key.

Councillor Davies raised the following points. Officer responses are shown in italics:

·  Could we have a brief summary of exactly what is being consulted on? We are consulting on high level strategic documents which set the direction of travel for the Council.

·  EV (Electric vehicle) charging will be an enormous challenge – the paper mentions that BANES have ruled out the Oxford example of using channels, we should be cautious in ruling things out so early on. A number of authorities have been forced into decisions, digging channels into footways can cause future problems. We ruled out channels after speaking to maintenance teams.

·  RPS (Residents Parking Schemes) - where are we on the on-street parking vision?  A number of schemes have not been completed due to Covid. All permit policies will be reviewed. There has been a  ...  view the full minutes text for item 59