Agenda item

To advise the Committee of petitions received by the Council which fall within the remit of this Committee including a summary of the response sent to the lead petitioners by officers.

Discussion:

The Committee received a report setting out petitions received by the Council which fell within the remit of the Committee, including a summary of the responses sent to petitioners by Officers.

The Committee was advised that two lead petitioners had requested that their petitions be referred to this Committee.

Petition for a 20mph speed limit in the Darland area of Watling Ward

The Chairman welcomed Mr Grant to the meeting concerning his petition asking for 20mph speed limits in Darland/Watling Ward. With the agreement of the Committee, Councillor Purdy as Ward Councillor addressed the Committee and explained that Watling Ward was divided in two halves and dissected by the A2 Watling Street. She advised that although the petition referred to streets within Darland Area, the petition had been signed by petitioners from across the Ward and a second lead petitioner, Mrs Watson was in attendance and also wished to speak.

The Chairman, confirmed that he was willing to hear from Mrs Watson but stressed that the petition referred specifically to Darland and it was on this basis that the Committee would be considering the petition.

The Chairman then invited the petitioners to address the Committee on their request for 20mph speed restrictions in Darland.

Both Mr Grant and Mrs Watson outlined the issues which led to the petition. These included the speed of traffic in residential roads and the poor visibility for drivers exiting side roads due to nose to tail parking and tall vehicles. They requested that the Council consider the adoption of the 20s plenty scheme in Darland and stressed that this would involve low cost initiatives such as the erection of 20mph speed signs and painting 20mph speed signs on roads. Such a scheme did not involve engineering works or traffic calming measures, although it was accepted that these had also been used in some local authority areas.

The petitioners advised the Committee that this issue was not restricted to  Watling Ward and suggested that the Council consider the adoption of 20s plenty across the whole of Medway in residential side streets.

The Director of Regeneration, Community and Culture confirmed that the basis upon which the Council introduced road safety improvements was casualty reduction and therefore locations with ongoing poor road casualty history were tackled first to help prevent further casualties on roads. He suggested that if the Council was minded to support the introduction of a 20mph speed restriction based upon the 20s plenty scheme, it would be advisable for the Committee to receive a detailed report setting out full details of the scheme along with research as to how effective the scheme had been in areas where it had been introduced, along with the costs involved. The Committee could then take a measured and evidenced based view as to whether this would be a scheme that it would wish to recommend to Cabinet or Council for consideration either by way of a pilot scheme in a specified area or Medway wide.

The Committee discussed the possible introduction of the 20s plenty scheme both as an initial pilot and Medway wide and whilst there was a level of support for the introduction of a pilot scheme, the Committee noted that there may be other areas of Medway other than Darland where a pilot scheme could be introduced.

Petition for the provision of parking facilities after 6pm at Church Street, Chatham

On the basis that the lead petitioner was not in attendance at the meeting, consideration of this petition was deferred.

Decision:

The Committee:

a)            noted the petition responses and appropriate officer actions set out in paragraph 3 of the report;

b)            having considered the petition request from Mr Grant and Mrs Watson, Officers were requested to submit a report to a future meeting of the Committee setting out information on the 20s plenty scheme, along with information as to how successful this scheme had been in other local authority areas and the likely costs involved so that the Committee may consider whether it wishes to recommend to Cabinet or Council the introduction of the scheme either as an initial pilot or Medway wide in residential side streets; and

c)                  agreed that consideration of the petition concerning the provision of parking facilities after 6pm in Church Street Chatham should be deferred on the basis that the lead petitioner had not attended the meeting.