Agenda item

This report advises the Committee of any 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 a summary of petitions received by the Council which fell within the remit of this Committee.

Paragraph 3.1 of the report set out a summary of the responses to petitions that had been accepted by the petition organisers.

In accordance with the Council’s petitions scheme, two petitions had been referred for discussion by the Committee and the lead petitioners were in attendance and invited to address the Committee.

A summary of the points raised for each petition and the Committee’s discussion is set out as follows:

A)   Petition to implement a robust traffic calming system that will reduce the speed of traffic to an acceptable level to ensure Magpie Hall Road is safer for local residents

Mr McIntyre on behalf of local residents outlined the basis of his petition seeking a traffic calming system that would reduce the speed of traffic to an acceptable level in Magpie Hall Road.

He expressed concern that whilst the Council held records of the number of recorded traffic accidents, he did not consider this to be an accurate account as some incidents were not reported to the Police.

He acknowledged that a number of measures had already been put in place by the Council in terms of electronic warning devices at the junction of Magpie Hall Road and Palmerston Road and a modification to the existing road marking system designed to reduce the road width and encourage slower speeds, but he considered that these had failed to address the problem. He was therefore asking the Council to consider the provision of a mini roundabout at the junction of Palmerston Road with Magpie Hall Road.

The Assistant Director Front Line Services advised that the issue of speeding road users had become a common concern for Medway residents and many requests were received for speed reduction measures. Each individual request was carefully considered having regard to casualty reduction. She confirmed that the Council continually monitored personal injury collision information supplied by Kent Police to identify areas of increased injury risk. Having assessed Magpie Hall Road, three slight injury collisions had been recorded by Kent Police within the last three years. Unfortunately, there were many other locations in Medway where the casualty numbers were higher and this resulted in these other locations being ranked as a higher priority for investigation and possible works.

The Assistant Director Front Line Services advised that officers would continue to monitor Magpie Hall Road and, if funding became available, the road would be assessed, along with others to establish its priority for possible works. She confirmed that at the current time, Magpie Hall Road was placed 89^th on the priority list but stated that this list could change on a daily basis as and when incident data was received from Kent Police.

In response to questions from Members, the Assistant Director for Front Line Services confirmed that Police records were the benchmark used by all local authorities for prioritising works aimed at reducing casualties. In addition, she confirmed that it was not possible for the local authority to have access to data held by insurance companies owing to data protection.

A Member expressed concern that Magpie Hall Road was a long road of flat terrain and this encouraged driving at speed. He stated that the provision of one mini roundabout at the suggested location would make a significant difference in this particular road. He also confirmed that  consideration had not yet been given to funding the provision of a mini roundabout at this site as a Member’s Priority Bid.

A Member suggested that it would be helpful if Members could have a copy of the priority list of roads as this could assist them in discussions with local residents who wished to have traffic calming measures in their roads. The Assistant Director Front Line Services advised that whilst she was prepared to share the list with Members, the information contained on the list would be confidential on the basis that the list changes on a regular basis and to protect the wider implications for insurance premiums/claims.

Decision:

The Committee:

a)            Noted that the Assistant Director Front Line Services will investigate the possible provision of a mini roundabout at the junction of Palmerston Road with Magpie Hall Road and will report back to the Committee on the associated benefits of this roundabout and the costs involved.

b)            Noted that the Assistant Director Front Line Services will circulate to  Members a copy of the current priority list of roads for traffic calming measures, it being noted that this list is to be treated in strict confidence owing to the potential implications for insurance premiums/claims. 

B)   Petition to reinstate the 176/177 Arriva Bus to ASDA, Gillingham

Mrs Willingham outlined the basis of her petition seeking the reinstatement of the 176/177 Arriva Bus to the ASDA Store in Gillingham. She outlined the difficulties that she had experienced with the reliability of the service and advised that since 18 September 2016, Arriva had made changes to the 176 and 177 service which had resulted in the service no longer serving the ASDA store at Chatham Waters. She stated that many people in Gillingham liked to shop at ASDA and therefore wanted to continue to shop at this particular store.  

With the agreement of the Committee, Councillor Cooper spoke on this petition as Ward Councillor and supported the petitioner in requesting the reinstatement of the bus service to ASDA. In particular, she drew attention to difficulties faced by shoppers leaving the ASDA store and having to cross a busy dual carriageway on foot to reach a bus stop whilst carrying bags of shopping.

Councillor Cooper also questioned the Council’s obligations with regard to the Section 106 agreement for the redevelopment of Chatham Waters which required the developer to submit a Bus Strategy for the development.

The Principal Transport Planner clarified that the Section 106 Agreement had required as a minimum an off peak bus service to and from the site. The strategy supplied by Peel Holdings, and approved by the Council in 2015 relied upon Arriva’s agreement to operate the 176 service via the ASDA store. The Principal Transport Planner stated that as this bus service was no longer operating, the Council’s Section 106 Monitoring Officer would be contacting Peel Holdings to request that they submit an updated Strategy.

Nick Elsdon, Operating Manager and Robert Patterson, Commercial Development Manager both from Arriva and Cheryl Hammond, Customer Trading Manager from ADSA were in attendance at the meeting to respond to the petitioner’s concerns. 

Robert Patterson advised that Arriva had voluntarily agreed to serve the new ASDA store. However, the number of passengers using the service did not make it commercially viable when assessing the cost of running the service  against the income received therefore, the service had ceased in September 2016. He confirmed that Arriva operated a bus service to the ASDA store in Rochester but confirmed that the cost of this was met by ASDA.

Cheryl Hammond advised that Peel Holdings were the landlords for the ASDA store at Chatham Waters and the decision to operate the 176 bus service into the store had been a private agreement between Peel Holdings and Arriva. ASDA had not been involved in this agreement.

Members discussed the petition and responses to questions and expressed concern that residents in Gillingham were being denied the opportunity to benefit from using the ASDA store if they were reliant on public transport. Reference was made to ASDA’s desire to tackle social isolation and it was suggested that the cessation of the bus service to the store for Gillingham residents undermined this goal.

Robert Patterson confirmed that Arriva were prepared to meet with officers, Ward Councillors, Peel Holdings and ASDA to discuss whether there was a way forward to resolve the situation.

Decision:

The Committee:

a)            Requested that Officers pursue the receipt of an updated Bus Strategy from Peel Holdings and, in doing so arrange a meeting with appropriate representatives from Arriva, ASDA, Peel Holdings  and Ward Councillors to discuss options for the provision of a bus service to ASDA store at Chatham Waters.

b)                  Agreed that the outcome of a) above be notified to Members of the Committee by way of a briefing note.