A presentation will be given on Highways and Transportation issues relating to the Rushey Mead area.
Minutes:
Satish Shah, Head of Transport Systems, Leicester City Council attended the meeting to give a presentation on Highways and Transportation issues. A copy of a Rushey Mead Ward Newsletter (July 2009) was circulated at the meeting. In addition copies of a report that set out the schemes included in priority order in the Central Leicestershire Local Transport Plan 2006 to 2011 – Capital Programmes 2008 to 2011 was also available.
Satish stated that two main priorities were that of tackling speeding traffic and junction improvements.
Certain housing estates were not able to cope with parking issues and to help cope with this verge hardening or the construction of lay-bys were options available, subject to priority and of funding available.
Regarding speeding traffic and road safety, the Council’s Traffic Impact Team visited reported sites and measured speed of traffic. If further action was deemed necessary action would be taken to reduce the speed of traffic by appropriate measures. Targets were in place across the City to reduce traffic related accidents and injuries. A programme of traffic calming schemes across the City was already in place.
The City Council were actively encouraging the use of public transport, cycling and walking to work. In looking to the future City Centre bus facilities were being looked at. Already in place was a Quality Bus Partnership with both Arriva and First and the Star Trak system, although beset with a number of problems, was in place to provide passenger information at bus stops..
Park and Ride was already in place at Meynells Gorse and a new site was being developed at Enderby that would come on stream at the end of 2009. Plans were in hand to develop further Park and Ride sites at Birstall and at Groby.
Repair and maintenance work on roads and pavements was currently being co-ordinated with the main utilities to try and ensure works were kept to a minimum. Regular highway inspections were carried out to assess the conditions of roads and footways across the City.
Members of the public were encouraged to call the Customer Care number with all highway related issues and these would then be forwarded to the relevant section. The Customer Services phone number is 0116 252 7000.
At this point members of the public raised questions.
Cycle Racks
Mr Thompson stated that at a recent meeting of residents the question of the provision ofcycle racks had been raised at the following locations: -
Ireton Road shops
Barkby Road shops
Rushey Mead Library, Gleneagles Avenue
Place of Worship
Mr Thompson stated that there was a building, located on Essex Road, just off Gipsy Lane, that was being used as a plave of worship and that the use was causing problems with car parking at times of prayer, with a number of cars parking on double yellow lines.
Mr Thompson requested that Civil Enforcement Officers patrol the area at the times of prayer and to ticket offending vehicles. Satish stated that he would pass this information on.
Speeding Traffic – Gleneagles Avenue
It was reported that a large proportion of traffic using Gleneagles Avenue was travelling at more than 30 mph and that there were no signs near the schools. There were also low bridges on Gipsy Lane and Barkby Road and it was suggested that more advanced warning signs be installed to warn tall vehicles.
Bus Travel
It was stated that a number of local people locally did not use buses as the cost of fares was too high andoften a journey necessitated buying tickets from two companies, First and Arriva.
Graffiti
Several sites were referred to, including the newsagents on the corner of Fairfax Road. The officers stated that details of the sites would be taken after the meeting, although in some cases a small charge might be necessary, particularly if the location was on private land, as public money was in effect being used to remove someone elses graffiti.
Wheelie Bins
Mr Thompson stated that, particularly in the case of new arrivals to this country, there were issues around wheelie bins being left on the street all week. The officers stated that arrangements could be made for the Community Wardens to liase with the relevant householders in the appropriate language and explain the potential problems of leaving wheelie bins on the pavement. Details would be taken after the meeting.
The officers were thanked for their presentation.