Agenda item

To receive a short presentation from the City Mayor on the findings from the consultation exercise.

The Chair invited Mr Mick Screaton to address the meeting as he was largely responsible for starting the campaign to address the traffic issues in Sharplands.  Mr Screaton stated that he had originally raised the issue in February when it had been reported in the Leicester Mercury.  He had been involved in the site meeting and was disappointed that he had not received any results of the traffic survey.  He hoped that the City Mayor would have good news arising from the consultation.

The City Mayor gave a presentation on the findings from the consultation exercise he had carried out to address the concerns of local residents that were outlined to him at the last meeting in March.  A copy of the City Mayor’s presentation is attached as an appendix to the minutes.

Following the last meeting he had canvassed 261 properties for their views.  These properties are shown on the map in the appendix.  He had received a 36% response rate (96 properties) from the consultation exercise which he considered to be a high level of response for such an exercise.

65% of responses (62) considered that vehicles using Sharplands as a rat run were a big problem.  27 of the responses came from properties in Sharplands.  54% of the respondents (52) thought that closing the road to through traffic would be the best action.  25 of the responses came from properties in Sharplands.

48% of responses (46) favoured closing the road at Sharplands on the Glenhills Way side of the junction with Spring Close.  This would mean that people travelling from Montrose Road South and Spring Close would have to use the Aylestone Drive entrance and others would only be able to use Glenhills Way.

With the exception of Aylestone Drive the matter was classed as a big problem by all the streets surveyed.  Very few opinions had been expressed concerning the traffic lights on Aylestone Road.

Depending upon the views received from the meeting the City Mayor was minded to go ahead with the formal consultation process to make an experimental order for a 12 months road closure.  Although consultations had been carried out by the City Mayor these did not constitute the statutory consultation that was required as it did not involve statutory consultees such as the emergency services.

Community members were asked for their views and the following points were raised:-

·         The City Mayor’s proposal was welcomed but in the interim more needed to be done to address speeding vehicles using Sharplands.

·         Further thought needed to be given to stop vehicles using the expanses of grass to bypass the proposed road closure.

·         It was hoped that the proposed road closure could be implemented as soon as possible.  In response the City Mayor confirmed that he would ask for it to implemented as soon as was possible.

There was unanimous support for the proposed road closure from the community and the City Mayor was thanked for his response to the issue.  In reply the City Mayor thanked Mick Screaton and the two ward councillors for bringing the issue to his attention.