A member of the Traffic Operations Team will provide an update on Highways related matters in the Ward.
Minutes:
Highways officers, Ed Kocik (Transport Development Manager) and Jolanta Obszynska (Transport Development Officer), were present to provide an update on Highways issues in the Castle Ward, which included:
· The application for a right of way at Wyggeston Queen Elizabeth I college was being processed and an outcome should be available by November 2022.
· Phase 3 of the Clarendon Park residential parking scheme was underway and would be live 1 October 2022. Letters had been posted to affected residents and objections to the scheme were welcomed up until 7 November 2022.
· A request from residents on Springfield Road had been received for residents only parking between 9:30 and 10:30am and was waiting approval.
· New infrastructure for a tree that had been planted on Montague Road in November 2021 was ready to be deployed.
· A new planter would be deployed on North Avenue in the next few weeks.
· The cycling permeability scheme in Clarendon Park had been completed and a new drop curb had been installed alongside a newly painted wide ‘H’ marking.
· An issue was identified with parking on drop curbs by local wardens, which blocked access to houses and businesses. Wardens enforcing parking restrictions requested that residents avoid parking on drop curbs for the future.
· A community grant for the Boule Road extension was being reviewed and discussed, however was noted to be legally complex.
· Regarding Queens Road improvements, a traffic count would be held on 24 November to provide more information to members of the public. The timescale had been decided and the draft report was being finalised, which would be discussed with local ward councillors once completed.
· It was noted that 17 functional standard electric car charge points had been installed in Clarendon Park and residents would be required to sign up prior to use. There were no plans for more charge points and usage of the points would be monitored and the data analysed for potential future development.
· A meeting at St John the Baptist’s school was scheduled on 9 November 2022 at 7:45am to review the community concerns at school drop-off period. At the request of members of the public, the end of school pick-up time, which had concerns of parents arriving early and parking and speeding, would be reviewed in the afternoon.
A member of the public enquired about a residential parking scheme for Springfield Road. It was noted that London Road and Springfield Road had unrestricted parking and a bay had been installed at the end of the road for residents nearby. The bay allowed for 3 vehicles and was noted to have good availability.
It was noted that residents of a cul-de-sac off of Avenue Road had asked for inclusion in the parking scheme, which was noted to be reviewed in the future outside of the current Phase 3 scheme due to complicated Traffic Regulation Order work required.
It was noted that the wide ‘H’ markings allowed for wardens to ticket vehicles if there was a complaint about the vehicle parking on the marking. A Traffic Regulation Order (TRO) was required to place down yellow markings instead of white road markings.
Members of the public expressed concern around the issues outside of St John the Baptist school and requested for more to be done to prevent prevalent parking and speeding issues. It was noted that currently the only methods available were to erect bollards or provide education on the highway code to parents in the area.
Members of the public asked whether parking capacity had been reduced in the installation of drop curbs.
ACTION: The Highways officers noted the question and agreed to review and bring back the information to a future meeting.
Officers noted that there was more work to be done to reduce double yellows to single yellows and reduce single yellows to white marked spaces, to free up more capacity for parking.
Members of the public reported concerns about the quality of University Road, with hazardous potholes posing a danger to cyclists and pedestrians in the area.
Councillors enquired about the status of Queens Road, noting complaints received about the southern end. It was noted that the public engagement process had been completed and public consultations would be conducted soon. Currently there were no dates provided for the installation of a traffic counter.
Regarding electric car charge points, it was noted that the Council sought a similar self-funding model as the Santander bike scheme when considering future charge point installations. The current 17 charge points were a pilot where issues could be analysed, and issues could be resolved for future schemes.
A member of the public enquired about the resurfacing of University Road, which would be taken back and considered by the Highway Maintenance Section.
Members of the public asked where data acquired from the charge points could be reviewed. It was noted that due to the commercially sensitive nature of some of the information, Councillors and Highways Officers would need to inquire and review the data before an official answer could be provided.
Some members of the public expressed concern about the lack of hard data on the results of phase 2 of the residential parking scheme.
Members of the public thanked the Councillors and Highways Officers for the Residential Parking scheme as it had made a positive impact on their local parking situation. Displacement parking as an effect of the scheme had been noted and was being reviewed and worked on to improve.