Agenda item

Representatives from the City Council’s Regeneration, Highways and Transportation Department will give a presentation on traffic related issues in the local area.

Mark Wills, Head of Transport Strategy was in attendance at the meeting to give a presentation on the Council’s Highways and Transport services and facilities.

The presentation covered the following areas:-

Parking Problems – much of the city was built without cars being taken into account. Strategies to address this were verge hardening and laybys, residents’ parking schemes, and parking enforcement.

Speeding Traffic and Road Safety – strategies to address this were traffic speed surveys, vehicle activated signs, safety cameras, traffic calming, pedestrian crossings and reduced speed limits. Leicester was one of the first areas to introduce 20mph speed limits.

Public Transport – it was noted that the Council had limited control over bus services as they did not own them, but the Council had regular discussions with bus companies and the Council did provide subsidies for certain routes which were not profitable.

The Condition of Roads and Paths – there was now a rapid response team which could be called out to deal with urgent problems.

Residents raised the following issues following the presentation:-

- The roundabout at the junction of Bennion Road / Heatherbrook Road was felt to be in the wrong place. People would often go around it in the wrong direction and there had been a number of accidents on it.

- It was commented that the traffic on Anstey Lane could be very bad and was likely to get worse as a result of the Ashton Green development. It was felt that Transport Officers should be able to comment on these proposals. Mark commented that Transport Officers were consulted, but they couldn’t stop developments. There would be 25% growth in housing in the city and he felt the best way of addressing transport problems was better public transport.

- It was felt that there should be consultation on the proposed chicanes on Bennion Road. The Chair commented that there would be full consultation.

- The situation with ‘The Black Pad’ was considered to be problematic as there seemed to be a range of different agencies with different responsibilities for maintenance. The Chair agreed that it was frustrating as ward Councillors faced the same problems. It was felt that the Path was un-adopted, probably because the Council had not taken it on from developers due to uncompleted legal issues.

- A concern was expressed regarding the level of satisfaction of service provision for bus users. It was further queried whether the comments of the community were taken into account when deciding routes, ie for suitability to get to doctors / dentists etc. Mark commented that Mori undertook surveys for the Audit Commission on bus services and there was currently 70% satisfaction rate. The Council would raise issues with bus companies about where to provide services, but they were under no obligation to provide them if they weren’t profitable. 

- Concern was expressed about Gipsy parking on Bennion Road.The Chair commented that before Gipsy’s could be moved on, there would need to be assessments undertaken and other legal requirements. He did however feel that the relevant agencies were taking a no toleration approach. The only real way to address the issue was to provide temporary stopping places.