Agenda item

John Dowson, Team Leader, Transport Strategy was present at the meeting to lead a discussion on public transport and highways issues in Evington.

Public Transport.

In relation to public transport, John made the following points:

• There had been changes to the levels of service provided by First Bus and Arriva and also to the levels of support provided by Leicester City Council for off-peak services.
• The Number 22 service had withdrawn its evening service.
• The City Council had had to find significant savings in the budget, which had resulted in the review of the support they could offer.
• The City Mayor had indicated that he wanted to work with the commercial bus companies in order to improve off peak services. He was encouraging the bus companies to do more, but it was known that less people were using buses and fuel prices had increased; factors which had resulted in an adverse effect on the bus companies’ profits.
• In response to a question relating to the Number 81 bus service, the meeting heard that this commercial service was being withdrawn by the commercial operator and the Council were collecting data on order to consider potential options.

A member of the public also expressed concerns relating to the Number 36 bus and urgently requested information as to what was happening to it in the near future. John asked for the member of the public to give him her details at the end of the meeting.

Another member of the public also commented that it would be very useful if the Number 14 bus (formerly Number 54) could be re-routed to service the General Hospital as well.

Downing Drive

John explained that concerns relating to road safety on Downing Drive had been raised, and as a result the road safety experts had been asked to meet there with the Evington Councillors.  A survey had been carried out which had shown that out of 125 drivers, most drivers obeyed the speed limit but 6 of those surveyed had exceeded the speed limit significantly, some exceeding 40mph when the limit was 30 mph. Of the accidents which had taken place on Downing Drive, speed was a factor, so dealing with speed was important to safety.  The Council would be looking at options to improve the situation.

A member of the public stated that there was also a problem in the Sycamore Estate because of speeding vehicles. There had been a significant increase in speeding and people were becoming afraid to cross the road. Because of the design of the estate, there were further concerns that a driver might lose control of a speeding vehicle and crash into one of the houses.

Potholes

John explained that the Council undertook safety inspections in order to repair potholes but the severe winter had impacted on their ability to carry out all the repairs. They were trying to prioritise the worse potholes first and staff were carrying out pothole repairs on a full time basis. Potholes on Ethel Road and Shady Lane had been repaired and also major footway repairs had been carried out on Downing Drive. Work was also scheduled for Uppingham Road and Davenport Road.  Members of the public were asked to report potholes to the council by phoning 2527000 or by emailing customer.services@leicester.gov.uk

John was thanked for coming to the meeting.