Local residents are invited to feedback their views on the proposed alterations to Belgrave Road.
Minutes:
Barry Pritchard, Group Manager introduced the Belgrave Road feasibility and design study and told the meeting that consultants Phil Jones and Associates had been engaged to consult with the community about the options being proposed.
Phil Jones addressed the meeting and gave an outline of the key aspects the project would address which included the following:
· traffic planning and design would be used to tackle the existing situation on Belgrave Road of heavy traffic, narrow pavements, congestion with street furniture, bollards and benches.
· Traffic crossings – at least 9 sets of lights along Belgrave Road to Melton Turn.
· Greening the area – currently there were not many trees along the route and paving materials poor.
Phil Jones said that the area was seen as an asset to the city with events it holds such as Diwali and the Golden Mile businesses and it was important to capitalise on the area. The project would focus on the stretch from Belgrave Circle to Melton Turn; if successful a second phase could be considered beyond the Melton Turn.
The meeting were told that in August 2015 a design workshop had taken place by invitation only which had 35 attendees as a representative of community. A public exhibition had also taken place at the Belgrave Neighbourhood Centre (BNC) on 1 December 2015 and the project team would be holding a similar event at BNC on Tuesday 5 Jan 2016 from 4pm -8.30pm to try and encourage local people in the area to give their views on the options being proposed. The consultation period would run to 15 January 2016 then feedback on the options would be collated and a preferred design would be produced. A further round of consultations would take place towards the end of February 2016.
During the course of discussion residents made the following comments:
· How were the public exhibitions being advertised, the publicity for the last one on 1 December 2015 was left too late to give people an opportunity to attend and the next one is arranged too soon after Xmas and New Year for all the residents to be informed properly. The consultants hoped that the exhibition would be publicised by word of mouth following the ward meeting but there would also be a piece in the Leicester Mercury. The meeting were also told that 2000 letters to residents were being sent out.
· This was a major arterial route into the city and that needed to be kept in mind.
· When the design workshop took place in Aug/Sept there were very few residents invited, only 2 people from the disabled access group and no-one invited from Vista but businesses were over represented. On the design choices one of the options showed zebra crossings being introduced so why was no-one from Vista being consulted who could comment on behalf of visually impaired. Access Design solutions were there and had expertise in accessibility and there were other people in the room who had similarexperience. No proposals were put out at that meeting it was just asking people to say what they liked and didn’t like at that stage.
· How much was the project costing? What was the budget? That depended on which option was chosen and a definitive answer couldn’t be given.
· Residents asked that they be invited to meetings on the regeneration project and a list of names and addresses was compiled and provided to Barry Pritchard at the meeting.
· Reduction in lanes would lead to redistribution of traffic to other routes, just pushing the problem further.
· Consultants have put information on a private website, not everyone has access to that and if using computers in library or community centre public cannot access this website. All the details of the consultation should be on the Councils consultation hub.
· Width of pavements is an issue but traffic will build up if lanes are reduced, traffic would be kept moving by moving the two bus stops that are too close to each other away from where the lights are and then the lights would be on green longer too.
· People needed to be able to make an informed choice and to have all the information, the elderly and disabled were not being consulted.
· There were more problems with traffic congestion along the Checketts Road to Melton Turn stretch than the Belgrave Circle to Melton Turn stretch and that should be addressed. The data that had been collated suggested this was not the case.
· How were people chosen to attend the September meeting? Most of those that were there were business representatives. People had attended the meeting by invitation and there was a limitation on numbers (35), those invited were chosen in consultation with council officers.
· If Belgrave Road is dug up/changed what happens to the back streets, The back streets already filter back the traffic onto Harrison Road and then onto Catherine Street and they are all congested with traffic and parked cars?
· Too much money is being spent on consultations; issues have been raised at previous consultations already.
Residents were advised they could have their say on the consultation by looking at the website, www.leicester.gov.uk/haveyoursay.