Meeting documents

The Committee will review and assess the progress towards the recommendations made within the Inquiry report as agreed by Cabinet in April 2017.

Contributors:

Mr. M. Shaw, Cabinet Member for Transportation

Ms J. Hancox, Head of Transport Strategy

Ms K Telkman, Senior Transport Strategy Officer

The Chairman welcomed the following contributors to the meeting to present the 6 month recommendation progress report:

·         Mr Mark Shaw, Cabinet Member for Transportation

·         Mr Mike Appleyard, Cabinet Member for Education

·         Ms Joan Hancox, Head of Transport Strategy

·         Ms Katie Telkman, Senior Transport Strategy Officer

·         Ms Paula Campbell-Balcombe, Joint Commissioning

The Cabinet Members for Transportation and Education provided an overview of the progress made towards the implementation of the recommendations and introduced their update report.

The following areas were highlighted in the Cabinet Member introduction:

·         As a result of the Committee’s inquiry they were working much more closely (Education and Transportation) when planning for new developments and the provision for sustainable transport infrastructure.

·         A school walking mapping tool had been developed, to highlight walking routes and distances to schools to encourage walking.

·         The issue of ensuring pupil safety was discussed when  short stretches of roadway were included as part of expected walking routes to schools.

·         Drop off and Pick up issues could be resolved for a lot of schools if one way systems were in place.  The Cabinet Member for Education had asked for this to be considered.

·         Home to School Transport was 54% of Education and Skills budget and this needed to be reduced.. This would involve more public bus use and a need for pupils and parents to get used to walking more, and realise the benefits of walking.

Members considered progress towards the recommendations and the following points were raised:

·         Road safety training: Members asked whether road safety training was offered. They were told that through the Footsteps initiative, representatives within schools were trained to deliver road safety training. This had been successful where there was buy in from the school.

·         Recommendation 5: Junior road safety training had been delivered – Members were encouraged to attend one of these to see for themselves the training being delivered.

Action: Ms K Telkman to send dates of the Junior Road Safety Training days to Ms K Wager to send to Members.

·         Recommendation 3: Members heard that there had been a significant amount of joint working between Education and TEE when planning for new schools/expansion of schools and travel planning.  Members heard that it was now a requirement of the planning permission for there to be a school travel plan and for the school to register with the STARS system if they wish to expand.

·         Recommendation 4: Members asked for the specific details of the routes that have been cleared.

ACTION: Ms J Hancox to send details to the Ms K Wager to share with Members.

·         Recommendation 3 and 6: TEE and Education meet early on to ensure that they build in mitigation for plans early on. For example, Wendover where mitigation measures were included early on in the design.

·         A significant change was that the s106 policy has been amended, to ensure that the costs of sustainable travel infrastructure would be met by developers.  Members believed progress was on track.

·         A Member suggested that a list of schools with and without travel plans should be shared with Members, who have a role to play in engaging schools.

·         Recommendation 7: Work in this area had been delayed due to lack of resource however, Members were told that work would be completed for the 12 month update.

ACTION: Paula Cambpell- Balcombe to send the new S106 policy wording to the Committee Advisor to send to Members.

Members were confident that progress was on track and were assured that further work would be driven forward over the coming months. Members agreed they would review these areas in detail at the 12 month update.

The Chairman thanked the contributors for attending the meeting.