Issue - meetings

This report asks Committee to allocate additional funding from its Highways budgets for the Clockhouse Lane railway bridge project, and for the renewal of the rising bollards in Staines High Street.

The Joint Committee (Spelthorne):

(i)      Authorised an additional up to £10,000 funding from the Joint Committee’s capital Highways budget to develop options for a traffic signals-based solution to provide pedestrian accessibility over the Clockhouse Lane railway bridge (paragraphs 2.1 to 2.4 refer);

(ii)      Noted that maintenance of the proposed new Staines High Street rising bollard system will be covered by the County Council’s Traffic Operations Team budget;

(v)     Authorised the Highways Engagement and Commissioning Manager in consultation with the Chairman, Vice Chairman, and relevant Divisional Member(s) to undertake all necessary procedures to deliver the agreed programmes.

Reasons for recommendations:

Support from the London Borough of Hounslow is needed for any scheme to be implemented to provide pedestrian accessibility over the railway bridge in Clockhouse Lane – as any scheme would cross the boundary between the boroughs of Spelthorne and Hounslow. Of the options currently under consideration for this scheme, the London Borough of Hounslow would only be supportive of an option based on traffic signals. Further funding is necessary to explore what traffic signals options might be feasible and the costs of these options.

When the CIL application for funding to renew the Staines High Street rising bollard was first submitted, it was anticipated that a maintenance contract could be included in the initial implementation phase and would therefore be covered by the CIL award made by the Joint Committee in March 2021. Officers have subsequently become aware that CIL funding cannot be used for the maintenance contract; instead, the County Council’s Traffic Operations Team will oversee the maintenance.

Declarations of Interest: None

Officers attending: Zena Curry, Highways Engagement and Commissioning Manager, SCC; Nigel Pond, Engineer Road Safety, SCC

Petitions, Public Questions/Statements: None

Member discussion – key points:

The officer began by updating members on the situation regarding funding for the proposed new rising bollard system for Staines High Street. Once the new system has been installed, the County Council’s Traffic Operations team will fund the maintenance. The following new wording for Recommendation (ii) in the report was proposed by Cllr Attewell and seconded by Cllr Islam:

Spelthorne Joint Committee is asked to:

(ii) Note that maintenance of the proposed new Staines High Street rising bollard system will be covered by the County Council’s Traffic Operations Team budget.

The officer went on to outline the Clockhouse Lane scheme, explaining that the feasibility study would be a necessary first step to allow the scheme to progress.

There was discussion about the possible impact of traffic volume changes during the covid period on the casualty figures quoted in the report for the A308 Staines Road West between Ashford and Sunbury. Mr Pond was confident that the numbers were not skewed by this as casualty numbers had been reducing over the previous years as well, and county-wide there had been no significant fall in numbers during the covid period.

There were comments about the traffic lights at the newly configured junction of Staines Road West, School Road and Ashford Road, which were felt to be potentially confusing to drivers. The Engagement and Commissioning Manager agreed to refer this to the road safety audit team.

Resolved:

The Joint Committee (Spelthorne):

(i)      Authorised an additional up to £10,000 funding from the Joint Committee’s capital Highways budget to develop options for a traffic signals-based solution to provide pedestrian accessibility over the Clockhouse Lane railway bridge (paragraphs 2.1 to 2.4 refer);

(ii)      Noted that maintenance of the proposed new Staines High Street rising bollard system will be covered by the County Council’s Traffic Operations Team budget;

(iii)     Authorised the Highways Engagement and Commissioning Manager in consultation with the Chairman, Vice Chairman, and relevant Divisional Member(s) to undertake all necessary procedures to deliver the agreed programmes.

Reasons for recommendations:

Support from the London Borough of Hounslow is needed for any scheme to be implemented to provide pedestrian accessibility over the railway bridge in Clockhouse Lane – as any scheme would cross the boundary between the boroughs of Spelthorne and Hounslow. Of the options currently under consideration for this scheme, the London Borough of Hounslow would only be supportive of an option based on traffic signals. Further funding is necessary to explore what traffic signals options might be feasible and the costs of these options.

When the CIL application for funding to renew the Staines High Street rising bollard was first submitted, it was anticipated that a maintenance contract could be included in the initial implementation phase and would therefore be covered by the CIL award made by the Joint Committee in March 2021. Officers have subsequently  ...  view the full minutes text for item 22