Issue - meetings

To receive any questions or petitions.

The public retain their right to submit questions for a written response, with such answers recorded in the minutes of the meeting; questioners may participate in meetings to ask a supplementary question. Petitioners may address the Committee on their petition for up to three minutes. Guidance will be made available to any member of the public wishing to speak at a meeting.

NOTES:

a.    The deadline for Member’s questions is 12.00pm four working days before the meeting (11 October 2024).

b.    The deadline for public questions is seven days before the meeting (8 October 2024).

c.     The deadline for petitions was 14 days before the meeting, and no petitions have been received.

There was one question received from a member of the public and two received from Members of the Council, in writing, prior to the Committee meeting. The questions and answers were provided in the supplementary agenda circulated at the meeting.

Councillor Andy MacLeod, on behalf of Councillor Catherine Powell, asked a supplementary question.

“Part 3 of my questions related to how residents will be able to manage their exemptions online, it is obviously important that the school street works in terms of protecting children walking and cycling to school. However, it is also important that whichever IT system Surrey County Council (SCC) determines to operate also works for residents and is efficient and effective for SCC/NSL to manage. The answer to the question does not commit to the system having a web portal that residents can use to manage their number plates and advises that documentation will need to be provided for each vehicle confirming it is registered to their address. This will require Officer intervention and will also reduce the flexibility for residents, for example those that need carers to visit them multiple times a day to help with their care. Please can officers look again at providing a system that will allow residents the flexibility to manage their own number plates without Officer intervention, the number of plates will obviously need to be limited to ensure school street will work and if abuse of the system occurs then clearly additional checks and balances will need to be introduced. I do however firmly believe we should start from a position of trusting are residents to behave in a reasonable manner.”

In reply, Duncan Knox, Road Safety & Sustainable Scheme Travel Team Manager, said that SCC had been committed to making a system that would be easy for residents to use when registering vehicles. While it could not be said what the system would look like, it would most likely be like what other local authorities used. This could be a web portal allowing for the selection of property and uploading of vehicle and street data. NSL, the Council’s enforcement agent already manages similar systems in other areas. The system would likely include options for registering exemptions as well, which would still need officer intervention to verify documents.