Witnesses:
Duncan Knox, Road Safety Team Manager
Keith Taylor, Guildford Local Committee
Chairman
George Bowen, Petitioner that attended the 9
June 2016 meeting
Declarations of
interest:
None.
Key
point raised during the discussion:
- Mr Bowen, the
original Petitioner was invited to speak first and began
discussions by giving the Board a brief summary for his reasons for
attendance today. The Board were reminded that the petition was a
result of a road traffic collision that took place on 20 February
2016, subsequently demanding Guildford Borough Council and Surrey
County Council to take immediate action on Bridge Street,
Guildford.
- Members were advised
that Bridge Street consisted of a 3 lane system which was difficult
to navigate for both road users and pedestrians. The purpose of the
petition was to prevent an accident where 2 people lost their lives
on 20 February 2016 from occurring again.
- Mr Bowen expressed
the view that the lack of funding from the M3 Local Enterprise
Partnership should not prevent the saving of lives and
supplementary action should be made to ensure funding was in place
to improve road safety for pedestrians on Bridge
Street.
- It was noted that
Bridge Street was subject to many road traffic collisions and on
average 3 collisions were reported every year.
- Mr Bowen welcomed
improvements to Bridge Street and expressed the view that the
outcome the petitioners sought after was to ensure pedestrians
safety.
- The Road Safety Team
Manager introduced the report by informing the Board that the
report was drawn together from an analysis based over 5
years, however the service
was aware of the number of casualties through out the
years.
- It was noted that
that the collision that took place on 20 February 2017 was an
unusual occurrence where the vehicle mounted the
footway. The Board were advised that
Officers were waiting on the Coroners report for more details to
the cause.
- Based on the
analysis, the Officer reported that the primary focus was at the
eastern end of Bridge Street at the junction with Onslow Street, where 31 road casualties were
recorded by the Police in just over 5 years.
- The Officer informed
the Board that Surrey County Council were working with Guildford
Borough Council towards a long term solution in improving safety on
Bridge Street. The raised tables mentioned in the report would help
to direct people to cross the road in the right place rather than
in an unsafe place.
- The Cabinet Member
for Highways, Flooding and Transport assured the Board that there
would be no issue with funding for any improvements to Bridge
Street as it would be provided from central budgets and would not
be expected to be allocated from Local Committee
budgets.
- The Guildford Local
Committee Chairman acknowledged the problem with Bridge Street and
stated that the Local Committee had been actively looking for
funding to improve safety and was pleased with the assurances from
the Cabinet Member to support the issue financially. The Member
stated that he was happy with the recommendations stated in the
officer report and was disappointed that LEP funding had not been
as generous as it could have been.
- A Member shared the
view that the area in question was heavily congested and suggested
extra warning signs for pedestrians at the crossing. The Road
Safety Team Manager responded that this suggestion had been
considered as other Local Authorities had introduced this however
as the pavement was quite narrow it imposed physical
restrictions.
- Officers were asked
whether there was a case to impose a 20mph speed restriction in the
area and installing a camera to prosecute drivers who use the bus
lane. Members were advised that a speed limit restriction would do
little to improve safety for pedestrians as it does not change the
behaviour of drivers and pedestrians. It was further added that any
speed restrictions would need to take account of the impact of the
town centre as a whole. Members further noted that enforcement of
bus lanes in Surrey was the responsibility of Surrey Police and not
the Local Authority.
- The Cabinet Member
for Highways, Flooding and Transport stated strongly that there was
a requirement for partnership working with Guildford Borough
Council in order to achieve long term pedestrian safety raised at
the meeting. Members were advised that Guildford Borough Council
needed to decide on a Masterplan for
the town centre which would allow for longer term road safety
measures to be implemented. It was added that the Guildford Vision
Group put forward a 25 year vision for Guildford town centre which
also included the pedestrianisation of
Bridge Street.
- The Guildford Local
Committee Chairman informed the Board that the Local Plan for
Guildford would be consulted on in June 2017 and the likely
adoption of this plan would come into effect in 2018.
- The Guildford Local
Committee Chairman identified the current decision on the new bus
stop as an example of the many decisions the Borough is yet to
resolve in an effort to explain how much the Borough needs to
coordinate through.
- Mr Bowen stated that
excellent points were raised and expressed the view that the most
significant point would be acknowledging the issue and working
towards an end goal to resolve it. Mr Bowen proposed the Board
agree that an action plan is put in place for the pedestrianisation of Bridge Street.
- The Chairman advised
Mr Bowen to attend Guildford’s Local Committee meeting when
the report is presented for consideration, whereby he can follow
the process and raise further concerns if necessary. It was stated
that the Scrutiny Board did not have any decision making power and
had therefore delegated the decisions around the final proposals to
Guildford Local Committee.
Recommendations:
The Economic Prosperity,
Environment and Highways Board agreed to support officers with
continuing to undertake work to refine the design proposals before
presenting options to Guildford Local Committee for
approval.
Actions:
None.