To receive any questions from Surrey County Council electors within the area in accordance with Standing Order 66.
Minutes:
Five written questions were received.
Question 1 from John Oliver
Given the continuing reduction in free parking areas within Guildford and in the rest of the borough, what steps are being taken by the Committee to ensure that motor homes, dormobiles, caravans and the like are banned from parking on the public highway in the borough.
A written response was provided as follows:
Surrey County Council does not discriminate against motor homes, dormobiles or caravans parking on the public highway. Occasionally residents report incidences of long term parking by such vehicles which highways officers will investigate on a case by case basis. Thankfully such incidences are infrequent. In the controlled parking zone where there is often pressure on the availability of space we are looking at ways of restricting parking for large leisure vehicles.
Question 2 from John Oliver
The pedestrian crossings closest to London Road on Clay Lane, Burpham contribute significantly to traffic congestion in Burpham. The Guildford Local Committee administration team contacted the Traffic Lights Team on 15 December about my public question concerning the possibility of carrying out a survey of the crossings to assess whether any safe improvements can be made to them which would improve the flow of traffic. To date, 14 March, I have not been made aware of any response to this request. Could you, please, explain why this is the case and arrange for me to receive a response.
The traffic signal team provided a written response as follows:
In its current format the pedestrian and cycle timings cannot be reduced for safety reasons as this is effectively a fixed time (for pedestrians) crossing. However, if we were to install kerbside detectors and on-crossing detectors these timings could be more flexible. Kerbside detectors would cancel the demand if a pedestrian presses the button and decides to cross without waiting for the Green Man. On-crossing detectors would detect pedestrians on the crossing and lengthen or shorten the Vehicle Red / Red Man and Red Cycle period.
Vehicle Maximum Green time (the maximum time the signals will run vehicle green if there is a constant flow of traffic after the button has been pressed) = 30 seconds, which is our standard. This could be increased to 40 seconds if required.
On advice from the Highways Manager (SW) the Vehicle Maximum Green Time has been increased to 35 seconds in the first instance.
As the signal equipment is fairly old (mostly installed in 1998) it might need a full upgrade to be compatible with on-crossing detectors. This would cost approximately £16,000 to £20,000. At the moment it is not planned for refurbishment until about 2023 as there are other sites higher up the list.
However, the Traffic Signals Team are going to try and fit on-crossing detectors to the existing equipment. If it works, it won't be necessary to carry out the full refurbishment just yet. These will be funded from the last of this year's budget. However, they may not be able to be installed until April as the contractors engineers are all fully occupied on other jobs, but the equipment will be obtained and stored.
Question 3 from Dr Nigel Burke
At the Local Committee meeting on 23 March 2016, a list of Quick Wins for cycling was discussed. One set was approved for immediate funding and action, and a second set was recommended for inclusion in the Local Committee highways forward programme and immediate funding where possible. It appears nothing has been done: please would you indicate what will be done to progress these?
A written response was provided a sfollows:
As GBUG have recently been informed, the highways officer who developed and presented the Guildford Cycle Plan in March 2016 left the county council in the Autumn without progressing any of the measures described above The area team are now working with Surrey's cycling officer to progress the 'Quick wins' in particular and the cycling officer will keep GBUG appraised of developments.
Question 4 from Dr Nigel Burke
It is understood North Street is soon to be resurfaced. Will the Council take this opportunity to introduce measures to favour cycling, for example, providing cycle lanes, and enabling two way cycling along the full length of the street?
A written response was provided as follows:
At their meeting in December 2016 the committee asked that the Transportation Task Group met to nominate roads for inclusion in Horizon 2 (the 20% element recommended by elected members). The task group met in early January and the following roads were submitted to the Asset Management team in priority order, with North Street the number one priority.
North Street (Guildford) 500m
Horsham Road (Shalford) 448m
Chantry Lane (Shere) 340m
Tangier Road (Guildford) 513m
Lawn Road (Guildford) 85m
Ash Street (Ash) 241m
Madrid Road (Guildford) 240m
Total 2,367m
The Task Group will look at the possibility of increasing pedestrianisation and cycle priority as part of the possible North Street redevelopment in conjunction with Guildford Borough Council.
Question 5 from Dr Nigel Burke
Can you report on progress with implementing the trial closure of Walnut Tree Close?
A written response was provided as follows:
A trial for Walnut Tree Close is due to commence in August subject to Surrey County Council reaching agreement with land owners to create sufficient space for drivers to safely turn around at the point of no-entry/closure. The plan is, as agreed with Local Committee, to trial both a one-way operation and full closure; each trial will last approximately one year to allow us to collect sufficient data to consider which to take forward in the long term. The full details are being designed at the moment.