Agenda item

To receive any petitions in accordance with Standing Order 14.1.  Notice must be given in writing or by email to the Community Partnership and Committee Officer at least 14 days before the meeting.  Alternatively, the petition can be submitted on-line through Surrey County Council’s or Spelthorne Borough Council’s e-petitions website as long as the minimum number of signatures has been reached 14 days before the meeting.

Petition response 1:

Petition to reduce speed limit to 30 mph on Staines Road East (A308) and repair the damaged drains, cracks or resurface with sound dampers.

This petition was heard by Joint Committee on 17 July. This item will report on the subsequent site visit to the road in question and any actions to be taken.

Petition response 2:

Petition to re-instate 441 and 555 bus services between Stanwell and Heathrow Terminal 5.

This petition was heard by the Joint Committee on 2 October and a representative from Abellio bus company has been invited to address the Committee on this issue.

Petition response 1:

This related to a petition taken at the 17 July committee requesting a reduction in speed limit on Staines Road East.

Whilst options for speed reduction were being investigated, a serious accident occurred on the road in question which is currently subject to a police investigation. In view of this, it was felt that it would be inappropriate to comment on this petition at this time. A statement has been prepared by the Area Highway Manager which is annexed to these minutes. This item will be revisited when the police investigation has been completed.

Petition response 2:

This related to a petition that was brought to the committee on 2 October requesting action following the withdrawal of bus services between Stanwell and Heathrow.

To follow up on this petition, we were joined by a representative from Abellio and officers from the county council’s Strategic Transport Team.

The transport officers’ reported that they had recently been in talks with Heathrow Ltd about bus links. It is recognised that services to the south of the airport (such as the one that was the subject of the petition) are not as frequent as those to the north side. When looking at changes in bus service, Heathrow Ltd link these to the shift patterns of airport staff, as they realise that many of them rely of the buses to get to work. They have agreed to review bus usage by staff and see if this suggests that further routes are warranted. The transport officers will continue their talks with them to follow this up. At the point in time, the county council’s bus budget is fully committed and so it will not be possible to look at a subsidised service at this time.

Abellio’s position is that it is commercially motivated. Bus routes outside of London are deregulated and only maintained if they are financially viable. Earlier in the year there was a review of bus routes in Surrey which led to Abellio failing to retain routes that they had previous operated and in addition to this, Heathrow Ltd withdrew funding that they had previously supplied the bus company to sustain services at key points in the day. This meant they needed to evaluate the viability of their remaining routes. When looking at the route, Abellio noticed that it cost more to run the Stanwell end of the route than they were making in ticket sales and that led to the decision to withdraw that service. To run an all day service could cost over £120,000 for one bus, for a year and it would take two buses to be able to run the service at the frequency previously enjoyed by passengers. To do this, passenger volumes would have to double in the short to medium term. So, at this time, there is no proposal to reinstate it.

Committee members commented that the removal of services like this encourage car usage which puts more pressure on road infrastructure, parking and the environment. As Heathrow intends to expand, they should be encouraged to invest more in the services that impact the community around it.

The Vice- Chairman mentioned the members’ seminar that he had announced earlier in the meeting and thought this might be a good opportunity to impress upon Heathrow the moral case for them providing services into the community most impacted by their presence. He also suggested that Heathrow limited should be asked to consult the Committee on any significant changes to ground transport.