Agenda item

To answer any questions from residents or businesses within the Waverley Borough area in accordance with Standing Order 69.  Notice should be given in writing or by email to the Partnership Committee Officer by 12 noon four working days before the meeting.

Two Written Public Questions were received from:

1) Waverley Borough Councillors for Bramley, Busbridge and Hascome, Richard Seaborne and Martin D’Arcy;

2) Witley Parish Council.

The questions and answers were published on the SCC Waverley Local Committee web pages before the 13 December Local Committee and were available at the meeting.  The following supplementary questions were asked:

Question 1 – Supplementary Question – Cllr Seaborne

“Cllr D’Arcy and I welcome the thorough response.  The officer section addresses the symptoms by neatly describing that traffic on the A281 in our area is disrupted for emergency repairs by either Thames Water or SGN approximately once every six weeks.  And your response shows a will to try and start work on a solution.

We have a supplementary question to add to what has been covered, based on the relative ease with which some useful data to categorise the scale of the problem has been supplied.  Can we ask that before Thames Water and SGN appear before this committee, should they choose to accept your invitation, officers provide us, and members of the Committee, with the following additional background data:

• Firstly, it seems to us that the frequency of emergency repairs has increased over the past 12 months.  Do the data support this perception ?
• Secondly, exactly what length of the A281 is covered by the data supplied for SGN and Thames Water, and thirdly
• For completeness can we also know the comparable emergency repair figures for BT and for UK Power Networks. Two weeks ago, BT had two sets of traffic lights disrupting traffic in Bramley at the same time for emergency works, so Thames Water and SGN, while probably having the greater scale of infrastructure renewal to address, are by no means alone.

Thank you for the opportunity to bring this significant issue to your committee.”

Response to supplementary question:

The Chairman said that the committee officer will seek an answer and contact Cllr Seaborne after the meeting.

Question 2 – Supplementary Question – Witley Parish Council

“We understand that preventing traffic collisions gives the highest weighting for schemes, but we are surprised that none of the other categories mentioned in the integrated transport scheme assessment list give this scheme a positive score.  Particularly under “Accessibility” (which includes promoting public transport, encouraging walking and encouraging cycling).  This is the route to Milford station and currently pedestrians and cyclists are unable / too frightened to use it in wet weather. Witley Parish Council would therefore respectfully ask for this assessment to be completed again.

SCC Officers advised that this site forms part of the wetspot programme and we note that it scored a medium score of 107.  Witley Parish Council would like to request an explanation of how this score was calculated please.

We note that the structures team have recommended preliminary work on drainage around the bridge.  Would you expect this to be scheduled for completion under the maintenance budget as soon as the ground dries out or will we have to wait for funding to become available, and for us to reach the top of the priority list, for this maintenance work to be undertaken?”

Response to supplementary question:

The Area Highway Officer replied that the ITS list is assessed annually with the latest accident data and costs.  The SCC flood resilience team score any identified wet spot schemes directly and they are then prioritised and programmed for works based upon their available budget allocations.

The Chairman said that the SCC Cabinet decides on the method of scoring.  This year each SCC Member has £7,500 to spend on Highways in their division.

Mr Peter Martin, whose division includes Witley, said that there is so little money to spend, but plans could be made for if/when more money becomes available.