Issue - meetings

1.

Question from Stephen Williams to Cabinet Member Development and Safety, Councillor Andrew McKinlay

Comparing like with like, i.e. same days, same times etc., please can you provide details of traffic counts before and after implementation of the Boot's corner closure, for College Road, St. Lukes Road, Ambrose Street, St. Georges Street and Gloucester Road between the Train Station and the Lower High Street?

Response from Cabinet Member

GCC colleagues have a network of 27 traffic monitoring points which formed the baseline prior to any phases being implemented and is designed to give robust and sufficient data in order to evaluate the trial.  Clearly for consistency sake these monitoring points have remained the same and the data has been evaluated after each phase to identify impact.

The full set of monitoring points is listed below.

Monson Ave

Clarence Square

All Saints Road

Fairview Road

Bayshill Road

College Road

St Georges St

High Street

St James Square

Imperial Square Southern Arm

Montpellier Spa Road

Poole Way

St. Johns Ave

High Street

London Road

St. George Road

Imperial Sq Northern Arm

Ambrose St

Rodney Road

Albion Street

Gloucester Pl

Winchcombe St North

North Place

Clarence Street

St. George Pl

Royal Well Road

Winchcombe St South

Whilst these may not cover the specific sites desired they collect data on adjoining routes.

Data has been collected since 2015 which was used as the baseline, and added to year on year as various phases of the trial have been implemented. Whilst headline analysis has been undertaken where concerns have been raised, GCC colleagues are keen to collect the full 6 month like-for-like data since the phase 4 trial began so that a full picture can be gathered.

In a supplementary question, Mr Williams asked when the vehicle movement data would be available in the public domain.

The Cabinet Member explained that this was in the hands of the County Council and they had been given no firm date on when this would be received. He advised that Cheltenham Borough Council were also keen to receive this data.

2.

Question from Susie Godwin to Cabinet Member Development and Safety, Councillor Andrew McKinlay

Assuming that the Council finally accepts that this ill-advised scheme has not worked, would they agree with me that many issues could be resolved, including pedestrian safety, if:

a.    There were ‘proper’ traffic lights, as at the top of Montpellier, and not the flashing orange variety and,

b.    that a bus lane remains on the left alongside Superdry etc, enforced by a camera 24 hrs a day.  This would mean a single line of traffic on the right hand side (after removal of the seats and bike racks etc), and combined with better traffic lights, would ensure that pedestrians, businesses, locals and tourists, can get back to some normality in Cheltenham.

Response from Cabinet Member

As this phase of the Cheltenham Transport Plan is a trial, and the full data sets are not yet available it is premature to judge the outcome.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7