Agenda item

1.

Question from Bharat Gupta to the Cabinet Member Development and Safety, Councillor Andrew McKinlay

Cheltenham Transport Plan-Boots Corner Scheme Phase 3 & 4

Councillor Andrew McKinlay of CBC is quoted as saying that the work completed so far has been successful?  What was the criteria for "success" and were the residents of the area to be affected by phase 4 involved in defining the criteria of success?

Response from Cabinet Member Development and Safety

The County Council (GCC) has been monitoring traffic levels on potentially affected roads, following the completion of each phase of the CTP.  To date, no significant increases in traffic or pollution have been observed and this has continued to give the Council confidence in the original modelling work, which estimated the relatively low projected impacts of the scheme.

Residents in all of the potentially affected areas were given the opportunity to input into the CTP design during the consultation phases.  This included an initial consultation on the overall objectives of the scheme, as well as a detailed statutory consultation and public Traffic Regulation Committee hearing.  The Council took on board the comments from these consultations and as a result, chose to implement the CTP in phases, measuring the impact of each phase before proceeding with subsequent phases. 

There is already some evidence to support the fact that the works implemented have achieved improvements to the network; increasing permeability for buses and cyclists and helping bus timetable reliability, thereby encouraging modal shift and a reduction in car journey times, particularly in accessing car parks.  This in turn should make a longer term positive impact on air quality and wider environmental matters. 

In relation to the proposed works in Phase 2, our intention was to improve accessibility to the town’s largest and best located car park for the retail centre, Regent Arcade. This phase has certainly reduced journey times for Regent Arcade users approaching from the south of the town centre, reducing congestion and promoting use of the car park and in turn the shopping area, whilst encouraging air quality improvements. Breaking down the long run of the one-way dual-carriageway ring road is hoped to have yielded a reduction is traffic speeds that should have a positive knock-on effect in relation to pedestrian safety.

I understand that you may consider some of these successes subjective; that said I am satisfied that our intention to achieve long term improvements to the network are well founded and that there will be longer term reductions in pollution and positive modal travel shifts as a result.

In a supplementary question Mr Gupta asked whether similar objectives and targets had been set on behalf of the people living in Hales Road and other affected roads in the vicinity and if so what are they?

The Cabinet Member acknowledged that the success measures were largely objective rather than subjective however the impact of any scheme was recorded in two ways.  Firstly this was assessed by traffic modelling and secondly what actually happened in practice as the scheme was implemented. To date the scheme had exceeded the success measures set in the modelling exercise. The key pollutant being measured in Cheltenham was nitrogen dioxide and readings taken at 28 key sites in November 2015 formed a baseline and details were available in the annual air quality status report. Measurements taken after the implementation of phase 1 showed a reduction at 19 sites including the ones Mr Gupta was concerned about. These results had only arrived recently and had not been made public yet.

2.

Question from Bharat Gupta  to the Cabinet Member Development and Safety, Councillor Andrew McKinlay

What computer projections have been carried out, based on the current air quality data, with regards to further environmental impact of re-directing the traffic from the mainly commercial area to the mainly residential area of Cheltenham?

Response from Cabinet Member Development and Safety

No computer projections have been carried out using current air quality data.  The environmental impact of the scheme was assessed using modelling data and this was made public during the consultation on the traffic regulation orders.  The data is available on the Council’s web site.

In a supplementary question Mr Gupta asked the Cabinet Member whether the council would continue to carry out further checks during the implementation of subsequent phases and thereafter once phase 4 had been completed?

The Cabinet Member confirmed that the council would continue to monitor on a monthly basis. All such monitoring was carried out on an average basis and did not record peaks.

3.

Question from Christine Saunders to the Cabinet Member Development and Safety, Councillor Andrew McKinlay

What evaluation work has the council done with regards to the possible long term impact on health due to routing the traffic through the residential area.  Can we see these results?

Response from Cabinet Member Development and Safety

The traffic modelling data collated by GCC predicts both positive and negative impacts on volumes in differing locations across the town and this may influence the level of pollutants.

However, there are other significant factors which will also impact on pollutant levels that are outside the direct control of either GCC or CBC. These would include traffic volume growth and technological advancements, including the likely phasing out of diesel vehicles, an increase in the proportion of electric cars and improved efficiency of petrol vehicles, including much more widespread use of stop/start technology.

In these circumstances, modelling of theoretical health impacts based on a ‘worst case scenario’ which is unlikely to arise in practice, is not considered to be value for money.

4.

Question from Christine Saunders to the Cabinet Member Development and Safety, Councillor Andrew McKinlay

Is College road likely to become a no parking zone to allow more traffic to flow through.  Will this not affect the parking for the local residents of St. Lukes?

Response from Cabinet Member Development and Safety

I am not aware of any current proposal to restrict on-street parking in College Road, or that this would ‘…allow more traffic to flow through’ as suggested by the questioner.

If an unforeseen issue arises as a result of the Cheltenham Transport Plan works, this would be a matter for GCC to consider as Highways Authority, within the mitigation contingency already identified for the project, which was supplemented with £50k funding from CBC.