Lead Member for Transport and Environment
DECISIONS made by the Lead Member for Transport and Environment, Councillor Claire Dowling, on 21 June 2021 Via Teams and CC2, County Hall, Lewes
Councillors Kathryn Field, Johnny Denis, Stephen Shing, Godfrey Daniel, Georgia Taylor, Colin Swansborough, Wendy Maples and Stephen Holt spoke on item 5 (see minute 6).
Councillors Georgia Taylor, Stephen Holt, Stephen Shing, Johnny Denis, Colin Swansborough, Godfrey Daniel, and Wendy Maples spoke on item 6 (see minute 7).
1 Decisions made by the Lead Cabinet Member on 15 March 2021
1.1 The Lead Member approved as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 15 March 2021.
2 Disclosure of Interests
2.1 There were no disclosures in interests.
3 Urgent items
3.1 There were none notified.
4 Reports
4.1 Reports referred to in the minutes below are contained in the minute book.
5 Petition to improve road safety on the B2116 near Plumpton Lane
5.1 The Lead Member considered a report by the Director of Communities, Economy and Transport.
DECISIONS
5.2 The Lead Member RESOLVED to advise the petitioners that:
1) During June 2020, East Sussex Highways undertook repairs east of the junction with Plumpton Lane. The work included a large patch repair to address the undulation in the road and a new road marking to highlight the edge of carriageway.
2) The B2116/A275 junction has been identified as a Local Safety Scheme. Works will be carried out, this financial year, to improve the existing signing on the approaches to the junction to encourage lower speeds and highlight the need for drivers to give way.
3) The B2116 between the County boundary near Keymer and A275 junction near Offham is one of the routes identified for a Strategic Casualty Reduction study during 2021/2022.
Reasons
5.3 A number of actions, as detailed in the report, have been taken to address the petitioner’s concerns and improve the road safety of the B2116. In addition, the B2116 is an identified route for a Strategic Casualty Reduction study, and a range of safety improvements will be considered for implementation later this financial year following a detailed analysis of the available crash data.
6 Notice of Motion: To request the Cabinet set an authority-wide default 20mph limit for urban and village roads
6.1 The Lead Member considered a report by the Director of Communities, Economy and Transport.
DECISIONS
6.2 The Lead Member RESOLVED to recommend to the County Council to:
1) reject the
notice of motion to set an authority-wide default 20mph speed
limit for urban and village roads;
2) note the County Councils speed
limit policy is in line with current central government guidance,
including our approach to 20 mph speed limits;
3) note that
those urban and village roads that demonstrate a history of
personal injury crashes will continue to be identified and
appropriate road safety measures introduced, which may
include 20mph speed limits, if the scheme is of sufficient priority
for funding from the County Council’s capital allocation for
local transport schemes; and
4) note that, where appropriate, the
Council will continue to support 20mph speed limit schemes funded
externally or, where possible, through our community match
programme.
Reasons
6.3 The Council’s current speed limit policy is in line with central government guidance and 20mph speed limit schemes can be implemented under the existing policy where there is an assessed need and funding is available. This includes utilising funding from stakeholders and other sources, such as the community match funding and planning contributions.
7 ESCC response to Government Bus Strategy
7.1 The Lead Member considered a report by the Director of Communities, Economy and Transport.
DECISIONS
7.2 The Lead Member RESOLVED to:
1) Approve the development of an Enhanced Partnership for East Sussex and the giving of a notice of intent to prepare an Enhanced Partnership Plan and accompanying Enhanced Partnership Scheme, as required and set out in section 138F of the Transport Act 2000.
Reasons
7.3 The establishment of the Enhanced Partnership together with required additional funding from Government is an opportunity to make significant improvements to bus services in East Sussex. From 1 July 2021 COVID-19 Bus Services Support Grant (CBSSG) and any successor funding to it; funding to transform services as outlined in the Strategy; and Bus Service Operators Grant, will only be available to Local Transport Authorities who have committed to entering into Enhanced Partnerships or started the statutory process of franchising services, and to operators who co-operate with the process. There would therefore be a very significant impact of not complying with the requirements of the Government Bus Back Better Strategy, potentially leading to the collapse of the commercial East Sussex bus market and a call on unsustainable levels of Council funding to replace it.