Attachments: Managed Motorway Networks 11.02.13.Docx

Our Ref: FOI 1320 16 February 2021

Dear Ms Taylor

Freedom of Information Request – Reference FOI 1320

I refer to your request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, received on 24 January 2021.

Set out below is the request you have raised and our response to it.

REQUEST

‘South Yorkshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner has written to the Transport Secretary calling for smart motorways without a hard shoulder to be scrapped following a history of exchanges.

I am asking for the exchanges with the Department for Transport and Highways England.”

On 26 January 2021, I asked you to provide further clarification in relation to whether you required:

 Exchanges between Dr Alan Billings and the Department for Transport and Highways England or other staff within his office?  Exchanges just relating to smart motorways?  What time frame you would like the exchanges to be between?

On 2 February 2021, you clarified that you would like to request:

 “Exchanges between Dr Alan Billings and the Department for Transport and Highways England and other staff within his office.  Just exchanges relating to smart motorways and incidents on motorways from when the matter was raised. I've noted the chief constable wrote years ago. https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/ministers-told-about-smart-motorway- dangers-in-2013-nf8wcklnv”

South Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner Carbrook House, Carbrook Hall Road, Sheffield, South Yorkshire S9 2EH Tel: 0114 2964150 Email: [email protected] www.southyorkshire-pcc.gov.uk

RESPONSE

Section 1 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 provides two distinct but related rights of access to information, which impose corresponding duties on public authorities. These are:

 Section 1(1)(a) the duty to inform the applicant whether or not information is held by the authority, and if so,  Section 1(1)(b) the duty to communicate that information to the applicant.

To enable me to respond to your request an email search, using the key words of ‘Motorway(s), Smart Motorways, Highways England, Highways Agency and Department of Transport was carried out. This was on all Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner (OPCC) staff (including PCCs Shaun Wright and Dr Alan Billings) between 22 November 2012 (when PCCs were introduced) and 3 February 2021.

Please see the attached emails relating to your request. You will see throughout the documentation that certain information is redacted.

Section 17 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 requires the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner (OPCC), when refusing to provide such information (because the information is exempt), to provide you, the applicant, with a notice which: a. states that fact, b. specifies the exemption in question and c. states (if that would not otherwise be apparent why the exemption applies).

The following exemption applies to the disclosure of information:

Section 40(2) Personal Information This is an absolute exemption and therefore a Public Interest Test is not relevant. However, for clarity, I will explain my rationale for engaging this exemption. Section 40(2) provides that information is exempt if it is the personal data of someone other than the applicant and disclosure would breach any of the data protection principles. The term ‘personal data’ means data that relates to a living individual who can be identified.

If you are unhappy with the way your request for information has been handled, you can request an internal review by emailing this office.

If you remain dissatisfied with the handling of your request or complaint, you have a right to appeal to the Information Commissioner at:

South Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner Carbrook House, Carbrook Hall Road, Sheffield, South Yorkshire S9 2EH Tel: 0114 2964150 Email: [email protected] www.southyorkshire-pcc.gov.uk

The Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF

Telephone: 08456 306060 or 01625 545745

Website: www.ico.gov.uk

Yours sincerely

Sally Parkin South Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner

South Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner Carbrook House, Carbrook Hall Road, Sheffield, South Yorkshire S9 2EH Tel: 0114 2964150 Email: [email protected] www.southyorkshire-pcc.gov.uk

Sally Parkin

From: Sally Parkin Sent: 08 February 2021 20:20 To: Sally Parkin Subject: FW: Managed Motorway Networks Consultation Response Attachments: Managed Motorway Networks 11.02.13.docx

Switch-MessageId: 477191d749194f109f5d8bf960455999

Sally

Sally Parkin Governance and Compliance Manager South Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner Carbrook House Carbrook Hall Road Sheffield South Yorkshire S9 2EH

Telephone: Internal: Mobile: Wesbite: www.southyorkshire-pcc.gov.uk Follow on Facebook and Twitter (@SYPCC)

WEF 19th March 2020, in order to comply with social distancing advice from the Government and in line with other OPCCs across the country, the Commissioner and staff from the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner are conducting business from home for the foreseeable future. There should be minimal disruption to service and we will be operating normal business hours. Please get in touch using any of the information in this email signature.

From: Sally Parkin [mailto: ] Sent: 11 February 2013 12:51 To: @highways.gsi.gov.uk Subject: Managed Motorway Networks Consultation Response

Please find attached the consultation response from Police and Crime Commissioner Shaun Wright.

Kind Regards

Sally

Sally Parkin Interim Assistant Chief Executive South Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner

Tel: Email:

1 OFFICE OF THE POLICE AND COMMISSIONER Awaiting Logo

M1 junctions 32 to 35a Managed Motorway Scheme Consultation

Consultation response from Commissioner Shaun Wright

Commissioner Wright has reviewed the consultation and spoken to the emergency services about this motorway scheme and would like to submit the following comments.

The emergency services have raised significant concerns with the HA about potential limitations to accessing serious collisions and added risk to both the public and emergency service personnel through the design proposed. The HA planning puts the increase in risk at over 200%, based on existing practice however most non-injury/minor collisions are quickly removed to the hard shoulder where the risk is significantly lower and in the absence of a hard shoulder, compliance with signage is more critical. The proposed mitigation of this increased risk is CCTV monitoring (however with no dedicated staff and cameras on a cyclical rotation), induction loops to identify queues in the traffic flow, plus the signage.

The proposed signage for this scheme is a combination of overhead gantries and roadside mounted displays (other existing schemes have full gantries throughout the section of Managed Motorways). Members of the Safer Roads Partnership (SRP) have visited Transport Research Laboratory to view the research into the roadside signage, which demonstrated that this produces a lower compliance than full overhead gantries (as currently in use on stretches of existing managed motorway such as the M42) but which are not currently proposed for this scheme. This raises significant issues for ensuring the access of emergency personnel to the incident and their safety on attendance.

South Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner Shaun Wright 18 Regent Street Barnsley South Yorkshire S70 2HG Tel: 01226 774600 Email: [email protected] www.southyorkshire-pcc.gov.uk Sally Parkin

From: Sally Parkin Sent: 08 February 2021 20:21 To: Sally Parkin Subject: FW: RE: Managed Motorway Networks Consultation Response

Switch-MessageId: adaf1f277b534d8594c4409312d6183b

Sally

Sally Parkin Governance and Compliance Manager South Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner Carbrook House Carbrook Hall Road Sheffield South Yorkshire S9 2EH

Telephone: Internal: Mobile: Wesbite: www.southyorkshire-pcc.gov.uk Follow on Facebook and Twitter (@SYPCC)

From: M1J32-35a Managed Motorways [mailto: ] Sent: 11 February 2013 15:22 To: Subject: RE: Managed Motorway Networks Consultation Response

Dear Ms Parkin

Thank you for completing the Consultation Response form for the M1 J32-35a Managed Motorway.

We are currently collating and reviewing all responses received and will respond to your comments once the consultation period has ended.

In the meantime, further information about the scheme can be found on the Highways Agency website.

Yours sincerely

1 Sally Parkin

From: The Commissioner < > Sent: 21 January 2021 10:59 To: Cc:

Subject: FAO Rt Hon Grant Shapps MP Attachments: 2021-01-21 Letter to Rt Hon Grant Shapps MP.pdf

Dear Rt Hon Grant Shapps MP,

Please find attached correspondence from Dr Billings for your attention.

Please also note a copy is being sent to the Daily Telegraph.

Kind Regards

PA to the South Yorkshire Police & Crime Commissioner and Chief Executive & Solicitor South Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner Carbrook House 5 Carbrook Hall Road Sheffield S9 2EH (S9 2EG for SatNav)

Tel: Mobile: Website: www.southyorkshire-pcc.gov.uk Follow onFacebookandTwitter (@SYPCC)

Open Letter to Secretary of State, Rt Hon Grant Shapps MP cc Highways England CEO cc all SY MPs, Leaders of the District Councils and Elected Mayor for the Sheffield City Region.

By email only 21 January 2021

Dear Secretary of State,

Smart Motorways

I write following the inquests held recently into the deaths of Jason Mercer and Alexandru Murgeanu on a stretch of the M1 in South Yorkshire – a type of so-called ‘smart motorway’. The coroner found that having no hard shoulder contributed to their deaths and I want to support that finding and urge you in the light of it to review this type of motorway with some urgency.

I believe smart motorways of this kind – where what would be a hard shoulder is a live lane with occasional refuges – are inherently unsafe and dangerous and should be abandoned.

This is a view we have consistently held in South Yorkshire and a previous Chief Constable was forthright in saying this before the programme was embarked upon. It is what I said to Highways England officials when we met in January 2020 to discuss road safety across the county.

At that meeting, Highways England sought to persuade me that smart motorways were as safe if not safer than the usual type of motorway. I said then and repeat now that I believe the way this conclusion is arrived at is the result of a flawed way of arguing. I do not believe it is helpful to compare collisions or deaths on the two types of motorway. The relevant test for us is whether someone who breaks down on this stretch of the motorway, where there is no hard shoulder, would have had a better chance of escaping death or injury had there still been a hard shoulder – and the coroner’s verdict makes it clear that the answer to that question is - Yes.

I believe Highways England has been seduced by these false comparisons in order to increase the number of lanes to aid traffic flow at a lower cost than would have been the case if a hard shoulder had been built. We have traded driver safety for lower costs.

In a normal year I would drive along this part of the motorway many times. It increases anxiety and tension knowing that should you break down, you may slow down considerably or come to a halt in a live lane with heavy goods vehicles coming up at speed

South Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner Carbrook House, Carbrook Hall Road, Sheffield, South Yorkshire S9 2EH Tel: 0114 2964150 Email: [email protected] www.southyorkshire-pcc.gov.uk

behind. This is not my idea of ‘safe’. People need to be safe but also to feel safe when driving.

In addition, it is one of a number of different types of motorway in South and West Yorkshire and that in itself is confusing and unhelpful for those who use them. These motorways are also busy with lorries from abroad and the different types of motorway within a relatively few miles cannot be easy for them to understand.

In summary, I think the coroner’s verdict makes it imperative now to abandon this type of motorway before more lives are lost. I urge you or your officials to meet with me and others concerned with road safety in South Yorkshire when we can make the case in more detail.

A copy of this letter is being provided to the Daily Telegraph.

I look forward to your reply.

Yours sincerely

Dr Alan Billings South Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner

South Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner Carbrook House, Carbrook Hall Road, Sheffield, South Yorkshire S9 2EH Tel: 0114 2964150 Email: [email protected] www.southyorkshire-pcc.gov.uk