COPELAND HIGHWAYS WORKING GROUP

Minutes of a Meeting of the Copeland Highways Working Group held on Friday, 8 April 2016 in the Melbreak Room, Lillyhall, at 10.00 am

PRESENT:

Mr FI Morgan (Chairman)

Mr N Clarkson Ms E Weir Mr M Hawkins Ms C Wharrier Mr K Hitchen Mr H Wormstrup Mrs GR Troughton

Also in Attendance:-

Mr K Cosgrove - Traffic Management Team Leader Mrs J Currie - Senior Democratic Services Officer Mr C McCarron - Senior Highways Network Technician Mr K Melville - Senior Manager, Network Management: West Miss A Sykes - Highways Network Manager

30 APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

There were no apologies for absence on this occasion.

The Chair reported that since the last meeting of the Working Group the officer who had supported Copeland Highways Working Group had left the County Council. Members asked that their thanks be recorded to Joan Cowan, for all her hard work on behalf of Copeland Highways Working Group.

31 MINUTES OF THE PREVIOUS MEETING

The minutes of the previous meeting held on 24 February 2016 were agreed with the following amendment:-

- add Ms E Weir to the list of attendees present.

32 CAPITAL SCHEMES 2016/17

The Network Manager tabled a copy of the Capital Schemes 2016/17 which highlighted for members the entries of interest to Copeland Local Committee.

She asked members to note:-

Integrated Transport Block (ITB)

This block included improvement programmes for pedestrians, cyclists, public transport passengers and road users. Although there were no schemes planned for engineering safety studies and implementation measures in Copeland this time there was one major scheme under the ‘Major County Schemes’ block. Funding from this block was used to support the District Councils in the preparation, design and delivery of Infrastructure Deficit Plans (IDPs). The scheme in Copeland was an approved request to reprofile £89,000 to deliver the Seascale to Gosforth Cycleway in 2016/17. The cost of the scheme would be approximately £184,000, which included £95,000 already allocated from Copeland Local Committee funds.

In relation to element 4 of the ITB – Countryside Access Improvement Schemes there were 3 schemes within Copeland:-

 Drigg – for surface works and drainage  Distington – for a diversion and surfacing of a footpath  St Bees – for improvements to the footpath surface

Principal Road Network (PRN)

In the PRN Block there were a number of schemes in Copeland programmed for surface treatments, structural maintenance and drainage, including:-

A5094 Carriageway at Inkerman Terrace, – Surfacing with 100mm HRA Inlay £140,800 A5094 Footways at Inkerman Terrace, Whitehaven Footway Resurfacing £70,000 A5094 Strand Street/ Tangier Street Whitehaven – Surfacing with 100mm HRA inlay £59,400 A595 Route Management: Gosforth to Silecroft Investigation and repair works £15,000 A5086 Route Management: Frizington to Lamplugh – Investigation and repair works £23,000 A5093 Route Management: Silecroft; ; and The Green - Investigation and repair works £15,000 A595 Calderbridge to Ponsonby Phase 1 Works - Install new carrier drain to alleviate flood risk to adjacent property £140,000 A5093 Route Management: Silecroft to Hallthwaites Improvements – targeting road markings and signage improvements £15,000 A5086 Route Management: Egremont to Mockerkin - Improvements - targeting road markings and signage improvements £10,000 A595 Valley end to Gateside, Whicham – Small Scale Patching pre SD patching £77,000 A595 Gosforth Cross Roads to Seven Acres Caravan Park – Small Scale Patching pre SD patching £44,000 A595 Boonwood to School Brow Gosforth Small Scale Patching pre SD patching £27,500 A595 Brown Cow to Shoemire Wood Wabberthwaite Small Scale Patching pre SD patching£20,000 A595 Mill Street to Holegill Bootle Small Scale Patching pre SD patching £40,000 A5093 Valley End Silecroft to Hellpool - Small Scale Patching pre SD patching £50,000 A5093 Bankfield to Langthwaite Farm- Small Scale Patching pre SD patching £25,000

2 Members asked about the scheme for Strand Street and whether this would be a ‘streetscape’ scheme. Officers confirmed that this scheme was only for repairs to the carriageway and would not include any work on the footways.

Officer updated members on the plans for the schemes at Inkerman Terrace. The footway works would take approximately 4-5 weeks to complete and the carriageway would be about 6-7 days to complete. The majority of the work would be done via the one way system but may involve closure of the road during the night. Local members would be kept informed on progress with this.

Members thanked the Network Manager for the tabled document, which they would be able to keep as a valuable reference tool.

33 GULLY CLEANSING/VERGE MAINTENANCE UPDATE

33 (a) Gully Cleansing

The Network Manager presented a briefing note which gave members an update on gully cleansing operations in the Copeland area.

In November 2015 Cabinet agreed to bring back in-house the gully cleansing operations as of 1 April 2016. As a result the gully cleansing contract with current contractor ended on 31 March 2016.

Although despite the impact of the floods, the vast majority of routine cleans were done, however as of 31 March the following areas remained unfinished:-

 Moresby Parks – 98% complete  Kells – 95% complete  Haverigg - 90% completed  Woodhouse Green Bank – 75% complete  Keekle – 70% complete

The following schemes were still to commence:-

 Whitehaven Town Centre Arco Drains  Millom A Road  Calderbridge to Duddon Bridge  By Muncaster Castle and South of Bootle  Egremont to Mockerkin

For Copeland a new gully cleansing wagon had been hired-in while the long term gully wagon was being procured. Gully wagons for purchase could rarely be bought ‘off the shelf’ as they were made to order as each potential customer had unique specification requirements.

The Supervisor was liaising with the Highways Network Team on developing a gully cleansing programme for 2016. In the first instance this would mostly be based on previous gully cleansing programmes. However, officers now had the ability to

3 tweak and amend the programme to meet the needs of the Copeland area and budgets available.

33 (b) Verge Maintenance

The Network Manager presented a briefing note which gave members an update on verge maintenance operations in the Copeland area.

The tender process had now been undertaken and tenders received countywide from various suppliers. These had been assessed by the council’s procurement team based on both price and quality and a recommended supplier for each contract agreed.

The contract was yet to be awarded as it required Corporate Director approval. It was unlikely that the contract would be awarded until early May 2016. Once appointed officers would work with the contractor to establish a programme and enable verge maintenance works to start as soon as possible on the network.

As in previous years Copeland Borough Council would be undertaking grass cutting and weed spraying operations within 40mph zones throughout Copeland. The County Council would be contributing towards the cost of two cuts and the borough council then had the discretion to do additional cuts for amenity reasons, but these would be funded from borough council budgets.

The Area Highways and Transport Manager asked members to note that in future the County Council would be discouraging Parish Council volunteers from carrying out their own grass cutting, unless they were able to comply with the Council’s safety standards.

Members felt it would be beneficial to issue a press release to let parishes know there had been a change in policy and the Area Highways and Transport Manager confirmed he had been in touch with CALC to ensure this was done at the start of the grass cutting ‘season’.

Members supported this approach.

34 WORKING WITH THE NFU

The Network Manager presented a briefing note which gave members an update on a meeting that had recently taken place between County Council Highways officers and the National Farmers Union (NFU).

At the meeting discussions took place about issues that Officers face on a day to day basis relating to highways problems caused by farmers & landowners, including:-

 Drainage/flooding problems from farmer’s land  Mud/silage on the highway  Maintenance of ditches and hedges.

4 The importance of working with farmers and landowners to come to a practical resolution to issues was discussed. Officers made it clear that NFU members had roles and responsibilities in maintaining standards relating to highways safety issues caused directly by their operations both on and off the Highway. These roles and responsibilities were set out the County Council publication entitled ‘Farming and the Public Highway’.

Mrs Richards had agreed to ensure these concerns were included in the next issue of the NFU newsletter to highlight to its members the issues raised and would also send out the publication to all members of the NFU, for information.

It was hoped that this would prove a positive move and get the message across to farmers. The information would also include up to date contact details for Highways staff, as this was raised as a concern from the NFU. The feedback from the meeting had been shared with colleagues in .

Members felt that it would be useful to share the protocol ‘Farming and the Public Highway’ with parish councils, who may find it useful to upload to their website. They also asked for a copy to be sent to all Copeland members, for information (Action: AS)

35 ROAD SAFETY TRAFFIC ISSUES AND IMPROVEMENTS IN COPELAND

The Traffic Management Team Leader gave members an update on the following road safety/traffic issues and improvements in Copeland:-

 B5295 RTC and Safety Improvements There had been a number of collisions on this road and combined with the historic issues at Mill Hill there was a need to investigate the feasibility of introducing minor traffic engineering improvements. The proposals included the installation of a traffic island with additional waiting restrictions.

 A5086 Cleator – Safety Improvements Traffic counts had been carried out in this location and speeds had been recorded on average between 37-43mph. The proposal discussed involved enhancing the current road markings and signage. This would restrict the road width which would hopefully help to reduce speeds in this location.

 Arlecdon School Traffic Safety (Cllr Knowles) Officers had been working with the school and minor safety improvements were planned.

 St Gregory’s School, Esk Avenue Traffic Safety Officers had been working with both the school and the residents in this location to try to resolve this problem. Residents were unhappy that the school had a car park at the rear of the school but staff were not using it and parking on the road. However, the staff felt unsafe using the footpath to the car park in the dark.

5 The local member updated members on a recently held meeting at the school where the staff, residents, and PCO were all in attendance. Lighting had been improved along the footpath and the school had sent out an email to all staff to let them know this and to encourage the staff to start using the car park again. The local member reported that the situation had improved since the meeting had taken place and this would be kept under review.

Members felt the only way to improve this on a permanent basis would be to change the traffic flow as the one way system currently in place only exacerbated the situation. It was AGREED that officers would work with the local member to try to broker a solution (Action: KC/MH).

 Low Road, Whitehaven. Outcome of Dft Advice Regarding Permanent Lights Officers had been in communication with the Department of Transport (DfT) with a view of making the temporary signals permanent. Given the bespoke nature of the signals this was not supported by the DfT. Following engagement with residents and the local elected member the intention was to now remove the signals.

Members accepted that they had to take the advice of the DfT and agreed to RECOMMEND to the local committee that the traffic lights be removed at this location.

36 CRASH UPDATE

Members had before them a copy of the latest Road Safety Update Report for February 2016.

The Casualty Reduction and Safer Highways Group (CRASH) had recently refreshed its policy on the use of trolley mounted speed indicating devices (SIDs) these display the speed of a vehicle as it approached the trolley and were used as an educational device. As part of the policy 15 SIDs had been recently been refurbished and were available for county wide use.

The group had also discussed Community Speed Watch groups which operated in the County. The purpose of these groups was to help local communities, assisted by the police to directly tackle their concerns regarding speeding vehicles through the use of speed guns. In order for the number of these groups to increase a commitment in the form of a policy was needed from the police and this was being pursued through the CRASH group.

Members noted the collision details and performance information specific to Copeland.

37 PARKING STRATEGY

The Senior Manager – Network Management updated members on the Parking Strategy currently being produced for Whitehaven. Officers were working closely with colleagues in the Borough Council to ensure the strategy not only addressed

6 current parking issues within Copeland but would also try to mitigate for any future developments in the town.

Copeland Borough Council had serious concerns about the lack of parking available in Whitehaven, and had appointed a consultant to undertake a study into possible solutions. The consultant had produced a brief, which had been shared with the Senior Manager – Network Management. One of the main issues affecting the lack of parking in the town was the number of new housing developments. In recent years, for new housing schemes developed in Whitehaven the planning conditions stated that parking for the development would be available in the multi storey car park. However, this car park was now reaching capacity and there was an urgent need for extra parking in the town. A number of options were being considered and the Senior Manager – Network Management agreed to share the brief with members of the HWG (Action: KM).

38 DEVELOPMENT MANAGEMENT

The Senior Manager – Network Management updated members on the current issues being faced by highways staff when making comments on planning applications.

A number of planning consents had been granted recently where comments and concerns of the highways teams had not been included in the consent. Although the Senior Manager recognised that the County Council was only a consultee and could only make recommendations to the planners, he felt that in some cases consent should not have been granted without highways conditions included. He would be meeting with the Senior Manager – Spatial Planning in the near future to discuss this and AGREED to keep members informed of any progress (Action: KM).

39 SELLAFIELD LTD - MASTER PLANNING

The Senior Manager – Network Management updated members on the proposals from Sellafield Ltd to engage with interested parties on master planning for the developments planned for the Sellafield site.

Sellafield had acknowledge the importance of this process for future development of the site and were looking to hold a joint meeting involving Sellafield Ltd, Copeland Local Committee, and Copeland Borough Council to explain and discuss the long term strategy for the site.

Members thanked the Area Manager for the update.

40 WEST CUMBRIA MINING

The Senior Manager – Network Management would be attending a meeting to outline the County Council’s concerns with plans for the development of the West

7 Cumbria Mining site. He would feedback to members the outcome of this meeting (Action: KM).

41 NUGEN UPDATE

The Senior Manager – Network Management updated members on the Nugen development and the implications of this for the highways network, both in Copeland, and also the rest of the county.

The Chair thanked the Area Manager for the update.

42 SCHEDULE OF MEETINGS 2016/17

The schedule of meetings was noted. Once the schedule had been agreed diary entries would be sent out to Copeland HWG members (Action: JC).

43 ANY OTHER BUSINESS

Highways Drop In Sessions – A595 Lowca

A well-attended public drop-in session had been held recently in Lowca which gave residents and councillors the chance to have their say on Highways England’s plans to divert large volumes of traffic when the road was closed for up to nine months to replace a Victorian embankment off the northbound carriageway.

Highways England had agreed that it was “nonsense” to expect motorists to make a 40-mile diversion through Egremont, Frizington, Lamplugh and , and said that the intention was to install a new road. The road would run from the Howgate roundabout and rejoin the A595 beyond the closed section, however, no decision had yet been made on the precise route.

Improving Traffic Signals in Copeland

The Network Manager updated members on plans to upgrade the traffic signals in Copeland following recent changes to regulations, which now permitted to use the ‘farside arrangement’, so that the red man / green man display was seen across the other side of the road, rather than by the push button that you pressed.

Members thanked the Network Manager for the update.

44 DATE & TIME OF NEXT MEETING

The next meeting will be held on 8 June 2016 at 2pm in the Melbreak Room, Lillyhall

Post meeting note: This meeting will now be taking place at 10am on 8 June in the Melbreak Room, Lillyhall

8 The meeting ended at 12.15 pm

9