Page 1 Agenda Item 1 AREA FORUM: DARESBURY At a meeting of the Area Forum: Daresbury Monday, 26 February 2007 Preston Brook Village Hall, Preston Brook Present: Councillors Bradshaw and C Inch Apologies for Absence: (none) Absence declared on Council business: (none) Officers present: M. Simpson, P. Watts, G. Arnold, P. Reilly-Cooper and J. Weston Also in attendance: 27 Members of the public ITEMS DEALT WITH UNDER DUTIES EXERCISABLE BY THE FORUM Action DAR13 MINUTES The Minutes of the meeting held on 16 th October 2006, having been printed and circulated, were taken as read and agreed as a correct record. RESOLVED: That the Minutes be noted DAR14 PUBLIC QUESTIONS Questions on the following topics had been submitted in writing in advance of the meeting. (i) M.W. Byrne, Stokesay, Chester Road, Preston Brook In an attempt to reduce needless traffic congestion, why does the Highways Department/Council not insist that any temporary traffic lights are fitted with the intelligence PIRS? Response from Stephen Rimmer, Street Works Inspector: All temporary portable traffic signals should be fitted with Page 2 detectors to make them work vehicle activated. If they are not, then they need to be physically authorised to work on fixed time or manual. In the absence of demand, temporary traffic lights should rest on all red. (ii) T.A. Silker, The Byre, Keckwick Lane, Daresbury I am very concerned over the proposal, by the time of this meeting perhaps implemented, to close Keckwick Lane at its junction with Runcorn Road for a period of six weeks, in order to construct a roundabout junction to serve the new Sandymoor Housing Development. This will seriously inconvenience the residents of Keckwick Lane, Delph Lane and Woodthorn Close, considerably increasing our travel distance and time, especially to Sandymoor and to our nearest post office and general store in Moore. As a civil engineer myself, I fail to understand why the works involved could not be carried out in phases maintaining access at all but very limited periods. I have already asked the Highways and Planning Departments to review this inconsiderate and unnecessary closure but so far it appears to be going ahead. I also feel that the Council could have given some prior notification and explanation to the residents affected before proceeding. (I regret I cannot attend the Area Forum in person, but since these meetings have been changed from Thursday to Monday evenings, I am prevented by a regular commitment.) Response from Stephen Rimmer – Street Works Inspector: The option of keeping Keckwick Lane open for the closure of the roundabout was investigated thoroughly. However, due to the need to reconstruct the existing carriageway and the resultant safety zones, it is not possible to keep the road open and carry out the works safely. The Contractor initially asked for the whole junction to be closed for three months to carry out the work, but the Council refused this request. The contractor has been requested to distribute letters to the Page 3 residents of nearby roads to inform them of the proposed closure and the reasons for the closure. (iii) J. Atkinson, 4 Gorseywell Lane, Preston Brook As you know, the village of Preston Brook is divided by the A56. The increasing volume of traffic is causing significant problems within the village, namely: (1) the A56 road, nor one of the bridges that serves it, were not built to cope with this amount of traffic and they require constant repairs, which disrupt village life considerably. (2) illegal parking in the bus lay-by in the centre of the village by HGV drivers travelling to/from the local industrial estate, who stop to use the Spar Shop for their supplies (instead of using the motorway cafes) and causing considerable road safety concerns. (3) noise pollution (4) air pollution (Hyder have promised to let me have the results of a study into their pollution that they are currently doing on behalf of the Highways Agency in this area). I appreciate that Economic Development in this area enjoys a certain political flavour but there is an issue of balance that needs to be struck (i.e. at what cost to village life) and as a resident I would like to know where this balance lies in the hearts and minds of the politicians. I would also like to know what each of the elected Members, as well as all of the other representatives of the various authorities represented at the Area Forum is doing on – (1) an individual basis; and (2) a collective basis (either through a local area agreement or through the local strategic partnership – call it what you will) to improve the lives of residents regarding this particular issue in this village. Thank You. Response from Stephen Rimmer – Street Works Inspector: Question 1 Page 4 The A56, Chester Road is one of the main roads in the area and prior to the construction of the M56, it was the main route between Chester and Warrington. As part of the new town, the Whitehouse Industrial Estate was constructed and the A56 through Preston Brook is one of the main access routes to the area. Most of the residential development to the east/south of the A56 has been constructed in recent times and the puffin crossing has been provided to help pedestrians cross the road to the village shop/hall. Response from P.C. Ian Stewardson, Cheshire Police Roads Liaison Officer Question 2 The Police have been aware of this problem for some time and officers, together with the PCO’s from the neighbourhood policing units had been tasked to monitor and deal with offenders accordingly. In my role as Roads Liaison Officer, I have discussed this problem with Steve Johnson (HBC) and as such, a clearway order is to be implemented on this section of road to increase the powers available to prevent this happening. The NPU will continue to monitor the situation as and when the operational commitments allow. The PCO’s have already issued six tickets in the past few months and were observing the area when they could. Response from Stuart Baxter, Divisional Manager, Environmental Health Traffic is one of the most widespread sources of noise, and unfortunately, the most difficult to control. Whilst the local authority have no general duty at the moment to measure and assess traffic noise from existing road schemes ambient noise measurements are taken regularly for a number of reasons across the borough particularly in connection with new developments. The ambient noise levels in Preston Brook are on the high side but cannot be considered excessive for an urban area. There are few controls available to control general noise from vehicles whilst they are on the highway. Where nose from a new or substantially altered road causes an increased level of interference to residents, grants may be available to provide sound insulation measure subject to strict conditions and noise measurements. Page 5 Excessive noise from the engine of an individual identifiable vehicle can only be controlled by the Motor Vehicles (Construction and Use) regulations, which are administered by the Police. Vehicles must be fitted with an efficient exhaust silencer, and there are general regulations requiring road users not to make excessive noise or run the engine unnecessarily when stationary. The Highways Agency implements the Government’s policy, which is to mitigate the effects of noise arising from traffic on the strategic network where appropriate. To this end, all trunk road improvement proposals are appraised, which considers environmental objectives alongside social and economic concerns. All road construction projects will include high standards of environmental mitigation to ensure that, so fare as reasonably possible, the impact of noise is minimised in accordance with this policy. Where new roads are to be built or existing roads significantly improved, quieter road surfaces will be specified in future contracts as a matter of course. This will be in addition to other measures such as earth mounds and acoustic fencing, which will also be considered. Whenever a road needs resurfacing, the most appropriate noise-reducing surface will be used. Response from Stuart Baxter, Divisional Manager, Environmental Health Hyder Study and the Highways Agency We have not at the moment ourselves been made aware of the results of any study undertaken by Hyder into either noise or air pollution. The Highways Agency is the network operator for England’s network of trunk roads including motorways. Whilst this network represents only a small proportion of the national road estate it has a far greater significance in terms of the extent to which it is used. Over 30% of all traffic is carried on the HA network and the proportion of HGV traffic is nearer 70% (by vehicle miles). Carrying such large volumes of traffic means that in areas near to busy trunk roads air quality is likely to be significantly influenced by vehicle emissions. In developing strategies to combat transport air quality issues related issues the local authority would liaise with the Highways Agency. The Local Authority Role The Government has challenged local authorities under Part IV of the Environment Act 1995 to assess and manage their Page 6 air quality. National health-based standards and objectives have been published to allow air quality to be assessed and to drive forward management policies. Local Authorities are required to consider emissions from a range of sources such as transport industry and domestic that could potentially affect local air quality. In assessing these emissions a number of tools are used including monitoring equipment (real time analysers and diffusion tubes), modelling of the major roads, and emissions data from the industrial sector.