4 abc Public report Report to Cabinet 6 November 2007 Report of Director of City Development Title Petition - Objection to Highway Works on Hearsall Common 1 Purpose of the Report 1.1 The purpose of this report is to detail concerns that have been raised within a petition against the implementation of PrimeLines, adjacent to and within part of the area known as Hearsall Common. The report will also explain how it is proposed the scheme will be amended to take into consideration the concerns raised by the petition and to seek Cabinet guidance as to whether the scheme in its amended form should progress 1.2 Should Cabinet decide to agree to progress with the scheme in its amended form approval is also sought to dedicate a small part of the existing open space as Highway to enable the road works to proceed and for the making of the appropriate Traffic Orders to provide the bus lanes. 1.3 The proposed road works are in Whoberley Ward. 2 Recommendations 2.1 Cabinet is asked to consider the petition objecting to any proposals to carryout any road works on the area known as Hearsall Common and whether to proceed with Phase 1 of the amended Hearsall Common scheme as outlined in Para 4.2.1. and shown on Figure 2 2.2 Cabinet is recommended to defer a decision on Phase 2 (which is described in Para 4.2.2 and shown on Figure 2) in order to allow officers to reconsider whether this element of the scheme can be amended to allay the concerns detailed within the petition and until the outcome of the Village Green application is known. 2.3 Should Cabinet decide to proceed with Phase 1, Cabinet is asked to; a) Approve under S.96(1)(b) of the West Midlands County Council Act 1980 the dedication of the area of land, as shown in Figure 1 for Highway purposes b) Instruct the Director of Finance & Legal Services to make the City of Coventry (Hearsall Common – Section 2) (Bus Lane) Order 2007 & City of Coventry (Hearsall Common – Section 3) (Bus Lane) Order 2007 as shown on Figure 2 3 Information/Background 3.1 PrimeLines is a comprehensive £45m, four year project designed to create a sea change in the image and provision of public transport across the City. It is a partnership between the City Council, Centro and the public transport operators to enhance bus journey reliability and travel times, improve passenger information and to generally enhance the quality of service for current and potential new passengers. The project not only looks at bus lanes and priority at traffic signals, but includes other measures, the aim of which is to improve and control the travel time and reliability of buses for around a third of the population of the City who rely on the bus as their primary way of travel. In addition by providing a better, cleaner, reliable service for the existing users, such improvements may also encourage car users to switch to public transport as a practical alternative. 3.2 The Hearsall Common proposals are an important element of the scheme. Some 11 separate bus services converge at this point that serve not only those getting to the University, but also to the City Centre, Hospital, Cannon Park Shopping Centre and the railway station from Tile Hill, Eastern Green and Canley. The proposed bus priority works along Hearsall Common and Tile Hill Lane completes the sections already undertaken as part of the original Binley Road /Tile Hill Lane scheme as well as continuing the works currently being undertaken on the University Corridor on Kirby Corner Road and Sir Henry Parkes Road. 3.3 Hearsall Common is designated Open Space. However, statutory powers exist that permit a widening of the road even if it requires taking part of the open space, should it be deemed necessary to enable the scheme to proceed. It should be noted that this statutory provision does not create a precedent to allow general development of the open space. 3.4 A petition containing some 1928 signatures has been received which objects to the whole proposal on the grounds of its impact upon Hearsall Common. An application has also been submitted to designate the southern element of Hearsall Common as a village green. As a consequence of these actions the previous scheme has been revised into a two phase approach, the details of which are explained later within the report 4 Proposal and Other Option(s) to be considered 4.1 The Hearsall Common proposals form part of the bus priority measures between the A45 and the City Centre. The proposals for Herald Avenue between Broad Lane and the A45, are currently under construction and do not affect the Open Space sections of Hearsall Common. 4.2 The scheme is now proposed as two separate phases (a location plan can be seen in Figure 2); 4.2.1 Phase 1: An inbound section on Tile Hill Lane/ Hearsall Common between Herald Avenue and Hearsall Lane, this includes a new formal pedestrian crossing across Tile Hill Lane; An outbound bus lane to create a bypass on the south side of the Broad Lane/ Tile Hill Lane junction; 4.2.2 Phase 2: This consists of a section of bus lane that runs across part of Hearsall Common parallel to Earlsdon Avenue North, from Broomfield Road to Hearsall Lane. This section is the subject of a Village Green application. Given that Phase 2 will be dependent upon the outcome of the Village Green application and appears to be the 2 main focus of the petition it is considered that this element of the overall proposal should be reconsidered for alternatives and then represented to Cabinet for consideration at a later date. 4.3 In order to proceed with the bus lane in Phase 1 it will be necessary to widen a section of the road by about 4.3m for a length of approximately 230m. This area is adjacent to the Highway, but segregated from the rest of the open space by an earth barrier and is essentially a 4-5m grass strip that forms part of the verge beside the existing footway. Phase 1 will require some 0.09hectare, (943m2) [0.2acres] to be dedicated as Highway. The area that would need to be dedicated as Highway for this element of the scheme is shown on Figure 1. 5 PrimeLines Consultation 5.1 The petition that has been received is in addition to the results of extensive consultation undertaken as part of the scheme, which saw the circulation of some 3,000 Newsletters to the areas adjacent to the proposals along with press releases issued concerning the proposals and an invitation to the consultation event. Some 100 visitors attended the consultation event, undertaken over a 3 day period, with 76 comments being received. Details of the comments received are detailed within Appendix 1 5.2 In summary some 29 people responded positively to the scheme in its entirety, whilst 32 where against the whole scheme. However it should be noted that 31 respondents did not object to the inbound section of the scheme, but to the Earlsdon Avenue North proposals. 5.3 In addition to the consultation process the formal serving of the Traffic Regulation Orders has resulted in a written objection to the inbound length of bus lane being received. The objector is concerned about the proposed bus lanes and bus gates increasing traffic hold- ups and that the bus priority measures introduced across the City are creating congestion and ruining the reputation of the City where business cannot move around the city. 5.4 Justification for the Works 5.5 The traffic surveys undertaken indicate that the Queensland Avenue/ Hearsall Lane/ Earlsdon Avenue North/ Hearsall Common junction is close to capacity and will therefore require significant work to enable journey time through the junction to be improved. 5.6 Surveys have been carried out, which shows that at peak time the queues in the inbound direction across Hearsall Common stretch up to Herald Avenue some 900m. This takes it past the Broad Lane junction. 5.7 Some 11 bus services use the road across Hearsall Common. Between 7:30am and 9:30am they carry some 2500 passengers. This is the equivalent of some 1900 extra cars. The major bus operator reports that, during the summer recess, some 10,300 passengers are carried daily across Hearsall Common, rising to 13,600 passengers during term time. To put that into context during the day some 22,700 vehicles pass over the Common (Traffic survey - Wed 21 June 2006), therefore nearly 1/3 of the trips across Hearsall Common are made by bus. 5.8 The reliability of the bus services using Hearsall Common has been monitored and in general, reliability at peak time is poor. At peak times less than 50% of the buses are on time, with this dropping to 25% during the off peak period. 3 6 Discussion 6.1 The petitioners are concerned that the proposals adversely affect the open space and will lead to development of the 'Open Space', however, except for the caveat which allows for improvements to the Highway through Section 56 of the West Midlands County Council Act 1980 this does not open up the rest of the 'Open Space' for general development. 6.2 Phase 2 of the scheme will be considered again by officers to ascertain whether it can be achieved with less impact upon the Common. Dependent upon the outcome of the Green application the reconsidered proposal will be referred back to Cabinet for consideration.