LEICESTERSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL HIGHWAY FORUM FOR BLABY TUESDAY, 19 JANUARY 2016 AT 5.30 PM TO BE HELD AT COUNCIL CHAMBER AT BLABY DISTRICT COUNCIL OFFICES AGENDA Item Pages 1. Chairman's welcome 2. Apologies for absence 3. Any other items which the Chairman has decided to take as urgent elsewhere on the agenda 4. Declarations of interest in respect of items on the agenda 5. Minutes of the previous meeting (Pages 3 - 8) 6. Chairman's update (a) The Bank, Countesthorpe (Pages 9 - 10) (b) Network Rail (Pages 11 - 12) (c) Taxi parking on Sandown Road (Pages 13 - 14) 7. Presentation of Petitions under Standing Order 36 8. 2015/16 maintenance and improvement programmes - (Pages 15 - 30) information item 9. Programme of traffic regulation orders and signing and (Pages 31 - 36) lining schemes - current position - information item Officer to Contact: Sue Dann, Democratic Support ◦ Department of Environment and Transport ◦ Leicestershire County Council ◦ County Hall Glenfield ◦ Leicestershire ◦ LE3 8RJ ◦ Tel: 0116 305 7122 ◦ Email: [email protected] www.twitter.com/leicsdemocracy www.facebook.com/leicsdemocracy www.leics.gov.uk/local_democracy 10. On-going action statement - nothing to report 11. Items for discussion - will Members please submit these in writing to the officers prior to the meeting 12. Any other items the Chairman has decided is urgent 13. Date of next meeting - 14th June 2016 - Council Chamber at Blaby District Council offices 14. Chairman's closing remarks 3 Agenda Item 5 MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE LEICESTERSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL HIGHWAYS FORUM FOR BLABY HELD AT BLABY DISTRICT COUNCIL OFFICES ON TUESDAY 22 ND SEPTEMBER 2015 AT 4.30PM PRESENT County Councillors District Councillors Cllr D Jennings (Chairman) Cllr A V Greenwood Cllr J A Dickinson Cllr C Merrill Cllr G Welsh Cllr A C Tanner Cllr E F White Cllr L Phillimore Cllr S Coar Cllr A Clifford The following also attended the meeting: County officers: P Crossland, B Holt, D Wright, S Dann Blaby officer: J Wells 131. CHAIRMAN’S WELCOME The Chairman welcomed Members and officers to the meeting. 132. APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE Apologies for absence were received from County Cllr L E Yates, and District Cllr P Moitt. 133. URGENT ITEMS There were no urgent items. 134. DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST There were no declarations of interest. 135. MINUTES OF THE PREVIOUS MEETING Minutes of the previous meeting held on Tuesday 30 th June 2015 were confirmed and signed as a true record of the meeting. 136. CHAIRMAN’S UPDATE a) M1 Overbridge – Thorpe Astley to New Lubbesthorpe The Forum considered an update by the Director of Environment and Transport updating Members on the timetable of the works. The report was introduced by Mr Crossland with a copy filed with the minutes. Mr Crossland reported that the traffic management was working very well. Mr Crossland advised Members that there will be a site visit arranged later in the contract and they were welcome to attend. Mr Crossland asked Members to note 1 D:\moderngov\Data\AgendaItemDocs\3\0\4\AI00046403\$c1hjizsq.doc 4 that a full Health and Safety Induction will be necessary which takes one hour. If any Members are interested please contact Sue Dann or Mr Crossland. Mr Crossland explained that the Lubbesthorpe Bridle Road had been closed for safety reasons and the Balfour Beatty Public Liaison Officer is dealing with communications on this. Information can be found by following the web link on the update. Cllr G Welsh CC asked if the Bridge Road is available as a footpath. Mr Crossland stated he will ask officers to investigate and report back to Cllr Welsh. Cllr S Coar DC stated that the temporary traffic lights on Beggars Lane seem to take a long time to change and that he had seen a couple of near misses where signs have blown onto the carriageway. Cllr Coar asked if the signs could be looked at and maybe sand-bagged. Mr Holt advised he would get officers to look into this. Mr Crossland stated with regard to temporary traffic lights, LCC are changing from using the standard NRSWA permit scheme to a Leicestershire scheme which will specify restrictions should no work be taking place for certain periods. Cllr L Phillimore DC asked a question about the bridge installation at Lubbesthorpe and how the traffic is to be managed. Mr Crossland said that he would take this back for officers to investigate details and report back. RECOMMENDATIONS i) That the report of the Director of Environment and Transport be noted, and ii) that officers contact Cllr Phillimore regarding how the traffic is going to be managed when the bridge is installed. b) Leicester North West Major Transport Project (A50) The Forum considered an update by the Director of Environment and Transport updating Members on the works. The report was introduced by Mr Crossland with a copy filed with the minutes. Mr Crossland reported that the work is currently on target and the closure of Gynsill Lane worked well. Gynsill Lane will be closed again over half term and the week following and the A50 will be down to a single lane after half term which will be particularly difficult but unfortunately there is no other option. Mr Crossland stated that disruption over Christmas will be kept to a minimum. Cllr J Dickinson CC stated that she found it difficult anyway leaving County Hall at approximately 5pm and asked whether traffic lights were going to be installed on the County Hall roundabout. Mr Crossland stated that signalling was part of the work and this should improve traffic entering and exiting County Hall. 137. PRESENTATIONS OF PETITIONS UNDER STANDING ORDER 36 There were no current petitions. 138. PETITION RESPONSE: REQUEST TO REDUCE VEHICLE PARKING ON SANDOWN ROAD, GLENFIELD The Forum considered a report by the Director of Environment and Transport updating Members on the response to a petition requesting the reduction of vehicle parking on Sandown Road, Glenfield. The report was introduced by Mr Wright with a copy filed with the minutes. 2 D:\moderngov\Data\AgendaItemDocs\3\0\4\AI00046403\$c1hjizsq.doc 5 Mr Wright took Members through the report and the investigation which was carried out leading to the report. Mr Wright explained that the issues with either parking restrictions or installing bollards would displace the parking problem to Piers Road. Mr Wright stated that as there were no recorded accidents on the junction the only recommendations to put forward are to make no changes or wait for any third party funding which can be sourced to installed bollards or implement at Traffic Regulation Order. Cllr Phillimore and Cllr Dickinson both asked about the 2-6 spaces where the taxi company park their taxis and the possibility of writing to them explaining the issues. Mr Crossland said that he was happy to discuss this with Blaby District Council Action RECOMMENDATIONS i) That the report of the Director of Environment and Transport be noted, and ii) to discuss the issues with the taxi company parking with Blaby District Council. 139. PETITION RESPONSE: REQUEST TO ADDRESS SAFETY CONCERNS IN RESPECT OF PARKING AND CROSSING AT THE BANK, COUNTESTHORPE The Forum considered a report by the Director of Environment and Transport updating Members on the response to a petition requesting to address safety concerns in respect of parking and crossing at the Bank, Countesthorpe. The report was introduced by Mr Wright with a copy filed with the minutes. The Chairman advised Members that Mrs Garratt had initially wanted to attend the Forum but unfortunately was unable to make it but had commented through email to the Chair. Mr Wright took Members through the report and went through the background to the scheme that took place in this area. The scheme was approved by Parish and Local Councillors but when the scheme took place it was not as ideal as it had been hoped. Mr Wright took Members through the issues that the local residents had and the remedial work that had been carried out to rectify some of these issues which unfortunately had to be delayed due to needing a road closure. The work is due to be completed on 23 rd September. The Chairman made comment that he had received a couple of complaints from residents about the workmanship of the works. Mr Wright stated that following these recent works there are still marks on the road where the previous lining had been burnt off. Mr Wright explained that in terms of the workmanship it is all okay and the marks on the carriageway will fade with time. Cllr A Clifford DC stated that a number of residents had made complaints about the quality and the look of the work with the mismatched lines and he is concerned about the visual impact to visitors to the area. Cllr Clifford stated that he had agreed to residents that he would feed back to this forum on their concerns and most of them felt it was an absolute mess. Cllr Phillimore stated that he had concerns that the first bay is the disabled bay and is very near to a blind corner and asked if this was appropriate as it would mean reversing out onto oncoming traffic. Mr Wright reiterated that the workmanship is okay but appreciates that it is visually not good but will mellow down in time, especially with the winter weather. Mr Wright 3 D:\moderngov\Data\AgendaItemDocs\3\0\4\AI00046403\$c1hjizsq.doc 6 stated that the disabled bay was chosen to be there for a number of reasons, one of which the end bay has a dropped kerb for access and if it was at the other end it would be further away from the shops.