Agenda item

Councillor Tim Bick, Chairman of the Joint Assembly, will be in attendance to present the recommendations from the meeting of the Joint Assembly held on 17 December 2015.

The Executive Board SUPPORTED, in principle, the production of an Environmental Design Guide to be used as a statement of environmental principles that should apply to City Deal transport infrastructure schemes.

Councillor Tim Bick, Chairman of the Joint Assembly, presented his report on the recommendations and key issues raised further to the meeting of the Assembly held on 17 December 2015.

Councillor Bick outlined the content of a public question that did not relate to any items on the agenda for the meeting of the Assembly, which focussed on engagement between the City Deal and other key external agencies such as Highways England and Network Rail.  Officers had agreed to provide and circulate an ‘engagement map’, which would assist with understanding the type of engagement that took place with agencies such as these, and on what subjects.

The Joint Assembly had received a presentation from Glenn Richardson, Urban Design and Conservation Manager at Cambridge City Council, and Andrew Cameron, Director of Urban Design at WSP Parsons Brinkerhoff consultancy on opportunities for public realm and landscaping enhancement within the City Deal.  Further to public questions received that related to this item, the Joint Assembly supported the development of an Environment Design Guide for City Deal infrastructure schemes.  It requested that officers be asked to identify what could be included in an Environmental Design Guide for City Deal transport infrastructure schemes, setting out what such a guide could consist of together with the estimated cost and officer time associated with developing the document.  The Executive Board supported this approach as a statement of environmental principles that should apply to City Deal transport infrastructure schemes.

It was agreed that Councillor Bick would introduce his report on the Joint Assembly’s recommendations in relation to the tackling congestion call for evidence item under item 6 at this meeting.

At the request of the Executive Board, Mr Richardson provided Members with a version of the presentation the Joint Assembly had received at its meeting on 17 December 2015.  As part of the presentation, the following points were noted in respect of creating streets and how space could be allocated:

·         streets were persistent, hardly ever changed in their nature and held urban areas together, creating a sense of community;

·         street layout and dimensions remained constant over many centuries, with buildings changing rather than the streets they were built around;

·         roads facilitated movement and divided communities, whereas streets defined a place and helped create communities.  It was therefore streets rather than roads that the City Deal should be aiming to provide in residential areas.

Numerous visual examples, both national and international, were shown which provided before and after perspectives of where trees, greenery and sustainable urban drainage systems had been incorporated as part of street improvements.  This included indications of rationalisation of space, areas showing plenty of room for movement for all users, the greening of major arterial routes and ease of pedestrian movement.

Visual examples were also shown of successful models of sharing space on streets in terms of motorised vehicles, cyclists and pedestrians and highway features that were not ‘over-engineered’.  These included pedestrian first crossing points, gateways, courtesy crossings, pedestrian orientated design, two-way cycle paths, segregated cycle paths and median zones.

In terms of addressing use of the street and adding trees and greenery, a number of scenarios were given of the different options available using a 20 metre right of way as an example.  Scenarios included:

·         ‘do-maximum’ consisting of pedestrian access, cycleways bus lanes, and motor vehicle access all with two-way access with no trees or greenery;

·         the addition of trees on one side, with reduced width cycle lanes to compensate;

·         trees on both sides of the street with bus access only in one direction;

·         a tree-lined street with two-way cycle lane segregated from the street, with bus access only in one direction;

·         shared footpath and cycleway, reduced width running lanes and a median strip.

Specific examples were also presented of how trees and greenery could be introduced into the urban street setting, with photographs of a street where this had taken place in Cambridge being shown.

The Executive Board:

(a)        NOTED the report by the Chairman of the Joint Assembly.

(b)        NOTED the presentation onopportunities for public realm and landscaping enhancement within the City Deal.

(c)        SUPPORTED, in principle, the production of an Environmental Design Guide to be used as a statement of environmental principles that should apply to City Deal transport infrastructure schemes.