Agenda item

To consider the attached report.

The Joint Assembly:

a)    NOTED the report and the comments raised by County Councillors during consideration of a petition at the meeting of Cambridgeshire County Council on 19 July 2016.

b)    NOTED AND SUPPORTED the resolutions agreed at the Milton Road Local Liaison Forum meeting held on 9 August 2016, apart from (b).

c)    RECOMMENDED that the Greater Cambridge City Deal Executive Board made a commitment to having an aspiration for an avenue of mature flowering trees in green verges on each side of Milton Road, consistent with bus reliability and high-quality cycling infrastructure provision.

Tanya Sheridan, City Deal Programme Director, presented a report which provided the Joint Assembly with an opportunity to consider the views expressed by the County Council at its meeting on 19 July 2016 in relation to a petition opposing the City deal plan to widen Milton Road to four lanes of traffic.

Councillor, Roger Hickford, Chairman of the Joint Assembly, allowed further public questions that were relevant to this item.

Question from Dorcas Fowler

As an interested member of the public, living in Milton Road, Dorcas Fowler felt that it did not appear that sufficient detailed research had been done on traffic in Milton Road as the basis for the City Deal proposals. She therefore asked why destination statistics had not been collected on Milton Road rush hour traffic on weekdays, both in school term and out of school term.

In addition, she asked why steps had not been taken for a video camera to record traffic using the bus lane along Milton Road throughout the day which she said was likely to support the anecdotal evidence from those living along the road that buses rarely used it, except on approaching junctions.

Dorcas Fowler also expressed concern that a senior transport officer was not present at the meeting to provide a detailed answer to her question.  Councillor Hickford  gave an assurance that a written response would be provided to any aspects of the question that could not be answered fully at the meeting and that this would be made available on the City Deal website.

Tanya Sheridan made the following points in response to the questions:

·         relevant aspects of the Milton Road scheme, such as the likely effects on traffic movements, were modelled using the Cambridge Sub-Regional Model. This model used a wide range of data sources including census, land use and traffic data. A series of traffic counts had been undertaken along Milton Road in 2014 to facilitate the modelling process, which was being refreshed to ensure all data sources were as up to date as possible;

·         the scheme for Milton Road was focussed on delivering improved transport infrastructure to effectively manage the future travel demand resulting from the planned growth in the Greater Cambridge area and beyond, including Northstowe consisting of 10,000 homes, Waterbeach consisting of 8,000 to 9,000 homes and Ely North consisting of 3,000 homes. This growth would mean significantly more journeys into Cambridge, with the already busy Milton Road expected to take a lot of this traffic.  Reliable bus services, which required bus priority measures, would be a key element of the strategy for making sure housing growth did not lead to significantly increased transport congestion and bus lanes were part of that strategy for bus priority. 

·         doing nothing to ensure bus reliability could mean significantly worse air quality in the area;

·         further work would need to be done to consider where bus lanes would be needed to ensure reliability of services.

Councillor Hickford asked if there was evidence of the frequency of use of bus lanes, further to which Tanya Sheridan explained that it was expected that buses would use bus lanes when there were traffic delays. A report carried out by Mott MacDonald showed the average speeds and lengths of delay.

Question from Anne Hamill

Anne Hamill expressed concern for the environmental degradation on Milton Road and asked whether the Joint Assembly would recommend that the Executive Board made a commitment to having an evenly spaced avenue of mature, flowering trees in green verges that were a minimum of 1-metre wide on each side of the whole length of Milton Road.

Tanya Sheridan responded with the following points:

·         at its meeting on 9 June 2016, the Executive Board agreed various resolutions relating to a preferred option for the Milton Road scheme. These resolutions included an instruction to officers to ensure that the preferred option design for consultation included details of proposed landscape areas and tree planting. The Board confirmed that mature trees should be used for the scheme;

·         the Executive Board also noted the important role of a Local Liaison Forum involving local councillors and stakeholder groups in the development of the detailed layout plans for consultation;

·         a series of workshops were planned over the autumn period, to which a range of stakeholders would be invited in order to influence and inform the design work for the preferred option.

Question from Maureen Mace

Maureen Mace asked when roadworks for widening Milton Road started, how much delay for the buses did modelling statistics estimate during a normal working day as well as when the A14 was closed due to an accident or upgrading.  In addition, she asked how many years from the start of the roadworks it would take until the decrease in the average bus journey time of 99 seconds was reached.

Tanya Sheridan responded to the question with the following points:

·         consideration could only be given to the likely impact on delays during the construction of the City Deal scheme on Milton Road once the extent of the works that would be needed were clear;

·         once the scheme design had been determined, a project delivery plan would be developed in partnership with an appointed contractor to address issues such as managing delays to traffic movements and maintaining access to properties;

·         the timetable for construction of the scheme would take into account other activities on the road network in the north of the city, including the A14 improvements and other City Deal schemes.

Statement from Councillor Jocelynne Scutt

Councillor Jocelynne Scutt was invited to address the Joint Assembly on behalf of the Milton Road Local Liaison Forum.  She highlighted that Councillors from outside the Milton area had emphasised the importance of the Milton Road petition and presented the following resolutions from the meeting of the Local Liaison Forum held on 9 August 2016 in respect of Oaktree Avenue and Hurst Park Avenue::

“The Milton Road Local Liaison Forum calls upon the City Deal Board to:

(i)         remove double bus lanes from its proposals for the section from Hurst Park Avenue to Oak Tree Avenue – that is, to revert to a minimum of three motorised lanes instead of four;

(ii)        remove the diagram/plan from the City Deal website which represents there being a four lane carriageway, or make it clear beyond doubt where it appears that this diagram/plan has no relevance to the proposal;

(iii)       confirm that independent, paid consultants expert in the field of public realm, landscaping, trees and verges will be appointed immediately to the City Deal project, and be an equal part of the Milton Road project as the engineers;

(iv)       consistent with (iii), appoint a firm of independent urban architects to develop new design options for the Milton Road streetscape.”

Discussion ensued on the Milton Road Local Liaison Forum resolutions, during which the following points were noted:

·         Joint Assembly Members acknowledged the concern expressed by some residents about the Milton Road scheme proposals;

·         Councillor Maurice Leeke proposed that the Joint Assembly made a recommendation to the Executive Board regarding Milton Road, in line with the proposal made by Anne Hamill, that a commitment be made to ‘having an evenly spaced avenue of mature, flowering trees in green verges that are a minimum of 1-metre wide on each side of the whole length of Milton Road’.

·         Councillor Kevin Price, having informed the Assembly that he lived near Milton Road, pointed out that there were not currently trees on grass verges all the way along Milton Road and that the character of the road varied along it. Councillor Price advised that the proposal put forward by Anne Hamill and supported by Councillor Leeke, was too prescriptive. This view was supported by other members of the Assembly;

·         Claire Ruskin pointed out that whilst the beauty of roads was important, so was the ability to travel on them. There was also a need to make sure residents could easily access their work places. Ms Ruskin expressed the view that the proposal could not be voted on, given the lack of evidence regarding its impact in transport terms;

·         Dr John Wells advised that Anne Hamill’s proposal risked putting too tight constraints on the Milton Road scheme. Instead Dr Wells proposed an option for the Joint Assembly to support the aspirations of Ms Hamill’s proposal. Andy Williams seconded Dr Wells’ proposal;

·         Councillor Tim Bick expressed the view that the aspiration for trees and verges should be supported;

·         Tanya Sheridan explained that modelling would give an indication of the minimum width of bus lanes and that the appointment of independent urban architects to develop new design options for the Milton Road streetscape would have an impact on budgets.  She added that any changes to a scheme or project with time and budget implications would be for the Executive Board to decide.

Recognising the concerns expressed by Milton Road residents, the Joint Assembly was unanimously in favour of recommending that the Board made a commitment to having an aspiration for an avenue of mature green trees on each side of Milton Road, consistent with bus priority and high quality cycling provision.

The Joint Assembly:

(a)        NOTED the report and the comments raised by County Councillors during consideration of a petition at the meeting of Cambridgeshire County Council on 19 July 2016.

(b)        NOTED AND SUPPORTED the resolutions agreed at the Milton Road Local Liaison Forum meeting held on 9 August 2016, apart from (ii) and (iv) as above.

(c)        RECOMMENDED that the Greater Cambridge City Deal Executive Board made a commitment to having an aspiration for an avenue of mature green trees on each side of Milton Road, consistent with bus priority and high quality cycling provision.