Item 2

AT A MEETING of the HART HIGHWAY AND TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT ADVISORY PANEL held at Hart District Council, Fleet on 5 March 2004.

PRESENT:

Hampshire County Council

Councillors: J.W. Stocks (Chairman); A.P. Collett; J. Glen (Executive Member for Spatial Strategy; P.R. Hutcheson; Mrs C. Leversha

Hart District Council

Councillors: S.G. Parker; N. Lambert; W.A. Barrell

42 DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

Members were mindful that, where they believed they had a personal or personal prejudicial interest in any matter to be considered at the meeting, they should declare their interest and, having regard to the circumstances described in paragraphs 9, 10, 11 and 12 of the County Council's Code of Conduct, consider whether to leave the meeting whilst the matter was discussed. Any declaration to be made at the time of the debate.

43 MINUTES

The Minutes of the meeting held on 24 October 2003 were agreed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

44 CHAIRMAN'S COMMUNICATIONS

There were none.

45 DEPUTATIONS

There were no deputations.

46 REVISED ROLES OF PANELS

The Panel considered the report of the Director of Environment (Item 5 in the Minute Book) setting out the revised terms of reference, and scope for the new Highway Transport Advisory Panels and the relationship with the Area Transport Panels.

RESOLVED:

That the report be noted.

47 ALLOCATION OF THE HIGHWAY STRUCTURAL MAINTENANCE BUDGET AND ASSESSMENT OF HIGHWAY CONDITION

The Panel considered the report of the Director of Environment (Item 6 in the Minute Book) outlining the process for allocating the Highway Structural Maintenance Budget using current condition measurement techniques, and summarising the indicators used for assessing the condition of the Network.

The Panel asked that a regular item be included on the future agendas to enable Members to report roads and footpaths which required attention due to their poor state. Members were encouraged to report directly to the Highways Engineers any problems which occurred on a continuing basis. The next set of BVPIs would be available during May and would be reported to the next meeting of the Panel.

RESOLVED:

That the report be noted.

48 HIGHWAY MAINTENANCE PROGRAMMES 2003/04 AND 2004/05

The Panel considered the report of the Director of Environment (Item 7 in the Minute Book) on progress with the 2003/04 Highways Maintenance Programme; 2004/05 Highways Maintenance Budget and 2004/05 Highways Maintenance Programme.

The total allocation for Hart in the 2003/04 Highways Maintenance Programme revenue maintenance budget was £431,000 of which 98% had been spent. The total allocation in the Capital Maintenance Programme for 2003/04 was £1,501,000 and similarly the programme was nearing completion.

RESOLVED:

That the report be noted.

49 GRASS AND TREE MAINTENANCE

The Panel considered the report of the Director of Environment (Item 8 in the Minute Book) on the new agency and funding arrangements for grass and tree maintenance work carried out on the highway, on behalf of Hampshire County Council.

Members noted that Hart District Council had not yet finally confirmed that it would reduce the number of cuts to the six funded by the County Council.

RESOLVED:

That the report be noted.

50 CAPITAL MINOR WORKS PROGRAMME 2003/04 AND 2004/05

The Panel considered the report of the Director of Environment (Item 9 in the Minute Book) outlining progress with the 2003/04 Capital Minor Works Programme and details of the 2004/05 Capital Minor Works Programme.

RESOLVED:

That the Panel expresses its preference for the following Minor Works Schemes in 2004/05:-

(i) Whitewater School Rotherwick - improvement of parking/pedestrian facilities outside the school and


(ii) Brook Hill, Crondall Road, Crondall - new footpath link, subject to land negotiations.


(iii) That the Derby Green Road, Yateley Footway Widening Scheme be held in reserve.

51 STREET LIGHTING PROGRAMMES

The Panel considered the report of the Director of Environment (Item 10 in the Minute Book) on the current position of Street Lighting Maintenance; Column Replacement Community Safety Initiative (CSI) and the purchase of energy.

Yateley Town Council had now joined the Hampshire County Council maintenance contract, and that they would consider renewing the lighting stock to County standard and the County Council may take on the financial responsibility.

RESOLVED:

That there report be noted.

52 TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT PROGRAMMES 2003/04 AND 2004/05

The Panel considered the report of the Director of Environment (Item 11 in the Minute Book) on traffic management work completed and progress in the Hart area 2003/04 and the proposed programme for 2004/05. A number of detailed comments on individual schemes were noted and that discussions were in progress with the Parish Councils on schemes at Dogmersfield and Crookham Village.

RESOLVED:

That the report be noted.

53 CASUALTY REDUCTION AND SAFER ROUTES TO SCHOOL PROGRAMMES

The Panel considered the report of the Director of Environment (Item 12 in the Minute Book) on progress on the Casualty Reduction Programme, Hampshire Safety Camera Partnership and Safer Routes to School Programme.

Members were urged to encourage schools to participate in the Safer Routes to School Scheme. The Panel was circulated with a copy of Appendix 4 setting out the current position regarding the development of School Travel Plans by schools in the Hart area. It was the County Council's intention to require all Safer Routes to School schemes from 2004/05 financial year to be associated with the development and publication of school travel plans by the directly affected schools.

It was noted that Yateley Manor School was close to producing a travel plan.


RESOLVED:

That the report be noted.

54 PROGRESS UPDATE ON APPROVED SCHEMES

The Panel considered the report of the Director of Environment (Item 13 in the Minute Book) on progress on transport schemes within the 2003/05 and 2004/05 Capital Programmes and the provisional programme for 2005/06.

Schemes in the Capital Programme were financed from the Local Transport Plan (LTP). Improvements to pedestrian facilities in the vicinity of the Galley Hill, Church Crookham School were complete. A recent County Council questionnaire survey on the traffic calming along Eveltham Road had achieved a high response rate with 1,562 responses being made. As a consequence the traffic calming package of measures was currently under review to ensure that the views of those residents immediately affected could be given due prominence and any amended or additional measures with regard to speed management and road safety be considered.

The Fleet Town Centre Traffic Management Scheme was to start in early 2005/06 with improvements which would include pedestrian crossing areas, junction safety improvements and Hart District Council car park improvements.

RESOLVED:

That progress made on the Transport Programme Schemes for 2002/03 be noted and that schemes approved for inclusion in the Capital Programme for 2004/05 be given.

55 OTHER HIGHWAY RELATED PROGRAMMES

The Panel considered the report of the Director of Environment (Item 14 in the Minute Book) detailing programmes for Regeneration of Older Urban Areas and Bridge Works. The County Council was working in partnership with Hart District Council, Yateley Town Council, Yateley Town Centre Management Group and a range of local partners to develop a Village Design Framework for Yateley Centre. The framework would fully integrate the B3272 Route Management Strategy and the ROUA Programme.

The Bridges Section of the Environment Department was responsible for the inspection, maintenance, replacement, load assessment and strengthening of all County highway structures, together with new structures built as part of the road improvement, housing schemes and industrial developments. This included 1400 road bridges, 300 foot bridges and numerous ancillary structures, such as retaining walls and gantries. Following the Selby crash in February 2001, parapets and safety fences at road/rail interfaces, the majority of which were bridges, had been evaluated and prioritised and a rolling programme for protective measures had commenced. This would continue over several years as funding was made available.

RESOLVED:

That the report be noted.

56 DATE OF NEXT MEETING

Thursday, 7 October 2004 at 10 a.m. at Hart Civic Offices.

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