AT A MEETING of EAST HAMPSHIRE HIGHWAY AND TRANSPORT ADVISORY PANEL held at The Civic Offices, East Hampshire District Council, Petersfield on Wednesday, 8 March 2005.

PRESENT:

Hampshire County Council

Councillors: J.W. West (Chairman); Mrs .E. Byrom; M.F. Cartwright; A.R. Ludlow; Sir James Scott

East Hampshire District Council

Councillors: M. Ashton; R. Ayer; R.Chilton; Mrs D. Denston

71. DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

There were no declarations of interest.

72. MINUTES

The Minutes of the meeting held on 5 November 2004 were confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

Arising thereon:

Minute No. 57 - Minutes (No. 44)

The Panel were advised that there had been a threefold increase in the number of correspondents using the Environment Department's website since the last meeting.

Minute No. 64 - Casualty Reduction Programmes

The Director of Environment advised that early indications were that where the new black on yellow signs had been introduced as an experiment on motorcycle routes with high accident levels on rural roads there had been a marked decrease in accident figures. Accident figures reported for the comparative five month period August to December 2003 and 2004 were as follows:

2003: Fatalities 4, seriously injured 11, 17 slightly injured.

2004: Fatalities 0, seriously injured 4, 15 slightly injured.

2003: Casualties - 50 and 2004: Casualties - 25.

The Chairman congratulated the officers on the encouraging results.

Minute No. 67 - Other Highway Related Programmes

The Highways Agency had advised that due to the costs involved the A3 cycle route between Queen Elizabeth County Park and Buriton roundabout would not be proceeded with. The work would necessitate cutting into the chalk, which had proved to be unstable at this particular site resulting in a prohibitive estimate of £1 million to progress the scheme.

73. CHAIRMAN'S COMMUNICATIONS

There were no communications.

74. DEPUTATIONS

There were no deputations.

75. PROGRESS UPDATE ON SCHEMES IN THE CAPITAL PROGRAMME

The Panel considered the report of the Director of Environment (Item 5 in the Minute Book) which outlined the progress made on transport schemes within the Capital Programme 2004/05 and detailed the schemes approved for inclusion in the 2005/06 Capital Programme.

The Director of Environment introduced the report and updated the Members on the schemes.

Members drew attention to complaints received from residents concerning the noise level on the A31 at Lymington Bottom, Four Marks. The Director of Environment stated that as the aim of the scheme was traffic calming, this should help to reduce the level of noise.

RESOLVED:


That the progress made with the schemes in the 2004/05 Transport Capital Programme be noted and the schemes approved for inclusion in the Capital Programme for 2005/06 be supported.

76. HIGHWAY MAINTENANCE PROGRAMMES 2004/05 AND 2005/06

The Panel considered the report of the Director of Environment (Item 6 in the Minute Book) which informed Members of the progress made on the 2004/05 Highway Maintenance Programme and gave details of the Highway Maintenance Programme and Budget for 2005/06 and Capital Minor Works Programmes for 2004/05. Members preference was sought for the minor works schemes included in the 2005/06 programme.

Members were advised that the provisional maintenance budget allocation for 2005/06 for the East Hampshire area was £1,949,000. Of the £3.6 million additional funding for special footway and resurfacing in rural areas, approximately £300,000 would be made available for the East Hampshire area.

It was noted that of the five schemes proposed for the Capital Minor Works rolling programme 2005/06, it was likely that the C72 Dean Lane and Finchdean Road, Rowlands Castle works would be included in the Special Maintenance Scheme category.

RESOLVED:

That the Executive Member for Environment be advised that the following schemes, listed in order of priority, be included in the Capital Minor Works Programme for 2005/06:

(i) C36 Bentworth Road, Bentworth (£5,000)

(ii) C154 School, Lane Sheet (£12,000;

C72 Dean Lane and Finchdean Road, Rowlands Castle (£12,000); and

(iii) U212 Long Road, Steep (£10,000).

77. TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT PROGRAMMES 2004/05 AND 2005/06

The Panel considered the report of the Director of Environment (Item 7 in the Minute Book), which covered the main programmes of traffic management work for Traffic Regulation Orders and signing and lining schemes and the Parish Partnership Programme in the East Hampshire District for 2004/05 and 2005/06.

The Chairman requested that at the Bell Hill roundabout that `A3' be added to the new sign plates.

Councillor Scott declared an interest in the A32 East Tisted speed limit scheme.

RESOLVED:

That the report be noted.

78. CASUALTY REDUCTION PROGRAMMES

The Panel considered the report of the Director of Environment (Item 8 in the Minute Book), which outlined progress made on the Hampshire County Council and Hampshire and Isle of Wight Safety Camera partnership casualty reduction programmes for 2004/04 and into 2005/06.

The Director of Environment advised the Panel that the provisional figures for 2004 indicated that the reduction in all killed and serious injury accidents in Hampshire were ahead of the targets set by the Government for 2010. The figures from Hampshire Constabulary indicated that fatal and serious casualty figures were expected to be the lowest recorded casualty tolls on Hampshire's roads to date.

Members congratulated officers on their achievement.

RESOLVED:

That the report be noted.

79. TRAVEL PLAN PROGRAMMES (INCLUDING SAFER ROUTES TO SCHOOL)


The Panel considered the report of the Director of Environment (Item 9 in the Minute Book on progress made with the workplace, school and personalised travel planning and the Safer Routes to School programmes within the East Hampshire area.

It was reported that seven organisations in the East Hampshire area were in the process of developing a workplace travel plan compared with four reported at the previous meeting, however there was still a lack of interest from the business community.

Since November 2004, every school within Hampshire had been contacted to inform them of the school travel plan service. This had led to an increasing interest with the school travel planning team working with 40 out of the 58 schools within the area. Efforts were being made to overcome the travel plan problems in the Liphook area. It was hoped these would be resolved during 2005/06. The East Hampshire District Council officers were thanked for their help and support.

Members drew attention to the difficulties of Sixth Form College students whose school journeys commenced within the East Hampshire area to travel to a location covered by Havant and not covered by the Safer Routes to School scheme, which were noted.

RESOLVED:

That the progress made with the delivery of the workplace, school and personalised travel planning and Safer routes to School programmes in the East Hampshire area be noted.

80. OTHER HIGHWAY RELATED PROGRAMMES

The Panel considered the report of the Director of Environment (Item 10 in the Minute Book) on programmes for the Hampshire Villages Initiative, Intelligent Transport Systems, Bridgeworks, Development Related Works Recreational Cycling and Street Lighting in the East Hampshire area.

The Director of Environment reported that the contract for Street Lighting continued to ensure that 99% of all street lights were on at any one time. The performance levels had improved since the change to a system of `working days' instead of calendar days. A `Working Closer Together' project had been introduced with part of the Street Lighting team responsible for contract delivery being based at the Southern Electricity's Cosham and Basingstoke offices. The column replacement programme for 2005/06 was £1.7 million. Members were extremely concerned that as per the previous year there was no provision in the Street Lighting Budget for column replacement in the East Hampshire area for 2005/06 and asked that this view be conveyed to the Executive Member.

RESOLVED:

(i) That the report be noted.

(ii) That the attention of the Executive Member for Environment be drawn to the grave concern that no provision had been made in the Street Lighting budget for column replacement within the East Hampshire area for a second year.

81. PASSENGER TRANSPORT REPORT

The Panel considered the report of the Director of Environment (Item 11 in the Minute Book) which covered work undertaken by the Passenger Transport Group on the Petersfield Taxibus, the new South West Trains and the Cango Bus Services.

Particular attention was drawn to the intention of South West Trains to transfer the taxibus scheme to elsewhere in the county, which in part was due to lack of patronage and resentment from local taxi drivers concerning loss of trade. The Chairman and Members considered the scheme to be excellent, but that it should have been more widely advertised by SWT as there was real scope to widen the catchment area to include the surrounding villages and the area west of Petersfield.

RESOLVED:

That the report be noted.

82. DATE, TIME AND VENUE OF NEXT MEETING OF THE PANEL

It was noted that the next meeting of the Panel would be held on Tuesday, 1 November 2005 at the Civic Offices, East Hampshire District Council.