AT A MEETING of FAREHAM HIGHWAY AND TRANSPORT ADVISORY PANEL held at the Council Offices, Fareham Borough Council, Fareham on Wednesday, 21 September 2005.

PRESENT:

Hampshire County Council

Councillors: T.G. Knight (Chairman); J.V. Bryant; K.D. Evans; G.M. Hockley; R.H. Price.

Fareham Borough Council

Councillors: P.J. Davies; Mrs R.A. Godrich; A. Mandry; Mrs K.K. Trott.

1. DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

There were no declarations of interest.

2. MINUTES

The Minutes of the meeting held on 15 March 2005 were confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

3. CHAIRMAN'S COMMUNICATIONS

There were no communications.

4. DEPUTATIONS

There were no deputations.

5. 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 provided an update on the progress made on named integrated transport schemes within the 2005/06 Transport Capital Programme and on recently completed schemes applicable to the Fareham area.

The Director of Environment provided an update on the Capital Programme schemes outlined in the report. During the course of discussion the following points arose:

(i) Portchester Home Zone - Members thanked the officers for the excellent way in which the public consultation exercise had been conducted. Increased traffic levels were reported by the Members in Gladstone Road and King George Road and via Jubilee Road. It was noted that traffic monitoring would continue in the area for the next two years.

(ii) Portchester Rail Bridge - the new traffic signals had been welcomed by the public but concern had been expressed at the time taken to complete the scheme. The bridge had been closed for four weeks. The Director of Environment explained that Network Rail's new procedures concerning work near existing rail bridges had required greater supervision of the work by Network Rail than originally programmed.

(iii) Broom Way, Fareham - the Director of Environment confirmed he would investigate whether the cycle crossing as the western end of Gosport road, adjacent to Crofton School would be upgraded.

(iv) Fareham Western Distributor Road - due to the presence of Japanese Knotweed, the scheme would be delayed by three years to enable herbicides to be applied to eradicate the plant. The cost would be £5,000 compared with a sum of £350,000 to excavate the weed. Members regretted the delay.

(v) Westbury Road/Park Lane, Fareham - following a recent fatality, a petition was received by Fareham Borough Council Members urging that the traffic management scheme for Park Lane be brought forward. Although the scheme was programmed to commence after the completion of the Westbury Road scheme, Members requested that the works be started as soon as possible.

RESOLVED:


That the report be noted.

6. UPDATE ON HIGHWAY MAINTENANCE AND MINOR WORKS PROGRAMME 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 2005/06 Highway Maintenance Programme and Minor Works Schemes and provided an update on the 2005/06 Highway Maintenance budget.

Members were advised that the 2005/06 Highway Maintenance budget was £49,418,000. The allocation included additional funding of £3.67 million for capital maintenance across the county. The additional schemes thus funded were identified separately in the proposed programmes within the report. Fareham's allocation for Capital Maintenance was £1,608,065 and £524,000 for revenue spending, including £24,000 of additional funding.

Attention was drawn to a drainage problem in Funtley Road and updated on the possible embankment slippage in Pennington Way.

RESOLVED:

That the report be noted.

7. OTHER HIGHWAY RELATED PROGRAMMES

The Panel considered the report of the Director of Environment (Item 7 in the Minute Book) concerning Street Lighting, Regeneration of Older Urban Areas, Intelligent Transport Systems, Bridgeworks, the Pedestrian Crossing Programme and Development Related Works.

The Director of Environment informed the Members that the energy costs for Hampshire street lighting were set to rise by an additional £1.5-£2 million. In response to Members' concerns, the possibilities of bringing forward the installation of street lamps identified in the Community Safety Initiative programme prior to the onset of winter would be investigated.

Members welcomed the proposals for the Toucan Crossing and speed limits on the A27 Southampton Road, Locksheath.

In respect of the scheme of works submitted by Tesco plc for the Quay Street roundabout, Members were advised that the scheme had been considered unacceptable and revised proposals were awaited from the company.

It was confirmed that Tollgate Road in Fareham East had not been offered for highway adoption by the developer.

RESOLVED:

That the report be noted.

8. CASUALTY REDUCTION PROGRAMMES

The Panel considered the report of the Director of Environment (Item 8 in the Minute Book) which outlined the progress made on the Hampshire County Council and Hampshire and Isle of Wight Safety Camera Partnership casualty reduction programmes for 2005/06 plus the road casualty reduction progress made against Government targets.

The Director of Environment informed the Panel that the casualty reduction figures had continued to improve. The County Council continued to contribute to the Government's headline national casualty reduction targets to the year 2010. The County Council through the Public Service Agreement had achieved an even greater reduction in all fatal and serious casualties on Hampshire's roads of 26% by the end of 2004 from the 1994-98 baseline position. An application had been made to the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister for an additional grant as a result of meeting that Agreement. A copy of the leaflet `Reducing Road Casualties in Hampshire and the isle of Wight' was circulated at the meeting.

The Chairman advised it was incumbent on Members, when opportunities arose, to explain to their constituents that speed cameras were sited in places justified by the accident figures. The aim was to reduce the number of accidents.

RESOLVED:

That the report be noted.

9. TRAVEL PLAN PROGRAMMES


The Panel considered the report of the Director of Environment (Item 9 in the Minute Book)which provided an update on the workplace, school and personalised travel planning programmes and the Safer Routes to Schools programme for schemes within the Fareham area.

The Director of Environment elaborated on the report and answered Members detailed questions.

The Chairman requested that copies of the `Hands Up' survey be circulated to the Members.

RESOLVED:

That the progress made with the delivery of the workplace, school and Safer routes to School programmes in the Fareham area together with information on the InfoMotion personalised travel planning programme be noted.

10. PASSENGER TRANSPORT

The Panel considered the report of the Director of Environment (Item 10 in the Minute Book) which detailed the position on local bus service support for the current year, the evolving Passenger Transport Strategy for the future and provided an update on bus infrastructure and rail franchising.

Concern was expressed by Members over the cuts in bus services, which they considered threatened the viability of the bus network.

In response to the Members' concerns, the Chairman confirmed that the County Council had not altered its policy in encouraging people to use public transport, nor had the overall bus subsidy been reduced. He explained that the sharp cost increases in the bus industry coupled with the public's desire to use their cars had contributed to the need to reconsider which bus services needed subsidy.

RESOLVED:

That the report be noted.

11. FAREHAM BOROUGH COUNCIL TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT PROGRAMME 2005/06 AND OTHER HIGHWAY SCHEMES

The Panel considered the report of the Chief Planning and Transportation Officer of Fareham Borough Council (Item 11 in the Minute Book) which reviewed Fareham Borough Council's traffic management programme for 2005/06.

It was suggested that the A32 road south of St Christopher's Hospital should be included in the 30 miles per hour zone as three accidents had been reported on that section of the road.

RESOLVED:

That the report be noted.

12. DATE, TIME AND VENUE FOR NEXT MEETING OF THE PANEL

The Chairman advised that due to a Democratic Services Review of Hampshire County Council's committee structure, he was not able to inform Members of the date of the next meeting. It was considered that the Panel was the only opportunity for County and Borough Members to discuss local highway and transport issues.


RESOLVED:

That, in the context of the County Council's Democratic Services Review, the Members of the Fareham Highway and Transport Advisory Panel are supportive of the need for a forum locally where County and Borough Councillors can discuss local highway and transport issues.