Agenda and draft minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors D Campbell, M Purvis and T Wilson.

This report sets out the details of the draft Local Transport Plan (LTP) programme for 2021-22 and the draft Highways Maintenance and Investment in U and C Roads and Footways Programme 2021-22 for consideration and comment by the Local Area Council, prior to final approval of the Programme.

Paul Jones, Service Director – Local Services, introduced the above report which set out details of the draft?Local Transport Plan (LTP)?programme?for 2021-22 and the draft?Highway Maintenance Investment in U and C Roads and Footways?programme?for 2021-22. 

Mr Jones advised members that prior to formal confirmation from the Department of Transport (DfT), the programme for 2021/22 had been developed on the basis of an assumed capital allocation of just over £19 million.  The programme also covered £5 million which was the second year allocation from the overall £15 million the Council had invested in U and C roads and footway maintenance over a two year period and had been developed following dialogue with County Councillors and Town and Parish Councils, all of which had been taken into consideration. Although there were always more requests than funding available, work had been prioritised in a consistent manner to achieve the best value for money for those using the transport network.  As set out in the appendices, the funding was divided across four keys areas, Walking and Cycling; Safety Works; Road Maintenance Improvement Schemes and Bridges, Structures and Landslips.

Mr Jones highlighted the following key elements: 

·       In terms of Walking and Cycling over £1.5 million had been allocated for improvements which would benefit health and wellbeing and tie into the Council’s climate change agenda. As part of NCC’s medium term financial plan £3 million had been allocated within the capital programme through the Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plans to develop infrastructure in the twelve main towns in the county. This was an ongoing programme to invest in cycling and walking infrastructure to support modal shift and reduce the numbers of short car journeys, and would place NCC in a strong position to attract government funding.

·       On Safety schemes, just over £2 million had been allocated and would include improvements to address accident  hotspots.  An allocation of £350,000 had been made for general refurbishment and renewal of road signs/markings as deterioration of these had been highlighted by members of all the Local Area Councils.

·       Roads had the highest allocation of just over £12 million as these were the county’s biggest assets in terms of the network to be maintained. One of the main elements was an allocation of £750,00 for a countywide programme of drainage works to address issues causing damage to the network.

·       Just under £3 million had been allocated to look at Bridges, Structures and Landslips and this was predominantly around bridge strengthening works and preventative work around landslips.

·       The £5 million programme for U and C roads was split across four areas, Rural Road Refurbishment; Residential Road Refurbishment; Small Works and Footway Refurbishment.  Small works involved those roads which needed structural maintenance, patching works and micro surfacing works in order to tackle long term problems.

Once feedback had been received and considered, the programme would be finalised with work commencing on 1 April 2021. 

Questions from members were invited and the following information was  ...  view the full minutes text for item 121.

The next meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, 10 March (time to be confirmed).

It was noted that the next meeting would take place on Wednesday, 10 March 2021, time to be confirmed.

With the agreement of the Chair, Councillor G Davey raised an issue regarding a planning application which had been submitted for a footbridge over the railway line between Chase Meadows and the footpath leading to the new railway station.  He raised concerns about the design which was not suitable for disabled access, cycle access or pushchair access.  Councillor Davey referred to a bridge over a redundant railway line in the Isabella Ward that had full disabled access and recommended that the new footbridge should be based on that design.  Councillor Cartie and Councillor Gallacher supported the comments made stating that the design was not fit for purpose and there should be a block review of this design for any new railway footbridges across the county.

In response Mr Jones said the comments would be passed on to Stuart McNaugton and his team who were carrying out this work through Acomb.

RESOLVED that concerns about the design of the footbridge over the railway line between Chase Meadows and the footpath leading to the new railway station not being fit for purpose be passed to the Strategic Transport Manager and that these comments also be noted for any future footbridge proposals.