Agenda and draft minutes

Venue: Conference Room 2 - County Hall. View directions

Contact: Nichola Turnbull 

Items
No. Item

1.

MEMBERSHIP AND TERMS OF REFERENCE

9 members (4:3:1 Ind Gp, 1 LD)

Quorum – 3

Chair: R. Dodd

Vice Chair: B. Flux

 

Conservative

Labour

Independent Group

Liberal Democrat

Green Party

In Non-Grouped

R. Dodd

C. Ball

C. Taylor

J. Reid

 

 

T. Cessford

L. Bowman

 

 

 

 

B. Flux

A. Scott

 

 

 

 

M. Swinburn

 

 

 

 

 

 

Terms of Reference

 

To consider those petitions of a corporate or county wide nature which do not fall within the remit of the local area councils, planning and other regulatory committees (petitions about planning or licensing applications may not be considered), and to make appropriate recommendations to full Council, the Cabinet, or other committees, or on matters delegated to officers depending upon the subject matter.  The Committee can also consider petitions about local issues in exceptional circumstances when agreed by the Chair.

 

The relevant Cabinet member and division member(s) are invited to attend as non-voting members.

Minutes:

The Membership and Terms of Reference, as agreed by Council at the meeting on 4 May 2022, had been circulated for information.

 

RESOLVED that the Petition Committee’s membership and terms of reference, as agreed by Council on 4 May 2022, be noted.

2.

MINUTES pdf icon PDF 164 KB

Minutes of the meeting of the Petitions Committee, held on 26 January 2022, as circulated, to be confirmed as a true record and signed by the Chair.

Minutes:

Councillors Swinburn reported that he had been in attendance at the previous meeting on 26 January 2022.

 

It was noted that Councillor Flux had been marked in attendance whilst his apologies were also recorded.  He queried whether he had been present at the meeting due to his familiarity with the item.  This would be checked.

 

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting of the Petitions Committee held on Wednesday, 26 January 2022, as circulated, be confirmed as a true record and signed by the Chair, subject to the above verification and amendments.

3.

Petition Against On-Going Planning Issues of Pedestrian Safety and Access to Local Services at Arcot Manor/The Fairways, Cramlington pdf icon PDF 198 KB

To acknowledge the petition received from residents of Arcot Manor/The Fairways in respect of on-going planning issues and to agree the Council’s response.

Minutes:

The Petitions Committee were requested to acknowledge the petition received from residents of Arcot Manor/The Fairways in respect of on-going planning issues and to agree the Council’s response.  (A copy of the report is enclosed with the signed minutes).

 

Julia Dowd, the lead petitioner, addressed the Committee and made the following comments:

 

·        Up until May 2022 residents had access to beacon Lane via an unrestricted dirt path.

·        Without warning the path was blocked by the developers so that building work for the next phase of the development could commence.  No alternative path was created to enable residents to access Beacon Lane.  They now did not have safe access by foot to any local services.

·        Concerns had been raised with the Council, developers and MP in May but no progress had been made to allow residents to safely exit the development on foot.  More than 1,000 residents were affected with more moving in each month.

·        The state was accessed from Fisher Lane which had a 50mph speed limit and no footpath.  A bend in the road before the crossing creates poor visibility for pedestrians and motorists with the line of sight being even more restricted when there was a bus at the bus stop.

·        The speed was often exceeded by motorists to get in front of other vehicles before the road merges into a single lane carriageway.  There had been several accidents and near misses due to the poor design of the roundabout and position of the crossing points to access the bus stop on the other side of the road.

·        Not all residents had access to cars and relied on local bus services to access local services including school children, wheelchair users and the partially sighted.

·        There were no signs asking motorists to slow down or make them aware of the pedestrian crossing which made the crossing unsafe for all users.

·        Residents were entering and leaving the state via the grass verges or by walking on the road often with traffic approaching behind them including families with small children and pushchairs.

·        A response from Rob Murfin in June suggested that residents be mindful of their travel choices when leaving the estate.  Some had no choice but to walk along Fisher Lane, should their safety be of less concern?

·        Given the cost of living and environmental crisis, was it acceptable that the only safe option for residents was to leave the estate by car or pay bus fares.  For some this was an unaffordable expense.  The situation was impacting hundreds of residents including those in social housing and on low incomes.

·        If a pedestrian is hit at 40mph they have a 90% chance of dying.  Residents were expected to cross and walk on a 50mph road.  How long would it be until somebody died and when it happened, who should be blamed?

·        The defence repeatedly given was that there were mistakes in the planning agreement which was under a previous administration and not the fault of current representatives.  Should they not  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.

4.

NEXT MEETING

The next meeting will take place on Thursday, 26 January 2023 at 2.00 p.m.

Minutes:

The next meeting would be held on Thursday 26 January 2023 at 2.00 p.m.