To reply to any questions received from members of the public, which may be received in writing in advance of the meeting or asked at the meeting. Questions can be asked about issues for which the Council has a responsibility. If questions are received in advance of meetings it will increase the likelihood of an answer being provided at the meeting. (Public question times take place on a bimonthly basis at Local Area Council meetings: in January, March, May, July, September and November each year.)
As agreed by the County Council in February 2012, the management of local public question times is at the discretion of the Chair of the committee.
Please note however that a question may possibly be rejected if it requires the disclosure of any categories of confidential or exempt information, namely information:
1. relating to any individual;
2. which is likely to reveal the identity of an individual;
3. relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person;
4. relating to any labour relations matters/negotiations;
5. restricted to legal proceedings;
6. about enforcement/enacting legal orders;
7. relating to the prevention, investigation of prosecution of crime.
And/or:
· is defamatory, frivolous or offensive;
· it is substantially the same as a question which has been put at a meeting of this or another County Council committee in the past six months;
· the request repeats an identical or very similar question from the same person;
· the cost of providing an answer is disproportionate;
· it is being separately addressed through the Council's complaints process;
· it is not about a matter for which the Council has a responsibility or which affects the county;
· it relates to planning, licensing and/or other regulatory applications;
· it is a question that town/parish councils would normally be expected to raise through other channels.
If the Chair is of the opinion that a question is one which, for whatever reason, cannot properly be asked in an area meeting, he/she will disallow it and inform the resident of his/her decision.
Copies of any written answers (without individuals' personal contact details) will be provided for members after the meeting and also be publicly available.
Democratic Services will confirm the status of the progress on any previously requested written answers and follow up any related actions requested by the Local Area Council.
Minutes:
Wendy Breach on behalf of the Active Travel Tynedale team submitted the following question in advance of the meeting:
“Northumberland County Council has a number of policies aimed at mitigating climate crisis, improving health, decreasing air pollution and encouraging active travel. One specific policy is laid out on the School Transport web page:
"Northumberland County Council is committed to promoting the environmental benefits of active, sustainable travel, which includes reducing pollution for cleaner air around our schools."
A further commitment on the same web page with regard to active travel to and from schools concerns the creation of School Streets:
"We will work with the Highways team at Northumberland County Council so we can investigate Traffic Regulation Orders. This is to prohibit cars from entering specific streets at certain times of the day. Closing the street outside of your school will ensure that the air will be less polluted, as well as making the area safer for children."
With more than 500 School Streets in London, an ever increasing number in Tyne and Wear, 4 already established in Northumberland, and legislation now rolled out across England for ANPR, why has it been an uphill battle to get a School Street considered for the new QEHS/HMS in Hexham? The attendance at these schools (plus St Jo’s RC Middle School on the other side of Allendale Road) is greater than 2100 students. Of this number ~1,000 students walk, ~ 800 come by school coach and ~300 parents drive their children to school.
In spite of an NCC assessment that stated driver behaviour would not change with the proposed highways signage and double and single-yellow lines on Whetstone Bridge Road, nor would school-in and -out times become safer, NCC Highways has completed a scheme which is patently ineffective, and teachers are still required on the road to ensure student safety at school in and out times.
Why will NCC Highways and School Transport NOT consider a School Street, and why has there yet been no Road Safety Audit? Why all these delays? Active Travel Tynedale has heard no end of excuses.”
The following response from the Infrastructure Manager was read out:
“The implemented parking restrictions on Whetstone Bridge Road and Tynedale Terrace are an integral element of the discharge of conditions associated with the approved planning application 19/03998/CCD | Redevelopment of Queen Elizabeth High School and required as conditions for the development of the schools. The parking restrictions proposed address a range of road safety matters associated with the ingress and egress from all entrances to the school and future operation of the school. The Council prepared and advertised the Traffic Regulation Order (TRO) associated with the approved planning application and conditions discharge and reviewed individual objections to the parking restrictions within the TRO, in particular the double yellow lines around the entrance to Tynedale Terrace and extending along Whetstone Bridge Road towards Allendale Road and the inclusion of single yellow lines on the North end of Whetstone Bridge Road between the school entrance and Alexandra Crescent. The Council’s Highways Improvement Team consider that the original road safety concerns considered as part of the initial design process associated with the development of the new high school remain valid and the proposed parking restrictions appropriate.
The Highways Improvement Team do acknowledge the concerns raised by residents on the impact to parking and the wider community on their support for “School Streets” and have committed to review the parking restrictions 12 months after their implementation when the impact of the new development and the changes to the highway layout can be fully assessed.
A number of varying proposals have been raised and considered during the development process including “School Streets”, however, it was considered inappropriate to amend any proposals that form an integral part of the approved planning permission when they are appropriate for the road safety concerns identified and there is no evidence that they would not address these concerns over time.
Road safety audits (RSA’s) were carried out during the development of proposals for the new school with a Stage 1 audit completed in Sep 2020, a stage 2 audit completed in Jan 2021. The site visit element of the Stage 3 RSA was completed in September 2022 and the report of the audit is currently being prepared and any issues identified as requiring immediate action will be raised for consideration with the scheme designers. The stage 3 RSA could not be undertaken until the changes to the highway and school bus parking had been completed and the schools returned from the summer holiday. In addition to the RSA process the Highways Improvement Team have been in contact with the school to understand their current views on how the highway is operating in relation to school journeys.
The Highways Improvement Team are fully aware of the “School Streets” approach and have already implemented a number of schemes across the County including Hareside Primary School, Cramlington, Josephine Butler Academy, Ashington and New Delaval Primary School, Blyth with Seaton Sluice Middle School and Seghill First School being considered this year. These are being delivered within a wider “Safer Routes to School” programme.
As part of the review of the parking restrictions noted above, the team will also consider the outcome of the RSA reports and the views of the schools in relation to any further change and will consider the benefits of any “School Streets” approach at that time if appropriate.
Ms Breach asked if there could please be more urgent action as a follow-up question.
The Chair reported that questions raised at a meeting of Hexham Town Council held the previous evening would be forwarded to the officers to obtain a response.