Councillor Dick Tonge, Cabinet member for Highways and Transport, will provide an insight into his area of responsibility, followed by an opportunity to ask questions.
o Performance and strategy for transport including the Local Transport Plan and related strategies and policies
o Highways maintenance and improvements
o Traffic management including car parking, road safety and passenger transport
o Litter and cleansing activities and environmental enforcement including abandoned vehicles, fly tipping etc
o Rights of way
o Public conveniences
o Grounds and open space management including allotments
o Cemeteries and markets
Minutes:
Councillor Dick Tonge highlighted some of the areas of work which were included in his portfolio as Cabinet Member for Highways and Transport.
· Wiltshire Council had secured a budget to make improvements to train services for the area.
· Following the recent floods across the county, teams had been working hard to limit disruption and to ensure that people remained safe on the roads as this was always the overriding consideration for Highways.
· Various training initiatives were taking place, including the ‘Bike Ability’ courses which were run through schools. The aim is to teach children how to use their bikes safely on the roads.
· ‘Safe Drive Stay Alive’ was an initiative targeted at 16 – 19 year olds to use a dramatic training programme to shock them into driving safely.
· Roads are monitored for their skid resistance as this is a major consideration for resurfacing roads.
· Each year, every Board was allocated CATG funding for small highways projects, there was also a central fund for larger projects, which could be bid for by the Board. Projects considered for this funding would need to meet criteria.
· The Council had put the Highways contract out to tender as a package which would see the contractor providing other duties such as grass cutting. The aim of this was to see a 10% reduction in cost.
Questions and comments were then take, these included:
· Would a CATG budget be allocated to all Boards for 2013/14? Answer: Yes, the arrangements were expected to remain the same for 2013/14.
· Parish Councils had recently been sent a link to the proposed new HGV satellite navigation (satnav) system which would be used by all HGV’s across the country. They were asked to look at the routes which passed through their areas and to feedback any comments to the programme. Some parishes had found route errors which in their opinion would direct the HGV’s through inappropriate roads. Answer: Parishes were urged to look at the system to make sure the route was correct for their parishes and report any possible improvements.
· There was a report of a set of traffic lights in Firsdown which were sited partly on MOD land and partly on Highways land. When a problem arose with these traffic lights, the parish did not know who to approach due to the unusual situation of joint ownership. Answer: This type of situation should be directed to Graeme Hay, Head of Service, Traffic & Network.
· There had been a recent letter published in the Salisbury Journal, which referred to the sale of Salisbury Bus Station, and included a suggestion for incorporating the use of the Park and Ride sites. Had the Council responded to the letter? Answer: The Council had sent a reply in response to the letter. It was a good idea but in reality not practical, as people would not use the Park & Ride to travel across the city, in order to catch connecting buses.
· The school road in Nomansland was in need of resurfacing as was badly surfaced, was funding available to carry this work out next year? Answer: Cllr Tonge suggested that the local Councillor put forward the request so the work could be included on the list for next year.