E e e okay um ladies and gentlemen welcome to the meeting of the place services and economic growth policy and scrutiny committee uh though for those listening are watching on uh YouTube or catch up later on uh in the meeting room this morning we have members of the committee
Together with any substitutes that are attending together with officers from messes County Council we are in committee room to which is an unusual place for us I think this is the first time we’ve ever been in here for those of you on the the pension committee this is our regular
Meeting room but we are here because the chamber is being being used for the national literacy Trust annual meeting so it’s quite a feather in the cap of as’s County Council so on this occasion they get trumps and we get um we get committee room too which is a lovely
Room we have a very sophisticated system in here it’s called the owl system and it’s over here and I think Freddy’s in charge Freddy’s in charge of the owl system and it very very delicate it will pick up any that you say so can I just
Warn you in advance if you want to make a comment to someone on your left or your right or opposite and make any comments that you think uh are interesting to you they will also be heard by everybody else so please just uh bear that in mind
Please speak clearly if you can try not to whisper and wherever possible if you could keep other sounds to a minimum not many people have got paper agendas Etc apart from the dinosaur at the chair so if we can ask you just to as your turning Pages
Etc and we are streaming live on YouTube and the recording of this meeting is available afterwards in the next issue we’re not expecting fire drill this morning so if the alarm does go off please follow the officers out of the building and gather in the cathedral grounds can I just have a plea
For anybody that has a phone or a to turn it to either vibrate or even off if that’s allowed I’m sure it’s a it would be a great temptation but if you can avoid the temptation of trying to do two things at once that would be great for this meeting
Here before we go into to the official meeting uh it’s a slightly sad no it’s a very sad occasion this is the first meeting since Luke McKenzie the counselor for basilan passed away and as such I think I’d just like those in the room just to take a moment
To reflect and just have a moment of silence uh thinking about Luke and his family and his colleagues but also thinking about your own life and thinking about your own circumstances and just reflect for a moment uh upon Luke and his family and how they’re
Coping so if I could just ask I don’t you don’t need to stand just sit for a moment just reflect thank you very much thank you very much um we’re asked to note apologies and substitutions uh direct Declaration of interests to be made by members in accordance with the members code of
Conduct so I hand over to Justin at the moment for apologies thank you chairman so apologies received from Council of black Ro and Council of Wes and no substitution no substitution thank you um I now ask all members if there are any Declarations of interests that they wish to declare at this stage
And remind you that even if you don’t declare it at this stage you can declare them as and when anything might occur during the meeting so we move on to item two which is minutes from the last meeting we now need that the to approve the minutes of the meeting on 22nd of
February as a correct uh record of the meeting are members happy for me to approve those minutes agree thank you um we’re also asked to note the matters arising documents on page eight of the agenda uh do you want to deal with those now or you do that as they right there’s
Any questions okay right any questions on matters arising Council again I’ve got the question I raise every single meeting is on the lp information budget Jus he’s been asking every single month I ridiculous we can’t now at the stage where I’m next month I’ll be asking the same question
For 2023 24 as well as 2223 um I don’t know how you know given where SC me committee we meant to get answers to these things and it’s a very simple question why why it seems to be impossible to get that answer okay you make um you make as
Always C got a good point um it’s fair to comment that um myself and assistants from Justin we have a approached the matter directly to uh the individuals concerned and and we were asked by uh the deputy leader to list them and to send them off
And we did we did send off a list of I think seven points that we felt were um hadn’t been dealt with as efficiently as we’d have liked them to do uh and to be blunt we had a very quick response uh it was a very quick response so we we we
Made note about things like the carryover scheme uh the bottleneck in the the validation stage some frustration with the lhp process um talking about um membership of the lhp talking about the time that the it took to get some item sorted through the lhp something to do with the
SX bus shelter um there was a specific answer about the SX bus shelter which I’ve since looked at uh and we’ll bring up other things lat but the key point was that the the message that we got back was that most of the items that we had as
Outstanding were addressed as reset will address this so all of us all of us as members will be aware that there is a meeting next 27th 27th where there will be a presentation the presentation it says will address some of the item it it on
Here it of the SE seven items six of them will be addressed in that reset so what we’ve done is uh we’re going to wait for that but we will initially be sending a note today to the portfolio holder for highways to invite him to join us in April which will we
Ask after the reset the details and hopefully we can put to bed some of these items here so does that answer your question sorry the risk of being sorry so it’s purely because I can’t see how the reset is going to cover the fund from Plenty Financial year which is just
About I mean I did I after we had the pre meeting yesterday I sent an email to just and C you in with a specific question so I guess the best we can do now is Justin could forward that to council coming to give us I mean it’s the thing
That they they just need to give us the information in writing it talk about in a meeting sure okay well I think I think I’m grateful for the the responses on L generally I think I think the fact that they specifically mentioned reset will address this I’m quite comfortable uh so
Bearing in mind it strategy did you want to L just quick canel sure thank you very much okay I call you Loren of course and Tracy and Vicky I was lorine before I was a counselor so that’s fine thank you much yeah um regarding some of your questions there a there’s going to
Be a chairs briefing uh for the LPS um a briefing to the leaders of the opposition and an all members briefing which will be on the 207th um we’re doing lots of work behind the scenes to get all this pulled together um and an engagement I’m reading this because I’ve just
Was typed and have recently released 500,000 draw down for slippage schemes from last year I haven’t got all those details yet but that’s what I was given as the car as I was driving in today okay so um but yeah Tom will have further information or Council funing
Them sorry so but that’s what I’ve been given so far today so please oh can we not because lhp isn’t on no I yeah yeah we um any other this com isn’t a at yourself no no no no not at all councilor G is quite rightly noted that this is a follow over
From the meeting which is a follow over for a previous meeting which is a follow but beforehand but that’s just some answer that I can give you okay not can’t put any meat on the bones but it is something but I can’t do anymore about lhp no no it isn’t it isn’t this
This part of this this uh Council of gu report is actually the fact you’re sitting so close to each other but there is a gap of someone sitting here me okay so I’m going to move on from that that’s right sorry T um the answer regarding the bus
Shelter are you able to share that with committee oh oh yes sorry I thought this right so this is the answer uh that I have in writing afterwards I can do that but um but the the the respons so these were the questions an update was given
On delayed essic bus shelter strategy it was confirmed that the concerns over the delay and replacing bus Shields would be reported to the new Cabinet member so the response was we actually have agreed a contract on this and PR will go out of this soon once we have mobilized
Everything uh so we’ve actually been given or will be given more details about the bus shelter contract which is what sorry I think that’s been published hasn’t it the yes new yeah yeah good okay okay um so I’m going to move on then to questions from the public uh we
Do have with us today councelor Matt Court uh who is a town councelor in brighty and he has a couple of questions under item five what I propose doing is not taking his questions at this moment in time because the questions that uh he’s already provided uh May well be answered in the
Presentation um so I’m going to ask him to present his questions when we get to item five and his questions will come after your presentation so you may well already have addressed some of those items um so if we then move on to and first of all Council court it’s
Delightful to have the members of the public it’s even nicer to have town councils from parishes and I would welcome every counselor to to bring along I’m going to use the word buddy but I think that’s quite the wrong word for counselor Court colleague colleague yes thank you the English teacher at the
End um thanks so so we move on to the work programs which is item four U we are we’re asked to note the current work program in the appendix uh if members did not see it as part of the original agenda there was a slight mistake the electronic version
Didn’t include the works program Justin has uh done that now um as ever this is a member-led scrutiny committee and this is the place to bring questions that have been posed by either your colleagues or your residents or your parishes or your town halls so um I’ll
Just hand over to Justin for for this item thank you chairman um so I think the only thing to add really is that we’ve added in an item on the local nature recovery um which the officers and cabin member request it comes to this committee ahead of public
Consultation um so we added that in provisionally for May um there’s a number of items members will see that are to be confirmed in terms of dates and I think the chairman mentioned earlier that he’s going to be talking to the cabinet member uh in the next day to
To try to finalize some of those those items and get some some dates in place as well as invite the the cabinet member to the April meeting um so I think they’re the only only two things but yeah to reiterate the point if there are um items that members want the committee
To address and get that myself or the chair thank you okay so just confirm for the April meeting we’re we’re intending to that to be a high raise lhb it very much depends upon the availability it’s not late notice it’s just it’s it’s a month’s notice but I’m
Just hopeful that uh the people who want to speak to are available uh anything else in which case we we arrive eight on five welcome to Loren Tracy Vicki Emma Emma I’m sitting there I’m listen don’t leave me in this it’s fine I am just here in case of any technical
Issues with the in the room so you are you are Fred’s Deputy I absolutely am I didn’t realize you had a deputy did you realize you had a deputy so we welcome to the meeting Len Shaw who is Deputy Cabinet member for highways infrastructure and sustainable transport uh along with Loren this
Morning is Tracy bickers who is head of sustainable transport welcome uh to see you again Vicki Lewis who is Senior Transport planner uh welcome included in your agenda packs is today’s presentation on the cycling strategy and we’ve already been given a list of points by the uh presentation offices
Which in themselves are a good guide to some of the questions that we might want to ask at a later stage I’ll just remind you that in the covering report the questions asked were and this was to US Direct what do you think about the overarching targets for the strategy we
Were asked what do you see as a measure of success for each of the strategy outcomes we were ask what the success look like for your residents and how will you use this strategy so that those those are straight from the horse’s mouth and I thought that was an
Excellent guide so Loren welcome thank you um this is the first time we’ve seen you here in this capacity no this my second okay second time with trans I’m delighted to say how well you are looking thank you uh and I’m very pleased to see you here looking so
Quickly well thank you very much thank you can I just introduce Tracy most of you will know Tracy bers yeah and she’s going to do this presentation on what is this exciting strategy Vicky is there to give TR enough if she needs to add more vot to it so I’ll hand over
To uh Tracy thank you now thank you Tracy thank you very much um are you presenting brilliant um start with the first live so thank you for inviting me back I went introduce myself the fourth or fifth time I’ve been here um but today I’m here talk about cycling which
Is very exciting um I don’t think we’ve been here talking about cycling before so this is one of the areas we consider within sustainable transport but it’s important to stress that before I get started it is just one of the areas and we do a lot of individual modal
Strategies and that doesn’t mean that any one strategy is more important than the other the key thing always to remember is this is about Choice it’s about giving people Alternatives um so that they have that option um should they choose to take it so next slide
Please thank you so what is the ess6 cycling strategy well we’ve got one already actually from 2016 there’s nothing wrong with it it’s just a bit dated and isn’t quite as aspirational as we would like it also doesn’t reflect the um the new Focus National and locally on environment on
People and on climate change so the cycling strategy we hope um will become the new strategic vision for cycling in ess6 it will have six outcomes which are aligned to everyone’s assets and the upcoming local transport plan and I’ll go through each of these shortly um um I’ll go through these
Shortly and also targets to success um it will be one of the key Suites of documents um that sit underneath the ltp and that’s quite important to understand how they all fit together so hopefully I’m involved in writing most of them and so there is a a golden web of choice of
Sustainability that weave through all of those um active travel England are our key funer and another reason why this is so important and it’s important to have a current one is the boldness and currency of our strategy dictates our funding so I’m delighted to announce allow to do that
This is under oh actually this like public isn’t it oh okay well we have some good news I can’t at the moment okay sorry next slide please just as we go through the slides I’m assuming that you wish to have questions from us at the end of your presentation if I can
Ask you to make notes uh questions and and ask them at the end of the presentation sorry chairman I should have said that I should have asked it sorry so uh the chair has already gone through these um questions and these are our ask of you if you have a think of
About these as I’m going through it is basically what does a successful strategy look like for you and most importantly for your residents so next slide please so why now I’ve covered this um in a little bit of detail already but just to give you a little bit more
Context we have the creation of active travel England which I just referenced they are a statutory agency able to comment on planning applications um and interestingly they’ve recently commented on some bottles in pester and on bu um in chanceford they assess us as to our capabilities on active travel delivery
Um against three dimensions one of these is political support another is the sophistication of our LC whips that’s Lal cycling or infrastructure plans and another is on um track record of delivery within the policy point in the sorry within the political point we have to evidence that active and sustainable
Transport is considered in all relevant strategies so as part of our most recent assessment I had to submit a draft of this um for consideration of our assessment rating I almost certainly have talked in the past about the new guidance on cycle infrastructure design we’ve also had of
Course new highway code which puts increased emphasis on all Road users so we need a cycling strategy that reflects that um as I’ve said it dovetails with everyone’s assets and our ltp and also with our climate with the the climate commission’s Net Zero recommendations which put walking and cycling in the top
Three next slide please and that’s just a bit of demonstration of where it where to C strategy sits worth noting that all of the policies here are either being refreshed or completely Rewritten to reflect the new sustainable um and environmental policy landscape I’ve just outlined for today I will only be
Answering questions on the cycling strategy next slide please that’s the the time frame um March obviously now we’re bringing this to you ahead of going out to um public engagement because of the pre-election period this will now go out after um after the elections um hopefully May um that will
Be from the the standard time so this would hopefully come back for cabinet adoption or c adoption sort of early summer maybe or late summer early aumn next slide please oh I think this is a build so I know I didn’t think about this I’m not actually going to talk about um any
Of the individual points this is just demonstration that cycling is um is awesome actually because it doesn’t matter what your portfolio is your portfolio environmental is your portfolio transport is your portfolio um health is your portfolio the economy cycling supports all of these um particularly strongly the health and well-being and
Lots of research shows that those who regularly cycle you know whether you’re a cyclist or somebody who cycles and significantly lower risks of stress and improved men mental health next slide please that’s yeah so ultimately the vision we are proposing in this new strategy is to see people see more
People of all abilities ages and backgrounds cycling in essic more safely and more frequently and that’s key this is not about getting um the cycling enthusiasts to already very confident cycling wherever they are this is about offering Cy making cycling um fun accessible friendly and safe for everybody where
Young old um and any background and any ability next please so these are the the six outcomes um you’ve had these in your p and I’m going to talk them through in in more detail they do actually I think the next slide shows that I don’t know
Oh it fits with the ltp and it fits with everyone’s S I think that’s the the best summary and we’ve tried really hard to make sure that this is the case so um the ltp themes are along the left hand side and those we have established already link directly back to everyone’s
E6 and then the co1 CO2 are not cult to post codes those are the references to the outposts um that we’re proposing and then those colored dots just indicate um the depth of relationship so as I’ve just alluded to cycling strategy supports all areas of the ltp but most
Strongly physical health and well-being which we know is a really key pillar to everyone’s ess6 next slide please so outcome one people and businesses consider cycling as normal that’s quite a challenge isn’t it because lots of people don’t they think cycling is for the for the few the
People who are serious cyclists the people who compete we want to make cycling for everybody so it needs to be safe um we want to encourage businesses to encourage so people can cycle to work but then also have the facilities to to change once they get there we want
People to think about cycling as a choice for um going to school going to the shops and that sort of thing next slide please so this is a a long if list of the things we intend to do to deliver these outcomes and I’m just to pick on a couple um so improved
Safety that is absolutely the number one priority um and one of the ways we’re doing that is we’re going to be we we’re currently revising our speed management strategy because if we’re going to put people on the roads on bikes alongside um cars we need them to be safe and our
Current speed management strategy mentions safety once so we’re revising that we’ll also be um embracing the healthy school streets and the healthy school streets framework to make sure that the areas were promoting cycling in are safe on improving skills the second point there in Orange esss C Council um offers
Bikability or for those who may remember it cycling proficiency it’s now called bikeability yeah hands up cycling sufficiency hands up who’s got still got the certificate well done um so it’s one thing to be promoting cyly and it’s another to be building new routs or upgrading existing but we have to make
That our residents are um comfortable and well informed and competent to ride them in them so we offer bikability courses next year we’ll be offering 15,000 PL places we also offer adult and I’ve been asked to say that if anybody wants onetoone adult bikeability training maybe a
Refresher if you haven’t been on your bike for a bit um maybe level two if you’re already quite comfortable we would happly arrange that so let me know um afterwards it is important that we we all role model next slide please so we also have to ensure that
The network is fit for purpose and this is where I’ll I’ll pick up the the questions that have been sent through in advance so I’ve um we need I’m going to say safe a lot because it is the priority um but also needs to um we also need to work with developers
To make sure that new developments introduce high quality cycling infrastructure from the start and I know councel Gad is particularly passion about that um it is a bit of a challenge because of the way section 106 Works um but we are always working on developing solutions to bring
Developers with us um go to the next slide please so the way we’re going to do that um again I’m just going to pull out two points rather than go through them all so we have to maintain our existing cycle networks um um but there is and I’ll be honest a
National funding shortfall and this is a national funding short this is not specific to Essex um but what we’re currently doing is building up a cycle asset register because the truth is Although our roads are inspected um well at the moment um not all of our cycle roots are and so we’ve been
Developing a register so we understand what we’ve gotten where and then the next step will be to um prior to inspect and prioritize our maintenance of said grots um I have a small budget for maintenance but I think this is an area actually um politicians members can
Really help I said earlier that active travel England were were my main funer M are and we welcome their funding but it’s never for maintenance it’s always for shiny new and we really really need to solve this disconnect that we can’t just be building shiny new we’ve got
Some really good roots and we’ve got some really good roads that are perfect for cycling if we can just bring them up to standard but active travel England and other funders this is not specific focus on focus on new so as part of my budget this year we will be focusing on
Upgrading some of the existing rots and we will do that according to a hierarchy of me that will be informed by the place and movement framework which I talked to you about last time was here next slide please cycling has a positive role in connecting communities tackling poverty recruiting inequalities and improving
Health this might sound like quite a bold ambition for the humble bike but the truth is we’re already doing it we’re already breaking down existing barriers and we’re already improving access and a really good example of that is Essex Pedal Power I think you probably all heard about that we’re now
Operating Essex Pedal Power this is the bike loan scheme focusing in on areas of decoration we’ve given out 1,546 bikes across P jwi pester bason and harage collectively those people have now ridden 5.8 times round the Earth which is 233 um th000 kilometers but why S6 Pedal
Power is so important is we are giving people who don’t currently have easy access to a mode of Transport we are giving them that and they are able to use that to get to interviews to get to job it’s expanding the the potential that they can um reach for next slide
Please furthermore on reaching under represented groups which is one of the the activities we’re going to do we have um a small cycle Grant which we give two Community groups typically under represented groups be that um women be that children and I say underrepresented I mean in cycling um so we’ve recently
Given um a small amount of funding to something called kidical Mass which is encouraging safe cycling um group rides um for children so we gave them um little bik Flags so that they were more noticeable we gave them special helmets etc etc so we’re already doing a lot of
This and this strategy just sets that in um in the context of The Wider aspirations next slide please cycling contributes and continues to build inclusive economic success stats show actually that people who walk and cycle spend 40% more on the High Street than those who don’t because
They tend to linger longer um um we also have a beautiful beautiful County to cycle around most of it’s flat or Ina flat um and we’ve got the new Coastal Park so the potential for cycle tourism and the the funding or financial boost that RS is really considerable we’re
Having conversations with visit essic moment about to developing some Colechester specific GRS and um the Green Way um route um that was suggested in the was talked about in the in the question um is a fabulous um example of this next slide please I’ve kind of done that um but my
Favorite example of this one is something called CAP Escape which is mostly in brain tree but this is essentially a loyalty card whereby if you visit a cafe by bike you get a little stamp on your card it’s probably digital now you get a stamp on your app
And if you collect enough stamps you get free cake cake and sing does it get any better and we’d love to expand that there’s some lovely locations in ess6 and there’s some fabulous little cafes we can help support other pastry types are Ava next slide please oh you been to uh Improved environment is improved as a result of the increased uptake in cycling so we know cycling is good for the environment it’s zero or very nearly zero emissions and it can help reduce congestion and pollution bikes take up to far less space on the road and then
And as a result have far less negative impacts on the network it gives people um it gives People Choice um and lets them enjoy the countryside they’re in in a way that you don’t always get next slide please so one of the the ways we’re going to do that
Is modal shift so modal shift is when we try and get people who can sometimes out of casts and onto these alternate modes of Transport but we can’t can’t currently tell you what those modal Shares are so we don’t know if we’re having a positive impact or not um it’s not
Measured it’s not measured nationally and it’s not measured locally um so it’s a part of some of the recent active travel England funding we’re going to be um surveying the essx residents panel to find out a bit more about how they travel um and how they get around um and that
Will give us a really good evidence base on which to build a lot of our a lot of our policies a lot of our strategies but also importantly help us refine what’s working what’s not um and improve upon it my laptops just laptop just died so please be with us which is interestingly
Because I dreamt about this night I dream two things one that my computer exploded and that the printer didn’t work both of these have almost happened the printer didn’t work this morning so want the next one yes please next one I think you you’ve got to get out more got get out
More really excited about coming here today or you’re all terrifying we need to encourage your more welcomeing first time we’ve ever been called terrifying what do you think she gave too often must have been the first it is I mean you you you invite me
Here and it is um it is a privilege to come because you can’t scrutinize everything so the fact that ping is on the agenda is quite exciting also quite intimidating facing this many people but it’s on the four yeah should I carry on right number six outcome number six S6
S6 is awesome and we want people to come here um and cycle so it’s already got a good reputation um as a as a Leisure destination um but there’s a lot more we can do so nor has um or last year um opened a new 200 kilm um cycle route
Called way suff um opened their’s Wolf Way last year I know this year this year last month so what good ethics is be We’ve Got Fabulous Coastline could it be something to that could it be along the essics away which showcases so much of our wonderful try but how do we bring
More people in next slide please so this will be something we’re um looking to do so we’ll be working with Community groups we’ll be working um with with schools and residents to encourage this and start to get people thinking differently next slide please so it’s a strategy so we have to
Have some targets um but we’re actually proposing something quite unique this time for the first year we’re not going to have any and that’s because we don’t have an Evidence base we don’t have that b line oh now you’re all interested so what we want to propose is year
One we get that evidence base we build it we survey it we use the data um from those to create that evidence base and then the subsequent targets for example achieving half of Journeys doable by walking and cycling by 2030 um are introduced next slide please we’ve got we’ve got a lot
More Targets in here they’re not set in stone we do need to create that Baseline to ensure that the targets are are meaningful ambitious but also achievable um but we’ve got some good data sources to to help us do this we’ve got S6 Pedal Power which I referred to
They have GPS sensors we’ve got our vivacity sensors which um count all modes actually are proving really useful especially in um where we’re introducing new Roots we have to do before and after counts and as I said we’ll be collecting softer measures so I don’t want to go
Through the proposed Targets in in any detail they are wide reaching they focus again um on all the outcomes so we’re not just focusing on one particular thing it’s not just about increasing the number of cyclists although that is the aspiration it’s making sure that we’re delivering
The roots it’s making sure that um the we understand the KnockOn impact of health and well-being it’s the KnockOn effect on air quality so as I say we’re taking quite a wide a wide reaching um approach to it because as I said earlier cycling is Magic and impacts almost all the
Portfolios so the targets will reflect that we go into a lot more detail on The Targets in the actual strategy document we sent through um and if anyone has specific questions on those um we can answer them and I think the next slide yeah is the final one which is really
Back to you thank you uh thank you thank you thank you I’ve written down here cycling is Magic I think that’s a lovely phrase I think that’s it’s not something you should be dreaming about in the middle of the night be honest you can dream about cycling that’s fine
Scre um so as I said the uh the privilege of having the first question will be from councelor Matt Court um there just joins us at the top there um and just to let you know Council of court is I a enthusiastic site plur and ESS County Council recently supported him and the
Town Council with the provision of some new cycling racks okay so um uh technically there’s a three minute limit to how long you can ask your questions for so Council of Court over to you thank you very much and thank for letting me speak um and for mov it
Around so my questions are after um I’ve got two questions if that’s okay um about two slightly different subjects obviously to do with the strategy um the first one is don’t don’t mind if I read it um the strategy envisions a county where cycling is safe and accessible yet in many rurales the
Gutter problem which which we defines Minor Road defects in places that are not considered a priority by highways engineers as they pose no threat to motor vehicles but these faults can drastically impact cyclists and they pose a significant barrier to people getting on their bikes or staying on
Their bikes personally um the condition of these gutters in our area has me on the verge of giving up cycling and going back to a car this simply is too dangerous what actions does this strategy or can this strategy or the council take to rectify such issues in places like
And other towns and Villages outside of the places that cycling money tends to be spent and but where places where getting or keeping cyclists on their bikes could have real benefits perhaps even more benefits than in uran centes and ensure uniform safety standards for cyclists that processes no matter where they’re
From I’d also like to extend an invitation for council members and officers to join me on a riding briting seat to experience these challenges specifically firstand do you want me to do the second question the same okay the second question is uh is start with a thank you for the kind
Words that you said about the green project um so I’m chair of and co-founder of the sunshine poast Greenway project um which in collaboration with local active travel advocates in tendering and Colchester we’re looking to develop a circular Coastal and cross country route for Walkers runers wheelers and cyclists
That could significantly boost local tourism um active travel tourism and address numerous active travel challenges SP by locals as well kind of two birds one stone kind of thing is there potential for incorporating The Greenway project in in an area which is really under under served on many levels
By active travel infrastructure into the current strategy or proposed strategy to achieve kind of mutual Mutual goals and personally I see it after looking at the presentation in a bit more detail listening to you um tracon I see it kind of really does fit hand and glove with
Outcome six um and yeah that’s basically it so thank you um thank you for that we’ll take on board both of your questions and it’s it’s accepted that in in there there’s a there’s a question that primarily should be directed at maintenance and highways
But it is it is a fair comment that uh uh I don’t know how many people in the room do cycle I I cycle a bit uh but I do cheat I do cheat my wife has got the most luxurious electric bicycle by B was available on sale um um but the the
Point that Council of Court makes about that that gutter problem is a problem and it it’s intrinsically a problem for um for for people who in that G and that primarily is is cyclist so Tracy or lorine well so item one we will take that back to our maintenance and come
Back to you I’ll ask them to come back with answer for you okay question two yeah I’ll just add um a couple of points on on question when we put by May so um we are aware of this roads are are inspected with a view to car and cycle
And the maintenance schedule is dictated according to hierarchy however two additional things one is we are creating the cycle asset register as I say so we can start to get a better understanding specifically of what’s needed for Cycles um then the other thing and this really nicely links into the next question
About the greenway is I’ve talked about LC whips this is the local cycling and working structed plan the reason we bang on about it is because funding follows LC whips brutally if this route if if a route is not also an LC whip it’s going to struggle to get
Funding you may not know this because we’re still in the process of doing it but to pick up all the rural routs that aren’t being picked up in the the Citywide as you say um we’re creating a rural SE width and the green way and the and brightening sea fall into that which
Means they those roots will automatically because they’ve been through a lot of assessment and Analysis already be prioritized over anything that’s not an FC with that does come with a guarantee of funding because most of our funding is external it just makes it more likely and one of my commitments
Because I live in rural area as well is we have to correct this disconnect between urban and rural and we’re working with active travel Inland because currently their guidance which also shapes where funding goes heavily suit towards or Urban um so we’re actually involved with them in writing the
Rural standards and guidelines um I’ve said that probably almost every meeting we I’ve come to it’s a slow process but we are invol me are getting there thank you and I’d love to you give me a I have mic to go around it’s the most important that’s the worst perception we
Want pick the we oh not coming don’t okay just I’m just want to go around the table if you make yourself known to that you want to speak Just of so in no particular of importance uh uh Council Vance please oh thank you very much J and the team good to hear about the cycling strategy and I take the note that it is a strategy at the moment because it I I yesterday I knowed that
Trying to integrate it into lt4 I know it’s still in Dr form as well so I take point a strategy just a couple of points on some other things that you have presented and said i’ just like to explore if I’m able to you talked s of ke areas um you
Talked about uh cycling poverty and number of on your co2’s and c3s I think just explain to me how you think cyc and check poverty I’d just like to to get an understand with that the other one is that um you said it’s also an economic success and you gave the
Example of 40% of cyclists create uh are better for the economy um I’d like to understand where you’ve got evidences for that because I don’t want to be going away from here thinking saying that hey cycle our shops do these Cycles create spend more 40% more than
Thousands and thousands of cars I see hit in car par I just don’t s like where did you get that evidence that it’s 40% more spend onic success and the last one of course is in May you going to a consultation with the residents could you just um explain a little bit more
About that consultation the form it will take and how you intend to go about so thank you very much every success with fabulous so tackling uh packing poverty um is is largely around um opening up a low cost travel option for people to give them access to employment or education opportunities so
One of the reasons um people can’t so take um that’s not a very good example but um one of the re is one of the reasons people can’t get to a job can’t don’t apply for jobs because they can’t get there there’s lots of other reasons as
Well I’m not go saying cycling will solve unemployment or um will solve poverty um but statistically those in the lowest um income desile um are the highest users taxes alongside the highest income vessel and that’s because they have no other choice and for whatever reason whether they don’t have
Access to a car or the bus doesn’t get them there in time of their shift work cycling and safe cycle routes give them that choice and the pedal power project was an example of that working many of those recipients have gone on to either get volunteer volunteer opportunities or
Even paid opportunities as a result of having that mode Choice um on the power to the economy that comes from a report called The Pedestrian pound um by a child SCH living streets it’s a couple of years old um but they are updating it so we will have revised figures that doesn’t
Look just at pedestrian despite the the name and that looks at people coming into town centers how long they stay how they spend it’s also reflected in a couple of other there’s a tfl report that says similar similarly um we haven’t done anything like that in ess6 and it’s an
Interesting idea because typically people are traveling a further distance um but it’s something we could do on consultation um what we typically do is have a very simple short um resident focused document um which will be online with a series of questions we haven’t started thinking about exactly what we want to
Ask but it will be oh along the lines of what we’ve asked you really what do these what do you think of these targets are they are they achievable are they bold enough um or are we mad what’s missing what would you like to see um
And that will go out via the normal channels um what we found quite useful particularly with the um with some of our other transport strategies is having you know sort of local um not quite Tang HS but local forums or webinars for those who want to know a little bit more
To interrogate it or just ask questions so it would be um a combination of predominantly online but also some in person or V virtu meetings where it makes sense but we haven’t made plans and if people have requests um for things to include let us
Know um we’ll also be making use of um the cycle um campaign groups um they saw a very early version of this because they have some very strong ideas and are a brilliant source of information they know their local roots actually far better than we do and they are cycling
Day in day out so we um use use them as well as a as an advocate and as a way to promote the strategy what’s com but at my division we’ve got um Sunday cyclists some are really clean some are just um but we’ve got three establishments open up sell
Tea and coffee bacon butons think about that Cy and it’s heing you go through is they’re going off to wallison which is our natur good R roads so it does work if we can promote the cyclist and I’m sure we’ve all got div places in our division that could
Benefit from if they open up yes it is a su but it’s not quiet and there isn’t any cars so everywhere these three places there could be cars have a cup of tea cup of coffee B whatever there n it’s always just a Cy so it does work for the economy that’s
Just in my division if I may just respond I yes I do completely Concur and agree in naturual fact when I was looking at evidence based if you look at ride London that will prove that all of those things that you just said the number of people that come out to sport
Ride London take the opportunity to be able to increase their economy and even down Scouts setting up a little cake sto uh at the side of the road and people s and try to generate money for the Scout so yes I understand the economy I was a bit not not
Entirely behind you on the poverty thing because poverty to me suggests people cannot afford people are living people can’t do that but I I take their answer I take the um in terms of making a recommendation for consultation I think schools because those are the main
Things for me and really those are the main targets because if you’re going to talk about climate change next zero and all the things you’ve talked about I don’t you’re going to convince elderly people the way forward you’re going to need to I I’ve seen most of that activity support for that kind
Of activity coming from the younger generation so uh your consultation I think should be really targeted heavily those people are going to be taking up on taking up those things in the next 15 years and those are course school children young people but thank you councelor Gad followed by counselor
Cil uh I’ve got quite a few questions councelor sorry um first question the outcomes in the slides are different all six outcomes in the slides are different from the outcomes in the strategy the ones in the slides are better than the ones in particular outcome two so I want which is correct
And which isn’t so for example you look at which says that they’re not just in a different order are they no they’re all cover each one covers similar to the top so for example outcome two in the slides says the existing future cycle network is fit for purpose now obviously that
Hasn’t been me assisting network isn’t fit purp the slid say outcome two in the strategy just says the current and future cycle network is safe and in convenience you could have 10 ft of cycopath which is safe and that will satisfy outcome too in the strategy but clearly
The outcome in the slides is the one I want actually sensible typ of networkers I think that is probably just some over enthusiastic editing to make it less side text Heavy um you’re right but the one in the slides with the flip for purposes is the one we want um we will
Take that away and correct it so the slid so the slide should be correct and the sles is correct and in an attempt to perhaps simplify and shorten um the strategy document well I think we V I think we V simplified and accidentally lost some of
The new on so it’s a really good point so thank you so all six of the outcomes are different between the slides and the so is is the concept that that will be alter than come back to us or it will the correct ones are the ones um in the slide deck I
Presented good thank you um you asked us for feedback on the targets um but at the same time you said you haven’t really got any Targets because we don’t know what we evidence because we haven’t got the evidence base um so it’s kind of difficult to get I
Mean I was going to say Target not very mind understand what you say which is that you can’t really set it’s kind I was unclear what we so we don’t have the Baseline yeah so we know what we want to look at we want to look at increased
Cycle we want to look at air pollution um but we don’t know if 1% is a sensible increase or 5% is an increase in in um that always is too ambitious so the question is the things we’re looking at do they do those make sense for things
To Monitor and then when we have that space we’ll come back um if that makes sense we say well we’re going for 2% increase or 10% increase 50% increase so it’s the the content rather than the number okay I mean the content seems to make make sense in terms of increasing the
Number of Journeys and increasing people doing it I guess the one I would I see in particular issue with us is just the lack of infrastructure itself that as a as a Target we should be aiming for a sort of massive increase in sorry saying we should have that as a
Target or we shouldn’t thank you uh one of current issues is obviously you have cying strategy in SX highways of the highways policy which is very which is car first and so whenever I try and get cyle infrastructure in in section I OB see more from the section 106 or 278
Still sort of funding than National but just back we money we want section Tak money on on cars essentially so how how is that going to change and when is that we G LT ltp4 sorry L ltp4 is the statutory document that sets the focus of all our other transport strategies including speed
Including the root hierarchy and the functional hierarchy so the short answer is yes we will need to wait for LCP 4 to be adopted before we have the St Tre back in to make these changes but they are B not every are seeing it we are
Already doing that because we can we can make changes top down which is ltp ETC but we can also start to make the changes bottom up with our Highway practice notes which Vicki’s also working on so that’s about reviewing sort of the lower leverage policies about Crossings or about Junctions or
Their um EV Charo location and making sure that we’re always considering sustainable transport in those and they are no longer written exclusively for the car but consider all Road users so we’re doing both but it’s going to take time because if this is easy we’d have done it
Already um section 106 that’s a national issue and it is being it’s it’s something you need to take and campaign on nationally no I was more being with sectionals was more being yes it’s interpretation and application it which is to to ask for money for cars but not for clearly sweet
St um you know because we my bugar about LTM 120 we’ve talked about this before um can we can we widen the wording in the strategy is the wording and strategy still talks about what LTM 120 compli schemes and particularly for talking to C that earlier but it’s it’s just
Completely in applicable for all areas such as actually the B and as soon as you to Cambridge got zil networks well which AR m20s can we look at just changing that wording and say because Cy actually talks about LTM 120 if applicable or I’ve forgot what the word is now but
Just sort of more flexibility to end the moment you just want to take the opportunity to remind everybody in the room doesn’t know what the 120 is the discussion we had yesterday just quick briefly the broadly LPM 120 you put me right but requires essentially 3 meter wide cycle path and
If you haven’t got three meters and um if you haven’t got 3 meters essentially it’s not LTM 120 compline Broad and they’re accepted but broadly um whereas if you’re in a rural area where cyclists or going to interact very often you don’t need three meters you just one
Half two me deci that’s what happens in so that’s why L makes sense in C of culture C of whatever it doesn’t make sense if you get in a rural area or S you can’t get three meeting in you something nothing that’s that’s the issue everybody everybody happy with that clarification are you
There is that thank very much uh councilor Sid followed by councelor nle please thank you chairman can I a bit dis I’ve just had a bit of a nightmare agree with coun is the point about L 120 is really important um I’m nid eiker you probably
Know I don’t you do you don’t but I am we have a green way which is the link between OS and we put 50,000 into it from the lp we’ve got it up to shovel ready so we’re ready to go ready to complete it for every
Pound we put in we get 1.8 pound back because 50% of the roughly 50% of the route is already established and through me bringing together the land owners I managed to get them to agree um that it goes ahead and that they get permissive so it’s a fantastic opportunity it’s a rural
Opportunity one thing that the officers that have come and looked at the site said there is no way we recommend recycling from those on the main road it’s impossible for us to put our s way along the edge of the work it’s not wide enough um and this is I think a
Fantastic opportunity so you know I hope that every everywhere I go I’m going to I’m going to talk to this because I think the learning that we’re going to get from it is phenomenal um and it’s that that’s important because then we can R it out elsewhere we get sense of
How to do it one of the things I found with this is County Council was they had no idea never done it before didn’t really look at it and we’ve learned a huge amount in the last year or two and actually getting that to that stage the
Other thing I think that we don’t touch upon in in the the strategy is we don’t talk about foot Parts foot parts are often the most AR route from A to B particularly in the rural areas and those should it should be easy for those to turn those into cycle wavs in some
Shape or form and it’s a shared space you’ve got in in Holland at the moment we got pedestrians that that walk the foot paths and if you if you dare to go down on a bicycle you will get a t of use so we need to balance that we need
To balance that that use of these spaces and and create create a use of that the link that we’ve got from C to then runs into into supper we can actually cycle them from El P marks the most fantastic grou you’ve ever seen no traffic right
The way through the sub we do it regularly it’s not black with any B that doesn’t matter but that is a huge you know you talked about tourism for the coastal routs we’ve got a massive opportunity to link es to suffer through that route um and the moment we get away
From the the r you know the the highly densely populated car routs we’ve then got a fantastic opportunity to cycle in what is totally space um kids from ‘s con predominantly most of the kids from con go to the hwood school and C SCH they’ll be at cycl the completed room
Safely you know during the summer months at least it won’t be LT LT 1220 because that stat has to be flood L it states it has to have access to emergency vehicles that’s a complete nonsense in the roal area so again I totally support Council again
Um so yeah we shov ready let’s go don’t miss our sche can I clarify there a question um the question is is can we do more in terms of mentioning the rural routs and and in particular the the the rural aspect and the way we develop
Those links because it can’t be done on road that’s not practical we’ve beenin we looked at so how do we get the strategy to respond to dual use of footpaths you know is that something we can look at it’s certainly if you go to Holland I mean I’ve CED in Holland extensively it
Is not an issue you know you have less than a a met wi fo you have an 800 mm and you ping your bell and that’s a that’s a notice not to say get out of the way it’s to say I’m here just make you’re aware of that and that’s the way
We should be going I’m not a lik man I’m not looking to do 40 miles hour on time but I think these a routs AR captured enough in the struy May respond so absolutely definitely on the um the the the rural um converting public rights way to Shared use is actually extremely
Challenging doesn’t mean we shouldn’t consider it um and shared use has that own safety concerns um you will be delighted to know that we took active travel England from Cog to kelvon to show them that part of the route when they came to visit because we wanted them to
Recognize what an important route that could be but how impossible it was with our 21 120 and they understand that why the rural Gardens will be um so valuable so absolutely and I think but don’t quote me on this I think the EC the L’s con to kelvan routs
Is also coming up in our rural LC whip plan which will also make it much easier so that means it’s been identified as a as a key opportunity um and a potentially High use route um and just as an example because it is a route I I know well 18 different
Land owners for that route and that’s not unusual so any decision anyone that thinks creating a cycle route is just painting a couple of lines on the road grossly underestimates the complexity of it and this is a route that intuitively makes sense to lots of people I mean
This scheme’s done really well because it’s had really supportive Landover land owners and a really empowered community group to to push it not all of them do so thank you uh councelor Newport followed by councelor Sheldon thank you um basally I optimism because it does feel like pie in the sky
I but um so I think what what concerns me is um what the budget is to underpin this strategy because it sounds like you rely on pots of money that aren’t guaranteed so how are you ever going to set targets that are achievable that’s I think that’s quite a challenge to do um
The other thing I wanted to come back on was with the cycle RS when you’re looking at them and considering them do you look at how well lit they are so that people that are sting can avoid the potholes do you look at I know often we think about the
Maintenance and I know that’s not particularly your um area but it’s not just about the surface maintenance it’s about the overhanging branches and all of that and that like in whole bridge on whole Bridge Road we’ve got a cycle path I think it’s prob we haven’t got many in rock distri
At all and I think the kids can’t use it to go to school because it’s got overhanging branches broken glass etc etc so it’s just not used um from fromage so I think the other things that I’d like to know about is the work that’s going on with existing cycle rots
And I think you did mention about not just focusing on new um coming back on the consultation we’ve got a rather large cing group in certainly my division and I’d really like to see those cycle groups um collectively you know across the county consulted because they may have formed
Um it’s a mountain bike cycling but it’s because also you can’t cycle on the roads where we are there’s no suitable safe spaces the cycle so those groups are kind of form that specialty is being born out of you know or we can’t cycle on the road
So I think it’s really important to look at that as well when we’re doing the consultation and I’d really like to see that essics actually promotes those cycling groups um and plates that across the county so that people can say oh where’s my cing group where can I join where can I get
Extra skills or um you know like I think we’ve got happy Park as well where you know that needs to be maintained and suited I believe not I don’t know but I did hear some chat from The Man by group that you know it needed some work
That’s it for me thanks thank you um well it’s a long time since anyone’s subscribed me as optimistic so that’s a begin for today thank you um on the budget yeah absolutely we are relying on external um and like a lot of other central government funding it’s an um
Every opportunity I get when I talk to England I say two things one we need more than a single year settlement and two we need a national Behavior change campaign because otherwise we just doing this all at a local level anding less than we would collectively
The smoke no smoking and the seat belt campaigns were National and those work brilliantly why can’t we have one around sustainable CL um not just about gu thing um so I I think the the question on how do we set meaningful targets is is is hugely valid and I I can’t answer it
Because we don’t have committed budget for the next 10 years to deliver xlo there which is partly why we’re being perhaps a bit cautious and say let’s set let’s understand the evidence base so we know what we’re playing with first Um if anyone else has any input on that great um um cycling roots and how we sort of rate them judge them value them lots and lots of different criteria um some of it national pensity to cycle How likely is it to be used but yes we
Absolutely look at condition we look at is there any cycle parking we look at lighting um we look at vegetation we look at The Crossings does it go to Nowhere does it leave you in the middle of a you know what a muddy a muddy field or Jewel Carriage while or massive great
Roundabout so those are all considered and when we start to prioritize where we intervene and where we can fund upgrades or maintenance um those things will be taken into consideration if you mail me thebridge is it pbridge um I’ll raise that with the with the team um on the uh promoting cycle groups
Absolutely there’s a very old list on the website um part of it is we don’t know them all um and so one of the things we’re thinking of doing is an opposite to um report a pothole we want to know where there is cycle parking
Because some of it isn’t on our lands we wouldn’t necessarily know and part of when people cycle they want to know as they can wear they can be B rather than just fix it to a tree or a lamp column um we would like to engage local groups
To do this they know their Market um Market they know their their their District so there’s definitely things we can you can do on that I’m not sure if the mountain group is on our radar I’ll find out from the team um but the only other
Thing I would say is the cycle campaign groups are very different to um the cing for fun groups this sounds more like it’s a Cy thing for fun group um that those sorts of groups are the targets for the for the grant is to encourage more people to cycle what we
Don’t do typically is fund the campaign groups we work with them so they have um a great understanding of what s needs thank you so just coming back what was the budget to underpin the strategy then try you want to Value yeah I will
Have to come back to you on that I can tell you what um my active travel budget is for next year but we don’t know what break down the budget under I’ll thank you councelor Sheldon followed by councelor scoris thank you Mr chairman thank you your presentation um for an afternoon in the
Summer of 2012 the eyes of a cycl world were in fact on six and in Hadley in particular as AAL to by Council for the Fantastic mountain bike uh event Olympic event at Hadley rather sadly the British hopeful fell over think KN his leg on a particular drop
Named after a local school which has since been renamed um but it was a fantastic event and still hadly benefiting from that legac se however Council Port alluded to there have been concerns recently that perhaps that particular cycle trailer is not being maintained as well as it possibly
Could be and although I salute everything that’s going on Via the cycle strategy I think you probably should have oversight and have that looked into because it’s not the first time I’ve heard that either and that cycling really and that particular uh track really is a kind of
A jewel if you like in the crown of ESS County Council when it comes to it cycling netive cycling motion with that as well it kind of rests in heavily Country Park and I would advise would ask just really what other Reflections we’ve had uh as well as of course from Highway’s perspective
But also from a country Park perspective not just as definations but also as key Ro as the Esty cycle route I suppose You’ call it probably run all the way from uh far through car onto South End so keep Park actually is going through hadle Country Park I’m sure there are
The places where that um occurs so number one I supp the key question is what oversight in regards to outcome six what oversight do you have of cycle groups that AR don’t fall within your highways pervie but actually in other areas destinations to of recycling in essics how how are they
Integrated question two I suppose is what effort are we taking to consult with local residents not just for where we think cycling infrastructure is appropriate but also Where It Isn’t So on the a13 for example 20 or 25 years ago there was an insertion of a a a bus
Lane and cycle Lane down along the a13 that was entirely quite frankly inappropriate and actually dangerous it was I know exactly why it was done because it only way you get funding for other structured improvements according to government grants at the time but it was dangerous and actually it did a lot
Really to damage reputation to trainable transport and cycling actually in that area and I think one thing we’re going to need is is public buying when it comes down to these cycle routs and so what as consultation are you going to do to make sure that not just the new kind
Of capital projects are are welcome but also that they’re going to be understood by by motorists and don’t create that that that kind of bad feeling that perhaps has been experienced when cycle routes and CED trans have been inserted before finally forgive me I’ve got quite a technical question that perhaps be
Able to but I’d love to know that take away take to so when I speak to friends of mine who cyle I asked say look if your high for cyclist why is it that you only really seem to do it in the summer you don’t bother in the winter is it the
Weather and they say no it’s not the weather it’s just the cycle routs we use the drainage is so poor that actually it’s it’s quite dangerous for us to actually use it now the technical question Mr chairman is that on a standard highways drain setting I think
They have to be they have to position a highway Trin I think where standing water in one and 100 Year event one 15 year event I think doesn’t go beyond 1.2 M from the actual curve line because for fear of aquip planting them safely for cyclists that’s actually
Going to need to be a bit different because of course they’ve got you know different tire wids and different safety standards and the rest of it and is that taken into account when constructing you the cycle ways or ways we expect to but quite frankly the drainage standards
There that do put off Sur cycl need to be altered and need have improved D along sideways to make sure they are useful and attractive to thank you chairman than okay um so hardly um this is actually quite honestly the first time i’ I’ve heard any comments about it not being
Um L maintained and I was there last month on a rain Tuesday morning not in a school holiday and I a few people using it I will take that back to the relevant team what I don’t understand is um what I don’t know is how the maintenance of
That works within the country Parts um so I’ll clarify that and get back to you you’ve raised it now so thank you um what oversight do we have of sort of roots that aren’t on our land not much honestly um districts can build them developers can build them businesses can
Build them and we wouldn’t necessarily know um this strategy doesn’t actively exclude them but we only have powers to influence well not we powers to shape what’s on ours we can influence uh nonh Highway routs where where we can um engagement on where Roots shouldn’t be it’s a really interesting question actually
Um and not one we’ve ever explicitly asked we tend to say this is a proposed route what do you think but we’ve just um got a new um engagement tool that has a mapping functionality sounds really simple but how on Earth do you expect to get meaningful input on a walking or
Cycling route if somebody can’t drop a pin on a map and say this is a stupid point to start the route it should be over here so that should launch end of March um and we will use that for all our LC whip consultations so um it’s not
Directly linked to strategy because in the strategy we’re not proposing any specific Roots it’s higher level than that but when we’re talking about root specific stuff we’ve going to start an engage on all of that this tool is also designed to do exactly what you said Win
Hearts and lines because what we found is going out to consultation isn’t seen as consultation it’s seen as you have a a proposal that’s seven out of eight seven seven8 ready it doesn’t matter what we say what we’re trying to do is engage them engage residents really early and say that this
Is our idea what do you think engage them then they get involved in shaping it so the time it comes to the the public consultation they’ll go oh yeah that’s that thing I worked on with Tracy a couple of months ago and it won’t be this big scale shop they’ll feel like
It’s um well it will be it will be a route they they co-developed with us um Andre you absolutely right I will have to go away and come back on that I think that’s probably um part maintenance but it will partly be you know national standards around drainage
And then the one question I didn’t quite understand what you were asking um was about drivers and how how do drivers know how to treat bikes well that would be the highways code um and sorry well perhaps I misunderstood one of your questions was about um um how drivers well understood
What question have I have I not answered Then oh yeah it was it was the point I trying to make was about making sure that when you do select schemes and schemes are built that they you have got that level of public B so to make sure hostility but I’m intrigued go ahead and ask the question
Anyway the question was the highway to it’s interesting isn’t it it’s we we have think proficiency or bability to um encourage cyclists but the new highways code does that to a certain extent for drivers and reemphasizes the fact that um the the road the hierarch the carriageway the footway has lots of uses
And the the new Highway C makes that much clear and gives preeminent position to the most vulnerable how I enforce the highways is a different different mrman can I post Comm officer for her very thorough responses there was fantastic even to questions I didn’t thank you very much very
Informative answer thank you okay uh councelor scoris followed by councelor Maca thank you chair I mean I think we going to struggle to keep motorist happy if you put any cycle Lane I think there some people that are just never going to be happy and blame it on their slow
Journey um few questions so it’d be interested to know what the government consider a short Journey so in their in their targets at the start about how they want um fewer short Journeys in cars um just on the you mentioned about the maintenance of cycle lanes and a
Poor standard um I couldn’t gather whether that was just that they’re full of potholes or crumbling or was it some of them were just a painted line in the road and whether you wanted to make them slightly safer by putting in some bards um or some ones that we did in some
Schemes um on the modal shift what I didn’t see is how um what we’re doing as a council to encourage more people to cycle because what I’m worried is we’ve got a mentality that if you build cycle Lane people will come but it doesn’t always work that way you have to
Encourage them to go right this is why it’s positive this is why we’re doing it so forth because in culture I represent it’s a lot of waste money spend it on potholes I don’t really understand the whole thing that the council is trying to do there um so it be interesting to
See what we’re actually doing to get that behav change um I am slightly concerned about us having no evidence based because we have had cyle strategies in the past and what I’m worried is you’ve written up is great cyle Strat there’s not going to be money for it and
It’s going to end up Gathering dust in covered somewhere or well on cloud so do have concerns about that because we know money’s an issue and I think one of the meetings you did come where you explain the cost of I think it was about 10
Meters or 100 meters of the cycle Lane and it was it was enormous amount and when you see how long it takes and to build some and it is a big engineering job so so that is a concern is we’re getting this next for but actually is it
Going to see the light of day and I guess my comment um from listening to the debate think it’s been a good debate is that there’s clearly a difference between urban and rural areas and it seems to me like we might need different strategy for that obviously every is
Very different um but it does feel like they have signant the urban areas I’m seeing that suburbs are not joining up with where you want to get people to work and train stations rural areas hold different care of the fish which I’ve never tried but I imagine most people in the winter
Because it gets dark by 4:00 okay so we think but we’ll have to check this that the government definition of short journey is two miles for walking five miles for cyly I personally think there should be an additional there for ebikes that does make it a whole lot easier to to
Cyle yeah you were doing five miles up nor you would want any um on the shift what is the council doing and everything we possibly can but that’s where we need your help and all the other members help and that’s why the questions were um how will you use
This um how will you use this strategy um and how can we make it a success so I would love that every time there’s a related question that we are saying have you considered walking have you considered cycling um don’t just um we have to we have to reflect
Obviously what our constituents um and our residents want but sometime and sometimes it’s also about educating on the Alternatives because a lot of what we do is habit you grab the car keys because you grab the car keys or because it’s raining the biggest part of my job
Is promoting and reminding people that sometimes there is a choice that sometimes they can do this is why I really want a national Behavior change campaign because I’m doing this M’s doing this suffix doing this we’re all having the same debate the same challenge of how to we engage how the
Engaged residents and explain what we’re trying to do and why um at the moment when we talk about cycle Roots like the segregated cycle Roots those aren’t really for the confidence cyclist confident cyclist is confident to cycle on the road with the traffic and has the experience to do so
Those protected cycle are for people who aren’t as confident um and so that’s what we need to encourage and I don’t see that 200 people a day in a segregated cycle rout in Colchester means that that route is has failed I’m there going wow that’s 200 people that aren’t sitting in
Traffic impacting on our Network impact on our maintenance budget um on the is it’s just going to sit on a shell um no because I’m extremely tenacious and annoying um in addition F enough that’s that’s a description that could cover about % of people in this room in
Addition it is needed for funding so the strategy is s helps us get that funding um but I take I take your challenge um and I think it’s a challenge well I know it’s a challenge I can’t solve on my own so when we’re next going through the budget
Prioritization um this is a question that the back of could be a question at the back of everybody’s is Minds active travel England are the primary fund ECC does give us does give us budget but that’s also only on an annual cycle we can do a lot more on this strategy if we
Could bur that up a bit more just for clarity there chair so this document is essentially for us getting funding bids from active travel England it’s one of the reasons for it do we think it’s ambitious enough because one of the issues we had with the LC whips
And C is basically it wasn’t good enough um so we only got 25% funding so do we think it’s ambitious and not to get us where we need to be in 10 15 years yes yes is the is the quick answer so I England um we have a very good
Relationship with them um they consider us good partners they’re working with us on the world strategy um and they believe that we are ambitious I was at a conference last week talking to someone in she they went I said where I was from they went oh yes you’re the
Really ambitious one aren’t you and annoying actually that’s not what she said to me um I’ve lost the train it’s my thought now is it is it amb no um it’s not going to take us to net Zer on it’s own you Rel um it’s not ambitious enough to take
Us to Net Zero but it’s a very important part of it um and I think we have responsibility um to give it the the same Credence that we would other strategies um that help contribute to next area I think the physical and mental part is something that probably
Need needs to be liquid and also cast V talked about more elderly people cying more with an eite that really isn’t an issue but my wife we bought to Elites my wife was all that Keen she used it more than she lot of she goes out to chill
Just a clear ahead it’s amazing mentally how can we give people the opportunity to try that I’m not sure okay Council MAA followed by last speaker Council thank you chairman and thank you for the report and I really read interest on as well thank you very much um I have two
Questions if I may the first question is I represent ol rural which is a very small beautiful town with lots of villages so the points made about the rural roads over The Deco um and due to ride London Olga really has been put on the map cycling Community three years in
Now we’re one of the most disrupted towns that communties actually really got behind it and thanks to active F6 and lots of partnership working it’s I think we a recent survey showed 89% of my residents think it’s a positive thing so this is really lovely news and
Actually a turnaround from where we were three years ago so thank you credit to all your team on that um on slide four under the blue section uh bull point one you um mentioned something about um making this accessible to everyone that word um in a town like Anga it is
Absolutely POS you’ve got really short walk even the most remote part of an estate in the town you can walk thanks to um infrastructure and also you can cycle no problem the issue we have is we have enormous hgbs that go down very narrow High Street that makes it
Dangerous for pedestrians it puts pedestrians off which saddens me um it then makes it impossible Cy it’s two two cars can’t get past High Street at one given time how Earth can throw a bike into the mix it’s just you it would be it would be negligent from a safety
Perspective so we want to encourage this but we are met with barriers like all members are and you have ideas for Highway schemes as to how you can achieve these outcomes another example would be on the dumo road which is a major road that comes into the town very popular with Cy this
Significant overtaking because it’s a 60 M hour road so many local campaigns to try and reduce the speed limit uh insert double white lines to stop overtaking new developments going up encouraging more people to pull in and out which is you know an issue um so the question
Firstly I’m asking is I don’t think there is particular issue about whether our residents are on board of this I think they totally are they certainly are in my part of the world my concern concern is that lots of the highways infrastructure we’ve identified for various reasons are not able to be
Achieved due to policies for example the dumo road the policy is that because there isn’t enough dwellings on that stret of the road can’t be done everyone agrees it should be done but the policy doesn’t allow it so what can we do to overcome that because I think that is a
Big solution here without the infrastructure I think it sadly in places where they want it to work and my second question relates to slide seven um which is sort of the value of cying you know I absolutely agree there is huge value com mental wellbeing and just physical exercise being attacking
Obesity all these things can be achieved when Journeys are swapped with a more active travel however in an Community like honger because of the reasons I’ve mentioned it then isn’t really possible and so when we love things like ride London I think it’s a shame not to go
That extra step and I therefore have a concern in parts of our County there could be um a disqualification between the opportunity to live an active healthier life um uh you know that opportunity could be somewhat eroded just because the way some lives and I think that’s something
We can overun but it comes down to the basic highways infrastructure not being able to be changed when there is such community and overriding agreement in a community that certain things should be done such as a these questions um I can I can answer in part but they
Are bigger than the cycle strategy so just to to bear that in mind so I mentioned the the speed the speed management strategy um that hasn’t been updated since 2010 and as you rightly say um makes for good reason at the time makes certain decisions 20s for example much harder we
Are revising that um it will not allow blanket 20 M hour like we have in Wales but the aspiration is that it will give us more flexibility to do something of the things you’re suggesting so I don’t know the stretch of road you’re talking about
So I can’t say yes it doesn’t have 10 res um dwellings it can’t be um but we’re aiming for a lot more flexibility to reflect the fact that this is a network used by lots of people it is no longer just about keeping Cars Moving it’s about
Keeping all Road users safe and some sometimes that will be a 20 sometimes that may be a fine sometimes on the a12 you don’t want cyclist along a lot of those it will be um it will be a 60 well also and I came to the
Um a recent screen on this looking at place and movement um that is our functional root hierarchy which seeks to replace the quite polarizing PR 1 PR2 everything else with a much more nuanced approach that looks at how people and things move around the space the reason this is relevant is because
We may identify this this particular location as being much more of a place where people are likely to walk and cycle and we want to encourage that so we would say this is not a route we expect hgvs to be using and we’re not likely to go
Down um on hgbs but if we start to get a better understanding of what these places are for we can start to design that in and that’s key we have to design all of this into the future because retrospectively changing all our infrastructure is quite challenging but
The top up top down and bottom up I said about the policy so ltp at the top the highways practice notes at the bottom are all um leading towards and um a refresh of all policies infrastructure as well to to give us more flexibility thank you how can we
Differentiate between what I call Leisure cyclist which is maybe some going to S to be generic maybe a basket in the front going to do a bit of shopping versus somebody that compus somebody that is competitively or in a sporting yeah other than other than fashion how can
We the infrastructure required for one type for example somebody doing it from a more sporting perspective they’re not necessarily interesting stoping if they are it’s going to be breakast and lunch or something and the economic benefits are enormous and I I share that I L improv but what the people that just
Need our safe and secure to leave their B I’m thinking in like Hond that that doesn’t exist other than a supermarket so how can we how can we give I think the public need to build some tangible um they need to see the tangible evidence that we’re taking seriously
That can be achieved but you know signage things like this how can we help those two very different kind of f leers so this strategy is not aimed at the professional competitor this strategy is aimed at residents of essics the majority of whom if they cycle going to
Be leisure cyclists there will be commute cyclist in there but they will also cycle for leisure um there’s lots of small things we can do around wayf finding around cycle parking um around encouraging people um to take the bikability training I mean the adults at the moment is free um most schools I
Think we ask me this recently I think we work with about 280 schools currently to um train the to train kids to cycle safely because that is one of the the key contributions we can make is give people the skills so that if they want
To get out on on the on a ledger cycle on a Sunday they know how to safely position themselves on the road they know how to signal that is a a major concern of people I haven’t been about on about 20 years how do I get back on
Um there’s other small think smaller things we can do with the grants um and with you know well Behavior change is not a small quick thing that’s the the the big major thing um but if there’s things in particular that you think would work in oner it’s not an area
We’ve really looked at much before um we are seeking to um expand our LC whips at the moment it was when we first started those were the 100 p then it was 50 now it’s 30 so our aim ultimately is for every Market town and
Above to have an LC with and then we have a selection of rural ones which connect it because there’s no point I can’t remember who is it it might have been cast so no point having just Town centers on their own if you can’t actually connect them we need the you
Know the the spokes but we also need the Ral Roots as well thank you thank you uh Council Fleming thank you chair um several questions first two to councelor Shaw um they’re just I was hoping that the committee could have a written response to page 69 uh it said 1.75 million received for
Hosting ride London um that will be can I stop you there could could I just that be um pleas okay that’s fine I just was it mentions it in the document I just wanted a list of um where the money’s gone the project because I was thinking that it would be great
If to be fair he did stand he something recently yeah good question the committee could have uh in writing a list of those projects and then I was looking at a section 106 agreement uh quite an old one for the molden district the other day and it did
Actually have a contribution for act of travel so I was hoping that the committee could have in writing um what the what what is being held for active travel contributions um by that team who who collect them in not sure I the officer that deals with we can get you
The answer it’s not my team I think it’s strategic development yeah so I thought that would be quite interesting to see how much is being held or how much is being gathered in for 106 contribution sorry I Think good okay okay thank you but can I come back to you if you send that question for the contributions it’s councilor Lee Scott that will actually be able to tell you and I believe you’re right chairman you did send something out I’m just trying to find there I
Think remember might even have been at full Council yeah it was our meeting wasn’t it remember it was okay uh well we’re oh sorry sorry and then to Tracy um so I just wanted to understand a bit more about the LC whips um I thought that they were by District but it would
Seem that actually it’s by town or to do with population uh density so that’s great that we’re sort of widening that out so the rural LC whips will be separate to the towns will they so for example my division molden um and then you would look at the district
Separately or areas of the district there aren’t any hard and fast rules um active travel England um as part of their assessment looked at how many districts over X and I forget what x is off the top of my head had an LC whip you’re right we started off at a
District level because that was a pragmatic approach and it was quite powerful to be able to show a map and say look we’ve got an LC with in each district okay now we’ve done the key the biggest terms in in each where there’s been um commitment to work with us on it
Now it’s the next level down the ruler one um I don’t think we’ve decided whether we would do a rural one for each district um we may do a rural or several rural ones for the whole County to start because cycling doesn’t respect District boundaries so we want to be careful of
You know zeroing in on that um a cyclist in brain Tree on the flitways going to cycle into into utle spit so we want to make sure that the rural roots and indeed any other Roots capture that um so I believe at the moment we’re doing a molden and haybridge
One um our aim is by March next year to have done one in each district plus refreshes where it’s relevant and we will do those on a quarterly basis they will be on the engagement tool that I referenced and um so they they be one going on um I think
We’re just starting tendering we now have presence in all we have LC whs of some sort going on in each district um I’ll have to come back to you and probably after discussion on how we deal with the sort of the more district one because you’re right for example the
Brentwood one just focuses on on brenwood town really how do we get it cascading cascading out okay sorry can I just of course um so then Tracy when you have your adoptive strategy how do you feed that into the districts so that actually has a chance if it has funding
Of becoming something that’s delivered on the ground so I’m thinking about planning policy officers who are maybe reviewing local plans or or or building local plans is that process as streamlined as you would want it to be because that this is my worry where you I I think it’s great that we’re talking
About this today it’s really pleased to see you here I’m slightly worried that when the districts are doing their plans that they maybe it’s not at the Forefront of them yeah that’s a very good question recently because we have so many strategies happening in parallel I’ll be
Honest we’ve engaged the districts a lot more particularly with plac and movement because we need their help to um sense check challing areas but also the ltp but I think the issue is the ltp is statutory and essentially includes all other strategies in it as child documents so as an appendix the cycle
Strategy will sit in essentially the ltp and the ltp because of straty needs to be considered by districts when they are doing their local plan um I don’t think we can legally enforce it it’s usually part of a supplementary planning um document but your question does make me think we haven’t engaged
Districts particularly I think we did in a previous version of this because this has evolved quite a lot we started it before probably before everyone’s essics and before the ltp so we’ve had to re well we’ve chosen to Repro it so it meets meets those objectives as well we
Probably could do with talking to districts before we go out to consultation but we can probably still do that in pre-election because we’re not seeking to influence so I will pick that up okay separately thanks I mean I know that molden District member they’d love have
Sort of griefing on it and they’ fully engage with it I don’t know whether it’s I’m not sure I can do that in pre-election all afterwards afterwards definitely and it could be one of the um sort of either inperson um events or even um you know Town
Hall here about the S strategy back okay and then sorry I have one other um in terms of the evidence base um I don’t know you know we have the speed surveys I don’t think they record bikes but do the crossing surveys managed to catch a b the uh the
Little rubber ones show show bicyles do they the speed one The Crossing one Cy through one of those things you fashes up what speed you were going and I didn’t realize it work bikes and I was delighted see I was getting n miles an hour and I’m thinking about strips in the
Road I think they and troles right so I’m just just a suggestion that could help you with evidence based we’re getting really good good data from the vacity sensors as well that report the the challenge with with that and any count is it does it where it is yeah you
Can only count where the sensor is um and those are typically put in areas where we know people are cycling or where we’re going to be promoting in the future so we can do the before and after so there are there are inevitably gaps but we are rolling out more vacity
Senses w’t We As We Know great good thank you chair sorry okay um well on behalf of the sorry quick umul um what if I said no you um just coming back to when we originally mentioned that this is lp4 lp4 and that that was the override this
Is part of that strategy yeah did you indicate that you working that it was you who was creating that document that the lb4 ltp sorry yeah transport plan for yeah yes I did so me and my team are working on the LA got me doing that ltp4 speed management strategy B and movement
Refreshable the highway practice notes and the cycling strategy and the EV strategy okay just because the overriding strategy that’s with us and you’re doing that yes and I mentioned at the beginning of this that that was being developed at the moment i’ just like to know when you think it might be
Available the ltp um we expect to go out to high public consultation on the high level themes again sometime after the local elections so May June when it goes out to formal consultation with the extended Suite of documents is a little bit shaped by the DFT so this
Is primarily a or it used to be primarily a document for the for the DFT um we are turning it into a transport strategy for Essence which is what it should be so um sets the vision for everything I think that will go out with all the incorporate all the associated um
Policy depending on when we have General um beginning of 2025 um and that’s because we have to do a number of things with the DFT and those can’t happen during election period so it’s it’s a bit unknown DFT have also elected not to produce guidance which they usually do um or
Funded which they have done in the I’m just bu but until you do that strategy this is only part of it yes this is only one segment of eight to nine segments to create that strategy and until that strategy is in place these strategies won’t happen either we no that’s not
Quite true we can adopt that in and of its own right but we would also make it clear that it is part of the wider Suite of documents we’ve already adopted the The Walking strategy which we did a couple of years ago the EV strategy is
Is currently um waiting to be um adopted so they can Happ yeah I’m just interested in the speed surve that’s the one that’s gets most interest Vick’s also working on on that with us but thanks J yeah okay uh so on behalf of can I just uh thank you for
Your attendance I’ll allow you the last word just so I know not yet say the last word okay um the thing that I’ve written down for myself and it comes across on a regular basis with uh uh with with cycling because you have you have groups of people which are
Anti- each other you’ve got drivers You’ got cyclists and you’ve got pedestrians um education is going to help here but the the the the group I’d like to see brought together and I’ve just used this phrase I’d like pedestrians to share and I’d like cyclists to Dismount because there are many places
Where there’s plenty of room for two very comfortable nice and easy but there are places where there aren’t and I think pedestrians have to understand that there will be people who are cing but equally I think cyclists should learn that that in places like that where there is a conflict you should get
Off your bike push push it through to whatever you are and then amount it up again so that’s just the personal thing there um we’ve got one guest in the room and I’m just going to ask you got two minutes to just reflect counselor cour on two little
Questions can I come in and have half hour of you guys um about the sunshine screen absolutely thank you um and then I got the impression that you guys might like C on a little right so I’ll make sure we’ve got cake available and because I
Like that as well um and can I send you some dates that might work for for that absolutely other than that thank you very much and yeah it’s really positive thing and it’s been really really good to be a part of not part but to see this
Happening in real time so thank you all thank you um so just a summary point if you could take this away so broadly the content uh uh broadly content with overarching Targets in the strategy but we want further detail and focus on infrastructure uh some concerns uh about
There being no evidencebased I think I understand where you’re starting from um but I’m hoping that will come out public consultation we should engage with schools and young people plus all cing groups I think that’s a really good positive message um and I think it’s very equally important weend engage districts
Because I think that’s there are lots of places where districts we might have the aspiration but they have the ability um to make sure that it’s delivered um particularly when we want to get root specific proposals it should focus on achieving a buying from all you’re never
Going to get a Buy in from all residents but engaging with residents about a buying and equally as someone else said earlier was a very good point places where it’s totally inappropriate and it shouldn’t be um so we was asked over here uh we we as a committee would like
A more flexible approach on the strategy to L l1120 uh as as quite clearly I think it was you Jes said this this isn’t applicable in many rural areas we’d like further information on the budget to underpin I think again that was last over there uh with some concerns about
The lack of funding I mean I I think I’m I’m touching a comfortable Point here you must be the same I can’t I think it’s inappropriate that we we’re struggling from year to year at some stage someone’s going to make the decision that there is a budget and it
Will be so and so so and so um I couldn’t run my business on only knowing what my income was for the next 12 months uh and a couple of written respons if possible uh for about active travel contributions in SE terms of section 106 so accepting that you’re off to a
Posh tonight where you’re obviously going to get all sparkled up and that’s ph’s job okay um the final word I leave with yourself councelor sha thank you very much for inviting us and um any questions that tryy can answer she will obviously put it in writing Council Fleming I’ve just
Looked in my um computer can’t find the breakdown of the rideel and contributions um so if someone my right hand man here I just circulated it oh right oh that’s good thank you I knew had the FED it somewh um C your first question I actually I’m
Going to put your question on Tom’s desk now telling and put a note on it’s full but thank you very much for inviting us thank you um we’re rapidly reaching the end of it so we’ll probably be done in 10 minutes you’re very welcome to stay
For that 10 minutes or do you want to pack your bags and go would you mind if we packed our bags and go no problem with all with that especially as a such nice thank you okay we just talk over you while you’re than you Tracy thank you
Vick so item six item six is really just a notice item um you would every would have known this but there was a polling regarding a North Essex par partnership decision we look at the number here FP 0512 24 so that uh was fall in we applied the current
Strategy which is to have an informal meeting with all parties involved the people who are bringing the call in and the people that were supporting the call in and the portfolio holder and I’m delighted to say that as with some previous callings which was deal with on
On a an informal basis it worked very well both sides came out feeling good about it both sides uh came out feeling they won so that report is primarily the noting um but one specific detail which came from it one of the problems with with this particular thing we noticed or
We found was that the communication was pretty Bor sorry the cross communication was pretty poor um and we suggested that at one St at some page um certainly I as a as as a county counselor I’d like to have known what was going on in my division so we’ve asked the parking
Partnership North and the South parking partnership to fol to send to each County counselor um the minutes and the agenda of any par and partnership meeting and funny enough I got mine yesterday the first one that I’ve got so uh as a direct result of that calling um we
Think that’s a change for the better any questions on that a thank you uh the note the place of next meeting um it worked okay in here I think to be blunt I don’t I don’t lose anybody in the so I think this isn’t a
Bad place for to go to um but we’ll decide that the next meeting is 25th of April um I’d like to thank Emma and Fred thank you for getting this through to the end uh and with that gentlemen at s yeah what did I say embarrassing sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry