Agenda and minutes

The Committee Manager took the chair whilst the East Area Committee elected a Chair.

 

Councillor Sinnott  proposed, and Councillor R Moore seconded, the nomination of Councillor Roberts as Chair.

 

Resolved unanimously that Councillor Roberts be Chair for the ensuing year.

 

Councillor Roberts assumed the chair from the Committee Manager at this point.

 

Councillor Baigent proposed, and Councillor Johnson seconded, the nomination of Councillor Barnett as Vice-Chair.

 

Resolved unanimously that Councillor Barnett be Vice-Chair for the ensuing year.  

Apologies were received from Councillor Smith.

Members of the committee are asked to declare any interests in the items on the agenda. In the case of any doubt, the advice of the Monitoring Officer should be sought before the meeting.

None were declared.

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 06 April 2017.

 

The minutes of the meeting held on 6 April 2017 were approved as a correct record.

 

The Action Sheet was noted and an updated copy could be viewed at the following link under ‘Matters Arising Action Sheet’.

 

http://democracy.cambridge.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=147&MId=3359&Ver=4

1. Frankie Benstead:  I would like to present a petition and proposal on the project entitled ‘RhinosUP’, to the Committee, bringing their attention to plight of the northern white rhinos.  RhinosUp had grown out of deep concern for the threat of extinction faced by rhinos in the wild, specifically the three last Northern White Rhinos that currently live at Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya.

 

I would like to raise money to contribute to the scientific reproductive work currently in progress to fight the extinction of this species and have developed the idea of a piece of public art. This would be a living sculpture of a northern white rhino made from UK native bee-friendly plants and planted in one of the city’s local parks in spring 2018.

 

Each member of the Committee individually thanked Frankie for a thought provoking presentation and spoke of their support for the project.

 

Councillor Roberts informed Frankie that he had spoken with the Council’s Public Arts Officer who had agreed to meet with Frankie and his Mother to discuss how the proposal could be developed in order to meet the Council’s criteria for funding.

 

2. Christopher Parr: There was currently a petition open to request a proper fence / barrier be erected on Elisabeth Bridge. This would allow residents of Abbey Road privacy from traffic and pedestrians who use the bridge. It was hoped this would also reduce the noise and stop items being thrown from the bridge.  Would the City Council and / or Cambridgeshire County support this initiative?

 

Councillor Roberts advised that he had spoken with Cambridge City Council Officers who had agreed to arrange an on-site meeting between themselves, Mr Parr, the County Council’s Area Bridge Engineer, to discuss what options (if any) could be available to negate the issues raised.

 

3. Richard Calvery: Many residents in Tenison Road want to know what the implications of the recent Police speed survey are as there is concern about the misuse of statistics. The survey reported an average speed of 19 miles per hour on Tension Road with 25% of motorists breaking the law. However additional analysis of the radar based data recorded a different picture with speeding peaks of 30, 40, 50mph, as congestion decreases, speed increases. I would suggest a series of meetings with County Council Councillors and Officers, Police, taxi drivers and members of the public to discuss what could be done.

 

Councillor Roberts advised that the matter would be discussed during the Policing and Safer Neighbourhood item.

 

4. Margret Cramer: Residents had been selling their visitors permits to commuters so Tenison Road parking bays had been blocked for long periods of time.  The problem would spread across the city.  What could be done to detect / prevent this happening?

 

Councillor Blencowe instructed that residents who were using their permits in a fraudulent way could be taken to court, if enough evidence had been collated in order for this to happen. As resident parking schemes became operational across the city, a limit to the number of permits that a resident could apply for had been reduced to twenty books of five.

 

Councillor Baigent advised that he would take this matter to the Joint Area Committee for their attention. ACTION

 

Sergeant Wood advised that photographs should be taken of the permits in the vehicles and sent to the Council who had issued the permits in the first instance. This was an offence under misrepresentation.

 

2. Tony Eva: What was the status of the consultation regarding parking/ double yellow lines on Riverside and on reconfiguring the entrance to Stourbridge Common? 

 

Councillor Whitehead explained there was still a mixed reaction from residents on this matter as there had been over the last four years. Both Councillors Whitehead and Johnson would speak with the City Council’s Project Leader, John Richards, on producing a document that would go out to consultation. ACTION

 

Councillor Johnson described a number of obstacles that had contributed to the delay of the consultation document, such as a prolonged pre-election period and staff restructuring of the County Council’s transport division.

 

5. Al Storer: Currently Vinery Road was closed to roadworks. This road and surrounding streets joining to Vinery Road was much more pleasant to use without drivers using it as shortcut. Could this road be permanently closed to motor vehicles?

 

Councillor Baigent responded the traffic control measures in the Romsey area had been investigated previously through the Greater Cambridge Partnership. The overall response had shown support not to implement these measures and therefore had been left.

 

Sergeant Wood advised that photographs should be taken of the permits in the vehicles and sent to the Council who had issued the permits in the first instance.

 

6. Ruth Deyremond: What could be done to negate the daily traffic congestion problems experienced on Tenison Road? There were disturbance at various times of the day and late into the night, the congestion also brought an increase in pollution to the area.  This issue would become worse when the Mill Road Depot development was completed.

 

Councillor Jones acknowledged that while the road had been designed to take traffic to and from the station, the road in question and surrounding areas were narrow and it was difficult find a solution to diminish congestion. It was suggested that the large volume of traffic currently experienced had not been expected and it hoped a future review on Great Northern Street would lessen the impact but there was no short term solution.

 

Councillor Sinnott stated it had been believed the newly opened Cambridge North Station would reduce the volume of traffic to the main station. However the new station was currently underused due to the limited services currently available. As services increased and more people travelled to the new station this would ease congestion on Tenison Road.

 

Councillor Sinnott affirmed that she would be happy to attend the next Taxi Forum and highlight the comments of taxi’s being driven on the pavements, aggressive driving and late night disturbances. ACTION

 

Councillor Robertson suggested better promotion of the new Cambridge North Station was required as there were fast trains to Kings Cross every hour.

 

Councillor Whitehead suggested the use of ‘Sat Navs’ could have contributed to the increase of traffic. Previously a popular route had been from Hills Road to Station Road and suggested a one way traffic route to and from the main station could offer a solution.

 

Councillor Jones explained as the end of Great Northern Road and part of Union Square had not been adopted, it would not be a straight forward process to change the direction of the flow of traffic to a one way system.

 

Councillor Benstead described taxis leaving the main station were guided on to Station Road and were not able to use the new road used by the buses. This meant for those taxis going north of the city it was quicker to use Tenison Road.

 

It had been suggested taxis should be able to use the new road which would relieve the pressure on Station Road and in turn Tenison Road. However the Highways department at the County Council had denied this request as an increase in traffic on the new road could delay the bus time table.

 

Sergeant Wood concluded any issues caused by taxi drivers should be reported to the Council and confirmed that Tenison Road was shown as a short cut on the Sat Nav system. 

 

7. Richard O’ Conner: Could the committee provide an explanation to the delay in the installation of the zebra crossing at Canons Green since proposed three years ago. The Officers explanations are not credible.

 

Secondly measures need to be taken to stop commercial vans parking on the extended paving (sometimes all day), plus some nearby residents also park on it.

 

Councillor Sinnott confirmed that the installation of the zebra crossing would take place very soon but could not commit to a date.

 

Councillor Robertson advised that there had been a delay due to on-going discussions with local residents. There were minor issues which the County Council felt needed to be addressed before work could be carried out. However the City Council were applying pressure for this project to be completed.

 

Sergeant Ian Wood stated that matter of the commercial vehicles was a civic enforcement issue and should be reported at the time of offence to the relevant agency.

 

8. Margret Cramer:  A Mill Road store owner was told by the City Council, a few years ago, to park their vehicle half on the pavement to unload. Isn’t this contrary to the Equality Act (which protects against indirect discrimination to disability)? Vehicles are constantly parking on the pavements on Mill Road, could bollards or ornamental tress be installed to stop this?

 

Councillor Benclowe replied there had to be a desire for enforcement from the relevant agency which in this case was the Civil Enforcement Agency.  Due to the narrow width of the paths the installation of bollards on Mill Road could not be supported.

 

Councillor Jones advised that the matter would be taken back to County Council Officers to enquire if anything could be done. ACTION

 

Sergeant Wood confirmed that although this was a civil enforcement issue if the same vehicles were seen consistently parking on the pavement by Police officers, they would stop to speak to the repeat offender. However it was very difficult for local business to unload their goods close to their businesses other than the highway on Mill Road.

 

Frank Gawthrope: The minutes of the East Area Committee on 19 June 2014 record that agreement was given to fund the installation of wooden bollards at this junction ref 14/39/EAC Environmental Improvement Programme. This work has still not been completed. Mr Gawthrope had contacted the City Council on three occasions and the work has still not been completed. When would it be completed?

 

Over the last five months I have written to Councillor Blencowe 4 times (28 Feb, 11 March, 4 July and 17 July) asking for assistance in resolving this matter and have not received any replies or acknowledgement. I used the e-mail address listed on the Council web site. I know of other residents who have experienced the same problem. Does the third party e-mail work or would it be better if Councillors used the official City Council e-mail, Cambridge.gov.uk? 

 

Councillor Blencowe advised that he had taken the matter up with the City Council’s Project Leader, John Richards, and his team as there was a need to push the project forward. He then apologised for not responding to the e-mails which he had been passed direct to the relevant Officer but as he saw Mr Gawthrope weekly the matter could had been raised directly.

The Committee received a report from Sergeant Ian Wood regarding the policing and safer neighbourhoods’ trends.

 

The report outlined actions taken since the East Area Committee on 7 July 2016. The current emerging issues/neighbourhood trends for each ward were also highlighted (see report for full details).

 

Previous priorities and engagement activity noted in the report were:

     i.        Continue to target the supply of controlled drugs

    ii.        Continue to target street based anti-social behaviour (ASB) in and around Mill Road

   iii.        Retain speed checks.

 

There were six recommendations which the Committee had been asked to recommend three for focus over the coming months:

     i.        County lines issues

    ii.        Responding to street life ASB issues in Mill Road

   iii.        Dwelling burglary

  iv.        Road safety in known hot spot areas

   v.        Youth ASB in areas including Coleridge Rec and Cambridge Leisure Park.

  vi.        Green space ASB in areas such as Stourbridge Common, Coleridge Rec and other communal green spaces.

 

Chief Inspector Paul Ormerod (Chief Inspector: Operations, Cambridge City) said that since the last East Area Committee meeting specific speed monitoring had taken place at Cherry Hinton Road; Coleridge Road; Mill Road and Tension Road to establish whether speed enforcement would be appropriate. The report referenced information of the speed monitoring. It highlighted that Cherry Hinton Road and Coleridge Road were not suitable for a 20mph speed restriction enforced by signing alone, and required some engineering by way of calming in order to render them self-enforcing.

Members of the public asked a number of questions, as set out below.

 

Margret Cramer: I have sent pictures to the Police of vehicles parking on the pavements on Mill Road but have not received a response. Has action be taken on this matter?

 

Chief Inspector Ormerod apologised for the lack of response but reiterated parking had been decriminalised in Cambridge City leaving the Police no powers. The photos could be passed to the relevant civil enforcement officers but in reality they had to be present when the offence was taking place.

 

Sergeant Wood confirmed that officers out on patrol would intervene if they witnessed a parked vehicle causing an obstruction.

 

Al Storer: How should the excessive speeding on Perne Road late at night be reported?

 

Sergeant Wood explained that an alternative way to report an issue not deemed an emergency (999) call, other than calling 101, was the live web chat operated by Cambridgeshire Constabulary agents who were available 24/7 to assist with non-emergency queries.

 

Richard Cramer:  I have sent a freedom of information request concerning the data radar information but to date have received no answer.

 

Frank Gawthrope:  As part of the Tennison Road traffic calming scheme two data boxes were provided to remind motorists of the speed limit. These boxes also recorded the number of vehicles on the highway and the speed of travel. Could the Police be encouraged to look at this data?

 

Sergeant Wood advised that data was looked at to assess risk. The data box provided such information as peak time traffic flow and grouped the type of vehicles on the highway. Crash mat data could also be obtained which showed how many road traffic collisions had taken place. There was one traffic management expert who had specialist knowledge to extract detailed data but all Police Officers could read the basic information. If a freedom of information request had been sent a response would be given in due course.

 

The Committee then discussed the enforcement of 20mph, particularly the ACOP (Association of Chief Police Officers) agreeing to the revised guidance on not supporting 20mph limits that were clearly signed or indicated.

 

Councillor Herbert expressed the committee’s disappointment with the Police response to enforcing 20mph zones in and around the City. He remarked a wider range of data should be taken into consideration when considering enforcement. Cambridge City Council officers had produced detailed data on two separate occasions regarding Colderidge Road. This had shown the average speed had decreased by 2mph and 3mph on different sides of the road, indicating that progress could be made. A second meeting with the Police was needed to continue the discussion on 20mph enforcement.

 

Sargent Wood then went on to explain that the rise of violent crime in Colderidge Ward had been due to continuing county issues, ie, drug dealers coming in from outside the county.

 

Following discussion, the Committee resolved (unanimously) to agree the following amended priorities:

 

          i.       County lines issues

         ii.       Responding to street life ASB issues in Mill Road

         ii.       Road safety in known hot spot areas

• Cambridge Airport Consultative Committee

 

• East Barnwell Community Centre

 

Resolved that Councillor Hart be the representative for the East Barnwell Community Centre for the ensuing year.

 

Resolved that Councillor Hart be the representative for the Cambridge Airport Consultative Committee for the ensuing year.

Councillor Roberts welcomed Artist, Harry Gray, who had been appointed to create a public art work to be located at the site of an Environmental Improvement Project at the corner junction of Cavendish Road and Mill Road.

 

Mr Gray and Nadine Black, Senior Urban Designer were available to take part in a question and answer session after the meeting had closed.