Agenda and minutes

Venue: Town Hall, High Street, Maidstone

Contact: Tessa Mallett  01622 602524

Items
No. Item

24.

The Committee to consider whether all items on the agenda should be webcast

Minutes:

RESOLVED: That all items on the agenda be webcast.

 

25.

Apologies

Minutes:

It was noted that Councillor De Wiggondene was running late (arrived at 18:45).

 

There were no other apologies.

 

26.

Notification of Substitute Members

Minutes:

There were no substitute members present.

 

27.

Notification of Visiting Members/Witnesses

Minutes:

Witnesses for agenda item 8:

 

·  James Gower, cycling enthusiast;

·  Tay Arnold, Cycling Transport Planner, Kent Highways, Kent County Council (KCC);

·  Colin Finch, Senior Public Rights of Way Officer, Kent County Council;

·  Bartholomew Wren, Economic Development Officer, Regeneration and Transport, Tunbridge Wells Borough Council (TWBC);

·  Elliot Dean, cycling enthusiast;

·  Councillor Paul Harper.

 

Councillor Burton was in attendance as an observer.

 

28.

Disclosures by Members and Officers

Minutes:

There were no disclosures by Members or Officers.

 

29.

To consider whether any items should be taken in private because of the possible disclosure of exempt information

Minutes:

RESOLVED: That the items on the agenda be taken in public as proposed.

 

30.

Minutes of the Meeting held on 24 June 2014 pdf icon PDF 63 KB

Minutes:

RESOLVED: That subject to the addition of the words ‘in addition to the multi-agency event’ being added to the end of recommendation 2 of minute number 22, the minutes of the meeting held on 24 June be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

 

31.

Review of Transport in Maidstone Borough - alternatives to using a car - external witness interviews pdf icon PDF 34 KB

Interviews with:

 

·  James Gower – cycling enthusiast who sent a suggestion via Twitter for the Committee to review congestion in the town

·  Tay Arnold – Cycling Transport Planner, Kent Highways, Kent County Council

·  Colin Finch - Senior Public Rights of Way Officer, Kent County Council

·  Bartholomew Wren - Economic Development Officer Regeneration and Transport, Tunbridge Wells Borough Council

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Chairman welcomed the witnesses.

 

Prior to the meeting the witnesses had been asked for their thoughts, ideas and information on the following questions to help them prepare:

 

James Gower, Tay Arnold and Colin Finch:

 

  • What is already being done to encourage cycling and walking in Maidstone and the Borough?
  • What is working?
  • What is not working?
  • What are other areas doing?
  • What is your ‘dream vision’ for cycling and walking in the borough?
  • What can Councillors do to help?

 

Bartholomew Wren:

 

  • What are Tunbridge Wells doing to encourage cycling and walking?
  • What is working?
  • What is not working?
  • What is your ‘dream vision’ for cycling in Tunbridge Wells?

 

James Gower delivered his presentation to the Committee.  The main points he raised were:

 

·  Main roads in Maidstone were unpleasant for non-motorised users - there was little cycling infrastructure and crossings were designed to prevent inconvenience to cars, rather than being convenient for cyclists or pedestrians;

·  Cycling infrastructure that existed was often of poor quality - mostly pedestrian infrastructure with cycling allowed;

·  Cycling was an afterthought, or squeezed in at the sides - cycling specific schemes were rarely considered;

·  Cycling was not considered as a proper mode of transport.

 

As a result Mr Gower considered few people cycle for utility purposes.

 

Mr Gower’s suggestions for improvement included:

 

·  Maidstone needed to change the way it thought about its relationship with the car, in order to improve the wellbeing of the people living in Maidstone and the town itself;

·  The best way to achieve this was through enabling mass cycling;

·  Provision for cycling needed long term commitment and the will to change on behalf of local government as well as national government;

·  The best place to start was filtered permeability and use of one way streets with cyclist exemptions;

·  Then main roads needed to be made safe for cycling too;

·  Don’t be anti-car – be pro cycling.

 

Tay Arnold, Cycling Transport Planner, Kent Highways, Kent County Council (KCC) explained her work with KCC was mainly focused on encouraging commuter cycling.  Her role was county wide and covered the twelve Kent districts.  She went on to outline the work KCC were doing to encourage more cycling in the borough.  The main points of her presentation included:

 

·  Figures collected using counters at Cold Harbour, J6 M20 (road cycling) and Mote Park (recreational cycling) demonstrated a snapshot of low numbers of people cycling in Maidstone – approximately 2,000-3,000 journeys per month;

 

·  To encourage more people to cycle softer measures were needed to promote cycling as an affordable and sustainable mode of transport and improve peoples’ confidence;

 

·  Bikeability cycle training (a countrywide road safety standard training scheme) was being offered to children and adults in the borough using some funding subsidised from the Department for Transport;

 

·  Work had been done with the KCC Public Health Team to promote the health benefits of cycling pitched at getting people on bikes who were not already using a bike;

 

·  Cycle routes had been showcased to show people where they could  ...  view the full minutes text for item 31.

32.

Review of Transport in Maidstone Borough - alternatives to using a car - Review of Walking and Cycling as an alternative to using the car pdf icon PDF 34 KB

Interview with Sarah Shearsmith, Community Development Team Leader, Maidstone Borough Council.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Chair introduced Sarah Shearsmith, Community Development Team Leader to address the Committee.

 

Ms Shearsmith presented the main points outlined in her report and emphasised the biggest barrier to people taking part in the activities available to them was a lack of awareness of them.

 

Ms Shearsmith invited the Committee to contact her if they required any further information on her report.

 

RESOLVED: That the Committee noted the report of the Community Development Team Leader.

 

33.

Review of Transport in Maidstone Borough - alternatives to using a car - Report of the Head of Planning and Development - Cycling and Walking in Maidstone pdf icon PDF 34 KB

Interview with Mr Tim Hapgood, Transport Consultant, Spatial Policy Team.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Chair notified the Committee that Mr Hapgood had informed her all the points he would have made had already been covered and moved straight on to questioning and discussion.

 

The Committee then went on to discuss short term measure that could be considered by the Committee when making their recommendations in their report.  These included:

 

·  Liaison with SE Trains and other local rail companies to identify funding opportunities for supplying bike storage at train stations;

 

·  Coloured tarmac and ‘armadillos’ (rounded rubber blocks screwed down to the road) could be retrofitted to trial separation of cyclists from traffic;

 

·  Possibly joining with TWBC to joint trial solutions.

 

RESOLVED: That the committee noted the report of the Head of Planning and Development.

34.

Future Work Programme and SCRAIP update pdf icon PDF 34 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Committee considered its Future Work Programme.

 

RESOLVED: That the Committee:

 

·  Note the update from the Chair;

 

·  Note the Cabinet Member/Scrutiny workshop arranged for 23 July 2014;

 

·  Note the Economic and Commercial Development (ECD) Overview and Scrutiny Committee workshop on the ECD Strategy arranged for 29 July open to all Councillors to attend and input;

 

·  Note the joint meeting between the Planning, Transport and Development and the Economic and Commercial Development Overview and Scrutiny Committees on 21 October 2014 to consider the report on proposed employment sites in the borough;

 

·  Agree the second part of their review of Transport in Maidstone Borough – Buses is carried out at their meeting 30 September 2014 and the third part, Rail is carried out at their meeting 18 November 2014.

 

 

35.

Duration of the meeting

Minutes:

18:30 – 21:57