Agenda item

The report before the Committeereminded Members that the Highway Advisory Committee (HAC) currently reviewed the vast majority of traffic management proposals which often resulted in those proposals being considered multiple times by that Committee.  It was therefore proposed to streamline the involvement of the HAC in minor traffic management changes whilst maintaining targeted and local representation of all traffic management proposals.

Various Members raised queries about the application of the proposals and asked for clarification about how the process – if the changes were agreed – would work in practice.  One member asked why there was no mention of bus stop accessibility and officers agreed that this could be included within the proposed changes.  There was discussion about the involvement of Ward councillors in the “call-in” procedure and about whether non-Ward councillors could also exercise “call-in” and if so, at what stage of the process.  There were observations made that the process would benefit from having a clear guide about what constituted “minor” road-works in order to assist councillors decide what course of action (if any) to adopt.

Officers reassured Members that these concerns could – and would - be addressed and also agreed to incorporate a flow-chart designed to provide a simple, schematic representation of the process which could be referred to to assist Members understand the process.

The Chairman informed the Committee that the recommendation as it appeared in the report was incorrect because the Governance Committee could not itself agree the requested changes which were properly for Council to decide.

To address this, he proposed that the wording be amended to read: “The Committee resolve to recommend to Council that …”

In addition, as it appeared that further work on the report was needed before it could be presented to Council – and on the advice of the Legal Officer, the Chairman asked the Committee whether, if it agreed the proposals in principle, the matter be delegated to himself, the Interim Deputy Director Legal & Governance and the Committee Administration Manager to ensure that all the proposed changes to the HAC procedure rules be incorporated in the report and that the report be sent to each Member present at the meeting of the Committee for comment and Committee members not present for information before being presented to Council providing a majority of those Members present at the meeting were in agreement that the revisions made addressed their concerns.

The Committee:

1          Agreed to accept the report “in principle”.  It furthermore agreed to delegate to the Interim Deputy Director Legal & Governance and the Committee Administration Manager in consultation with the Chairman to make the necessary changes to the procedure rules and to incorporate those elements discussed in committee.

2          Agreed that if the revisions were acceptable and so could be presented to Council, that the revised wording of the recommendation should be:

The Committee resolved to recommend to Council that it approve the amendments to the Constitution contained within the report which would permit changes to the range and scope of the Highways Advisory Committee.

The Committee also resolved to refer to Cabinet the authorisation of additional delegated powers to be given to the Head of Service necessary for approving and progressing relatively minor changes in regard to traffic management orders.

3          If the majority of Members present at the meeting did not support the revised report, it would not be presented to Council at this time but was to be brought back to the Committee at a future meeting for reconsideration.