To receive questions in accordance with the provisions of Council Procedure Rules 12.2 and 12.4 which require a Member to give at least 3 working days’ notice, in writing, of the question to the Chief Executive.
Minutes:
The Mayor advised that two questions had been received by the Chief Executive in accordance with Council Procedure Rules as follows:
(1) Councillor Dant to Councillor Dowding regarding Lancashire County Council’s consultations on road schemes.
(2) Councillor Whitaker to Councillor Brookes regarding West End Gardens.
Councillor Dant asked:
Between 26/10/2020 - 08/12/2020 Lancashire County Council undertook a consultation on two schemes:
• The M6 Junction 33 Link Road and Infrastructure concerns the delivery of infrastructure to deliver new housing in south Lancaster (the South Lancaster Strategic Growth Area); and,
• The Lancaster City Centre Movement and Public Realm Strategy concerns the improvement of accessibility for walking, cycling and public transport in and around the city centre.
Councillors and residents in Lancaster have had no further information on either scheme since the options were discussed at the County Cabinet meeting in February 2021. The County’s website promises further modelling, an assessment of air quality and “further consultation in late 2021 on a preferred option” for the City Centre Movement strategy. Many possible transport issues and developments in Lancaster are dependent on what the County Council is going to do about changes to highways infrastructure in the City:
• Air pollution in the City Centre and in Galgate continues to exceed WHO guidance.
• The overcrowded city centre roads are dangerous for all but the most confident cyclists.
• The gyratory system continues to allow through traffic and HGVs continue to make the left turn into Meeting House Lane and use Station Road to access the Lune Industrial Estate.
• There is no plan for how the J33 Link Road and the City Centre will be connected for transport. The much talked about cycle-superhighway and better buses schemes for Lancaster still have no routes that can inform planning decisions and to which residents can look forward.
• The City is spending precious planning resources on an Area Action Plan for South Lancaster without any clear plan for how, when or where the roads for the so-called Bailrigg Garden Village will go, or how they will traverse the West Coast Mainline and connect with the existing or emerging road system in the City.
• There has been no progress on the long awaited changes to the Pointer Roundabout which still has no adequate crossings for pedestrians on three of the two-lane roads that enter it or on providing a safe route for cyclists through the roundabout, despite this being funded through the Department for Transport Safer Roads funds -which has already been secured.
Can the Cabinet member for Planning please tell us how these key planning issues for the City of Lancaster are going to be resolved?
Councillor Dowding thanked Councillor Dant for his question and responded:
Your question raises some very important points.
Of course, Lancashire County Council is the transport and highway authority for the Lancashire District. It is responsible for the planning and delivery of any proposed changes to the district’s road network and cycling and walking infrastructure.
The consultation to which Councillor Dant refers was indeed twofold. Lancashire County Council established a website called ‘Transforming Travel in Lancaster’ to keep residents and other stakeholders informed regarding progress with both the M6 Junction 33 scheme; and the City Centre Movement and Public Realm Strategy. I note that there has been no recent update to the County Council’s website, and therefore perhaps I should advise Councillor Dant and others that Lancashire County Council would be best placed to respond to these questions directly. However in the absence of them being here, I can advise as follows:
It is anticipated that the County Council will submit a planning application for the Junction 33 works in due course, and there is no precise timetable currently available to suggest when this might be. It will be the County Council, acting in their separate role as the local planning authority for highway/road[1]building projects, who will determine the planning application. Lancaster City Council would be a statutory consultee.
The City Centre works are more complex. In February 2021, the County Council’s Cabinet agreed to take forward three city centre gyratory options for further analysis, including detailed transport modelling. The County Council envisaged a “further consultation” late last year, aimed at arriving at a preferred option. This consultation did not occur in 2021, and there is, as yet no indication from the County Council that any such consultation is imminent.
Set against this lack of progress are the County Council’s responsibilities as Local Highway Authority to deliver the remaining requirements of the Development Consent Order (an Act of Parliament) for the Bay Gateway. The Development Consent Order requires the County Council to introduce complementary traffic measures no later than 10 years of the opening of the Bay Gateway. The Bay Gateway opened on 31 October 2016. The measures must “aim to prevent road traffic growth with the Central Lancaster area increasing to predicted “do minimum” levels between the opening and design years of the link road and contain a timetable for implementation of the measures carried out.”
The County Council also agreed (Page 20 of the Lancaster District Highways and Transport Masterplan, 2016) that notwithstanding the identified measures, their “philosophy is to go beyond this ‘do minimum’ approach and instead to make full use of the potential for transformational change within the district that completion of the (Bay Gateway) link road gives.”
It is clear that the County Council are mandated through the Act of Parliament to deliver complementary traffic measures irrespective of the delivery of works in South Lancaster. In the absence of any apparent, recent progress being made, I can advise that the City Council can formally write to the County Council, querying their compliance with all the requirements of the Development Consent Order, and also asking whether related initiatives (such as the Pointer Roundabout to which Councillor Dant referred) are programmed to be delivered. In the meantime our own local planning authority is, rightly, continuing to progress evidence-gathering which will inform a first draft of an Area Action Plan (AAP) for Lancaster South. The AAP will be subject to various stages of engagement and consultation. The County Council will be a consultee and important stakeholder in this process.
By way of a supplementary question, Councillor Dant asked how, on behalf of residents, Councillors could ensure that the County Council’s legal obligation would be fulfilled. Was there something more that could be done besides a letter. For example, could they be sued?
Councillor Dowding said she thought this was a valid question because six years had already passed. She could not offer an answer on the legal possibilities but would ask officers to look into that and would get back to Councillor Dant with a response.
Councillor Whitaker asked:
The West End of Morecambe West End Gardens has been neglected in regard to the planting of flowers and it has looked neglected over the summer period. People were expecting to see flowers planted and the area to look presentable.
Why has flower planting stopped in this area of Morecambe?
Councillor Brookes responded:
West End Gardens is planted with low maintenance shrubs and grasses. As you pointed out, there is no annual bedding, but there hasn’t been for quite some time. The Head of Public Realm says for at least six years and his predecessor reckons it is more like a decade. So I’m tempted to say that I’m the wrong person to ask. But I will answer the question.
I think it was likely part of a more widespread cutback of annual bedding to protect other areas of the Council’s budget. I have a vague memory of formerly planted areas of Lancaster which have been converted to low maintenance shrubs. Annual bedding obviously requires new plants every year which comes with a cost and it is resource intensive to plant and clear the beds. Nevertheless, the City Council continues to maintain a number of areas of annual bedding, predominantly in Morecambe and the gardening team devotes a significant amount of time to that.
By way of a supplementary question, Councillor Whitaker asked:
I take your points onboard, but can we expect some spending or attention given to those gardens next year at least? We need to be doing that, we’ve got possibly Eden coming hopefully and visitors coming to the area. This is a very prominent area of Morecambe.
Councillor Brookes replied:
All I can say is that the Council will continue to maintain the gardens. I would love to be able to promise you that there will be a transformation, but as you know the budget situation is only going in one direction. But I’m sure officers have heard what you have said and it is something that can be considered.