Agenda and minutes

There were no declarations of interest.

(a)  To agree the minutes of the meeting of the previous Board held on 9

 March, 2016

(b)  Matters Arising

(a)  The minutes of the meeting held on 9 March 2016 were agreed.

(b)  Matters arising

Minute 31 (Flood Risk Management and Drainage Update)

A question was asked in respect of the policy relating to sand bags and what publicity was available to members of the public.  Officers responded that those members of the public who were at risk of flooding were aware of the sand bag policy and publicity was targeted in flood risk areas.

Briefing Note of the Scrutiny Co-ordinator

The Board received a presentation which detailed innovations in traffic management.

Projects that Coventry were currently involved in included:

·  Multi Modal Transport and Ticketing

·  Driverless cars

·  Intelligent Route and Speed Guidance Systems

·  Intelligent Guidance to parking and disabled bays

·  Integrated transport app for assisting people with disabilities.

The presentation included details of the functions of a new Application (App) which would advise users of routes available on public transport, there was a function to pay for the journey using the App and it was linked to the Traffic Control System.  It was anticipated that this would increase reliability, encourage the use of public transport and make paying for journeys easier.  Coventry had been chosen to trial the App and it was EU funded.

Members questioned officers on the innovations detailed in the presentation including the functionality of the parking App in respect of verifying use of bays reserves for people with disabilities.

The projects used data which was already being collected in innovative ways working with a number of partners and agencies and Coventry’s two universities. 

Overall the aims were to reduce congestion on the roads, reduce pollution and assist in moving people either on public or private transport more efficiently.

RESOLVED that the Board note the presentation and the ongoing innovative work in traffic management.

Briefing Note of the Head of Highways

The Board considered a briefing note which provided the Board with information in relation to bus gates and an outline of the new procedures and checklists for implementation.

Five of Coventry’s eight bus gates had enforcement cameras operating at them.  In respect of Park Road, Gosford Street and Warwick Road bus gates, all sets of signs had received DfT approval until 15 December 2015.  Following an issue raised by a member of the public regarding the Park Road bus gate signage, the DfT were asked to revisit their approvals.  However, in the second set of approvals there was a technical mistake made by the DfT which had not been picked up by the City Council (the diagram number the DfT quoted was note the same on the paperwork and the map).  This had meant that between 10 December 2015 and 22 April 2016 there were issues with the bus gate signage at Park Road which were detailed in the briefing note.

There was work ongoing jointly with the Legal and Traffic teams, mapping out their current process which would include a fully transparent checking regime, which would be then subject to internal audit reviewing the draft process.  It was hoped that this would mitigate this re-occurring.  In addition, new processes would be put in place to check the accuracy of DfT approvals so that any errors could be highlighted and rectified at the earliest opportunity.

It was noted that the DfT had fully accepted responsibility for the error and a meeting had been arranged later in the month to discuss the matter further with a view to amicably resolving any outstanding issues and continuing to build a constructive relationship.

RESOLVED that the Board note the contents of the briefing note.

All Outstanding issues are contained in the Work Programme

There were no outstanding issues.

Report of the Scrutiny Co-ordinator

In noting the Work Programme the Board agreed that

·  Fly-tipping and littering be considered at the September meeting.

·  Policy for implementation and future management of residents parking schemes be scheduled for the November meeting.

Any other items of public business which the Chair decides to take as a matter of urgency because of the special circumstances involved.

There were no other items of public business.