Agenda and minutes

There were no disclosable pecuniary interests.

(a)  To agree the minutes of the meeting held on 9^th December 2024

(b)  Matters Arising

The minutes of the meeting held on 9^th December 2024 were agreed and signed as a true record. There were no matters arising.

Report of the Director of City Services and Commercial

To consider the above petition bearing 102 signatures. The petition is being sponsored by Councillor E Ruane, a Henley Ward Councillor, who has been invited to the meeting for the consideration of this item, along with the Petition Organiser.

The Cabinet Member for City Services considered a report of the Director of City Services and Commercial that responded to a Petition received that related to traffic on Hall Lane, Coventry. Appendices to the report provided the Petition Wording, and a Location Plan.

The petition, that contained 102 signatures, had been sponsored by Councillor E Ruane, a Henley Ward Councillor, and referred to non-emergency vehicles and pedestrian use of an access from the cul-de-sac section of Hall Lane onto the University Hospital Coventry and Warwickshire (UHCW) site. The Petition Sponsor advised that he wanted the issue to be considered at a Cabinet Member for City Services meeting.

To understand the scale, extent and impact of the use of the access on residents of Hall Lane and neighbouring roads, drone surveys had been undertaken to assess the location and monitor the behaviours of vehicles and pedestrians during peak periods. The surveys confirmed that Hall Lane was a popular pedestrian access point with many arriving/departing Hall Lane by car to be dropped off or picked up. The surveys had also identified a small but consistent number of passenger cars using the emergency vehicle access as an alternative to the main site access on Clifford Bridge Road. 

To address the concerns raised within the Petition several options had been reviewed and considered. These had been balanced against the scale of operations and importance of the hospital site to the city and the services it provided. 

Measures including engaging with UHCW to discourage continued use of the emergency vehicle access by staff and visitors to the hospital, installing a yellow box marking to aid operation of the Hinckley Road/Hall Lane junction and revised signage and lining at the Hinckley Road/Ansty Road/Clifford Bridge Road gyratory to aid the operation of the surrounding road network, were all proposed to assist and address the matters raised within the Petition.

The cost to introduce the changes would be funded from the 2024/25 Traffic Management allocation of the capital funded Local Network Improvement Plan.

Councillor E Ruane and the Petition Organiser spoke in support of the petition, highlighting their concerns, including the following:

·  Residents had experienced difficulties in establishing engagement with UHCW about the issues relating to the non-emergency vehicles use of the access from the cul-de-sac section of Hall Lane

·  The signage for the intended use of the access by emergency vehicles only, was ignored

·  UHCW staff used the access to get onto site more quickly than using the main access with other users

·  UHCW would be aware of the staff using the access through their CCTV and/or staff ID passes

·  There was a lack of enforcement action relating to the access usage

·  The access was in daily use – approx. 100 vehicles per day, including blue light vehicles

·  A request for a copy of the UHCW Green Travel Plan, had not been actioned

·  Need to see a copy of the traffic data collected from drone footage and site visits by Traffic Management Officers, and information relating to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 42.

Report of the Director of City Services and Commercial

The Cabinet Member for City Services considered a report of the Director of City Services and Commercial on the Coventry City Council Street and Roadwork Permit Scheme, following an independent review of the Scheme’s performance. Appendices to the report provided: the Coventry City Council Permit Scheme Year 9 Service Evaluation Report; the Service Priorities Action Plan 2025 – 2027; and an Overview of Proposed Changes to the WaSP Scheme Document.

The Coventry Permit Scheme was the mechanism used by the Council to co-ordinate the effective delivery of road and street works within the city. The overall aim being to minimise disruption and enable essential works to maintain and upgrade the highways network and those assets located within.

The Permit Scheme had been in operation for 9 years and had been largely successful in improving how and when works that could cause disruption and inconvenience to users of the highway, were undertaken.

To ensure that the scheme was operating effectively and continued to meet its original objectives, an independent review of the Scheme’s performance had been undertaken. The report that the review generated was contained in Appendix A to the report.

The report showed that the Scheme had grown significantly since its inception, with both the operating costs and income generated through the scheme having more than doubled since year 1. Whilst the increase in operating costs had raised consistently year on year, the income generated by the Scheme had fluctuated year on year more significantly as programmes of works are rolled out across the city. The impact of an acceleration in work programmes associated with a reduction in network usage during covid could be seen to have contributed to the scheme having generated a small overall surplus over the first 9 years of operation. Whilst the Scheme had generated a surplus it was noted that there would be a need to closely monitor operating costs and income generation in future years and adjust permit fee charges accordingly to ensure that the Scheme could continue to operate on a cost neutral basis. Overall, the report showed that the Scheme continued to meet its original objectives and delivers value with a calculated Benefit to Cost Ration of 2.35:1.

Through the report, several recommendations had been made to improve service performance over the next three years and these were set out in Appendix B to the report.

The report also set out the results of a consultation undertaken with stakeholders regarding minor administrative changes to the Permit Scheme which had been necessitated by changes in legislation, including the introduction of the new centralised DfT Street Manager System which replaced the previous Electronic Transfer of Notice (EtoN) System. These changes were intended to keep the Scheme up to date, reflecting new regulations or statutory guidance (particularly the use of new technology requirements) whilst removing reference to old guidance that had been superseded and was summarised in Appendix C of the report.

RESOLVED that the Cabinet Member for City Services:

1)  Endorses the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 43.

Report of the Director of City Services and Commercial

The Cabinet Member for City Services considered a report of the Director of City Services in respect of petitions received relating to the portfolio of the Cabinet Member for City Services and how officers proposed to respond to them.

In June 2015, amendments to the Petitions Scheme, which forms part of the Constitution, were approved in order to provide flexibility and streamline current practice. This change had reduced costs and bureaucracy and improved the service to the public.

These amendments allow for a petition to be dealt with or responded to by letter without being formally presented in a report to a Cabinet Member meeting.

In light of this, at the meeting of the Cabinet Member for Public Services on 15 March 2016, it was approved that a summary of those petitions received which were determined by letter, or where decisions are deferred pending further investigations, be reported to subsequent meetings of the former Cabinet Member for Public Services, now Cabinet Member for City Services, where appropriate, for monitoring and transparency purposes.

Appendix A to the report set out petitions received relating to the portfolio of the Cabinet Member for City Services and how officers propose to respond to them.

RESOLVED that the Cabinet Member for City Services endorses the actions being taken by officers as set out in Section 2 and Appendix A of the report in response to the petitions received.

There are no outstanding issues

There were no outstanding issues.

Any other items of public business which the Cabinet Member decides to take as matters of urgency because of the special circumstances involved

There were no other items of public business.