Agenda and minutes

As the Chair of the Committee, Cllr Price had sent her apologies, the Committee was required to elect a Chair for the meeting.  Cllr Coles was proposed, seconded and duly elected.

RECOMMENDED:             that Cllr Coles be elected Chair for the meeting,

To receive and consider apologies for absence.

Apologies for their absence were received from Cllrs Price, Constance, King, and Morris.

Members of the public are welcome to attend the meeting.  Any member of the public who so wishes may speak, at this point in the meeting, for a maximum of five minutes on any matter relating to an item on the agenda.

The Committee adjourned to receive public participation from Mr Damian Holland who addressed the Committee about the possibility of having speed bumps installed on Cogges Hill Road.

After his address, the Committee reconvened.

To receive and consider a request from a resident for speed bumps on Cogges Hill Road, Witney.

This item was moved up the agenda with the express permission of the Chair so that the member of the public present could hear the debate.

Members had a lengthy discussion on the possibility of installing speed bumps but funding would be an issue. The County Council could not fund it and may not even be able to fund an assessment.  Mike Wasley was happy to look at it from an engineering point of view. 

Two members pointed out that if the speed limit though the town was reduced to 20mph this should help.

Odele Parsons reported that the County Council was still in discussions with the developer for the Witney East development and had asked for three crossings along the road so this may help with speed reduction.

It was agreed to add it to the action plan for members to continue to investigate.

RECOMMENDED:             that the possibility of Speedbumps on Cogges Hill Road be looked at further by members.

To receive and consider the minutes of the meeting held on 29 September 2020.

The Committee received and considered the minutes of the meeting held on 29 September 2020.

RECOMMENDED:             that the minutes of the meeting held on 29 September 2020 be agreed as a correct record with the following amendments:

K Hickman and A Lyon are removed from the list of Councillors and Trevor Bayliss to be added to attendees.

To receive and consider the Traffic Advisory Committee Action Plan.

The Committee received and considered the action plan from the last meeting and revised this where required.  This is attached to the minutes.

This is a standing item on the agenda to discuss how the Committee might support the Town Council, which has declared a Climate Emergency.

There was no update for this meeting.

To receive and consider the report of the Principle Officer – Traffic Schemes Area Operations (North) – to follow.

The Committee received and considered a report from the Principal Officer - Traffic Schemes Area Operations (North).  There were updates on the Active Travel Grant, new crossings for West Witney (in addition to the Range Road one) and the crossing at Sainsbury’s.

Odele Parsons explained that the cycle signs that had been painted on the roads around town had been incorrectly placed too near to the kerbs.  She asked the committee if they would like them repositioned correctly or removed altogether.  Mr Croxton commented that all road signs should come from the Traffic Signs Manual and this sign was not included.  After discussion, members felt there was little value in retaining them and agreed that they should be removed.

Cllr Fenton also raised concerns about the new road layout at the Ducklington roundabout, which had been complicated by the entrance to the new Lidl Store and the new hotel and Costa Drive through.  He asked for his concerns to be minuted and the Chair asked that it be added to the action plan.

RESOLVED:          that the report be noted and that the cycle signs be removed.

To receive and consider a report on West Witney Bus Service Allocation from the Town Council’s Independent Transport Representative, Mr David Miles.

The Committee received and considered a report from Mr David Miles, the Town’s Independent Parish Transport Representative.  He had expressed particular concern about money being pooled meaning that Witney may miss out on significant funding for public transport/infrastructure, primarily at the West Witney housing development.  It was agreed to put David Miles in touch with Odele Parsons so that he could have a direct discussion about this with her.

RECOMMENDED:             that the report be noted and that the Town Council puts David Miles in touch with Odele Parsons with particular reference to his concern that the County Council has decided to pool together all the strategic sites in the vicinity of the A40, which may well mean that hundreds of thousands of pounds earmarked specifically for the benefit of Witney could disappear elsewhere.

To receive an update from Oxfordshire County Council on the Department for Transport’s Active Travel Grant.

The Committee received and considered an update on the Active Travel Grant.

RECOMMENDED:             that the report be noted.

Mr Hickman asked if a member of the Oxfordshire Association of the Blind could attend meetings and become a member of the Committee.  Following support from members, the Office Manager advised that it was the association itself which would need to be added to the Committee constitution and it in turn would be free to choose a representative.If the association in question could make a formal request to the Town Council, the request and change to the constitution could be added to the next meeting agenda for consideration..

RECOMMENDED:             that the Oxfordshire Association for the Blind writes to the Town Council requesting a seat on the Committee.

The date of the next meeting is 23 March 2021.

The date of the next scheduled meeting was 23 March 2021.