Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors U C Clay, N J Davies and G J Tanner.

In accordance with the Code of Conduct adopted by the City and County of Swansea, the following interests were declared:

 

Councillor V M Evans – Personal – Agenda as a whole – employed by First Great Western.

 

Councillor P Lloyd – Personal – Minute no. 16 – City and County of Swansea Disability Champion.

To approve as a correct record the Minutes of the meeting of the Services Cabinet Advisory Committee held on 22 June 2015.

RESOLVED that the Minutes of the Meeting of the Services Cabinet Advisory Committee held on 22 June, 2015 be accepted as a correct record.

The Chair invited all attendees to introduce themselves.

 

Ben George, Transport Strategy Officer, provided an update in respect of People and Pavements.

 

He stated that the Policy had been adopted by Council in 2011 and had been supplemented with Appendices over time. 

 

He reported that the Policy contained six Appendices, two of which he had   been directly involved.  He stated that the Policy had not been updated since 2011.

 

He referred to the persistent problems in respect of obstruction caused by trade waste wheelie bins and signs on highways such as A-Frames.  He also referred to the issues associated with indiscriminate parking on pavements. 

 

He detailed the areas of work that had been progressed and the need to ensure consistency and co-ordination within Council Departments and for Councils in Wales to adhere to the same set of standards. 

 

The following issues were raised by Representatives of the Access Group and Councillors:

 

·       It was not clear which Officer ‘owns’ the policy within the Council.

·       The Policy is not formally recognised by departments. When asked for which policies the departments reference on various issues, the Pavements for People policy is not cited by Council Officers.

·       The Policy is not detailed enough in terms of its critical thresholds. It would be preferable for the policy to state explicitly what widths are required in respect of obstructions, shared use etc.

·       Lack of Council enforcement.  A-frames are widely used across the City & County of Swansea and are regularly causing an obstruction.

·       It was not clear within the policy how to report faults and infringements.

·       The Police do not enforce against vehicles parking on footways.

 

In response to a question, the Transport Strategy Officer stated that the Policy references within the document are set out at a national level and this is the more appropriate approach because national policy changes from time to time and we would risk our policy being out of date and non-compliant. That said, there were some absolute widths which may be helpful to cite in the appendices to the report (i.e. what is the minimum width, beyond which the footway is considered to be obstructed).

 

A discussion ensued regarding updating the appendices to address the following issues:

 

·       Updates in statutory guidance and requirement;

·       To make explicit within the document how infringements are to be reported;

·       Clarify the Police position on footway parking.

·       Set out some of the critical thresholds such as minimum width for shared use paths, obstruction width for footways, etc.

·       Contact Officers and contact numbers should be made available.

 

AGREED that:

 

a)    The Transport Strategy Officer circulate the latest version of the policy, (adopted by Council in 2011), along with its revised appendices;

b)    Mark Thomas, Group Leader, Traffic, liaise with the Police to provide advice with regards to footway obstructions and report back to the Committee;

c)     Aled Jones, License and Enforcement Officer, to provide report to the Committee regarding:

·       The number of enforcements and site visits as a result of obstructions per year.

·       What powers the Council has to prevent and enforce against obstruction.

·       Provide a policy for the consistent placement of A-frame signs.

·       Are the sign owners explicitly aware that they are liable for injuries caused by their signs?

·       How can infringements and faults be best reported to the Council because the perception is that many of the reports go unattended?

The Chair thanked the Transport Strategy Officer for his informative presentation.

AGREED that the Work Plan 2015-2016 be noted.