Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Cllr Susan Erbil (substitute Cllr Sinan Boztas) and Cllr Elif Erbil (Substitute Cllr Kate Anolue). In the absence of Councillor Susan Erbil, the Vice-Chair, Councillor Margaret Greer chaired the meeting

The Panel were reminded of the current Purdah period during the meeting as follows:

“We are now in Purdah and during this heightened period of sensitivity it is important that we ensure that Council resources are not used for political purposes. With this in mind, councillors are reminded that when at Council events or public meetings, councillors must not use that platform for political purposes. If Officers in attendance at the meeting believe this is happening the Chair of the meeting will be informed

Members of the Council are invited to identify any disclosable pecuniary, other pecuniary or non-pecuniary interests relevant to the items on the agenda.

There were no declarations of interest

To agree the minutes of the meeting of this Committee held on the 17 February 2021.

The minutes of the meeting held on 17 February 2021 were agreed

To review the portfolio decision taken on 2 March 2021 as a result of

the matter having been Called-in.

The response to Call in reasons is not attached to the agenda and will be

circulated “to follow”.

The Chair introduced this item and explained the process to be followed in hearing the Call-in. Cllr Maria Alexandrou was welcomed as the Call-In lead and presented reasons for issuing the Call-in.

1.    There will be a negative impact from the proposed yellow lines and a loss of parking spaces.

2.    Loss of on street parking spaces will result in residents parking further away from their properties. This will impact on elderly residents, families with small children and residents with disabilities making simple tasks difficult

3.    The report fails to take into account that it is highly unusual for petitioners and other people’s objections to include an alternative course of action in the detail, for instance alternative routes were proposed such as Barrowwell Green, an extension of the Queens Avenue CPZ to  houses with off street parking nearest Queens Avenue was dismissed as inappropriate. Yet it ignores the fact that the bus stops and yellow lines remove parking options for residents. Free parking for Farm Road residents at Fords Grove carpark and extend the current 45-minute free parking.

4.    The level of opposition from residents, councillors and MP- has not been taken on board. Many households on Farm Road opposed by presenting a petition as did those on Firs Lane. There is also opposition from Station Road, and Hazel Green Close residents. There was an online petition on the 23 December 2020 against the bus route. Residents are incensed that the council delivered just a handful of letters at 10 pm on a Friday night a week before Christmas with a deadline of the 30 December which was later extended to 11 January. Only 9 letters were hand delivered to Bincote Road consulting on the bus route.

5.    The report in paragraph 28 seems more concerned with reputational damage to the council with the Mayor than it does Farm Road residents’ views.

6.    The report does not reflect on the fact that the original consultation on the bus route that requires the stops and yellow lines was carried out two years ago

7.    The trial period for a no waiting experiment in a residential road such as this does not need to be 18 months. It could be six months for 10:30-11:30 hour restriction Monday to Friday on a relatively short stretch of road. The Council claims that this one-hour parking restriction removes the presence of vehicles left long term on the road but ignores the inconvenience that applies to the residents living there. It may allow residents to dominant use of this space outside of the control period but does not offer parking options during this one-hour specific period.

8.    Bus stops: we understand the general point about distances between stops, but this obviously not fixed and as can be seen on any bus route, is subject to a flexible approach. In this case Farm Road does not generally experience high footfall, so the main customers in Farm Road would be expected to be residents of the road, but  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

To note the dates of future meetings as follows:

Business Meetings

Thursday 1 April 2021

Provisional Call-in Meetings

Tuesday 27 April 2021

The date of the next meeting was noted.

Members were asked to respond by tomorrow morning which of the dates suggested they are available for the new Call in