Agenda item

To hear from and ask questions of Councillor Radha Burgess, Deputy Cabinet Member for Low Traffic Southwark in respect of the various aspects of her portfolio area (circulated with the agenda).

This item was considered in conjunction with item 6.

The chair informed the committee that Councillor Catherine Rose, Cabinet Member for Leisure, Environment and Roads would be late joining the meeting due to another commitment, so the committee would hear from Councillor Radha Burgess first.

Councillor Radha Burgess, Deputy Cabinet Member for Low Traffic Southwark, provided the committee with an overview of the aims and approach of Low Traffic Southwark and what was hoped to be achieved. Councillor Burgess explained that Low Traffic Southwark was about creating clean air for everybody in the borough, a sustainable borough, healthy lives for all, delivered equitably.

The aim was to improve the health of residents by reducing pollution form traffic and reducing carbon emissions.  Enabling and encouraging healthy active travel.  Reinvigorating high streets and communities, and lowering the number of people killed or seriously injured on roads.  The approach was to locate Low Traffic Southwark in an evolved movement plan so that it was seen to have some strategic importance in what the council was doing.  There was a very strong equities focus, ensuring that the benefits of Low Traffic Southwark was shared by everyone.

Councillor Burgess informed the committee that the council wanted to seek out interventions that created long term sustainable change, and a borough wide whole council approach would be applied, and all levers that were at the council disposal would be used to tackle car dominance.

Councillor Burgess advised that Low Traffic Southwark needed to be aligned very closely with the work being done throughout the council on Southwark Stands Together and the declaration of the Climate Emergency.

Councillor Burgess informed the committee that there was a borough commitment to extend the proportion of highways dedicated to zero carbon uses, car free developments, school and workplace travel plans, including the new council travel plan, 24 hour bus lanes on red routes, school streets, LTNs and low emissions neighbourhoods, pocket parks, a commitment to double cycle hangers, cycle lessons, extending the cycle hire and extending segregated cycle lanes.

Councillor Burgess then highlighted a number of areas that the council might wish to think about doing in the future, but would require further discussion and fleshing out:

·  Making modal shift on estates a priority with continued investment in cycle storage.  Implementing logical and connected segregated cycle routes

·  Focusing on stations as active travel hubs

·  Last mile freight pilots

·  A strategic approach to parking and the kerbside and looking at different uses for the kerbside that aren’t just limited to parking

·  Rapid bus transit and other forms of low carbon public transport

·  Identifying where the council might want to release highways for council housebuilding or something similar.

In terms of execution, Councillor Burgess informed that the council wanted to asses potential interventions according to the Equality framework, Southwark Stands Together and the Climate Emergency.  To consult deeply and properly and communicate with communities so that the council took people with it to make the significant changes.

Councillor Burgess further informed that the council was talking about exploring a needs based model – air quality interventions where air quality is poor, or where there are the greatest health inequalities in the borough.  The council needed to be very much guided by data and evidence, model, benchmark, monitor and evaluate interventions and also to communicate finding in a completely clear and transparent way.

Following Councillor Burgess’s presentation, questions were asked and discussion held around the following:

·  Lessons learnt from the experience of rolling out low traffic neighbourhoods thus far.

·  What the council was doing to reduce its impact through its own actions (e.g its own vehicles and procurement) and also where it was generating traffic on roads.

·  How the council was responding to consultation feedback in respect of poor or wrong signage.

Councillor Catherine Rose, who had now joined meeting responded to the question in relation to lessons learnt and problems with implementation.  She informed the committee that there had been recognition of problems around implementation and signage and learning points around communication.

Councillor Rose highlighted some of the challenges around the implementing of signage including the capacity within the department and contractors to respond to the rollout and scale of new signage required, tackling vandalism and damage that occurs – signs being defaced or taken down, this had an ongoing resource implication as well.

Councillor Rose informed the committee that Fleet renewal was an integral part of the council’s budget programme for the next year, along with benchmarking against leading practice already happening within other London boroughs in relation to large refuse vehicles.

Further questions / discussion was held around the following:

·  Consultation in the context of co-designing neighbourhoods

·  Trade and business traffic on roads

·  Payment for Southwark cycle hangers

·  The role physical changes to side streets will play in the long term plan and the bedding in of the long term plans

·  Addressing longer term impacts of displacement if it occurs

·  Whether equality impact assessments have already been done on some of the measures introduced

·  Ways of measuring whether sufficient traffic evaporation / modal shifts have occurred to offset longer journeys

·  Having an overall model of what a 100% LTN borough might look like (similar to LB Waltham Forest)

·  Road closures and impact on businesses – support for businesses

·  Communicating on residents parking permits process indication of climate emergency for awareness raising purposes

·  Council’s actions on improving access to green spaces