Minutes:
Councillor Maney introduced the
report and stated that this was a new exercise to explain the
Department for Transport (DfT) funding
allocation for both the Integrated Transport Block and Maintenance
Block. He stated that the Integrated Transport Block would receive
£971,000 from the DfT, and the
Maintenance Block would receive £1.938million. He added that
it was largely at the Council’s discretion how this funding
was allocated, as long as it was within
Thurrock’s Transport Strategy. He asked Members to note the
Safer Routes to School scheme that had been included in this
report, as lots of work had gone into this. He mentioned
that this was a five-year scheme that
prioritised work for those schools that needed Safer Routes to
School. He summarised and stated that this report
was approved at overview and scrutiny,
and their only statement for Cabinet had been to request an
additional recommendation asking for in-year variations in the
programme to return to Cabinet before approval.
Councillor Watkins started discussions and commented that the Safer
Routes to Schools scheme had been talked
about for some time and felt it was positive to see it come before
Cabinet. He felt that although not all schools could have this
implemented this year, all schools would have the scheme in place
within five years. He stated that it was good to see the highest
priority schools receiving the Safer Routes to School scheme first.
Councillor Maney added that schools with a Travel Plan had also been prioritised as this document helped
the Council, and encouraged all schools to design a Travel
Plan.
The Leader added that this report allowed residents to see the
scoring mechanism behind the Safer Routes to Schools scheme, so
they could understand why some schools had been prioritised over
others, although by the end of the five-year scheme all schools
would be part of the scheme. Councillor Little then asked if new schools being built would
become part of the scheme automatically. The Interim Director Place
replied that as part of negotiations with schools, the Safer Routes
to School scheme would be included as
new schools should have a Travel Plan and S106 agreement.
The Leader asked for an additional recommendation to be added based on the comments from overview and
scrutiny committee, and asked for recommendation 1.2 to be
clarified that this came under Councillor Maney, rather than
Councillor Watkins, remit.
RESOLVED: That Cabinet:
1. Approved the Integrated Transport Block Capital Programme and
the Highway Maintenance Capital Programme for 2019/20 (as detailed
in Appendices 1 and 4)
2. Noted and approved the process by
which the Safer Routes to School and Road Safety Engineering
programme (as detailed in Appendix 2 & 3) is assessed and
prioritised for implementation over the next 5 years through
delegated authority held by the Director of Place, in consultation
with the Cabinet Member for Highways and Transport.
3. Delegated the authority to the Director of Place and the
Director of Environment and Highways, in consultation with the
Cabinet Member for Highways and Transport, to review and make local
changes to these programmes during the course of the year taking
into account local views and priorities.
4. Recommended that any changes made under Recommendation 1.3
will be sent to the relevant Overview
and Scrutiny Committee to note.
Reason for decision: as outlined in the report
This decision is subject to
call-in
Supporting documents: