Agenda and minutes

Petition Hearing - Cabinet Member for Public Safety & Transport - Wednesday, 5th May, 2021 7.00 pm

Venue: VIRTUAL - Live on the Council's YouTube channel: Hillingdon London. View directions

Items
No. Item

1.

Declarations of Interest in matters coming before this meeting

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest.

 

2.

To confirm that the business of the meeting will take place in public

Minutes:

It was confirmed that all items of business would be considered in public.

 

3.

To consider the report of the officers on the following petitions received

4.

ST. JOHN'S ROAD, UXBRIDGE - PETITION TO IMPROVE ROAD SAFETY DUE TO HGV LEVELS pdf icon PDF 566 KB

Minutes:

The Cabinet Member considered a petition from residents requesting safety measures on St John’s Road, Uxbridge. The lead petitioner attended and made the following points:

 

  • Primary concerns related to the volume and speed of Heavy Goods Vehicles (HGVs) using St John’s Road;
  • The time at which residents had experienced disturbance from HGVs ranged from as early as 5am and as late as midnight;
  • The lead petitioner conducted their own count of HGVs on St John’s Road over a two hour period in April 2021. The count averaged one HGV per minute;
  • With regards to safety, it was stated that the road was not built to sustain the current levels of HGV use;
  • The narrow road and pavement led to instances whereby residents felt unsafe walking alongside the road, particularly with children attending the nursery and primary schools on St John’s Road;
  • Debris from skips mounted onto the back of HGVs was known to spill onto the road and pavement. Further to this, an incident occurred where a HGV had lost control and tipped onto its side and crushed a bus stop;
  • Residents had experienced damage to property in the form of cracks seen to be attributed to the vibrations caused by the frequently passing HGVs;
  • Further concerns were raised as to the air and noise pollution caused by the level of HGV traffic on the road;

 

Councillor Burrows was also in attendance as Ward Councillor for Uxbridge South, he made a number of points including:

 

·       The Ward Councillor commended and supported petitioners in bringing the issue before the Cabinet Member and providing their insight as to the situation on St John’s Road;

·       It was acknowledged that there were industrial estates in the vicinity which were serviced by St John’s Road, mainly due to the weight limit on the canal bridge on Cowley Mill Road. Further to this, it was highlighted that as Covid-19 related restrictions were lifted, it was likely that traffic volumes could increase;

·       Recommendation two of the officer’s report was highlighted and Cllr Burrows expressed his support for a traffic survey to take place. The previous survey had taken place in 2018 and new survey data was seen as beneficial;

·       Cllr Burrows requested that the Cabinet Member consider investigating the actions that the Council could possibly take with regard to potential breaches of operating times by the HGV users;

·       A further request was made to assess the condition of the road and pavement as highlighted in the petition. To that end, the Ward Councillor suggested both the pavements and road on St John’s Road be added to a resurfacing programme

 

The Cabinet Member thanked the petitioner and the Ward Councillor for their comments and for highlighting the concerns experienced by residents. The Cabinet Member also noted the prevalence of industrial estates nearby to St John’s Road and highlighted the need for vehicles, including HGVs, to require access to those sites; the aim was to accommodate both residents’ needs and wellbeing, and the businesses that operate in the local  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

5.

HORNBILL CLOSE, UXBRIDGE - PETITION REQUESTING THE INTRODUCTION OF A RESIDENTS' PERMIT PARKING SCHEME pdf icon PDF 88 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The lead petitioner addressed the Cabinet Member and raised a number of points, including the following:

 

·       The lead petitioner firstly highlighted that Hornbill Close was the only residential street in the vicinity, industrial and retail buildings filled the majority of the area;

·       Workers from the industrial sites were using Hornbill Close for parking to the extent that residents of the street were struggling to park their vehicles;

·       When residents had raised concerns directly to people parking on the road, they had experienced hostile and anti-social behaviour;

·       Taxis and minicabs often used the road to wait for fares and on numerous occasions had parked on the double yellow lines; pictures of this were submitted along with the petition;

·       An issue that had been exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic was that supermarket delivery vans had been unable to safely use the road for deliveries; some residents of the street had been shielding and relied upon deliveries of this nature;

·       There was not enough parking on Hornbill Close to accommodate residents and people working at the nearby industrial and retail buildings which was why the petitioners were requesting the introduction of a residents’ permit parking scheme.

 

Councillor Chamdal, Ward Councillor for Brunel, was also in attendance and made a number of points including:

 

  • This was an ongoing issue, businesses and workers at the nearby industrial buildings had been parking on Hornbill Close for a long time; a similar petition had been raised in April 2020 to that effect;
  • The problem was at its worst from Mondays to Fridays;
  • The on-street parking provided on Hornbill Close would be appropriate for residents should it not be over-used by workers during the week. The people attending the industrial buildings for work should be using the sites for parking, not a nearby residential street;
  • The Ward Councillor would be in favour of consulting with residents of Hornbill Close as to the type of parking scheme that could be applied.

 

The Cabinet Member highlighted two key aspects to the petition, the parking issue at hand and the anti-social behaviour experienced by residents. It was noted that, in a number of instances across the Borough, the two aspects came hand in hand and a productive dialogue between the Council and private companies about the behaviour of workers who may be using residential roads for parking purposes could be opened up to facilitate a more respectful environment. Councillor Chamdal noted that he had previously spoken to local businesses about the issue and the response had been that the companies were not violating any parking arrangements. Officers were interested in understanding the balance between taxis and workers from the industrial buildings in terms of the non-residential use of parking on Hornbill Close.

 

The lead petitioner confirmed that the parking issue mainly presented itself on weekdays up to around 5:30pm. Officers highlighted that, upon first inspection, Hornbill Close would be an ideal candidate for a fairly new style of Parking Management Scheme entitled ‘Resident Permit Parking Past This Point’. This would simplify  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.