Agenda item

Councillor Peter Money attended the meeting and spoke as a Ward Councillor in support of the petition. 

Concerns and suggestions raised at the meeting included the following:

·         Parking had become a problem for residents and the community at large;

·         Taxis and chauffeur drivers were parking in Longford Village 24/7, preventing residents from parking outside or near their homes.  There had been 1,158 fixed penalty notices issued predominantly to these private hire vehicles in the Village and around 130 in Uxbridge North and Uxbridge South.  It was suggested that stronger enforcement of the public spaces protection order was needed to make these drivers park in the authorised area that had been provided for them.  Furthermore, given the volume of Private Hire Vehicle licences issued by Transport for London each week, a constant stream of information needed to be provided to the licence holders;

·         Airport workers would often park in the Village in the evenings and at weekends and then catch the bus to the airport.  This had become an increasing problem for residents and had affected the trade of the two local public houses, one of which had only 9 customers during one recent Saturday lunchtime;

·         Petitioners requested that parking restrictions be in place from Monday to Sunday and that they be extended to cover a longer period to prevent airport workers from parking there which would help to reduce congestion and ease parking.  However, it would be important that any changes did not have a detrimental impact on the two public houses in the Village;

·         Currently, 37 buses passed through Longford Village every hour (10 x No 81; 10 x No 423; 10 x No 7; 5 x Hotel Hoppas; 2 x BA staff buses).  The Hotel Hoppa buses used the Village as a rat run as they didn’t even pick up passengers there.  It was noted that there had been no consultation by Frist Group with the Council or with residents in relation to routing the No 7 and No 8 buses through the Village;

·         There were chicanes to the east and west of the Village and there had been many problems in the space in between.  There had been a number of accidents where buses travelling in opposite directions had collided with each other, a car had had its open door knocked off by a passing bus and buses had crashed into parked cars.  The petition organiser had asked residents in the community to ensure that they took photographs of any incidents so that a full record could be collated;

·         Residents met regularly with the police to address speeding and the police would stop drivers coming through the no entry route and turn them around.  However, if this was enforced by issuing tickets, it might provide more of a deterrent to those drivers that habitually disobeyed the no entry sign;

·         It was noted that, even though there was a turning point for buses so that they didn’t pass through the no entry sign, they would often ignore it;

·         It was suggested that, although there had been no serious person injuries yet, it was only a matter of time before a resident was badly hurt; and

·         It was suggested that the introduction of a 20mph in the whole area would not be unreasonable and would prevent any confusion.  This would need to be supported by an increase in the presence of anti social behaviour officers, civil enforcement officers and traffic surveys.

Councillor Burrows listened to the concerns of the petitioners and responded to the points raised.  He noted that the police accident data showed four collisions along Bath Road in the last three years but that this information only included incidents with personal injury which did not provide the whole picture.  To provide a fuller picture, the Cabinet Member asked officers to agree locations for traffic surveys with the petitioners and Ward Councillors.  The independent traffic surveys would provide the Council with information about the speed, type, time and direction of vehicles travelling through Longford Village.  This information would then be reported back to Councillor Burrows.  The Transport and Projects Team would then identify possible solutions to any issues that were highlighted which would be shared with Ward Councillors before consulting with residents. 

RESOLVED:  Meeting with the petitioners, the Cabinet Member for Planning, Transportation and Recycling:

1.      listened to the petitioners’ concerns;

2.      noted the various actions set out in the report already taken by the Council to address some of the issues raised by the petitioners;

3.      asked officers to further consider the petitioners’ concerns, taking any further investigation as appropriate, and report back to the Cabinet Member; and

4.      asked officers to undertake traffic surveys at three locations agreed by the petitioners and Ward Councillors and then report back to the Cabinet Member.

Reasons for recommendations

To give the Cabinet Member the opportunity to discuss with the petitioners their concerns and aspirations.

Alternative options considered / risk management

To investigate in further detail the potential to address the petitioners' concerns.