Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from County Councillor P M Beresford, Councillor M J Holloway and Mr R S Walkden (Dover Town Council).

It was noted that Mr C Warriner (Dover Town Council) had been appointed as substitute Member for Mr R S Walkden (Dover Town Council).

To receive any declarations of interest from Members in respect of business to be transacted on the agenda.

There were no declarations of interest made by Members.

To confirm the attached Minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 16 March 2017.

The Minutes of the meeting held on 16 March 2017 were approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

To note the appointments of County Councillor S C Manion as Chairman and District Councillor J S Back as Vice-Chairman for the 2017/18 Council year.  

It was noted that County Councillor S C Manion and Councillor J S Back had been appointed as Chairman and Vice-Chairman respectively of the Dover Joint Transportation Board by their authorities.

To consider the attached report of the Director of Highways and Transportation, Kent County Council.

The Dover District Manager (Kent Highways) presented the Highway Works Programme 2017/18. The report provided an update and summarised the schemes that had been included within the programme for 2017/18.

The report covered the following areas:

·         Footway and Carriageway Improvement Schemes

·         Drainage Repairs & Improvements

·         Street Lighting

·         Transportation and Safety Schemes

·         Developer Funded Works

·         Public Rights Of Way (PROW)

·         Bridge Works

·         Traffic Systems

·         Combined Member Fund

Members thanked the Dover District Manager for the works that had been undertaken as part of the Highways Work Programme.

Mr A Minns advised that the works on the A20 York Street roundabout were not complete as there were still two missing give way signs.

RESOLVED: That report and the identified schemes approved for construction in 2017/18 be noted.

The Chairman advised that in view of the limited time for responses to the consultation on the proposed changes to the Stagecoach bus network in the Dover, Deal and Sandwich areas he felt that it was necessary to add an urgent item of business on the matter to the agenda.

Members expressed concern over the following points:

·         That the length of the consultation was insufficient for most parish councils to organise a response to.

·         That the lack of any proposed timetables meant that it was difficult to fully understand the impact of any changes.

·         Concern over the impact of changes to services on rural communities.

·         The lack of an official notification in respect of the consultation.  

·         That the lack of detail made it difficult to make a meaningful response to the proposals.

Due to the short consultation period, which ran for 2 weeks from Monday 12 June to Monday 26 June 2017, the consensus view was that the Chairman should respond to the consultation expressing the concerns of the Board.

RESOLVED:     That a response to the consultation be sent on behalf of the Board to Stagecoach expressing the following concerns:

(a)          That the consultation period on the proposed changes to the bus network in Dover District be extended until August 2017.

(b)               That more detailed information on the proposed changes be provided as part of the consultation to enable the public and elected representatives to make more meaningful responses to the proposals.

RESOLVED:       That, under Section 100(A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the meeting for the remainder of the business on the grounds that the item to be considered involves the likely discussion of exempt information as defined in paragraphs 1 and 2 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act.

To consider the attached report of the Director of Environment and Corporate Assets.

The Highways and Parking Team Leader presented the report on applications for Disabled Persons’ Parking Bays.

RESOLVED:  That the report be noted and in particular the following actions:

(a)       That Items A and W to Z to remove the disabled persons’ parking bays that were no longer required by the applicants from the highway be noted.

(b)       That it be noted that, subject to no objections being received during the consultation process, Applications B to V be sealed by Kent County Council with a view to the disabled persons’ parking bays being installed thereafter.

(c)       That it be noted that in the event of an objection being received during the consultation process to Applications B to V, the applications in question would be discussed with the Chairman of the Dover Joint Transportation Board for a final decision.