Agenda, decisions and minutes

Members of the South Chichester County Local Committee are Jamie Fitzjohn, Louise Goldsmith, Jeremy Hunt, Pieter Montyn, Simon Oakley, Mike Magill and Carol Purnell.

This meeting was originally due to consider a Traffic Regulation Order proposal for changes to vehicle movements at the A27/Oving Road junction. This was consulted upon by the County Council as it was assumed part of the affected road is within the Council’s control as highway authority. It later became clear that all of the affected road space is controlled by Highways England. The Council’s plans for Traffic Regulation Order were therefore withdrawn.

30.1 The Chairman welcomed everyone to the meeting. Members and Officers introduced themselves.

30.2 The Chairman introduced Matt Davey, Director of Highways Transport and Planning, and asked him to bring the Members up to provide and explanation of future steps. Matt Davey advised that:

“As a highway authority there are certain checks we should be doing to determine who has control and, in this case, that check was not completed and for that we apologise. This is an uncommon error which was not spotted early on and we therefore now have had no choice but to withdraw. We do not currently know the timeline for the Highways England consultation period, but as soon as a date is known it will be advertised.”

Members of the Committee stated that this explanation highlighted the complexity the Council faced, and when the consultation opens with Highways England, hoped that the county council would respond to the consultation.”

Members and officers must declare any pecuniary or personal interest in any business on the agenda. They should also make declarations at any stage such an interest becomes apparent during the meeting. Consideration should be given to leaving the meeting if the nature of the interest warrants it. If in doubt contact Democratic Services before the meeting.

It is recorded in the register of interests that:

·      Mr Fitzjohn is a Substitute Member of the Chichester Harbour Conservancy

·      Ms Goldsmith is a Member of the Chichester Harbour Conservancy

·      Mr Hunt is a member of the Chichester Harbour Conservancy, Goodwood Aerodrome Consultative Committee, Goodwood Education Trust and the Goodwood Motor Circuit Consultative Committee

·      Mr Montyn is a member of the Chichester Harbour Conservancy and the Goodwood Aerodrome Consultative Committee

·      Mr Oakley is a member of Chichester District Council and Tangmere Parish Council

·      Mrs Purnell is a member of Selsey Town Council and Chichester District Council.

These interests only need to be declared at the meeting if there is an agenda item to which they relate.

31.1 Mr Pieter Montyn declared an interest in Agenda Item 6; the Experimental Traffic Regulation Order for West Wittering falls within his division.

31.2 Members noted the list of their relevant interests on the agenda.

To confirm the minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on Tuesday 5 November 2020 (cream paper).

32.1   Resolved – That the minutes of the meeting held on 05 November  be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

32.2   Mr Jeremy Hunt questioned if there had been a response from the Cabinet Member Highways & Infrastructure in relation to Minute number 22.7, the Democratic Services Officer confirmed that there had and it would be attached to the next Progress Statement.

Items not on the agenda that the Chairman of the meeting is of the opinion should be considered as a matter of urgency because of special circumstances.

33.1   None arising.

Information Report attached that details the outcomes of the 2019 Community Highway Scheme applications and assessments.

30.1 Chris Dye, Area Highways Manager, introduced the information report that highlighted Community Highway Schemes submitted in 2019.

Appendix A highlighted schemes for progressions and Appendix B identified those that did not meet the criteria and would therefore not progress as Community Highway Schemes. Mr Dye did state that some of those in Appendix B may be able to progress under other schemes and he would keep Members updated if that was the case.

The Committee to receive an update on the experimental Traffic Regulation Order from Chris Dye, Area Highways Manager, in relation to the attached.

35.1   The Committee received an update on the experimental Traffic Regulation Order from Chris Dye, Area Highways Manager, in relation to the continued use for the remainder of the original agreed time limit and the following comments were made:

- Highways would like to utilise the remainder of the agreed experimental Traffic Regulation order to gather more intelligence for lessons learnt.

- There were good representations made during the previous consultation period, some negative towards the proposals but mostly positive comments were received.

- The Chairman asked what the expectation time period is for it to return to a County Local Committee again for consideration. Chris Dye responded that he was unable to confirm this as yet, but he will be working to keep the Committee as up to date on progress as possible.

35.2   The Committee noted the update.

An update from Peter Lawrence, Partnership Area Manager (South) on the work completed by the Communities Team since the last meeting of the County Local Committee, as attached.

33.1 The Committee received a written update from Peter Lawrence, Communities Area Manager to provide an update on community-based projects that had been delivered in the local area.

33.2 The update detailed a project that the team had been focused on arranging and delivering around community drop in events. These were being delivered in partnership with various local organisations and were run as informal sessions where residents can access information and advice on a variety of issues aimed at helping them stay safe, well and independent. Nurses from the Prevention Team would be able to do blood pressure checks and give other health advice.

33.3   The Committee noted the update.

To invite questions from the public present at the meeting on subjects other than those on the agenda.  The Committee would encourage members of the public with more complex issues to submit their question before the meeting to allow a substantive answer to be given.

37.1   The Chairman introduced the item and advised that the open forum was an opportunity for comments and questions to be raised on items not already on the agenda, and over which the County Council has  jurisdiction. The following issues were raised, and responses made.

37.2   There was 1 questions sent in advance as follows:

Ms Polly Gaskins sent in a question in advance with the following: Would West Sussex County Council agree to investigate working with BID (Business Improvement District, Chichester) and our public transport providers to introduce a trial price reduction scheme to encourage commuter and leisure travel into the Chichester area, with a view to boosting visitor numbers, the local economy and improving the uptake of sustainable transport? Mr Bill Leath, Transport Bureau Manager, responded in advance: We would of course be happy to discuss this with the business community, local councils and bus companies.  There are already some products that could be of use with further promotion.  The business case would have to stack up for the commercial providers to take any risk to revenue, but they have worked with us on such things in the past.  In addition, we have worked and continue to work with key employers such as the University and Western Sussex Hospitals Trust and the bus companies to look at how public transport can be delivered and promoted.  The U7/8 service that runs between Bognor and the sites is a very good example.

37.3     There were 3 questions asked at the meeting:

A Petition for the Bognor Road Crossing was handed to the committee and received by Jenna Barnard, Democratic Services Officer.

The following comments were made:
- The Chairman asked if there was scope to widen the pavement at the required locations for a crossing to be possible. Chris Dye, Area Highways Manager, agreed to look at the various options and report back to the Committee.

-  Cllr Jamie Fitzjohn stated that he wholly supports the scheme for a crossing at the location and will do everything he can to investigate the different options including the widening of pavements and speaking to land owners.

Ms Lade Barker, Parish Councillor for Westbourne attended to express concerns on behalf of her residents surrounding the recent changes at Havant Amenity Tip (Hampshire residents only and charges) mean residents of the Bourne area now have to drive all the way to Westhampnett, which for some of the older residents is a concern. The Chairman responded: Sadly this is Hampshire’s decision, but that there are currently talks in process with Hampshire & Surrey to work with West Sussex to reciprocate the services for those living on the borders, but would all come down to charges.

Roger England asked a question regarding the Oving Crossroads consultation, he asked Matt Davey, Director of Highways, Transport and Planning if West Sussex County Council will be passing responses to Highways England as part of their consultation. Matt Davey responded that the Highways and Legal teams would need to check  ...  view the full minutes text for item 37.

The Committee to receive an update on the Parking Management Plan.

38.1   Michael Horton, Parking Strategy Team, gave the committee the following update:

The advert for the legal Traffic Regulation Order (TRO) for the Parking Management Plan (PMP) appeared in the Chichester Observer newspaper, on Thursday 13February 2020.  This commenced the statutory 21-day objection period, which ended on 5 March 2020. A range of options have been used to publicise the proposals as follows:

The newspaper advert – which is a statutory (legal) requirement

A new webpage at www.westsussex.gov.uk/chiparkingplantro which includes links to the TRO documents and a bespoke map tile ‘browser’ to enable viewing/download of the 90 map tiles covering the extent of the PMP.

A press release, social media news feeds, facebook advertising, a banner on the West Sussex County Council’s website front page.

Documents and plans available at Chichester library and Chichester District Council’s (CDC) office at East Pallant House.

Approximately 500 on-street public notices.

A4 posters – at key sites including CDC car parks and around County Hall.

Emails to Stakeholders (CDC, Parishes, Residents Associations, St Richard’s Hospital, Chichester College, Chichester University & Schools.)

To date, there had been about 1,000 formal responses to the proposals received, either through the online comments form, or by direct email to the Traffic Regulation Order team.  Other enquiries have also been received through the parking team or customer contact centre; all of those have been answered as much as possible but also advised to log any formal comments through the online form or via the TRO team email.

The parking team will be assessing, commenting upon, and ultimately summarising all of those formal responses in its report to the Cabinet Member for Highways and Infrastructure as soon as practicable after 5^th March.  This is likely to be in late April / early May.  Arrangements are in hand to discuss this in more depth with both CLC members and the Cabinet Member in due course.

If the Cabinet Member decides to go ahead, then implementation could commence in the summer of 2020, along with applications for residents’ permits.  The latter would be monitored to enable decisions on whether to sell permits to non-residents in particular zones, where there is believed to be spare capacity, and/or also restrict those permits to only park in certain roads within the zones.  This is partly to address concerns about the availability of parking space in areas where residents parking needs are greatest, to help ameliorate any general displacement of non-residents’ vehicles into any uncontrolled areas, and also to try and accommodate parking by workers whose employment base is located within particular zones, and have no suitable alternative to on-street parking.

Subject to all of that being completed, and also the successful recruitment and training of additional Civil Enforcement Officers (under the auspices of CDC), the scheme could become operational around December 2020.

The proposals are available at  www.westsussex.gov.uk/chiparkingplantro, including a link to the comments form.

38.2  The following questions, comments & concerns were raised:

Mr Neil Smith, Summersdale Resident, stated  ...  view the full minutes text for item 38.

Report by the Director of Law and Assurance.

The report summarises the Community Initiative Funding applications received.  The Committee is invited to consider the applications and pledge funding if appropriate.

The Community Initiative Fund is a County Local Committee (CLC) administered fund that provides assistance to local community projects.  Bids should show evidence of projects that have the support of the community and make a positive impact on people’s wellbeing and support The West Sussex Plan.

At its meeting on 03 March 2020 the South Chichester County Local Committee considered the Community Initiative Funding applications received via the West Sussex Crowd as set out in Appendix A.

The following funding was approved: -

463/SC - Stonepillow, ‘A garden at our homeless hostel’, £727.50 – for improving the garden in forming a gardening group for the hostel’s residents.

468/SC – UK Harvest, ‘Food storage shed’, £674.00 – for purchasing a food storage shed for the organisation.

495/SC – Bosham Parish Council, ‘Bosham Daily Mile Track’, up to £1250.00 – towards the cost of laying a mile long running track.

496/SC – CAOS Musical Productions, ‘CAOS festival performance’, up to £500.00 – towards the cost of costumes and props.

497/SC – Ovation Festival, a place to perform, up to £1000.00 – towards the cost of equipment for the festival.

498/SC – Fishbourne Bowling Club, ‘Renewing Fishbourne Bowling Club’s ditch mats’, up to £700.00 – towards the cost of new equipment.

503/SC – Fishbourne Playing Field Association, ‘Carbon-free Fishbourne Centre’, up to £1,086.21 – towards improving the centre’s lighting efficiency by replacing 170 bulbs with LED.

The following pledges were deferred:

467/SC – The Academy of Gym, ‘Please help mat our gymnastics club!, £6,599.00 – towards purchasing and fitting extra safety matting to help widen the club’s member participation. The Committee has deferred this project to the next South Chichester County Local Committee meeting, in June 2020, pending further information surrounding Company and Financial status.

The call-in deadline for this decision is 11 March 2020.

26.1 The Community Initiative Fund is a County Local Committee (CLC) administered fund that provides assistance to local community projects. Bids should show evidence of projects that have the support of the community and make a positive impact on people’s wellbeing and support The West Sussex Plan.

26.2 At its meeting on 03 March the South Chichester County Local Committee considered the Community Initiative Funding applications received via the West Sussex Crowd as set out in Appendix A.

(a)The following pledges were approved:

463/SC - Stonepillow, ‘A garden at our homeless hostel’, £727.50 – for improving the garden in forming a gardening group for the hostel’s residents.

468/SC – UK Harvest, ‘Food storage shed’, £674.00 – for purchasing a food storage shed for the organisation.

495/SC – Bosham Parish Council, ‘Bosham Daily Mile Track’, up to £1250.00 – towards the cost of laying a mile long running track.

496/SC – CAOS Musical Productions, ‘CAOS festival performance’, up to £500.00 – towards the cost of costumes and props.

497/SC – Ovation Festival, a place to perform, up to £1000.00 – towards the cost of equipment for the festival.

498/SC – Fishbourne Bowling Club, ‘Renewing Fishbourne Bowling Club’s ditch mats’, up to £700.00 – towards the cost of new equipment.

503/SC – Fishbourne Playing Field Association, ‘Carbon-free Fishbourne Centre’, up to £1,086.21 – towards improving the centre’s lighting efficiency by replacing 170 bulbs with LED.

The following pledges were deferred:

467/SC – The Academy of Gym, ‘Please help mat our gymnastics club!, £6,599.00 – towards purchasing and fitting extra safety matting to help widen the club’s member participation. The Committee has deferred this project to the next South Chichester County Local Committee meeting, in June 2020, pending further information surrounding Company and Financial status.

•     Parking Management Plan update

•     Community Team presentation

•     Growth update

•     Chichester City Northern Gateway

40.1   The Chairman referred the members to the list of items that were proposed for the next meeting.

·       Parking Management Plan update

·       Community Team presentation

·       Growth update

·       Chichester City Northern Gateway

The next meeting of the Committee will take place at 7.00 pm on Monday 15 June 2020 in Committee Room 3, County Hall, West Street, Chichester, PO19 1RQ.

Members wishing to place an item on the agenda should notify Jenna Barnard via email: jenna.barnard@westsussex.gov.uk or phone on 033 022 24525.

41.1   The Committee noted that the next meeting would take place on Monday 15 June 2020 at County Hall, Chichester.