Meeting documents

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Day and Penfold.

Appointment of Vice-Chairman

Resolved

That Councillor Margaret Phipps be appointed as Vice-Chairman for the meeting, to be ratified by the County Council as Vice-Chairman for the remainder of the year 2017/18, as necessary.

There were no declarations by members of disclosable pecuniary interests under the Code of Conduct.

With reference to minute 5, a general interest was declared by Cllrs Bryan and Phipps in that they had some knowledge of the Bournemouth International Growth (BIG) Programme in their District and Borough Council capacities respectively.  As this was not a disclosable pecuniary interest,  both Cllr Bryan and Phipps remained in the meeting and took part in the debate.

To confirm and sign the minutes of the meeting held on 7 December 2017.

The minutes of the meeting held on 7 December 2017 were confirmed and signed.

To consider a report by the Service Director – Economy.

The application has been made jointly to Bournemouth Borough Council and Dorset County Council in their capacities as the Local Planning Authorities, as the scheme falls within both administrative areas, although only a small proportion of the scheme sits within Dorset County Council’s area. The Committee was being asked to advise  County Council that it supports and endorses the delegation of powers to Bournemouth Borough Council to enable the Borough Council to decide the planning application, within the County Council’s area, for the development of a new road junction and associated works on the A338 Wessex Way, to provide a link to the Wessex Fields Business Park and the Royal Bournemouth Hospital.

A visual presentation explained what the application was about - made jointly by the Borough Council and the County Council - and which showed its delineation, its reasoning, what it was designed to achieve, what benefits it would bring and how it would be implemented. The characteristics of the scheme were drawn to the Committee’s attention and what considerations would need to be assessed as part of the process.

Members understood that the County Council acknowledged corporately, in principle, the necessity for improvements to be made to traffic management across the network in that area and the means by which this should be done and the benefits this would bring. The permission being sought was an important part of a package of proposals funded by the Dorset LEP and partners to promote economic growth along the Bournemouth International Airport Corridor to relieve congestion, improve traffic management and access arrangements to the hospital and the adjoining business park development. This would be particularly necessary in light of the fact that the hospital was to become the principal hospital across Dorset as many more clinical and medical services would be provided there instead of at other local or community hospitals. The substantive part of the application lay within Bournemouth Borough Council’s administrative area, with only a marginal proportion being located within the County’s area - this being within the Borough of Christchurch.

Section 101 of the local Government Act 1972 makes provision to enable one local authority to delegate the discharge of its functions to another local authority. So that there was no duplication of the planning process and to reduce unnecessary risk of any challenge arising from the interpretation and implementation of that process and its procedures by two different two different planning authorities, it was considered pragmatic and practical that the County Council should delegate its powers to Bournemouth Borough Council to determine the application. As ordinarily the Regulatory Committee would have been asked to determine the application in its own right, its views were now being sought on what the process should be.

Clarification was provided that all members were being asked to consider was whether do was decide whether, in the circumstances, it was more practical and appropriate for Bournemouth to determine the application, given the substantive part of the proposal was within Bournemouth. The Committee  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

To consider a report by the Service Director – Highways and Emergency Planning.

The Committee was being asked to decide whether to recommend to Cabinet that they agree to the introduction of a 20 mph zone in Iwerne Minster. Concern had been raised by the local community that the speed of traffic throughout the village was a risk to road safety and, given the characteristics of the village, speeds should be kept below 20 mph to minimise that risk. A petition submitted by Iwerne Minster Parish Council asking for a reduction in the speed limit to 20mph in the village had been discussed by Committee on 12 March 2015 with agreement reached that further investigation should be undertaken between officers and the Parish Council on what progress might be able to be made.

Those investigations - including site visits, traffic flow and speed surveys - showed that the basic criteria for a 20mph zone were met, save for a section of Tower Hill,  but that County Council funding of such a scheme would not be justifiable against other priority schemes. Given this, the Parish Council agreed to raise funds to cover the cost of enabling a 20mph zone to be introduced and it was agreed to proceed with the proposal on that basis. The necessary consultation on the proposed Traffic Regulation Order raised no objections at the primary consultation stage, with the local County Council member, North Dorset District Council, Dorset Police and the Parish Council all supporting what the zone was designed to achieve.  However given that four objections had been received when the proposal was formally advertised, there was now an obligation for the Committee to decide whether the proposals should be recommended to be progressed, as advertised. 

With the aid of a visual presentation, officers explained what the zone was designed to do - in regulating or reducing the speed of vehicles to a level at which drivers could readily meet the general hazards which might expected on the village’s roads. Plans and photographs were shown to the Committee which provided an understanding of the characteristics of the roads throughout the village and their setting and relationship with development and facilities in the village, including where the Clayesmore School art block was situated. More the case, the village lacked any significant footways, with properties fronting the road directly. In being a zone, there would only be a need to sign the three entry points and the zone would not impact on traffic using the main A350 north/south route. 
 
Officer’s explained that the 20 mph Speed Limit Policy allowed parishes to fund such limits, subject to meeting the criteria laid out in the Policy. Officers confirmed that this had been the case in this instance and should proceed as a community funded scheme. The local speed watch team had contributed significantly to gathering the necessary evidence used by officers in their assessment of the scheme.

Whilst there had been no personal accident statistics recorded on roads in the village over the latest available 5 year period, given the number of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

To answer any questions received in writing by the Chief Executive by not later than 10.00am on 29 December 2017.

No questions were asked by members under Standing Order 20(2).