Our top 5 local transport Big Issues

10.03.13pm BST (GMT +0100) Mon 5th Sep 2005

Stephen Tall and David Rundle armed with our local traffic survey

Transport in the greater Headington area is the subject for the next meeting of the City Council's North East Area Committee on Tuesday, 20th September. Today, my colleague David Rundle and I submitted our list of five Big Issues we think need a public airing, and (hopefully) some straight answers from the County Council's highways officers.

(To read last week's story, 'Bee in your bonnet about Headington's traffic? Let us know…', visit www.stephentall.org.uk/news/155.html)

In no particular order, these are:

1. The new County Council Local Transport Plan - what does this mean for Hamats?

The current County Council Local Transport Plan expires next year, and the County has now published its provisional LTP for 2006-11. The main difference, at its most simplified, is that the current area-based transport plans - such as the Headington & Marston Area Transport Strategy (Hamats) - will finish. Instead, the new LTP will judge all transport schemes against five set criteria. So far as I can make out, this means the de facto demise of Hamats. Now this is not necessarily be a bad thing - Hamats is widely seen to have at best disappointing, and at worst an unmitigated failure. But it's vital that local councillors and residents understand the new LTP process, and that we make damn sure the area's chronic transport problems are tackled better through this new mechanism than they were by the old one.

2. London Road Study: impact on surrounding roads

The London Road Study (see www.stephentall.org.uk/pages/LondonRoadStudy.html) has caused a huge rumpus locally, and understandably so. This is one of the issues the County's highways officers have promised to address at the meeting. However, David and I also want to flag up now the potential problems which traffic calming on the London Road may inflict on surrounding residential streets. We all know that car-drivers will take the quickest, shortest route between A and B if at all possible - no matter if this happens to be a narrow side street not designed for busy 21st century motoring. The County's piss-poor decision to scrap the Stapleton Road Home Zone (see www.stephentall.org.uk/news/148.html) highlights the need to ensure the Council understands the impact on surrounding streets is taken fully into account when deciding on which London Road Study option to choose.

3. Section 106 agreements and their relationship with the LTP

Section 106 agreements are sums of money given to councils to pay for local infrastructure improvements made necessary by a new development. But, as I highlighted recently (see 'LTP v S106: WTF?' at www.stephentall.org.uk/articles/56.html), this is not a simple process. The Area Committee needs to find out how we ensure those schemes which the County advises us are necessary (in order for the City to give planning permission) actually happen once the money is handed over. There seem to be some synaptic gaps in the current system, with monies for approved transport schemes earning interest in the bank - but no work happening on the ground - because the S106 scheme isn't aligned with the County's LTP. This is immensely frustrating for local residents and councillors, who may reluctantly have acceded to a new development thanks to the S106 agreement promised, but then find that, years down the line, there is still no movement.

4. Charges for residents' parking - what's happening?

For years, there has been a latent threat - first issued by the City Council in the late '90s, most recently by the County Council - to introduce charges for residents' parking. This is something which David Rundle and I have consistently opposed, especially as it applies to the Headington area. (See www.stephentall.org.uk/news/43.html for more.) The parking zones in our area have been introduced chiefly as a result of the expansion of the local hospitals - these are health-care facilities benefiting the whole County (and beyond), and Headington bears the brunt of the congestion being caused. The vast majority of residents are understanding of this, and accepting of the need for parking zones to ensure the streets are not clogged with hospital staff and visitors morning, noon and night. But then to charge local residents for the privilege really is rubbing salt into the wound. We want to know whether the Tories on the County have yet decided to introduce these charges regardless of the widespread local opposition to it.

5. Residents' parking zones - what's happening?

Two other things we want to know: (i) what progress the County Council is making in implementing the desperately needed residents' parking zones in the Headington and Marston area; and (ii) what is the timetable for implementing the reviews of the parking zones which the County promised would happen 12 months after the zones in (eg) central and west Headington were introduced?