Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Mike Botting and Councillor Keith Onslow attended as substitute.  

There were no declarations of interest.

Questions must relate specifically to reports on the agenda and should be received within two working days of the normal publication date of the agenda.  Please ensure that questions are received by the Democratic Services Team by 5pm on Monday 11^th July 2022.

Questions had been received for oral and written response. These are attached as appendices to the minutes.

The Portfolio Holder for Transport, Highways and Road Safety commenced by making the following statement:

‘The premise of the ‘Call ins’ and the questions is incorrect, School Streets are not ending and remain one option as the Council continues to support active travel and road safety outside our schools. Whilst not being actively promoted, each application will continue to be assessed on its merits.

By their nature, most primary schools recruit from a relatively small catchment area. In most cases children live within walking distance and this is the primary form of active travel in School Travel Plans. Some faith schools and those in rural areas have wider catchment areas and therefore these children may have to travel by public transport or in some cases by car. Children in years five and six are encouraged, wherever possible, to walk to school without parental support to develop their independence and confidence and prepare for transition to secondary education.

Every school in Bromley is encouraged to produce a Travel Plan and the Council's School Travel Team assists each school to ensure that their plan is tailored to the school's circumstances. In 2019, when the last accreditation  took place, Bromley had amongst the highest number of gold or silver accreditations, for increases in the number of children walking to school. TfL is currently conducting a fresh accreditation. Changes in the way children travel to school are measured and this allows the Council to determine the efficiency and effectiveness of the various measures used to promote active travel in the Borough.

There are several measures available to the Council to promote active school travel, School Streets being one of them. The cost benefit of each measure must be considered, along with the resource implications. The Council supports an anti-idling campaign for schools; cycle and scooter training; active travel campaigns to support walking, scooting, and cycling; road safety education and the introduction of pedestrian crossing facilities on routes to school; the Junior Travel Ambassadors Scheme; as well as supporting school crossing patrols at schools that want them.

The Council does not support the introduction of  ANPR cameras. Each camera costs around £25,000 with annual running costs of £5000 a year. Enquiries with other councils has not produced any evidence that enough PCNs would be issued to pay for their cost. For a school with two cameras, 1000 PCNs would have to be issued to match the cost of the cameras and in any event it is not the purpose of such cameras to be used for income generation. Income from PCNs is not ring fenced and is subsumed in the general Council income. Even if the revenue generated were ring fenced to the School Travel budget, the expenditure of an average of two cameras per School Street at £60,000 for around 90 minutes a day for 190 school days a year would be poor value for money.

School Streets at some schools help in the promotion of active travel but they are not a panacea  ...  view the full minutes text for item 201.