Agenda and minutes

To approve the minutes of the meeting held on 7 July 2021 as an accurate record.

The minutes of the meeting held on 7 July 2021 were agreed as an accurate record.

Members and co-opted Members of the Council are reminded that, in accordance with the Council’s Code of Conduct and the statutory provisions of the Localism Act, they are required to consider in advance of each meeting whether they have a disclosable pecuniary interest (DPI), an other registrable interest (ORI) or a non-registrable interest (NRI) in relation to any matter on the agenda.  If advice is needed, Members should contact the Monitoring Officer in good time before the meeting.  

If any Member or co-opted Member of the Council identifies a DPI or ORI which they have not already registered on the Council’s register of interests or which requires updating, they should complete the disclosure form which can be obtained from Democratic Services at any time, copies of which will be available at the meeting for return to the Monitoring Officer.

Members and co-opted Members are required to disclose any DPIs and ORIs at the meeting.  

-       Where the matter relates to a DPI they may not participate in any discussion or vote on the matter and must not stay in the meeting unless granted a dispensation.  

-       Where the matter relates to an ORI they may not vote on the matter unless granted a dispensation.   

-       Where a Member or co-opted Member has an NRI which directly relates to their financial interest or wellbeing, or that of a relative or close associate, they must disclose the interest at the meeting, may not take part in any discussion or vote on the matter and must not stay in the meeting unless granted a dispensation.  Where a matter affects the NRI of a Member or co-opted Member, section 9 of Appendix B of the Code of Conduct sets out the test which must be applied by the Member to decide whether disclosure is required.

The Chair will invite Members to make their disclosure orally at the commencement of Agenda item 3, to be recorded in the minutes.

There were none.

To receive notice of any business not on the agenda which in the opinion of the Chair, by reason of special circumstances, be considered as a matter of urgency.

There were no items of urgent business.

The report makes recommendations regarding the future seven Temporary Low Traffic Neighbourhoods (LTNs) that were implemented in response to the Covid-19 Pandemic, the Statutory Guidance issued by the Secretary of State for Transport and calls to address the speed and volume of traffic in certain local access streets/unclassified roads.

The Head of Strategic Transport, Ian Plowright, introduced the Report and spoke to a Presentation on the Croydon Healthy Neighbourhoods (CHN) Proposals. He outlined the following:

·       In parallel to the COP26 goals, the International Transport Forum was echoing that carbon emissions from transport should be addressed.

·       It was children and young people that were most affected by emissions and would benefit most from the implementation of the CHN proposals. Statements from the Climate Change Youth Conference called to hold decision-makers to account.

·       Cabinet had previously considered the report of the Croydon Climate Crisis Commission, which included a recommendation to implement Low Traffic Neighbourhoods (LTNs). The Cabinet agreement of the recommendations included caveats in relation to overcoming the issues that arose when initially implementing LTNs in Croydon and across London.

·       There was 129,000 tonnes of CO₂ emitted from vehicles on minor roads in Croydon in 2018. A large CO₂ reduction needed to be achieved in London  to achieve national binding legal commitments.

·       In 2018 the Croydon Cycle Strategy was developed during the council’s third Local Implementation Plan (LIP) in relation to the Mayor’s Transport Strategy. Within the Cycling Strategy, reasons were set out as to why the council desired to pursue and encourage people to cycle, which additionally broadly covered the benefits to walking. Benefits of which ndid to only cover the individual health of a person, but savings to the NHS services.

·       The recommendations for CHNs were part of a far wider programme of measures agreed by Cabinet in the Local Implementation Plan on 26 July 2021.

·       Questions had been raised nationally about LTNs which the government had sought to address in its ‘one year on’ update on the walking an cycling plan for England.

Ø  Research of LTNs recently undertook found that in relation to concerns over displacement in traffic, that there had been increases on some boundary roads however on the majority of traffic flow had fallen.

Ø  Responding to claims that LTNs caused worse air quality in areas which already suffered as a result of displacement, in recent years the Nitrous Oxide levels in London had improved. Other measures introduced by the Mayor, such as the strengthening and expansion of Low Emission Zones (LEZs) and Ultra Low Emission Zones (ULEZ), air quality levels were expected to further improve.

Ø  In response to claims that local government funding was at risk if they were to not implement the government’s active travel priorities, it should be noted that during the summer there were high profile cases of six London local authorities who had their funding withheld. These were pending discussion with Transport for London (TfL) as to their progression and implementation agenda, however those outcomes were not publicised.

The Head of Strategic Transport told the Advisory Committee that the officers recommendations outlined in the report were to cautiously replace the temporary LTNs into time limited Experimental CHNs. He explained this was in order to engage further with residents and gather clear evidence to the effectiveness of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4/20

The following motion is to be moved and seconded where it is proposed to exclude the press and public from the remainder of a meeting:

“That, under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act, 1972, the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information falling within those paragraphs indicated in Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972, as amended.”

This was not required.