Agenda item

·  Hollow Hill Lane Experimental Scheme – referred by the Neighbourhoods & Community Services Scrutiny Panel, 8^th September 2016

(a)  That the Neighbourhoods and Community Services Scrutiny Panel reference on the matter of the decision to close Hollow Hill Lane at Chequers Bridge under an experimental traffic order be noted. The wording of the resolution was as follows:

“The Panel recommend that Cabinet review the experimental scheme as soon as possible, with a view to terminating the closure of Hollow Hill Lane after 3 months (2nd November 2016) provided that Slough Borough Council have compiled sufficient information by this date to make an informed decision on the matter.”

(b)  That the Assistant Director, Assets, Infrastructure and Regeneration be authorised to write to the relevant bodies to highlight the concerns raised by Members and residents of the significant disruption caused by the closure; and in view of this, to seek clarification on the minimum period of closure required under the relevant regulations to obtain sufficiently robust data to develop the mitigation package necessary to address the long term traffic issues.

(c)  That the Cabinet receive a further report on the timescale for the closure of Hollow Hill Lane at its meeting on 17^th October 2016.

The Chair of the Neighbourhoods & Community Services Panel introduced a report arising from the recommendation of the Panel meeting of 8^th September 2016 in relation to the Hollow Hill Lane Experimental Scheme.  After scrutinising the decision made by Officers under delegated powers to close Hollow Hill Lane at Chequers Bridge on 2^nd August 2016 under an experimental traffic order, the Panel made the following recommendation:

“… that Cabinet review the experimental scheme as soon as possible, with a view to terminating the closure of Hollow Hill Lane after 3 months (2nd November 2016) provided that Slough Borough Council have compiled sufficient information by this date to make an informed decision on the matter.”

The NCS Scrutiny Chair explained the reasons for the recommendation, most notably the severe traffic congestion in the vicinity that had generated a negative response from local residents and road users.  Assurance was also sought that the Council was compiling the facts and figures to support the case for a replacement road/bridge if the road was closed in the longer term.  Councillors Coad and Amarpreet Dhaliwal, ward Members for Langley St Mary’s, addressed the Cabinet and highlighted a wide range of problems that residents had raised with them including increased traffic on local routes, pollution, disrupted trade for some local businesses, ineffective communication and fly-tipping.

The Assistant Director Assets, Infrastructure & Regeneration explained the background to, and reasons for, the closure under the Experimental Order.  Whilst the Order lasted for 18 months, it was not intended that the closure would be for this lengthy period.  He explained that with the possibility that the road would be permanently closed in the future, the Council had a duty to residents to understand the wider traffic implications in order to develop and secure the best possible mitigation package from HS2, Network Rail and the Department for Transport (DfT) as appropriate.  The Council would need to follow DfT guidance on the appraisal of schemes to ensure that robust data was compiled to support any proposed mitigation package.  The professional opinion of the Assistant Director was that it would be helpful to have the additional neutral month to gather information on the closure and that Cabinet consider extending the closure to the end of March in order to provide a robust case to the relevant Minister.  The NCS Scrutiny Chair expressed dissatisfaction that his Panel had been informed that the maximum period of closure was six months.

The Cabinet noted the comments of the Scrutiny Panel, ward Members and Councillors Anderson and Swindlehurst speaking under Rule 30.  Commissioners were sympathetic to the concerns raised on behalf of local residents and recognised the disruption that had been caused.  Members considered a number of options to determine the way forward and seek to minimise the disruption.  The Cabinet agreed that it was important to ensure a robust set of data was collected that met the requirements set out in regulations to secure the best possible mitigation package, but that the period of closure should be minimised.  It was therefore proposed and agreed to authorise the Assistant Director Assets, Infrastructure and Regeneration to write to the relevant bodies to seek clarification on the minimum period of time required to collect the necessary data on which to base future decisions on the mitigation package.  An update would be provided to the Cabinet at its next meeting on 17^th October to decide the period of closure.

Resolved –

(a)  That the Neighbourhoods and Community Services Scrutiny Panel reference on the matter of the decision to close Hollow Hill Lane at Chequers Bridge under an experimental traffic order be noted. The wording of the resolution was as follows:

“The Panel recommend that Cabinet review the experimental scheme as soon as possible, with a view to terminating the closure of Hollow Hill Lane after 3 months (2nd November 2016) provided that Slough Borough Council have compiled sufficient information by this date to make an informed decision on the matter.”

(b)  That the Assistant Director, Assets, Infrastructure and Regeneration be authorised to write to the relevant bodies to highlight the concerns raised by Members and residents of the significant disruption caused by the closure; and in view of this, to seek clarification on the minimum period of closure required under the relevant regulations to obtain sufficiently robust data to develop the mitigation package necessary to address the long term traffic issues.

(c)  That the Cabinet receive a further report on the timescale for the closure of Hollow Hill Lane at its meeting on 17^th October 2016.