Agenda item

Transport - Strategy for Slough

Minutes:

The Head of Transport and Highways, Savio DeCruz, introduced a report that summarised the problems of traffic growth and congestion, and detailed the actions the Council was taking to address these issues.

 

The transport strategy to tackle congestion and promote modal shift as set out in successive Local Transport Plans was noted.  However, with significant major traffic flows into and out of Slough on a daily basis it was recognised that there were delays and congestion at peak periods.  The Council had successfully attracted funding from the Department for Transport and the Local Enterprise Partnership to deliver a package of public transport and highway improvement schemes including the Bike Hire Scheme, A355 and A332 widening and the SMaRT bus scheme.  The Council planned a number of further measures to tackle congestion and was developing a Transport Vision as part of the Local Plan review to seek to accommodate the forecast increase in population and economic growth in Slough.

 

Members discussed what more could be done to improve school bus services.  Mr DeCruz highlighted that the dynamic school population and the complexity of school governance made it difficult to engage schools, however, the Council was exploring the potential of a pilot scheme with First Bus for school bus services.  Concern was raised about the local transport impacts of new schools opening and expanding in already congested areas such as Bath Road and it was noted that the transport department worked closely with colleagues in education and individual schools to mitigate the traffic problems where possible.  In response to a question about the Bike Hire Scheme it was reported that it currently had more than 1,000 members since it began in 2013 and the number of hire stations had risen from 2 to 10 during this period.  A Member asked for a breakdown of the figures on the number of local residents, commercial users and SBC staff that used the scheme and it was agreed that this information would be circulated to the Committee.

 

The Committee was informed of the establishment of a new Transport Forum to improve engagement and were updated on the progress of several major schemes such as the Copthorne roundabout scheme which was almost complete and the first phase of the Mass Rapid Transport scheme which was due to be finished in February 2017.  Members raised several other specific local transport issues to which Mr DeCruz responded.

 

At the conclusion of the discussion, the Committee noted the report.

 

Resolved –  That the transport and highways service planning to deal with traffic growth and the existing congestion issues in the borough at a strategic level be noted.

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