Transport Overview and Scrutiny Committee - Thursday 6 February 2025, 7:30pm

Transport Overview and Scrutiny Committee
Thursday, 6th February 2025 at 7:30pm

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3 Draft Reuse, Recycle and Waste Management Supplementary Planning Document (Paper No. 25-39)

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4 Walking and Cycling Strategy Update (Paper No. 25-40)

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25-40 Report and Appendix

5 Highways Maintenance Programme (Paper No. 24-41)

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6 Budget Monitoring: Quarter 3 (Paper No. 25-42)

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7 Transport: Fees and Charges (Paper No. 25-43)

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you.

Good evening, and welcome to

the meeting of this evening's

Transport overview and scrutiny

committee. This meeting is being

webcast this evening and some

technical difficulties. My name is Councillor Fraser and I'm the Chair of the Transport

Overview and Scrutiny Committee. I'm now going to pass to Councillors to introduce

themselves so I'll start on my left with Councillor Mayorkas and work my way round.

Councillor Mayorkas, Trinity Ward.

Councillor Tiller, Roehampton Board.

Councillor Apps, Shaftesbury and Queenstown Ward.

Good evening. Tony Bolton, Battersea Park Ward.

Councillor Andrew Critchard, Tooting Beck Ward.

Councillor Carol Andrews, St Mary's Ward.

Councillor John Locker, Thamesfield Ward.

Councillor Nick Alston and West Putney Ward.

Councillor Daniel Hamilton, Ballon.

Thank you, Councillors.

Also in attendance this evening, to my left is Councillor Yates, the cabinet member for

Transport and for the first time in a few committees we've got no apologies

this evening so welcome to all councillors. Members are reminded to

ensure your microphone is turned off unless you're speaking. When you

do speak please do state your name and please do bear in mind the committee must

remain quarant. We also have a number of officers present this evening, some who

are regulars to this committee, some for whom this is not their usual committee

so they will introduce themselves when it comes to their papers as well. So

moving to the first item of business on tonight's agenda we have the minutes of

the last Transport Committee meeting which was held on the 19th of November

and please can I accept those meeting minutes as agreed? Great, lovely, thank you

very much and are there any declarations of interest ahead of tonight's meeting?

Okay, very well. Well, thank you, Councillor. So we will now begin the substantive papers

that you'll notice this evening. And for those anyone who is watching, we have split tonight's

committee business into we're starting with strategic planning elements and then moving

on to the Transport Committee business. So first up is agenda item three, the catch the name draft

reuse, recycle and waste management supplementary planning document. So I'm going to pass to officers

Please do introduce yourselves and say a few words before we open up for questions.

Thank you, chair.

Good evening, everyone.

My name is Daniel Goodman.

I'm a principal planner in the council spatial planning team.

This paper relates to a draft reuse, recycling and waste management supplementary planning

document.

The purpose of the document is to give planning applicants and developers guidance on what

the council expects when it comes to waste and refuse and recycling provision within

local developments.

It provides additional guidance over and above what's in the council's local plan, but it

is ultimately there to guide decision makers, whether or not that's offices under delegation

or the planning applications committee, on what applicants should be providing in terms

of waste and recycling provision, and helps to ensure that applications the council receives

are of a higher standard, and that there's less need for negotiation in terms of meeting

the council's expectations.

So the document itself would supersede a document that was prepared and adopted in 2014.

So since 2014, there have been a number of changes to both national and local policy,

including obviously the adoption of the Wandsworth local plan in 2023, as well as the provisions

in the Environment Act 2021, and also some changes in local recycling and waste management

practices.

So it's a good opportunity to update the guidance to make sure it reflects our current expectations

as opposed to those in 2014.

So we are required under regulations to consult on the SPD

before we can adopt it, and we have to consult

for a period of at least four weeks.

So subject to the recommendations set out

in this paper today, Chair, or tonight, Chair,

we would proceed to a statutory consultation

for a period of at least four weeks,

consider the responses we receive

and whether or not they justify any changes to the document,

and then hopefully proceed to adopting it.

And at the point of adoption, it would then become

Material in determining local planning applications. So very happy to take any questions chair, but I'll leave it there for now. Thank you

Thank you very much. I can see council office out of the box and then councilor Belton

Thank you, thank you very much for the introduction

I just wondered so obviously

There've been quite a lot of changes in waste collection over recent times and we're now

we're collecting food waste separately.

But for blocks of flats, that's been quite difficult

and hasn't been introduced yet.

I just wondered if at some stage we were to think

about doing that in future,

is this document sort of future proof?

Because I couldn't really see anything in there

that if we were saying to developers,

when you're developing your bin stores,

wherever they may be, you might need a separate location

for storing food waste and stuff like that.

Or would we have to come back

and potentially just update it.

Thank you, yeah.

So the document does,

well the main thrust of the document is to really try

and ensure that there is suitable space

to enable waste storage,

including the separate storage of recycling streams,

and also suitable access to that space,

Both the collectors and the occupants of the building

So obviously when that the council is committed to rolling out food waste services

And that's becoming a national requirement over the next a couple of years or so

That's an additional space requirement. So this document does require

future developments

To ensure that there is suitable space for the necessary separation of the waste including separate food waste recycling containers

It is trying to build in everything that we know about at the moment, but obviously there

are things in the distant future that we can't plan for, so this is really trying to cater

for the things that we know about.

Thank you.

Councillor Belton.

Good evening, and thank you for the introduction.

I have got a particular interest currently as the chair of the planning applications

Committee and I'd be interested in a series of not terribly difficult questions but related

questions if I may, about half dozen of them I suppose.

The Act that took was 20 -21.

When was it, is it fully implemented in the sense that the ministerial executive functions

that take place after a bill becomes an Act are in place, so is it fully implemented everywhere?

So how many authorities do you know

have actually taken these steps?

Because it obviously takes quite a long time to do this.

Presumably it doesn't apply to,

well, how does it apply, if at all,

to existing buildings?

Because obviously this is to do with

largely new construction.

So there's the issue about older,

developments.

And now all the authorities in the country going through this process, and are we just

one of a batch, or are we right at the front of operating this?

Thank you, Councillor.

So I'll answer, I'll do my best to answer some of the planning questions that you've

asked, and I might pass to Michael just to answer some of the waste policy side of things.

I think from a planning perspective, the documents there are obviously to provide guidance in

terms of how the council will interpret and assess planning applications.

So in a sense, it's separate to how existing buildings are managed.

Of course, there are other parts of the council which will have policy and will be implementing

things in terms of existing buildings, particularly council -owned stock, I suspect.

But this document is specifically for those that come before the council for planning

permission.

So it's not directly aimed at, if you like, retrofitting, to overuse that word, retrofitting

waste into old buildings unless they were to come forward for permission for renewal

or for alteration or extension, et cetera.

So it is really a planning tool in terms of this document.

My understanding in terms of the Environment Act is that it's got a bit of a phased rollout,

so there are provisions within it that are kind of phased in that sense, and there are

and dates and years and things that authorities

need to meet by a certain time, and also certain requirements

or provisions that allow authorities

to implement certain things or not

based on kind of local assessment.

So Michael may be able to provide more detail there,

but certainly I think there are large parts of the Environment

Act that are fully in place and that we know what's coming

of the parts that aren't.

So, if I pass over to Michael now.

Of course, yes.

Just following that up, can I ask you, are the planning officers the ones that deal with

this?

And more particularly, is the documentation ready there for things like pre -application

inquiries and is the documentation there to give to potential applicants now or is that

coming down the line when we've agreed this paper.

Thank you.

So in terms of planning offices, so development management offices, so those offices have

been engaged in the development of this for some time, so for several months now, so they

know what's in this and their feedback has helped shape some of this.

So obviously they have a very practical understanding in terms of how policy is currently implemented

and in terms of negotiations with developers.

So this document is not a surprise to those officers, and they'll have been able to implement

and feed some of that into their work for some time.

In terms of the kind of material weight of the document, it's only really upon its adoption

that we can start using it or start referencing it in terms of decision -making, but there's

no reason why officers wouldn't be using it in a discretionary way before then, particularly,

obviously, if there's a large -scale scheme that's coming forward that it makes sense

that by the time it's built out, this document will have been in place for some time.

So there is a slight discretionary element to that, but certainly from its adoption time,

which we hope would be later this year, it would start being used as a material consideration

referenced in Planning Application Committee reports and in officer reports.

Thanks.

Thank you.

Just to add, so I think the simpler recycling regulations, which contain all the detail

for what we've actually got to do in terms of lifting recycling services up to a national

legislative requirement level.

So the timelines for implementation of those regulations, some of it comes in for most

of it for non -domestic premises comes in from the 31st of March this year.

The domestic premises is the 31st of March 26, and then there's one or two additional

requirements for microfirms and plastic films that come in on the 31st of March 2027.

The waste service has got to, you know, this is requirements for all households and non -municipal

premises producing household, well, no, it's commercial premises as well.

So, yeah, there's a wide range of premises affected by this.

This document is designed to ensure that new developments are designed in a way that accommodates

those requirements.

It doesn't really have any effect on existing premises that aren't submitting new planning

applications.

So it's a problem for the waste service to determine. How can we best retrofit?

For example food waste recycling at existing developments. Sometimes it's going to be easy. Sometimes it's not

All dependent on the space available really

Thank you very much council Kritchard

Thank you

my first question actually is a bit of a follow -up from what you said about the

3 Draft Reuse, Recycle and Waste Management Supplementary Planning Document (Paper No. 25-39)

changes coming through from the 31st of March.

There's at least two of us at this table who are on the governing body of schools.

This probably isn't part of this committee, but

what sort of information are we giving to our schools?

I know it was schools and it was other groups that have to be doing,

that have different targets for recycling?

What's the information?

What are we as a local authority saying to those people

to make sure they're able to meet the target?

Thank you.

Yes, so for non -domestic premises,

the legal requirement actually sits

with the waste producer rather than the council.

So ultimately, it's the school that needs to ensure

that it complies with the new simpler recycling requirements

from the 31st of March this year onwards.

Now, many schools come to us for their existing waste services.

There are plenty of educational establishments covered by this requirement that go elsewhere.

So what we're doing is working closely with colleagues in children's services

to utilise their kind of platforms and channels through to the individual schools

so that they know what our service offering is.

So we're actively engaging with them at the moment.

And yeah, for directly managed schools, there is going to be a free service, but there will

be small charges for independent schools.

Thank you.

Thank you for that one.

Right.

on just a point on page 6 paragraph 15 the target there looks like there's

something not quite right there the target was to decrease household waste

from 260 to 186 kilograms is that per household page 6 paragraph 15 the first

line the first bullet point

I just wondered. No, not the percentage, the amount. It's the one above.

That should read... I'm pretty sure it's the household. There's two possibilities.

One is the household and one is the head of population. I think that is the household.

Would you just be able to...? Yes, certainly. Thanks.

and then what struck me about this is that for any of us who represent areas

where there are flats above shops the reef and also places where the front

door is directly onto the street which occurs in some other places what can we

Obviously, this will only apply if there's a new planning application.

But how do you envisage us being able to make sure those people have proper storage?

Because I think that's one of the big problems we have is people who are living above shops

don't have proper storage and they quite often, they leave their rubbish out when they shouldn't

or they just leave it by the bin.

And also they've got nowhere inside to store it.

So it's smelly and horrible.

I mean, how is that going to help?

And with that, how firm are we going to be?

Because I see that we have the option of dealing with if there's special exceptional circumstances

that we might not apply this policy.

But I would be a bit anxious if we started to have a lot of special exceptional circumstances

is why we didn't apply it. Thank you. So I think Wansworth has a historical legacy of

we think something around 10 ,000 premises, flats above shops, which don't have suitable

storage space at ground level which we can access to collect their waste. And so the

only real option at present is for them to place their waste in sacks on the public pavement

by their own front doors and we will collect it from there.

Now in terms of the, well this document,

you can't comply with the supplementary planning document

for waste and have no space to present your waste

within the, well it's very, very, very restricted

within the document, so I think the only scenario,

let me get this right, yeah, I think, yeah,

I think according to this document

that's under consideration now. If there's an existing precedent with the immediate neighbors

that they already have to present their waste in bags on the street, then there is a possibility

that you might get planning permission proposing the same. But if there is no precedent in the

immediate vicinity, you can't comply with this document and have no space for waste off the street.

So we've got to work out how we retrofit through waste recycling services with the existing legacy of those properties.

But... Sorry, yeah, I think I get it.

So there's a couple of streets, there's at least one in the Tonsleys where the...

You have to present all the front doors go straight out onto the streets, whereas in the...

When you're looking at the shops, actually it isn't quite like they've got a back entrance and other things as well.

Yeah, well, I'm not entirely sure what your point is there, but I think there's a range

of kind of scenarios with flats above shops.

Some do have a little space around the back.

Many of them don't.

And one of the things we've got to do to determine how we're going to provide the weekly food

waste collection services to those properties is to survey them in detail so we know at

each individual one what the best solution is gonna be.

Great, and I think Mr. Charek is gonna say a few words.

Thank you.

If you don't mind, Chair, just beyond the planning issues,

just members, just to say that within the Environment

Committee we're rolling out the Clean Abura Plan Phase Two,

which includes a tackling of this very issue really by

ensuring that there is a greater level of frequency of collection of all waste streams from flats above shops

throughout large stretches of the borough.

And indeed also in some parts of the borough we're placing communal bins at key points as well.

So I get it, that's beyond planning but I thought it might be useful to say that.

No, and thank you, Mr. Chadwick, and thank you to your officers who've actually done

a trial of that in my ward in South Pelham, where we've had that issue and placed some

reallocated parking spaces on two roads to do that.

And that has dramatically decreased the instances of unclean streets that we had each Monday

morning when the bags inevitably were broken into by foxes looking for lots of lovely treats.

So yeah, there are other ways here,

but thank you very much for clarifying.

Were there any, okay, Councilor Austin.

Thank you very much, Chair.

And I just, thank you, indulge me for a second.

I actually do live in a flat above a shop

on the High Street, on Putney High Street.

And it is dreadful.

And so I'm hoping, I'm actually just asking,

maybe we can offline have a conversation

about doing a test area,

because token yard in Thamesfield,

Jones Mews in Thamesfield,

there are four yards and the rubbish doesn't get picked up

because if you leave it on the cobbles in our entranceway,

then the waste people won't pick it up

because it's considered private property.

And if we leave it on the pavement,

occasionally we'll get fined.

And if we don't, then either foxes run into it

or somebody drives over it or it gets thrown about.

Or it's a genuine problem that it's not a,

it's just, it's something we need to, I think,

look at quite deeply because there are a lot of flats and there are also a lot more developments

going on that are going to be above this and looking at it.

I would love to actually have a more in -depth discussion as I've lived there for 15 years

and it's been a problem since day one.

Just following up, I don't think this paper of curiosity has got the better of me.

I go into a lot of blocks of flats and there's been huge advancements in recycling waste

and storage facilities in the blocks.

What I find is inadequate though is actually cycling storage and electric charging points.

They seem to be very inadequate in most new developments.

And I don't know if that paper's coming, if that paper's coming,

but curiosity has just got the better of me.

Sorry, Councillor Belsing, I think we had an officer about to respond.

No I know, I know, but we had a very polite officer who was waiting for you to finish

there.

Thank you, Chair.

I mean, only really to say that obviously this SPD is relating to recycling, reuse and

waste management.

I mean, there's obviously a lot in the local plan around cycling and cycling infrastructure

and the requirements around that.

But I take the point on board totally,

but I think it's probably a different paper

that we'd have to consider for that.

No, I'd just love to see that.

Because I don't know.

I'm just generally curious and intrigued

as not to read from that.

No, Sid, that's OK.

Thank you.

And I think in previous papers, I mean,

with our bike -hanger rollout, those papers

may have come before you joined the committee.

But yeah, with our bike -hanger rollout,

that's being done on estates.

where obviously it's free of charge for residents to use on our estate.

So that's where we're trying to address that issue in terms of,

because yeah, it's inadequate when people are pinning their cycles to railings or what have you,

so that's why we're rolling out.

So we have had quite a few papers come to the committee and it's probably included in update.

But yeah, I'm going to point to Mr Tiddley, who is the voice of authority on all these matters.

Yes, thank you, Chair.

David Tiddley, the Head of Transport Strategy.

I think we're in the same position really insofar as with new build development. We're able to quite clearly

Make provision for electric vehicle charge points and

cycle parking to the latest standards and and are able to

Significantly improve provision, but we have exactly the same issue of how we then deal with legacy development

Which which was built before electric vehicles were around and consequently?

as Councillor Fraser has said, what we have been at least trying to do is to ensure that

there's street provision both for cycle parking and street provision for electric charging points.

Thank you. Councillor Kooch, did you have another question?

Yes, just on the detail, page 26, paragraph 5 .2 .1. One of the things you've on the individual

houses and blocks is space for 200 litre sacks of mixed recycling. If we're trying to increase

recycling, I just wondered how we arrived at that number and my question would be, will

that be enough as I pack my two bags of recycling for our household this week? We can usually

go beyond that.

Sorry, is this in relation to the space requirements or the volume?

The volume story.

The space, it says you should be able to have containers to be able to store this.

I just wondered how we got to that amount and is it used?

Okay.

Well, there is a link back to BS5906, which is the kind of the standard for waste management

in buildings.

That was written in 2005, I think, and does detail the kind of volumes of waste associated with different types of premises.

However, I think that makes a link with the number of bedrooms.

We have simplified it a little bit here and just said this is the requirement per residential premise.

In practice, if it's, say, student accommodation and it's single occupancy bedrooms,

we would treat that as half a household rather than the whole household.

But yes, I believe this is adequate.

It does link in with the British standard for waste management in premises.

The first two requirements there are precisely the same in effect

as the existing supplementary planning document for waste.

The big change is the third bit.

we now need space for the food recycling caddies as well.

Thank you very much.

Councilor Di Cidio.

Thank you.

It's a question where I have a vested interest in the answer,

but I think it's irrelevant,

possibly to a number of people.

I help manage a local sports club,

and currently we don't recycle because it's really expensive

because we're treated as a business.

Under the new rules, clearly we will have to change our practices.

I was wondering if the council had any support available for local community groups which

are not flush with money and for who that would be a big expense?

I'm not sure if I can answer your question fully, Councillor.

What i can, say is that once with council is not active in the commercial waste collection market is

Deliberately priced itself out of that market in

2003

So i think much will may depend on whether the premise is kind of falls within

Commercial waste or household waste and there are a number of non domestic

municipal premises that do produce household waste and where it is

classified as household waste we can provide them with a service there may be

a charge for that service but it's likely to be lower than what they would

pay going to a private privately operating collector I guess the question

was does he is that I mean because he's lots of different ways of supporting

Local clubs or our local community assets is that any sort of any funding available?

Isn't it something will happen to a lot of community clubs from March right onwards. They are gonna have to review those arrangements

That's the question in terms of where is any support

So I think I

Think for the most part

Community clubs would produce commercial waste rather than household waste so I'm I'm not I'm not aware of anything

we're particularly doing for them, other than we will be having detailed advice on the website.

It's not there yet, but that is under consideration at the moment, so at least we're giving them

the correct advice.

The types of non -domestic premise that do produce household waste are things like educational

establishments, places of worship, places used wholly or mainly for public meetings.

There's a number of others, but it's all detailed in the controlled waste regulations 2012.

Okay, thank you very much.

I'm going to go to Councillor Belton for the last question on this paper.

You've just made a very interesting comment, thank you, about us choosing to move out of

the commercial waste business.

was that, that was a political decision in 2003,

presumably, and based on a political choice

or because we were losing money on it,

and presumably we could help Councillor Sejour

out of her problem, we could go into the business

of collecting, I'm also involved in an organization

not a club exactly, if you call the Labour Party a club,

but I'm somewhat responsible for a small office

on Lavender Hill, and we avoid as far as possible

the expense of commercial waste and make separate,

I don't know, paper, what's it called?

You know, chopping up paper, we make separate contracts

or something, but the council could get back

into that business presumably.

Yes, I think it's entirely the Council's choice how it wants to price its commercial

waste services.

My recollection of the reasoning back in 2003, I think there was two things I remember there,

really.

One was a general view that the private sector was better placed to compete in that market.

The other one was that we, that the Council was a bit hamstrung by high disposal costs.

so you know the council's waste has to go to the Western Riverside Waste Authority and the disposal charge for general waste there is

High compared to most other local authorities or what what a private company is likely to be paying that you know privately operating waste carrier

Thank you very much, and so I think we're done there on questions

I feel like we are now straying into the business of another committee now

But with that when we the committee are asked where they support the recommendations in paragraph two of the report

Please can ask all those in favor. Please raise their hands

And the paper is agreed unanimously. Thank you councillors and thank you officers this evening coming

4 Walking and Cycling Strategy Update (Paper No. 25-40)

we are now going to move on to the next item of business, which is the walking and cycling strategy so over to

Mr. Tiddley to give an introduction and we've done some shuffling at the top end of the

table.

Thank you.

The ones with walking and cycling strategy was adopted in November 2022 after a period

of consultation and this paper provides a review and update of progress since that strategy

was approved.

It doesn't seek to spell out absolutely everything the council does which is far more again than what's in the paper

But it's very much a summary of the main activity that the council has been

Being embarked on in order to help deliver the objectives in the strategy

Just to pick up on a few the paper

I hope is relatively self is self -explanatory to but to pick up on a few of the highlights in the last 12 months

We mentioned the continued rollout of the school streets program

and moving as well into some more complicated schools

and more sort of highway networks,

which is a little bit more difficult to manage.

We continue to deliver large numbers of,

large amounts of cycle parking

and particularly the bike hanger program.

Following the significant deployment of e -bikes in the borough

and the significant use that's made of them by residents,

We've engaged and provided large numbers of parking base for those

and

continuing with a

significant program of road crossing improvements news that for crossings new signalized crossings improvements at the bridges and the junctions near the

Bridges and as I say there's a full list there. What we're trying to do is have a a borough wide program

So there were there are things happening all over the borough. There are some programs which are below wide some

some highway schemes which affect certain parts of the borough.

Some schemes are small, some schemes are large, some schemes are short -term,

some schemes take a longer time to implement.

There are revenue programs such as road safety training and cycle training as well to consider.

And the other thing I would probably just highlight is that the council is very well funded

to deliver this program.

So it's a level of investment that I don't think you'll find in other councils.

And then the paper goes on to sort of explain as well some of the things which are coming

shortly.

I mean, members will note the physical works that are happening, for example, on Old York

Road and there are physical schemes planned as well for Burntwood Lane and Queenstown

modes specifically, but others as well, which will come on stream this year.

The only other thing I would probably highlight is members would have been sent a letter by

the Wandsworth Cycling Campaign, and I just refer very briefly to that.

I don't think I need to necessarily go through it, but it sets out their views on those things

which have gone quickly, those things which they would like to see more of or quicker

progress on. And so with that, I'll take any questions. Thank you.

Great. Thank you. Councillor Yates, you indicated that I want to say a few words before we go

back in. Yeah, thank you very much, Chair. Yes, just

wanted to say yes, very pleased with the progress we're making on this ambitious strategy and

to thank officers for all their hard work. A huge amount of work goes into this. For

for example, very careful consultations

before any by -colors are put in to get resident views

to make sure they're put in the best possible location

and take into account any objections residents have.

That's just one example of the kind of all the detailed

background work that needs to take place

in order to actually implement and deliver

the strategy itself.

So thank you to officers.

Okay.

Councillor Tiller, Councillor Hamilton and Councillor Majorchas.

Thank you, Chair.

On the subject of bike hangers, they're a great way to encourage cycling by making storage

easier, but there's a risk of fees deterring potential users.

Is there any way to bring down the cost to cyclists?

Yes, is the short answer.

There's a few things going on here. First of all, as we procure more hangers, it's clearly

in the supplier's interest to, if they want to work in one's worth, we'd expect to see

competitive pricing. Another part of this is the Council's Access for All scheme is

is actively considering introducing discounts for the eligible households to be able to

ensure that they're able to access cycle hangers. And that scheme is also considering the same

for e -bike mental charges as well. So there's a few areas of the sustainable travel, walking

and cycling strategy that will be falling into that program. Thank you.

Councillor Hamilton. Thank you very much. It's a question in relation to point nine

which addresses the issue of the e -bike services operating in the borough. If I just

start by firstly praising the positive direction of travel on most of the

indices in the paper. One of the areas where I think a lot of us continue to

receive emails from residents about poorly parked e -bikes. I know that you

there has been a lot of progress made in putting the special bike hangers in place. There is

reference in the paper to a further round of the parking bays going in later in 2025.

I would just be interested to know, can you put a number, it might be a question to the

Executive Member, a number on the additional number of bays that are envisaged for the

rest of the year? And it would also be interesting to get an update on general enforcement activity

that's taken place against those who have ended journeys that are outside of

the bays. Do we have any stats about how that's going at this stage? I think it is

something that the public do want to see some movements on. I think Mr. Tiddley is

our best place probably on the numbers but then yeah we can I'll go you first.

Yes so I wouldn't want to give an exact number on the number of extra e -bike

base that we will need. But I wouldn't have thought the same number again, I suspect it

would be a good starting point. We certainly haven't reached a limit. So I would have thought

we're putting in 175. I think we'll probably need at least that number again. A lot will depend,

of course, on how the e -bike scheme itself evolves going forward, because it may be that

People move away from it or more people move towards it. So we'll need to be flexible in in the Bay provision

in terms of the

enforcement

the technology has been improving as you you you imply I think counselor that there has been improved behavior and the

Operators have been putting in better management of the system

The technology is now largely helping to prevent

Bikes from being parked in inappropriate locations, but some still are.

We have done some enforcement sweeps of those.

We wouldn't rule out doing more again.

But said at the moment we are seeing improved parking behavior.

And I do think, to use the dreaded term AI, everybody's using it.

But it again is being built now into the end of use photographs to technology that's being used to try and help ensure that the parking of vehicles is consistent and compliant with regulations.

Councillor Yates is going to add something.

Thank you.

Yeah, thank you, Councillor Hamilton.

Yes, of course, the e -bikes are very good in many ways, aren't they?

people really value that flexibility,

is shown by the extremely high number of regular users

that Wandsworth has.

We have had a lot of discussion with Lime and Forest

about how they can better manage their bikes.

And they have put more resource into Wandsworth

out our request to do that.

Because it's obviously really important

that they don't block the pavements

and stop people getting by, particularly people

with buggies or wheelchairs.

And I have had, obviously, emails from residents

who have experienced that.

And we don't want to see that.

As Mr. Tidley says, some of Lime's improved tech

should help further with this.

They gave me a demonstration just last week of the tech

when you end your ride, and in terms

of how the AI is assessing the location

the bike in real time.

I think they need to go further on that.

I mean, where we've got bays that you don't have to park

in because they're not in the busy town centers, I think the

app needs to direct the user to show on the app where that

bay is to encourage people to park in the bay.

Because obviously we don't want to put in lots of bays

and people don't use them.

So I think that they are obviously still quite a new

thing, and the situation is still evolving.

But yeah, I mean we we do really want to see both kind of people being able to benefit from them

But not causing inconvenience to to residents

So that's kind of where we are at the moment

But we'll go on being in very close touch with them to improve the situation further

It's council miyorkas, I think that I just had to add to that conversation

I guess like we as counselors with eyes and ears of the borough we cover the whole bar

I think it's definitely like a flexible situation

and there's constant dialogue.

So any feedback you get from residents,

just pass it on to Jenny and the team

and then it's kind of gone.

Yeah, just to add that we are waiting the installation

of some bays on the red routes by TFL

and we're very, very keen to see those go in

because obviously a number of our busy areas,

they are on red routes and it's really important

they get those bays in.

and we have been lobbying them hard to get them in.

And they have got a whole list drawn up for once,

but I don't think we have confirmation yet

of when they're going to be installed,

but they are really important.

Yeah, so I think just to add, if you see,

for example, Park Run in Teeting,

I've noticed that obviously people cycle there,

so that's something that we'll chat about,

and then just feed it all in, basically.

I have a question, a reminder, and an appeal,

so I'll do them in that order.

The question is obviously Burntwood Lane has been on our agenda since

the election in May 2022 and it mentions progress so it'd be good just to get an

update on where we are with that scheme. The reminder is that you everyone would

have had an email from an officer responsible for school streets giving

you kind of an audit of the school streets that you have in your ward, any

historical information about school streets that may have been tried in the

past and weren't successful and then an offer to kind of meet alongside myself

and him to work through any of those or if we can help with making contact or anything

like that.

So please do go back and look at that and if we can help at all then we'd love to work

together with you on that.

And the appeal is last year there were 39 street closures for car -free day, which is

fantastic.

If every councillor helped one street in their ward, we'd have 58.

So maybe we could go for that goal this year.

It's Monday the 22nd of September so the closures will be on the weekend preceding that date

Because and I think was your first question on the line to

Okay

David might correct me, but as I understand that the works have started

Close to Beechcroft Road with a zebra crossing well on Beechcroft Road with a zebra crossing on the way

and the pavement renewal works have started and are currently heading towards Mar and

Gardens. So I'm not exactly sure whether that was two or three weeks ago, there or thereabouts,

though when it started.

Lovely. Thank you and thank you for confirming. Councillor de Lecyte.

Could you talk about further work on Wandsworth Bridge? I just can't remember where we're

at with that. What are the next steps, please?

The cabinet member then, because I'll probably need to get a program for that one from the

traffic and engineering team.

I can add to that.

We're very keen to make the cycle lane going north to put in the proper step track and

to put that step track in on the east side.

We are expecting to do that this year.

And then of course we have to be mindful of the network

and there is significant work going on

on Battersea Bridge Road, which is a TFL scheme.

And then we have our scheme on Queenstown Road,

which shouldn't cause too much disruption to the traffic,

but we do obviously need to be mindful of the network.

So it's very much our aim to make those changes permanent

and to put in that nice proper cycling infrastructure

on the bridge this year.

But we are working closely with TFL

on looking at the network coordination

across the whole area,

because obviously there's incredible pressure

on our river crossings.

So, you know, and we need to be mindful of that.

Thank you, Councillor Critchard.

Thank you.

Slice aside, one of the things I would really like us

to be in a position to do though,

is to also bear down on motorists who hang their cars halfway across the pavement.

I've got about, I've got two cases going on at the moment and so we've talked about e -bikes but those

motorists also provide a big obstacle if they're not properly, if they're not fully in their

driveway. I don't know what we can do about it but I think we should be doing something.

My question wasn't, and I've got some other stuff.

And I looked at the statistics, so in the targets in paragraph 17,

I'm very interested in the percentage of ones worth residents doing 20 minutes active travel.

It's due to go up to 58%, but I'm pretty sure the health team would really like to see that being increased even more.

I just wondered how we know what the people are doing and what we're doing in order to encourage

Walking and cycling as the active travel and the other question on the stats was about the number of people killed or seriously injured

and zero, but I mean I

can see that there's been a drop, but I would also want to understand whether that's a

Significant that is going down and what we're doing in order to

to make sure that those numbers keep dropping.

Because I mean in the information that the ones with cycling campaign kindly provided,

actually there was more in 2022 and then it's dropped this year.

And there's obviously some, Sort of in a normal distribution,

there would be some variance, and whether the variance we see is indicated there's a trend downwards.

or whether actually it's just a normal variance in the numbers.

Okay, taking the first bit, public health. So the public health team and also the parks

team as well because they're involved. So collectively the public health team that

enable the parks team and ourselves are joined up in trying to ensure increasing physical

activity and we're working on joint plans to do that.

This data has come from Transport for London

and as I said by that coordination between the various

teams we're confident that we will have increased

physical activity and we'll be able to demonstrate

not only the environmental benefits but also the health

benefits in terms of cardiovascular disease

and things like that.

So we will also be looking to see the extent

to which these activities help with those health indicators

as well.

And then the second point on the reduction

in killed and seriously injured.

The long -term trend is definitely downwards.

So we can be quite confident of that.

That said, as we note in the report,

more needs to be done because that trend downwards

is intended to reach zero by 2041,

and that's clearly going to be an incredibly challenging target.

So the trend is downwards, but there is still work to do.

When I come back about the walking, the active travel,

it just seems to me that...

..maybe 20 minutes per day, 58%, just seems a bit low.

I guess that's also a TfL chart that comes through from the Met.

I can find out what they count by that because obviously there's, you know, whether it's

cycling, swimming, you know, running.

I'll find out exactly what that metric and how that's calculated for you because it does

seem a bit low, doesn't it?

Thank you.

And we've got Mr Chadwick wants to come in on this one as well.

Yes, thanks, Chair.

So regarding the aside, one of my paychecks as well, I have to say, cars overhanging pavements

blocking wheelchairs, buggies, whatever, making it dangerous if you have to step out into the road, of course.

But we do have a regime around that.

The inspection enforcement team will handle that, will enforce that if they know about it, of course.

So as you know, Sharon Wright heads up that team, so I would suggest you contact her about particular cases.

Thank you. I'm sure most councillors will have been in touch with Sharon Wright because

she's very good. Nice shout out for Sharon Wright.

Councillor Locker. Thank you, Chair. I have just four queries

on the appendix and then a generic strategic question at the end. Would you like me to

right -hand column, final sentence says all existing school streets will be

assessed for additional signage and ANPR. That sounds good because it sounds like

more schools will get ANPR. It'd be good to know the time scales for that. My

second question is on page 55. It talks about the pavement program and the

maintenance and highway renewal. I just wonder could we have a split, a cost

split, broken down of what's going on to pavements and what's going on to

carriageway. My third question, it references in the column, sorry, column,

the middle column where it's talking about crossing at heavily trafficked

roads. Obviously we know that there's been work at Putney High Street and

Bridge Junction, the intention of which was to make it easier for pedestrians

and cyclists, it would be good to know how much has been

spent on that scheme, if you don't know tonight,

just follow up afterwards, how much is still to spend,

because I'm aware that it hasn't completely finished

and there's still work to do,

and how that compares with the budget.

And then I think on page 57,

there's a section on contraflow cycling.

I noted that we were emailed by one of the groups

expressing concern about the lack of progress.

I remember signing off on SO83,

so it must have been three years ago or more,

to make Dews Row a contraflow cycle lane.

It's a little connecting bit by the ship pub,

but it's really important for the Thames path.

Now I think in previous responses when I've raised this,

it's been mentioned that we were going to wait

for the works on Wandsworth Bridge,

but having just heard what the cabinet members said,

it's been over three years,

should we just get on and do it. Thank you. Thanks councilor Larker.

Thank you. So all the existing schools have already been contacted relating to

the potential for upgrading to ANPR so that piece of work has been done.

It'll take probably I would say it's this next financial year will be the

sort of investigation and roll out of additional AMPR.

Clearly, where a school is in a relatively quiet road,

there's unlikely to be a need for camera reinforcement.

But I think we've got to that point where,

assuming that there's a relative,

if there's a relative traffic flows

and the school wants camera reinforcement,

then most schemes will transition to that,

either as fixed cameras, which are there every day,

Or at least the roving occasional CCTV car that might do it where there's no real need to have a presence on a daily basis

the second question relating to

the pavements and and

Roads and might I think we've got another paper on the maintenance following this

I'm pretty sure we can get a list of pavements and roads certainly for the for the initial year

Obviously, for years ahead, I'm not sure whether that degree of detail is yet available.

But certainly for the initial period, I would have thought there must be a list that we

can share.

Yeah.

As I said, I think that's more likely to be available for the immediate year, but maybe

not for future years.

On Putney Bridge, I can say that the budget, there was a budget of £927 ,000 in 2024 -25

for Putney Bridge and High Street more generally.

I cannot say exactly how much of that has been spent, particularly on what, but again

we will be able to find that breakdown for you.

And then, Jews row, yes, I think we can look to see if we can implement that quicker.

Thank you.

Then Councillor Lucker, then Councillor Critchard.

Sorry, thank you.

That answers all my questions.

The generic question I have, which is more for the wider committee, is when I read this

In this paper, I think we are seeing good progress.

However, I do note that some of these schemes,

well, the vast majority of these schemes

have been going on for some time.

In fact, most of the initiatives were started,

or predate the current administration.

So I wonder, what, if any, are the new plans to come?

Mr. Tiddley?

Yes, well, I think there are probably two things that have probably changed.

One is the acceleration of the programs which were already sort of in their infancy.

So for example, if we take something like bike hangers, as we mentioned in the paper,

So there were X number on site in 2022, but since then the program has dramatically ramped

up and that's the case I think across several of these programs where what's changed is

that degree of pace.

And then the other thing which is probably noticeable is that some of the larger corridor

projects, and we mentioned something like say Queenstown Road, they are now effectively

got to the point of delivery. So I think that's the other area where there's probably significant

change. So we've had design that's now leading to likely big capital delivery coming up,

and we've had acceleration and expansion of the existing programmes.

Thank you very much. I'm going to go Councillor Critchard, Councillor

Okay, so we'll go, it's okay, so if we shift in the order, then Anna -Marie should put

herself to the bottom.

So we're going to go Councillor Milgrom, Councillor Aps, then Councillor Critchard.

Just I guess one of the kind of new pieces that wasn't there before was obviously the

the White Ways program, the intention of which

is to fit in some of those gaps in the network

and to start laying the foundations for

the utopia of having a crisscross across the borough

in the near future.

I guess I've made this point before in this committee,

but I made the point again that one of the routes

that I've been asked for most as a ward counselor

is the north -south across Wandsworth Common.

that route isn't going forward in part due to councillors from your party

whipping up hysteria around that plans by insinuating that there was going to

be some kind of new motorway across the common and five lanes worth of cycle

lanes and new lights and that kind of thing. So it is tricky because on those

ones I'd be looking to you guys and saying how that if you want to see that

progress, speak to your colleagues and say to them, we believe in active travel, we want

more people to cycle across the borough, and don't let them come to this committee and

scaremonger and lead residents to be concerned about plans that were never going to be there.

And that was the most contentious cycleway route, which has now gone into phase two,

which is a real shame because I have parents that kids go to a manual and they can't cycle

with their kids to school because that route isn't going to go ahead. So, um,

that's, that's one thing where we've tried to make progress.

Thanks. Councilor and council and council.

Counselor apps. Um, one of the things that's come up, um,

for us and actually the,

the transport team have been brilliant about kind of keeping us involved and

making sure that we're aware of, um,

some of the speeding incidents on Queenstown Road, particularly the part which is in my

ward in Chasbury and Queenstown.

And I understand there was going to be some enforcement around that.

What do we, I mean obviously we haven't been able to extend out kind of speeding restrictions

in the same way that we'd like or certainly penalizing motorists to speed.

What is possible for us to pursue?

Well, what should we be doing in terms of lobbying for greater enforcement against speeding?

And if you have any news on the Queenstown Road, that would be useful to hear.

I don't have any easy answer or quick answer for the speeding issue.

I think the two things which immediately come to mind are the redesign of the highway to

make it in such a, to have it in such a design that it's less conducive for people to put

their foot down.

and so whether that's the installation of strategically placed new crossings or widened pavements

or things like that which can be integrated into a street scene

and therefore will help to deliver reduced speeds without the need for a physical enforcement presence.

On that second bit, the physical enforcement presence, as you know, it's primarily a matter for the police

and we're always prepared to be lobbying and pushing for them to address any areas of concern.

We've also, of course, noted that quite a lot of speed in or certainly accidents and casualties

are predominantly located on the Red Route network and the main road network.

So again, Transport for London introducing speed control measures on the Red Route network

is a critical part of that and that's something that we will also always be pushing for.

You mentioned something else that's all Queen's Town Road. So so the plan is to start up the

in the in the location between Queen Queen Circus and the bridge to

implement that stage first and then to move southwards

Later on, so we will hopefully have a full design that will

Will bring about safety and speed reduction along the entire corridor

Council Kritchard

Thank you. TfL actually are quite good at picking up on the speeding on their red routes.

I have two friends recently who have just had to do their speed awareness courses because

they've been picked up for going rather, not terribly quickly, but more quickly than necessary

in a 20 mile an hour limit. My question wasn't about that though. We've talked about cycle

parking, we've talked about bike hangers for people with bikes that they are normally storing

at home. What can we be, what are we doing around more Sheffield stands in our town centre

so that people who are using their bikes to go somewhere have a good place to safely secure

their bikes? And yeah, tell us a bit more about that. And I'm very keen on cycle hoops

around, you know, the ones that you get round a post. I like them.

So, in general terms, we have a cycle parking budget every year and a cycle parking delivery

program every year.

And it does go relatively unheralded.

So we do put cycle Sheffield stands in on an annualized basis.

What we do have on the website, and perhaps we can give it a bit more visibility, is there

is a request form on the website so people can go on and identify locations or areas

where they'd like to see more Sheffield stands,

and we will take that and plot them out

and then go and visit those locations.

And we're happy to do that, and we do do that.

Unsurprisingly, most of the demand is in town centres,

and we expect that we will be delivering more cycle parking

in all the town centres.

The only sort of caveat I would put on that

is of course there's a lot of demands on the space in the town centres,

whether it's for benches or street trees or just for pedestrian movement as well.

So we've got to be a little bit careful not to just make it difficult for people

to move around because of the presence of the cycle parking as well.

Follow -up. So last year, for example,

then how many new stands did we install?

And I'd also say just thinking about the loops around the signage,

which is a good way of adding an extra way of tying your bike up.

And also Clapham Junction, there are some seats where you can actually could use the arm almost,

put your bike on as well, because it's quite well designed like that. How many other ideas have we

got making it smarter to park? Yeah, okay. The numbers I'm recollect about 50 cycle

Sheffield stands but I'll be able to provide a an up -to -date list of that

And just how many we put we put in but said that's the sort of program that we would deliver on an annual basis

Thank you very much

Council belt image. Oh, no, no change your mind. Okay. Okay, so I think that's the end of the questions

see

Thank you councillors.

So in that case, for this paper,

the committee are being asked to support

the recommendations in paragraph two.

Please, can I see all those in favor

of the recommendations?

Please raise your hand.

The recommendations are supported unanimously.

Thank you councillors and thank you Mr. Tiddley for that one.

We then move on and we've touched on it slightly.

Our next paper is on the highways maintenance program.

5 Highways Maintenance Programme (Paper No. 24-41)

As those of you who are regular to this committee,

This is an annual update, so I'm going to move to Mr. Chadwick for a quick introduction on this paper.

Thank you, Councillor.

So if I could do an introduction covering three broad themes, if you don't mind.

Maybe not that brief.

It is a lot of money to be spent.

And that's my first point.

This is the largest single amount being spent in this borough on its roads and footpaths ever,

at $2 .25 million, succeeding this year's budget actually at $8 million, quite an increase

from last year, which was $4 .75 million.

So the borough is committed to investment to kind of counter the decline of the conditional

network over the last number of years.

So that's the scale of it.

We're not just delivering lots of servicing and lots of new footpaths, we're constantly

trying to improve how we do it.

And that's my second main theme for my intro, which is that those improvements include,

I think Mr. Tiddley said the dreaded AI, did he?

Artificial intelligence.

Well, we are adopting more and more artificial intelligence techniques for constantly making

sure that the conditions surveys are accurate.

So we've got a pilot about to start on AI, probably by using cameras on our own vehicles,

especially vehicles that are constantly running around the network in a pattern,

and that could well therefore be our waste vehicles to check conditions of roadways.

We are also always trying to improve in how and when we deliver the works,

and that gets ever more important given the scale of the work we're undertaking.

So network management has been touched on already tonight.

Clearly it's not just ourselves doing the works to our network.

We've got to think about TFL, we've got to think about the statutory undertakers like Thames Water,

and we're constantly improving how we manage that intelligence to best time the works that we do.

And sometimes we will have to rearrange those works and those timings through the year

to suit things that we didn't know were about to happen.

And that often is the case, I'd say,

especially with terms of water actually at the moment.

And the third main thing I want to talk about or mention

is we're working ever more closely with our housing

and regeneration directorate for works on estates.

And that includes now we're using the same methodology

for how we judge the condition of roads and pavements.

And our housing and estate colleagues

we'll be using more and more our framework contractors, Conway's, and I think that can

only be a good thing that also helps us to plan the works in and around estates in a

coordinated way as well.

So yeah, that's my introduction.

Thank you very much, very comprehensive on this topic.

Councillor Yates, did you indicate you wanted to say something?

Yes, thank you, Chair.

Yeah, no, just wanted to say I am very pleased that we're able to make this scale of investment

Because I think it's so important to improve, particularly the condition of the pavements,

to make them safer for pedestrians, particularly those with mobility impairments.

Many of them get in touch with me, very, very keen that we make our pavements as good as they can be.

Obviously also so important not to have big potholes, which are dangerous for

cyclists in particular, but also obviously for vehicles.

So very pleased we're able to make this level of investment.

And again, I really want to thank the officers who are delivering this program because it is a very big scale up in quite rapidly.

And I just wanted to mention Afe Tesfaye who heads this program very ably, very efficiently.

And we don't usually see him at committee, but I know how hard he works and his team, how hard they work as well.

And then we've got all the council staff who work in the DSO who do the great majority of the work on our pavements.

Obviously we use Conway's for the carriageway resurfacing.

So yes, just want to thank them for all their hard work on this.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councillor Yates.

And I'm sure Mr. Chadwick will make sure that those recognition go to his staff.

I'm sure they'll be watching the transport committee on catch up.

But yeah, it's always nice to recognize.

Councilor Hamilton you're first. Thank you chair and also can I echo the thanks to officers who are delivering this.

I could certainly particularly in the Ballon Ward see some old favourites on there that residents have been asking for being delivered with this paper.

Just a quick question, each year when this paper is published one of the first things that happens is those who are in the nearby roads get in touch to ask why they haven't been included.

There's also a range of lurid rumors that go around occasions.

Councillor Critchard and I have discussed in the past about why some roads are on these

lists and why they're not.

It would be really useful if we'd asked for it at previous meetings, but if we could

be provided with however technical, however detailed, however difficult for laymen to

ingest, just a copy of the document that does explain the type of calculations that are

done about carriage ways, about road surfaces, so that we can understand and perhaps communicate

to residents that this is a technical calculation as opposed to a political one I think that

would be helpful for all of us.

And I do think I seem to recall and I'm not sure if someone raised this exact point last

year and I think Mr O 'Donnell yeah yeah and Mr O 'Donnell said yeah whatever would be provided

would be reams and reams and reams are probably quite unintelligible stuff for the layman

But yeah, I'm sure if you talk to Mr. Sojourner, he can talk you through the methodology in

perhaps terms that we may understand.

Councillor Aps and Councillor Belton, I think that was what I saw next.

Thank you.

I think Councillor Yates made a very good point earlier about having to make sure that

we coordinate different works.

I mean, it's particularly, obviously, acute in Putney and Bathsie with the bridges, but

it's also a case with some of our major roads.

If we're doing some resurfacing on some of our major roads, like Garrett Lane, Mitcham

Road, Merton Road, how do we make sure that we're managing the traffic and we're managing

that flow -through?

Well, clearly, with this scale -up, it is a considerable part of our thinking ahead of

setting this level of funding, a check that we would be able to cope with it against all

those other works that are done.

So the straight answer is that we've got decent and improving network management intelligence

and systems.

I think some of you will know Camillus Donnelly's team.

They now coordinate the intel of all the works done by the council in whatever way, whether

whether that's by Mr. Tiddley's team on cycle hangers,

or by roadway improvement schemes,

or by these works themselves.

All the works done by TFL that we know about, frankly,

all the works done by the statutory undertakers,

like Thames, like the electricity company,

that we know about are on our intel,

basically are in our knowledge,

and therefore allow us to plan the timing of the works

as best we can.

What sets us adrift a little is when emergency works are done,

and sometimes they are lengthy emergency works, aren't they, like gas works,

in Tooting, like Thames Waterworks near here.

They get in our way, don't they, and they are often things that will get in the,

will offset our thoughts as to when to do these roadworks.

So best I can say is that we've got much better improving intelligence

of all the work that's been done on the poor and that lets us plan sensibly.

What it doesn't mean is perfection because of those things that are just unknown that

often come out.

Thank you very much.

Just lacking the crystal ball, but once we've got that we'll be…

But thank you.

Thank you.

And I think Councillor Yates wants to come in there, then I'll go to Councillor Belton,

then Councillor Austin.

Yeah, as Mr Chadwick mentioned, it can be very frustrating when we don't get information

from the utility companies when they have to

undertake emergency work.

I mean, obviously, you know, if there's a gas leak

or a burst water main, it has to be fixed.

But I know this is a source of great frustration

across all my counterparts across the whole of London.

And we have asked London councils to take it up,

particularly with Thames Water,

because they are terribly bad at letting us know.

So they may start work and, you know,

we won't know because they won't have told us.

And then we're frantically trying to ensure

or there's proper traffic management on the road.

So that is, it's an ongoing area of concern

regarding Thames Water, but as Mr. Chaglik says,

we've been trying to strengthen our own network management

to do as best a job as we possibly can.

And where we do have the case to fine the utility companies

when they don't comply with the regulations as they should

in terms of how they inform the council,

then we do do that.

Thank you. Councillor Belton.

Just a comment.

If I may, just a comment on the last comment.

I think I've been hearing about utilities and roadworks for something like 50 years.

It's a constant. We're all going to have it, always, I think, as a problem, but best we can do to resolve it.

I've got two comments, really. One a kind of rules game and one an engineering one.

You mentioned pavements.

I managed after some persuasion to get some very seriously rotten pavements reconstructed.

And the problem with it was it was a continual dispute between the housing revenue account

and the general revenue account as to which they were.

And in the end, it was actually Battersea Fields.

somehow or other people said, oh, well, let's forget about the dispute, let's just do it, which was thank goodness.

But I wonder whether we've got over that problem in the generality of things just being held up because it's housing revenue account,

no, it's GRA, so that was one issue.

The other, the engineering one, I sometimes have argued and certainly feel that the engineers do the work.

dare I say, possibly engineering in a competent kind of way,

but without opening their eyes.

And I'll give you one particular example of this,

and that's road humps.

No one loves road humps.

I think lots of people can see the real practical reasons

for it and what they do.

But there's a road hump on the short bit

of an L -shaped road, Shivalry Road,

off of Wandsworth Common.

There's a road hump in the very short bit

where it must be at least 30 yards from the beginning to the end of the road.

Getting up to 20 miles...

Even getting up to 30, which is when I was...

would have been a bit of a struggle, and getting up to 20.

Really, did we need to put a road hump there?

It just causes more problems with the cars and the residents, because of the noise.

And it was on a meaningless bit of road, in my view.

But more seriously and more provably,

We've now got these nice road...

I don't know what you call them,

raising of the road...

The road tables.

And I can't be the only person in this situation,

but I happen to live in a little valley called Norskert,

and there's a river at the bottom of the valley

and there's little humps all gone in all the way along,

and I think it's technically called ponding results

whenever it rains, and you know, in the last few weeks there's been quite a lot of rain

and quite a lot of ice.

So there's been lovely great lakes all the way along Norskitt Road on all the side roads,

and lots of them become nice ice rinks at the right time of the year.

Surely when people are doing that, and this is what I was wondering about the amount of

intelligence they bring to the job, the design of it when you have that raised table at the

bottom of a hill, and I can't just, Northcote Road can't be the only place in the borough.

It must happen everywhere. And what do we mean by creating these kind of mistakes?

Thank you, Councillor Belton. So I'm going to pass to Councillor Yates for the Division

and HRA in general, and then Mr. Chadwick for,

let's paraphrase your question there,

the intelligence of engineering,

I think was the point that you were driving at.

Thank you.

Yeah, thank you, Councillor Belton.

So, yeah, we have given more attention

to the roads and pavements on our housing land.

We are very keen that they would be

in just as good a condition as the public highways,

and there was a proper,

detailed visual survey done of the roads and pavements

on the housing land for the first time last year.

And now you'll see in the paper in appendix two,

there is the list of the roads and pavements

on housing land that will be repaired.

So there is now a proper plan maintenance program

and there is more funding allocated from the HRA.

So, and we have very much requested

excellent cooperation between the housing department

and the transport colleagues in planning those works.

So, and I couldn't agree with you more,

in a situation like that, the work just needs to get done,

residents don't care which budget it's coming out of.

So hopefully that won't happen again,

and if it does, please do bring it to my attention.

But hopefully there's good collaborative working

going on there.

Well, I think the engineer, Mr. O 'Donnell,

and the engineer Mr. Chung might have a more robust answer to Councillor Bellum's points than I,

but I am a charter surveyor, I remember the RSCS, so I think I can bring a broader perspective to that question.

I think what I'd say is that, I mean this is the main point I'd put to you, Councillor Bellum,

which is that when we do the works more and more, we seek not just to replace like for like the previous surface of the road

or the previous surface of the foot bath.

We do open our eyes, the engineers open their eyes

and look at what is there and what could be improved.

So I don't think they always get that right

and they would admit that because there's an awful lot

of planning to be done in these works,

a lot of volume to be handled.

But they will try and improve the situation on the ground

every time they do a job.

And as I say, that's continuous improvement stuff

and we're not always perfect.

What I'd also say is that you raise the point about,

I think more about gully cleansing,

and that's another area of improvement for us.

Constant, okay, well if it wasn't that,

then forgive me, but that's my main point.

We are constantly looking to improve

the area within which we're doing the works,

rather than just, as perhaps was more the case in the past,

just directly like for like replace.

If you put your microphone on.

Thank you Councillor Yates for the first answer.

On the second point, you have missed the point Rick, rather, the ponding that's in Northgate

Road has happened very recently as a result of our works.

We've been putting in the raised tables and the water, no gully is blocked up.

We have deliberately, I'm afraid, this is it,

we have deliberately dammed up the runoff

so the water coming down the hill has got nowhere to go.

There's no drain that's been blocked.

There's nothing there except a new raised table

and therefore a small pond, well, I say small pond,

right across the road, including over the camber

in one of them, every time it rains.

Sorry, then I have a different answer

I didn't realize it was a very recent point.

So on that case, it is simply a case that we must be on site with the engineers and

look to rectify.

Thank you.

I'm happy to do it.

It's two minutes from where I live.

I'm sure we can follow that up outside of the meeting.

Thank you, Councillor Belton and Mr Chadwick.

So I'm going to go to Councillor Austin and then Councillor Mayorkas.

Thank you very much, Chair.

I've got a question.

and yeah. So on page 61, paragraph 13, in the bullet points, it says, reduce the claims

of counsel receives in accidents and injuries on defective highways. How much do we pay

out in, how much do we pay out in claims and things? And then on page 75, this is actually

more of a plea than anything. It was just something that came across my desk this afternoon

or in my email box this afternoon. I've got a lady actually who lives in Haywood Gardens

who's blind and she now has to have somebody to escort her from the bus stop on Putney

Heath to her flat because the footpath is now so uneven her stick doesn't work anymore

in order to find the grounding.

And could we, I know it's not on the list, but could we have a look at it?

I will send a follow -up email tomorrow through the system, but just take your heads up.

we can have a look at it because she can some needs an escort now to get from the bus stop to her flat.

Yeah of course we can look at that. I mean we always use it, you know there's a section

here isn't there of the way in which we can manage the planning of the work through conditions,

through inspections by our officers. We always use that intelligence as well to determine where

we might do more work. So we're very happy to receive that email and to take it further.

What was the first point?

It was payout on...

Yeah, sorry, got it there.

So the payouts are...

I'm trying to customize it towards Alex, but he may not know the answer.

What I do know is they are very, very low always, because we are able to demonstrate

and prove that we've got a very good regime of maintenance, and that's the key for these

claims.

Alex, have you got a figure?

I don't have a figure but we can definitely get back to you with the figure over a number

of years of payouts.

I mean, so low as that.

I was edging towards saying nominal and perhaps even zero in some years.

Yeah, we would contest spurious claims as well, obviously quite vigorously.

Great, thank you very much.

And Councillor Majorchas and Councillor Tiller.

As Councillor Hamilton said, this is a time where we look ahead and everyone gets excited

and some people are disappointed.

But could we have a two -sentence summary of the current year program that we are in, in

terms of delivery right now?

Two sentences.

Ninety -four percent delivery of roadways to this point.

Seventy -one percent delivery of footpaths.

that latter figure means it's quite tight to deliver it all, the footpaths like this

year, but the team are determined that they can and will, and that's been our consistent

performance in previous years.

Councillor Tilly, thank you very much for that response.

Thank you, Chair.

Res constituent who uses a wheelchair has flagged up the lack of dropped curbs in Roehampton

and across the borough.

What are the plans to improve this and also the uneven pavement on Danebury Avenue?

I don't know the specifics of Danebury.

I'd reiterate that the kind of point I was making to Councillor Belton about every time

we go in, including on footpaths, we seek to correct any problems with lack of drop

curves with canvas and we particularly try and improve a lot of those less able

so I would hope that we would pick up any points of that type but if you want

to contact me about the specifics I'll make double issue that we do just

record I mean I guess again to all counselors like you know where officers

have availability, do ask them and invite them down to specific problem areas.

I've done that on numerous occasions on St. James's tribe and we are now going to make

some small improvements to those crossings for those with accessibility issues.

So I think just work collaboratively and highlight them.

We're the eyes and ears on the ground so when we see them just flag them to officers and

hopefully something can be done.

Great, thank you very much.

Councillor Lockhart, Councillor Critchard and then back to Councillor Belton.

Thank you.

And thank you, Mr. Chadwick, for the stats earlier.

I hope to maybe see them on the report.

I think last time I did ask for an update on how the program goes.

But my question was about TFL roads and pavements, paragraphs 28 – sorry, 29 onwards.

And obviously it talks about the pressures on TFL.

I find myself – and I'm sure other board councilors will agree – I get actually quite

I've heard a lot of complaints now from residents which are about TFL roads and pavements.

And I'm never sure if it's best for me to forward it on to TFL directly or whatever.

I just wonder if there's a way for the council to collect all of these and maybe do some

observations on when we get complaints in and just be passing them on to TFL.

But then also to have a sort of check that will probably help you in your meetings and

lobbying with TFL, give you real leverage to say, look, you know, I'm getting lots of

complaints about the carriageway surface, for instance,

around the ones with one -way system.

And I know you're speaking to a colleague recently

who came off her bike there, so we need to be

really, really careful about that,

and also feeling free.

Thank you.

Well, I agree with the point and the sentiment.

I'm not sure what our, sitting here now,

I'm not sure what data we do have on the TFL network.

but we certainly we'd welcome any info you've got and we'll gather it.

I do certainly know more and more we are having to send out our street inspectors

with Sharon Wright's team to rectify issues and sadly we just have to do that

particularly when there's a dangerous issue in our borough of course.

Thank you. Councillor Critchard then Councillor Belton.

Thank you. Reading paragraph 31, I'm very interested in the implementation of double

yellow lines on corners. And I just wondered if we could have a bit of an update on how

that's going because there is a lot of bad parking on corners, especially in residential

streets, which makes it difficult. The corner is usually obviously where you cross and if

somebody is parked there, you can't cross there.

And also how we will enforce that, because obviously we can enforce,

but the inspectors come out, so where I live we only have a one hour parking restriction,

they will come out and inspect for people who are parking incorrectly at that time.

But of course you could be parking anytime on the double yellows.

outside the, you know, in the park, when it's, when the parking zone isn't in force, isn't in force.

So how are we going to manage that? Sorry, did that make sense in the end?

I was just trying to get you to a question but you got there yourself before I interrupt.

I think it's essentially about enforcement of parking yellow lines on corners.

Really this is the same as what we do when we do the surfacing works and we do, as I

said earlier, look to improve, not just replace.

So the program really of improving or doubling up on the lines and corners follows the actual

program of maintenance of the roads.

so don't know whether you understand that is that clear Councillor so there's

no there's no independent program for double yellow lines at corners it that

these works follow and are in conjunction with the road resurfacing

works themselves so basically if the road is resurfaced and the double

yellow lines on the corners will be put in and if your road was resurfaced quite

recently you might be waiting a very very long time for those double yellow

lines? Yeah, except what you've got. Yeah, we are putting in additional budget for a

program to improve traffic signs and lines and also street nameplates, but obviously

your there's expenditure on traffic signs and lines is more relevant to your question.

So I mean, I'll I'll pick that up with Nick O 'Donnell like you, Councillor Critchard,

I think it's very important, but there will be, I mean, the paper does highlight that

we are doing more on that, and that is important across the borough, and as you say, it can't

just be dependent on where we're resurfacing a road.

And regarding enforcement, I mean, of course, you'll know better than me that you can request

enforcement, having been, you know, Council for a long time. I mean,

residents right to me from across the borough about all sorts of things

regarding our roads. And, you know, whenever it's an enforcement issue, I

always email the enforcement team to ask them to increase enforcement of

that location. And then, you know, they do that. I mean, obviously there, um,

there are some capacity constraints, but we do have a lot of CEOs working

all the time. And if there's a particular problem, then, yeah, we can

put more enforcement there. Yes I think though it's it's much more random if

it's parking on a corner it's usually the delivery vans that do it whereas I

mean I don't know what you mean about the enforcement in particular areas

because the top end of Chestnut Grove, Joe Rigby, we've had extra

enforcement but that's been easier because they're regular offenders for

the shops whereas it's the random people on the particular corners that's I

wondered you know we get double yellows but they might just realize that they

might not be important. Thank you Councillor Critchardt for that point.

I'm going to move us on to Councillor Belton, Councillor Mayorkas.

Just very quick one to officers. What is their analysis of future projections of

the quantity of electric vehicles and their weight and what impact that will

have on deterioration.

I read the projections.

Can I turn to you, David?

In terms of the weight, clearly very significant impact on roads and it costs us more in terms

of the structural integrity that we need to put in place.

So in terms of numbers, it's a rapid increase in the numbers of electric vehicles out there,

the proportions are could need to dig into to find you. The thing I would say though

that and clearly an electric vehicle being heavier will cause some more damage but the

main source of damage to the highways are heavier vehicles, buses and HGVs particularly

and as they transition to electric that's where the potential main damage will come

I'm here.

So we can have a vote on the side of it.

Thank you, councillors.

I'm now gonna move on to the vote.

So the committee is being asked to support

the recommendations in paragraph two of the paper

on proposed highway maintenance program for 25, 26.

And all those in favor, please raise their hand.

Thank you, councillors.

That paper is also agreed unanimously.

Thank you Mr Chadwick for imparting your engineering.

Thank you very much.

We are now going to move on to the final two papers which are finance related.

6 Budget Monitoring: Quarter 3 (Paper No. 25-42)

We have our budget monitoring report and I will move on to Mr Moylan at the top of the

table.

Thank you very much Councillors.

You will be familiar with this report now.

It is the update to the transport committee's revenue budget for the current financial year

2425.

The forecast for services for this committee is basically on budget, so we're 30 ,000 under,

which is a change from the overspend from the previous reports.

The primary movement from that is for the parking service.

So we've had a change in the forecast.

We're now in an underspan, whereas before we were effectively on budget.

It's largely to do with small movements in on -street and permit income.

It represents a very small percentage in terms of the overall variance, so it's about 1%.

So we would expect some volatility in the forecast.

And the other changes from the previous report is we had forecast costs for the local plan,

and at the committee meeting in November, the budget for that was awarded.

So there was just a timing difference effectively between the assumption of the cost prior to

the budget being awarded.

The difference for this version of the monitoring report is that we've included an extract from

the report that went to the Finance Committee in terms of the relevant appendices for the

transport budget, which is in Appendix C. I'm very happy to run through aspects of those

if anyone has any particular questions that they wish to draw upon.

Thank you.

Brampton versus TriAdult, and across the UK creatinguu

and gotgrow with a res zone.

in the next few years, because it does seem to be

such a huge amount of money that we are planning around,

and to get some research about and some modeling

about where that could lead to, I think would be,

I think, useful for all of us and give us some comfort

with the figures.

Thank you, Councillor.

Yes, it is a key area of risk,

which is why we highlight it,

and we do attempt to model the forward look

for where we think changes in behavior might take hold.

We know that overall there is a decline in car usage and the statistics saying the mileage

over time is falling.

Obviously the impact of COVID led to a large disruption to that, so we have factored in

various elements that we think might drive use of car.

So that could be active travel policies, but also things like the price of petrol.

And so we have included within appendix C on page, give me, Councillors, page 91 on

other growth and savings.

There is a line showing behavioral change affecting parking income.

So we try and model the changes over time.

So we've assumed that in a couple of years time there will be a reduction in our overall parking income as a result of these

changes

In terms of national

Kind of modeling I think we would

We would try to incorporate kind of any guidance that we get or any any any kind of indications about

Overall trends as well in into that so the team would look at that. Thank you

Thank you, there any more questions on this paper council correct job

Thank you. Paragraph 8 talks about the new planning software and obviously a bit of an

overspend around that because of lack of planning income and then the project costs with the

implementation of the combined planning software system. Could you tell us roughly what benefits

we're hoping to see from that system and obviously how that will affect the budget?

Thank you for that question. I'm not an expert in this system but clearly it's a kind of combined

system where we're able to utilize Richmond and Wandsworth staff working on similar systems so

therefore they can work together and share kind of resilience. It forms part of the overall place

strategy so there is a lot of work going on to try and make sure that overall the teams will

work together. I think there will be an expectation that it will provide better

kind of reporting functionality but I would need to get back to you with a

little bit more information about how that would feed into the overall

structure for the planning team but we would expect it to be more efficient and

therefore obviously if it is more efficient we wouldn't need the same

volume of staff so we would hope therefore that we would be able to

generate savings at the result. That would be interesting if you could get back to us that would be lovely.

I would do my best, thank you.

Thank you.

Councillor Belton.

Thank you.

Councillor Critchard's comment inspired similar ones from me.

Councillor Critchard knows the planning system as well as anyone in the Authority.

I know she knows how to look up planning applications as quickly as anyone, and it's a very cumbersome

system at the moment.

One of the things that always surprises me, though, is that the team didn't seem to consider

what I consider to be one of his most important users, and that was the members, because if

you're a member of the planning applications team, you virtually cannot do your job unless

you're able to get around the applications program.

I think you'd agree with that, Councillor Critchard, having had experience with it.

But no one's ever asked for our specifications or whether we find the new system or what it's designed to do look good.

I'm rather surprised that the members haven't been involved in the specifications.

Thank you. I think that's probably more an observation more than the financials that way.

Well, perhaps it's directed towards the practice of direct information.

I think that it's been noted down this end, and thank you very much.

Are there any other questions on this paper, councillors?

Okay.

Okay, thank you very much.

We're all good down at the table.

Okay, so this paper is being, we're being asked to note this paper for information.

Is it paper noted?

Thank you very much.

7 Transport: Fees and Charges (Paper No. 25-43)

And with that we move on to the final item on the agenda this evening,

and back to Mr Moylan for an update on fees and charges, please.

Thank you very much, chair.

This paper sets out the proposed levels of fees and charges for discretionary services

within the remit of the transport committee.

So there are broadly five areas that this paper would cover.

We have charges for the building control service.

We have charges for planning that are not the statutory charges, so not the statutory

planning application fees, but the work that the team do in preapplication advice and planning

purchase agreements.

We have charges for the traffic and engineering team as well, as well as charges for CCTV

and also parking.

So the rationale and the explanation for the various charges is set out within the document.

I think there are a lot of changes within the overall fees proposed.

There are a number which have kind of regulatory element to them.

So clearly within the first section on page 95 you have the building control service,

but there have been a number of significant regulatory changes within this.

And so the fees are trying to reflect some of the additional costs that the council needs

to or the council will incur in order to cover the service delivery.

So therefore there are some new charges, but also some relatively large charge increases

for building control.

largely operating within a kind of commercial environment.

So we're still expecting that these charges

will be competitive and offer good value to the user.

It's also worth pointing out that the charges for parking,

when assessing the parking charges,

a number of elements need to be considered.

I won't go into all of them now,

but clearly affordability is one aspect of those.

And so for the current and future financial year, the parking charge is proposed to be

frozen.

I'm very happy to answer any other questions anyone may have about any aspects of these

charges.

Councillor Lococo.

Thank you.

Just on that final point about parking, I think it was sort of a tradition that we got

into that we looked at the parking charges every two years.

Back then, one of the reasons was because it was administratively easier to implement

because we had to go and change all of the machines.

I know people do it more on their phones now and the machines that have gone, but just

administratively it was easier for the signage and all that sort of stuff.

So are you warming us up to coming back in a year's time to increase parking charges?

I'm just intrigued.

I'm only proposing a freeze in terms of this paper.

This paper only covers 2025 -26.

In terms of the administrative burden, I think parking isn't uniquely different to the majority

of other services.

I think the significant change in kind of signage and going around to look at the machines

was more of a problem historically, as you say, the vast majority of our services are

online or through pay -as -you -phone.

So in terms of the impact, it's actually relatively minor, so no more complicated than leisure

centres, I would suggest.

Thank you.

Councillor Belton.

Thank you, Chair.

I understood the rationale you explained at the beginning and clearly the ones that ordinary

funders pay out on a fairly regular basis are all attached to roughly 2 .3 % or something

like that, except for rounding situations.

You mentioned building control in particular, which is what I was interested in in terms

of it being in a commercial environment.

government. In my view, the abolition of the requirement to have totally independent building

control officers was an enormous mistake made by a previous government. And now, as you

say, we are in competition with private sector building control officers who can give certificates,

in my experience in somewhat dubious circumstances.

So it's almost a public health issue here, I think,

about whether buildings get their certificates

from totally reliable, from a public point of view

perspective, so I'd be very concerned if we lost,

if we were losing out competitively,

and I see on page 101, building control completion

certificate, 103 % change.

I don't suppose if you're getting something fundamentally

big done to your house, the difference between 47 pound

and 95 is gonna make much difference.

But every bit that discourages people from using

legitimate independent barking control officers

like the council would provide seems to me

to be unfortunate.

Is that really competitive or are we actually worsening, well, in danger of worsening a bad situation?

Thank you for that question.

So I would suggest that my understanding of the building control charges as working with the new interim head of building control

is that actually a lot of these costs will be mirrored across any provider of building control service.

So it is his view that these charges still remain competitive.

We have a range of, as you said, as a sort of commercial function, we have a range of

activities to effectively market the council service, and those will be continuing to make

sure that we can offer the service as widely and as competitively as possible.

Thank you.

And Mr. Chadwick, do you want to come in?

Just to add to that, I'm glad to find something I can agree with Councillor Belton on tonight,

which is his broad sentiment on approved inspectors versus council inspectors.

These approved inspectors worry me deeply as well.

And I actually was on the panel for the permanent new head of building control recently.

I can assure you all that we have sought and

have got a new officer there who has that competitive edge.

And will seek to build on the experience and

the reputation of our building inspectors in the borough and especially those working

in Battersea Power Station and its environments to ensure we get more of that business for

our own inspectors rather than for those commercial approved inspectors.

Thank you.

Can I just add to that, Chair?

I mean, I've got a building...

Is it a question, Councillor Valms?

No, not really.

It's just that we're not desperate for time, are we?

We're not, but I've got another member who's actually indicated they've got a question.

So, yeah, so, Councillor Austin.

Thank you very much.

I would also like to agree with Councillor Belton about external approved inspectors

and council inspectors.

So I will start there.

Just to give, if I can use this as a learning experience a little bit, the parking charges,

does that include parking permit costs or is it just the pay and display meters?

It would be permits as well, yes.

Okay.

Thank you.

Are there any other questions, councillors?

Turning to you, Councillor Belton, this is the last paper.

Did you have the final words you wanted to add?

It was relevant at the time, but you've succeeded.

Did I deprive you?

I would nonetheless say that you've invited me.

Yeah, I've got a building in my ward, which is not only falling down,

but it's causing all the other houses to fall down,

because as far as I can see the building control was,

well, it was not done by the council,

and it's not been done terribly well.

And it's a dreadful situation that the government,

the previous government, let me say,

actually, it was the Cameron government,

actually ceased to have this independent building control,

and you can appoint your own building control person

nowadays, which is fantastic.

You just think of the abuse of that.

I do the job and I appoint the adjudicator that says I've done it well.

Thank you, Councillor Belton.

So on that, the final ask of this evening is to ask whether the committee agrees to

support the recommendations in paragraph three of the report.

Can I ask all those in favour to please raise their hands?

So it's one, two, three, four, five, six.

Six in agreement.

all those against please raise their hands so no against and all any

abstentions so one two three four abstentions to the paper so that

concludes the business of the transport committee this evening thank you to all

councillors for coming this evening and for staying the duration thank you very

much

We welcome your comments

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Transport Overview and Scrutiny Committee - Thursday 6 February 2025, 7:30pm - Wandsworth Council Webcasting

Transport Overview and Scrutiny CommitteeThursday, 6th February 2025 at 7:30pm

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3 Draft Reuse, Recycle and Waste Management Supplementary Planning Document (Paper No. 25-39)

4 Walking and Cycling Strategy Update (Paper No. 25-40)

5 Highways Maintenance Programme (Paper No. 24-41)

6 Budget Monitoring: Quarter 3 (Paper No. 25-42)

7 Transport: Fees and Charges (Paper No. 25-43)

Transport Overview and Scrutiny Committee
Thursday, 6th February 2025 at 7:30pm