Further to Minute 39 of the meeting held on 10 January 2019, the Director of Environment and Neighbourhood Services submitted a report providing the Sub-Committee with an update on the lists of requests for Resident Permit Parking, including progress of developing schemes and any new requests that had been received and revised proposals for the Wokingham Road element of the East Reading Study Area Scheme.

The comments and objections that had been received during the statutory consultation were attached to the report at Appendix 1 and the drawings showing the amendments that had been advertised were attached to the report at Appendix 2.

Requested Schemes List – Update

Appendix 1 of the report set out the list of requests that had been received for Resident Permit Parking Schemes and included the comments and objections that had been received during the statutory consultation.  Where the Sub-Committee had previously allocated a priority to a scheme this had been recorded and where a request had been previously reported to the Sub-Committee but had not been allocated a priority, this had also been recorded, along with any schemes that were ‘new’ to the list.

Revised Proposal for Wokingham Road (East Reading Study area)

Appendix 2 of the report set out the drawings showing the amendments that had been developed by officers following consideration of the feedback from the consultation on the proposal for the bays on Wokingham Road.  This included another ‘shared use’ type restriction, which would allow permit holders to park at any time but also allowed non-permit holders to park up to 24 hours a day, seven days a week with a Pay and Display ticket.  These new proposals were intended to meet the needs of residents by providing additional parking permit bays within the wider scheme area, but also provided flexible parking for visitors throughout the day along with the turnover and relative ease of enforcement that Pay and Display restrictions provided.  It had been proposed that these restrictions would overcome the objections that had been made primarily by visitors, that the maximum stay period could be prohibitively short and limited to the 8.00am to 8.00pm period.

At the invitation of the Chair, Peter Cowling of the Earley Christian Fellowship addressed the Sub-Committee in respect of the proposals for Wokingham Road.

Resolved –

(1)        That the report be noted;

(2)        That the priorities for scheme progression, as set out in paragraphs 4.2 to 4.4 of the report, remain on the list for future consideration;

(3)        That the scheme for Wokingham Road, as set out in Appendix 2 attached to the report, proceed to statutory consultation;

(4)        That the Head of Legal and Democratic Services be authorised to carry out the statutory consultation and advertise proposals in accordance with the Local Authorities Traffic Orders (Procedure) (England and Wales) Regulations 1996 and subject to no objections received, the Head of Legal and Democratic Services be authorised to make the Traffic Regulation Order;

(5)        That any objections received following the statutory advertisement be submitted to a future meeting;

(6)        That the Head of Transportation and Streetcare, in consultation with the appropriate Lead Councillor, be authorised to make minor changes to the proposals;

(7)        That no public enquiry be held into the proposals.