A report informing the Sub-Committee of traffic management measures associated with the Station Hill site, which is bounded by Station Hill, Greyfriars Road and Garrard Street, and seeking approval to carry out the necessary consultation and notice processes relating to the proposed alterations.

Further to Minute 54 of the meeting held on 6 March 2024, the Sub-Committee received a report that informed them of traffic management measures associated with the Station Hill site and sought approval to carry out the necessary consultation and notice processes relating to the proposed alterations.  A comparison between existing and proposed layouts was attached to the report at Appendix 1 and a series of drawings were attached to the report at Appendices 2 to 4.

The report explained that the proposal consisted of the revocation of pay and display bays on Greyfriars Road and replacement with waiting restrictions to facilitate advisory cycle lanes on both sides of the carriageway along with the replacement of the existing speed cushions with islands and priority signage.  The pay and display bays along Greyfriars Road, located south of the junction with Garrard Street, were to be revoked which equated to a length of 40 metres and could accommodate seven cars.  When the principle of the scheme had been assessed at the planning application stage this had not been determined to be a significant loss and could be easily accommodated within the pay and display bays on the surrounding residential streets.  To ensure unrestricted parking did not occur along this section of carriageway a ‘No Waiting at Any Time’ restriction along with a ‘No Loading’ between 7.30 am and 9.30 am and 4.00 pm and 6.00 pm restriction had been proposed to replace the pay and display bays (the prosed restriction would be consistent with the existing restrictions along the remainder of Greyfriars Road).  The proposed waiting restrictions would ensure that no parking occurred in this location to aid cycle movements within the proposed advisory cycle lane, although loading and unloading would still be permitted outside of the restricted times to help service the surrounding businesses. 

To facilitate the Advisory Cycle Lane at the southern end of Greyfriars Road it would be necessary to remove the existing speed cushions as these would create conflict with cyclists.  The design now included the provision of priority working with two islands creating separation for the Advisory Cycle Lanes that were continued on the outside.  Traffic heading north was provided with the priority and a give way was proposed for traffic heading south.  Any traffic heading south would only be travelling to Sackville Street given that the top section of Greyfriars Road was one-way only apart from the existing south bound contraflow cycle lane.

In addition to the works on Greyfriars Road additional changes were required along Garrard Street to aid access and egress into the shared loading facility that was located between Station Hill Phase 2 and Thames Tower.  This would require the revocation of 13 metres of the existing pay and display bay from 25 metres to 12 metres, which would result in the loss of two parking bays.  However, the loss of pay and display bays in this location would be mitigated by the provision of two additional pay and display parking bays that would be provided on Garrard Street as part of the Station Hill Phase 1 scheme.  A ‘No Waiting at Any Time’ restriction had been proposed to replace the revoked section of the pay and display bays, which was in keeping with the remainder of Garrard Street.  The scheme also proposed the revocation of a 12.5 metre ‘Not Waiting at Any Time’ restriction across the new vehicular access for Phase 2.  The scheme had been subject to a Road Safety Audit and all points that had been raised in the Audit and were within the scope of the S278 Highway Agreement had been addressed.

Resolved –

(1)        That the report be noted;

(2)        That the Assistant Director of Legal and Democratic Services be authorised to undertake statutory consultation/notification processes;

(3)        That subject to no objections being received, the Assistant Director of Legal and Democratic Services be authorised to make the Traffic Regulation Order for the proposed scheme;

(4)        That any objection(s) received following the statutory advertisement be submitted to a future meeting;

(5)        That the Head of Transport Highways and Traffic Services Manager? (or appropriate Officer) in consultation with the Lead Councillor for Climate Strategy and Transport, be authorised to make minor changes to the proposals;

(6)        That no public inquiry be held into the proposals.