Agenda item

Paul Taylor, Transport Engineering Manager gave a presentation on the Quietways Consultation.

In the presentation the following points were made:

·         For the last five years, the Traffic and Parking Service had undertaken web based consultation using Survey Monkey. Consultees were given an A5 card directing them to the web page to respond to the consultation. The response rate was generally 9-12% which was the same as when paper based consultation previously took place.

·         The recent Quietway consultation followed the standard procedure. However, there were too many drawings to include on Survey Monkey so the council website was used with a link to Survey Monkey. The response rate was low at 1% so more elaborate documents were delivered to all properties in the consultation area. This increased the response rate to 4%.

·         The Waltham Forrest Mini-Holland scheme was a £30million scheme to transform areas of Waltham Forrest to provide more cycle friendly streets and change the streetscape design. The Commonplace web based consultation system was used as an engagement tool, to interact with residents and stakeholders and gather and share information.

·         The council had contacted Commonplace to find out the costs that would be incurred if Commonplace was used on the Quietways consultation and an initial quote was £10,000. The council did not have funding for this but could ask TfL to fund it.

·         The council would be trialling the use of Commonplace on a small road zebra crossing on Canonbury Road at a cost of £1500. This would enable officers to see how the process worked and whether it would be useful for the Quietways consultation.

·         It was important to consider the wording of the consultation to encourage all types of road users to respond.

Simon Munk, Council Liaison Officer, Waltham Forest Cycling Campaign gave a presentation on the use of Commonplace in the Mini-Holland scheme in Waltham Forrest. In the presentation the following points were made:

·         In the first Mini-Holland scheme, standard consultation notices were sent out and a public meeting took place. The scheme was controversial and without an effective engagement tool, many local residents had expressed their views on social media websites. Following this, Commonplace was used in the second wave of schemes and there had been much more positive engagement. Each user could see the comments of others. Respondents had also flagged up other issues in the area which provided useful data for officers.

·         Without the use of Commonplace or a similar system, it was likely that the scheme would have been lost.

·         The scheme’s area covered half a square kilometre and included 15 road closures, four of which were in place now and the rest would follow.

·         On street trials had been used which included roads being closed off for a period of three weeks with the use of large portable planters and barriers. Where this did not work the barriers could be easily removed or moved to another location.

·         The scheme was adjusted following the trials.

·         The scheme had been controversial but by the end of the process 65% of respondents had understood the principles. 44% agreed with the exact scheme and 41% disagreed with the scheme.

·         Concern was raised that consultation results could be skewed by interest groups. Simon advised that postal and email addresses were tracked.

·         Commonplace would not solve the difficulties of reaching those who were hard to reach.

·         Residents were often surprised how many vehicles used their road and once they realised this, they were more positive about a road closure. Therefore traffic counts had been a useful tool to use alongside Commonplace.

RESOLVED:

1) That the presentation be noted.

2) That the results of the pilot scheme be submitted to a future meeting of the committee.