Agenda and minutes

The Executive, at the discretion of the Chairperson, will hear up to four people, each of whom must be a resident or a business ratepayer or an elector, who wish to address it in accordance with the Executive Standing Orders, on matters that affect the area or its residents and over which the Executive has powers and duties. The Chairperson will select the order of the matters to be heard. Each person will be limited to a period of three minutes and this part of the meeting must not exceed fifteen minutes.

Requests to speak must be submitted in writing to the Monitoring Officer, or the officer mentioned at the top of this agenda letter, by noon on the day before the meeting and the request must detail the subject matter of the address. 

Malcolm Simmonds addressed the Executive regarding Clevedon seafront.  Whilst he had felt that there had been nothing wrong with the seafront before the changes were made, he acknowledged that we now needed to look to the future.  He referred to a number of issues arising from the changes to the seafront such as vehicles driving in the wrong direction, misuse of loading bays and blocked access to driveways, and hoped that this new scheme would address those issues.  Mr Simmonds felt that the focus should now be on quality rather than a minimal approach.  He thanked the Executive Member and other councillors for listening and understanding the way that the scheme had affected their businesses, health, and private lives.

The Chairperson thanked Mr Simmonds for his heart felt comments and recognised the time and patience this had taken.

Cathy Hawkins addressed the Executive and thanked them for the opportunity to speak.  She welcomed the review and referred to the passion and emotion the scheme had caused for the people of Clevedon.  Whilst it was a positive move to see the return to front facing parking, a number of other reservations remained, particularly the cycle lane coming down the hill into oncoming traffic.  A safer solution could be for the pavement to be a shared space for pedestrians and cyclists.

The Chairperson thanked Ms Hawkins and said that he felt sure colleagues would have listened carefully to her comments.

A Member must declare any disclosable pecuniary interest where it relates to any matter being considered at the meeting. A declaration of a disclosable pecuniary interest should indicate the interest and the agenda item to which it relates. A Member is not permitted to participate in this agenda item by law and should immediately leave the meeting before the start of any debate.

If the Member leaves the meeting in respect of a declaration, he or she should ensure that the Chairperson is aware of this before he or she leaves to enable their exit from the meeting to be recorded in the minutes in accordance with Standing Order 37.

None declared.

7 February 2024, to approve as a correct record

Resolved: that the minutes be approved as a correct record.

Non-Executive Councillors wishing to address the Executive are required to notify the contact officer mentioned at the top of this summons letter by noon on the day before the meeting. A total of fifteen minutes will be allocated to hear all addresses.

None.

Report of Councillor Young (attached)

Councillor Hannah Young presented the report, thanking those who had spoken today and also those who had engaged enthusiastically in the consultation and review.

The Executive had committed to commissioning an independent review, and the fact that thousands of people had taken part in it demonstrated how important this had been as an issue for Clevedon.  There had been a great deal of work since the AECOM review was discussed in December last year amounting in the basic design being presented today which would take the work forwards.  There would be further stages ahead arising from the road safety audit.   Active Travel England had indicated that they would not be looking to recoup their funds so far.  The most difficult process had been finding a way forwards given the problematic financial position the council found itself in.  A range of council finance sources had been pulled together including use of reserves, some Local Transport Plan funding and other small funding areas.  This would provide a sufficient level of funding for the high-level priority areas and those lower-level areas that did not require additional funding.

Approval of the recommendations today would enable the scoping of an implementation plan and timescale although this wouldn’t be in time for the summer and would not be taken forward during the busy summer period.

Members discussed support and help across a range of issues including economic impact and parking enforcement, particularly regarding loading bays.  There was recognition of the lessons to be learned from the project and the difficult position that councillors now found themselves in. 

Concern was also raised that the scheme had not been given sufficient time to embed and that the proposed revisions favoured car use and did not fully address all aspects of safety.  There were also concerns about the amount of money now being spent when the focus should be on making the current scheme safe.

Suggestions were made at the meeting by members of the public around improvements to current signage and potential shared use of the Promenade by cyclists as an alternative to a contraflow cycle lane.  Councillor Young noted that the Scrutiny process had been robust and well managed. 

Councillor Young rebutted the assumption that this was a reversal of the original scheme.  The original scheme had been much wider, much of which was to remain, and the beach itself was only part of that scheme.  Safety remained a priority in the difficult balance of the needs of multiple users of the seafront.  She was grateful for the support received and thanked the officers for all their hard work. 

The Leader emphasised that this partnership administration believed in being open and transparent and in working with the community, which was particularly important given challenges that were faced.  

Resolved: that the Executive:

1.       Noted the update provided by the Director of Place in respect of developing options for funding and implementation of proposed changes to the current scheme on The Beach as described in section 3 of the  ...  view the full minutes text for item EXE 102

None.

None.

Executive Councillors might report orally on matters in progress. Such reports will be for information only and no material decisions can be made arising from them.

None.

For a matter to be considered as an urgent item, the following question must be addressed: “What harm to the public interest would flow from leaving it until the next meeting?” If harm can be demonstrated, then it is open to the Chairperson to rule that it be considered as urgent. Otherwise the matter cannot be considered urgent within the statutory provisions.

None.