Agenda and minutes

To note the attendance at this meeting of any duly appointed Reserve Members.

Reserve Members may attend meetings:-

(i)                 to take the place of an ordinary Member for whom they are a reserve;

(ii)               where the ordinary Member will be absent for the whole of the meeting; and

(iii)             the meeting notes at the start of the meeting at the item ‘Reserves’ that the Reserve Member is or will be attending as a reserve;

(iv)              if a Reserve Member whose intention to attend has been noted arrives after the commencement of the meeting, then that Reserve Member can only act as a Member from the start of the next item of business on the agenda after his/her arrival.

RESOLVED:  To note the attendance at this meeting of the following duly appointed Reserve Members:-

To receive declarations of personal or prejudicial interests, arising from business to be transacted at this meeting, from:

(a)               all Members of the Panel;

(b)               all other Members present in any part of the room or chamber.

RESOLVED:  To note that there were no declarations of interests made by Members.

That the minutes of the meeting held on 1 December 2011 be taken as read and signed as a correct record.

RESOLVED:  That the minutes of the meeting held on 1 December 2011 be taken as read and signed as a correct record.

To receive questions (if any) from local residents or organisations under the provisions of Executive Procedure Rule 51 (Part 4D of the Constitution).

RESOLVED:  To note that no public questions were put, or petitions or deputations received at this meeting under the provisions of Executive Procedure Rules 51, 49 and 50 (Part 4D of the Constitution) respectively.

Report of the Corporate Director of Place Shaping

Members received a report of the Corporate Director of Place Shaping which provided an update on the Area Action Plan (AAP) and other issues, projects and proposals affecting the Heart of Harrow.  The Chair welcomed Esther Kurland, Urban Design for London, and David Rowe, Transport for London, to the meeting.

TfL Modelling

Members received an officer presentation on the Area Action Plan Traffic Model.  During the course of the presentation, the officer summarised the preliminary findings, showed the key junctions map and junction performance summary, outlined the model scenarios which gave an indication where queues would form and reported the average network speeds.  He concluded that the AAP proposals would lead to approximately an additional 1,620 journeys in the morning and 2,400 in the evening.  In addition, it was anticipated that 7 junctions would significantly worsen due to the AAP and network performance results showed that there would be approximately a 3% reduction in speed.

Following the presentation, Members asked questions and made comments which were responded to as follows:

·                     specific junction modelling would be carried out for each development and the network management team would keep the transient flows during the construction phase under review;

·                     the mitigation measures would consider a range of issues and some of these would be funded by TfL and some by developers.  There were, however, other measures already in place.  The creation of land use policy in the AAP to increase local employment would also help to reduce travel demand;

·                     responding to Member’s question about trip figures, the officer advised that these were based on data from similar developments which were generally comparable and that further details could be provided on request.

Smoothing Traffic Flow

Members received a presentation from Esther Kurland and David Rowe entitled Street Ideas.  The presentation is available to view on the Council’s website.

Ms Kurland advised that the aim was to have better balanced streets and that there was a need to consider what streets were for, such as movement and place.  She outlined the guiding principles as follows

·                     there was a need to understand a street’s function and that the character of a place should be reflected;

·                     the street should ‘be the stage and not the star’;

·                     decide the degree of separation;

·                     avoid over elaboration as simple schemes were often the most successful and would last;

·                     opt for quality, easy to maintain schemes;

·                     work with users.

Following the presentation Members made comments and asked questions as follows:

·                     The over-riding problem in Harrow was the limited number of north-south routes, resulting in congestion in Station Road and Harrow View.  The lack of space on these routes to increase capacity would deter visitors or people working in the area.  Mr Rowe suggested that there were solutions that could address the space issue and referred to some of the examples shown in the presentation.  In addition, cycle parking and car sharing could lead to a reduction in the proportion of people needing to use a car.  Responding to the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 83.

The Panel agreed to consider, as a matter of urgency, a schedule which provided progress on various sites around the borough in order to receive the most up to date information available.

The Divisional Director of Planning reported that the administrators of Bradstowe House had now received bids.  He had received three calls from separate developers in relation to this site so he was hopeful that proposals would come forward.  In terms of the Colart site, pre-application consultation with the community was now underway.

The Corporate Director of Place Shaping provided an update in relation to Whitchurch Pavilion and advised that a Forum would be held on Monday 26 March at Whitchurch School at 7.00 pm.  The statutory advertising had been placed on 9 February 2012 with a closing date of 9 March 2012 and he advised that there would be a report to Cabinet in May 2012.  A Member stated that he had been contacted by a number of residents, including the Chairman of the residents’ association who had instigated the call-in of a previous Cabinet decision on Whitchurch Pavilion, about the advertising and late notice of the Forum.  In addition, the Chairman of the association had not formally been invited.  The Corporate Director responded that 4,000 leaflets had been delivered in the locality on 19 March, giving a full week’s notice.  It had been the consensus of the consortium’s management that this was the optimum notice period.  He undertook to take on board the Member’s comments and requested that Members advise him if there were any other interested individuals/parties who should be invited to attend.

In response to requests from Members, the Divisional Director undertook to include Whitchurch Pavilion and change control in future schedules.

Members considered which items they would like to receive at their next meeting.  The Divisional Director of Planning advised that currently it was intended to submit items on Infrastructure Delivery, an update on the property review and the Area Action Plan Regulation 27 and other Development Plan Documents.  In addition, he advised that the Transport for London Director for borough partnerships had been approached about attending.

In accordance with the provisions of Executive Procedure Rule 48.2 (Part 4D of the Constitution) it was

RESOLVED:  At

(1)               9.55 pm to continue until 10.15 pm;

(2)               10.13 pm to continue until 10.20 pm.