Agenda item

Report of the Corporate Director, Community

This report detailed the six-month review of the four school streets schemes introduced as a part of the Harrow Streetspace Programme in October 2020 and considered the future of the schemes.

An officer introduced the report and highlighted the following:

·                     This was a Transport for London (TfL)L scheme and that schools had been chosen where there were known issues surrounding the pickup and drop off times.

·                     The consultation process had been followed, with this scheme recommended for a trial at TARSAP in August 2020, and which had been implemented in September 2020.

·                     There had been monthly reviews and monitoring throughout the trial.  There had been consultation with key stakeholder which included schools.

·                     It had been clear that the trial had created low traffic conditions for students and parents, which had created a healthier and safer in the conditions in the school streets.  The schools had also been supportive of the schemes.

The Panel raised a number of questions to which the officer responded to as follows:

·                     the second phase was currently going through public engagement and a special meeting for June was planned.  The funding provided by TfL from last year had been carried forward but could only be used within a certain time frame.  If the deadline were to be missed, that would mean that funding would be drawn from elsewhere.

·                     The Panel agreed that a number of Councillors, who were not members of the Panel, could address the meeting and the issues raised included there should be time for the data to be understood and to identify why there had been negative feedback to this scheme.

In response, members of the Panel made the following comments:

·                     There was a need for a better understanding as to why there had been a negative reaction to this scheme.

·                     There had been a need for parking to be monitored.

·                     There should be a pause between gathering data and the implementation of projects in order for data to be fully assessed.

·                     Parking had caused issues in surrounding areas.

A Member proposed to an additional recommendation which was duly agreed by the Panel.

Another Member moved an amendment to the additional recommendation which requested that the Panel recommend no further Street Schools schemes were implemented, until there was data from the current schemes.  This was duly seconded, put to the vote and was lost.

Resolved to RECOMMEND:  (to Cabinet)

 That

(1)          the experimental trials of the school streets schemes be continued until month 12 of the 18 months;

(2)          a full report be submitted to the Panel on the progress of the experimental trials in order that the future of the schemes could be considered;

(3)          the Corporate Director – Community following consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Environment, collate an action plan on learning from the negative consultation feedback to date and take relevant steps to directly address the main issues and problems associated with the School Street programme introduction in the local surrounding areas.

Reason for Recommendations:  To continue to evaluate the performance of the school streets schemes over the 18-month experimental period.