Agenda item

Questions by Elected Members

To consider questions which may have been received from Elected Members and which are asked pursuant to Standing Order No. 11.

 

a)    Councillor Fielding

“The proposed new Free School to be built on Broadway intended to open for the September 2023 intake has been further delayed due to an inadequate bat survey and an incomplete traffic assessment preventing the granting of planning permission. The opening of the permanent accommodation will now be delayed by at least 12 months meaning that further temporary accommodation will have to be provided to ensure the Council fulfils  its statutory duty as the LEA.

Given the clear financial and educational interest of the Council in this matter what steps were taken by the Council to avoid this delay and the consequent further unnecessary disruption to students education and how much will this further delay cost the Council.”

b)    Councillor Hunt

“For the 21/22 financial year the council allocated a budget of £90,000 for neighbourhood road safety schemes. A total of 49 requests were received from Ward Members, giving an estimated total scheme value of £517,000. Each suggestion was given an initial assessment following which 15 schemes were taken forward for further investigation by the Traffic team. An initial cost estimate of each scheme was undertaken for the 15 schemes, which gave a total works cost of £197,000. Please list the locations of these 15 schemes.”

c)    Councillor Hunt

“Please list the sites where neighbourhood road safety schemes will be undertaken using the £90,000 budget allocated for the 21/22 financial year.”

 

Minutes:

The Chief Executive reported that she had received a number of questions from Elected Members in accordance with Standing Order No. 11.

 

  1. Councillor Fielding

 

“The proposed new Free School to be built on Broadway intended to open for the September 2023 intake has been further delayed due to an inadequate bat survey and an incomplete traffic assessment preventing the granting of planning permission. The opening of the permanent accommodation will now be delayed by at least 12 months meaning that further temporary accommodation will have to be provided to ensure the Council fulfils its statutory duty as the LEA. Given the clear financial and educational interest of the Council in this matter what steps were taken by the Council to avoid this delay and the consequent further unnecessary disruption to students’ education and how much will this further delay cost the Council.”

 

Councillor Cave, Cabinet Member for Children’s Services, gave thanks for the question and said that the Department for Education (DfE) and Trinity Academy Trust had confirmed that there would be a delay in opening the proposed permanent site of the Trinity-St Edwards school at Keresforth Close. The delay was due to the presence of bats in some of the buildings, which will be demolished as part of the scheme. The bats were currently hibernating, and a complete survey was required, which can only take place over the spring/summer of 2022. This was in line with legislation and Natural England guidance.

 

It was unlikely that the presence of bats would prevent the development from taking place. However, the developer would have to obtain a licence from Natural England. 

 

It was confirmed that the Council continued to support the DfE and Academy Trust throughout this process but had a clear role as a Local Planning Authority and Highway Authority. Both the DfE and the Academy trust were aware of this.

 

The Trinity St. Edwards school, including the temporary accommodation at Eastgate, was a DfE project that they wholly fund through the Government’s Free School Programme. The only costs attributed to the council to date had been officer time, and this is expected to be the case until the permanent school is delivered.

 

The DfE and Trinity Academy Trust had started to implement contingency plans and appointed a Technical Advisor to establish options for accommodation until the proposed permanent site was ready. A clearer position would be available in the coming weeks once the Technical Advisor’s proposals had been shared with the council.

 

The lead time for constructing the school was dependent on planning permission, requirements and agreed designs. The DfE’s appointed contractor was also finalising a revised programme with an indicative completion date for the permanent school scheduled for 2024. Trinity Trust had led the communication with parents, including those whose children had been allocated a place on national offer day on the 1 March 2022. The Trinity St Edward’s School was open to pupils, and children continued to have a school place.

 

Councillor Fielding thanked the Cabinet Member for his response, and by way of supplementary question asked for clarification with regards to the carrying out of a bat survey, which had been highlighted as scheduled to take place in Spring/Summer of 2022 when he understood it to be September 2023, which would lead to longer delays.  He also asked that, given the original bat survey and ecological assessment was carried out and published in July 2020, highlighting the need for a further survey, where did responsibility lie for the fact that this was not planned to take place until 2023, rather than when it could have been undertaken in 2021.

 

In response Councillor Cave confirmed that the survey would be completed in Spring/Summer of 2022.

 

  1. Councillor Hunt

 

“For the 21/22 financial year the council allocated a budget of £90,000 for neighbourhood road safety schemes. A total of 49 requests were received from Ward Members, giving an estimated total scheme value of £517,000. Each suggestion was given an initial assessment following which 15 schemes were taken forward for further investigation by the Traffic team. An initial cost estimate of each scheme was undertaken for the 15 schemes, which gave a total works cost of £197,000. Please list the locations of these 15 schemes.”

 

Councillor Lamb, Cabinet Member Place (Environment and Transportation), gave thanks for the question and responded by giving the locations as follows:-

 

  • Pontefract Road, Hoyle Mill – Pedestrian refuge island
  • Shaw Lane, Cudworth – Provision of a new footway
  • Sheffield Road, Penistone West – Pedestrian crossing improvements
  • Park Street, Wombwell - Pedestrian refuge island
  • Hough Lane, Wombwell – Pedestrian refuge island
  • Sheffield Road, Worsborough - Pedestrian refuge island
  • Paddock Road, Staincross, Darton East – Traffic calming
  • A637 Darton Village, Darton West – Junction improvements
  • Barugh Green Shops, Darton West – Parking restrictions
  • Greenfoot Lane, Old Town - Low Traffic neighbourhood
  • Wakefield Rd, Athersley South, St Helens - Pedestrian crossing
  • Laithes Lane/ Chatsworth Road, St Helens - Pedestrian crossing
  • Wakefield Rd, New Lodge, St Helens - Pedestrian crossing
  • Halifax Road, Wortley, Penistone East - Pedestrian crossing
  • A629/Cote Lane, Thurgoland, Penistone East - Junction improvements

 

Councillor Hunt gave thanks for the response and by way of supplementary question asked Councillor Lamb to confirm the process for Members to promote neighbourhood road safety schemes within the £2m additional sum allocated for highway improvement in the approved 22/23 budget. Was it by responding to his email sent on 17th February or will council officers be confirming a process for 22/23 similar to that approved by Cabinet for 21/22 neighbourhood road safety pilot?

 

Councillor Lamb confirmed that both formed part of the process, Councillors were encouraged to respond to his email which would then be collated and sent to officers, where decisions would be taken by officers in the highways department.

 

  1. Councillor Hunt

 

“Please list the sites where neighbourhood road safety schemes will be undertaken using the £90,000 budget allocated for the 21/22 financial year.”

 

Councillor Lamb, Cabinet Member Place (Environment and Transportation) responded by confirming that it would be at the following sites:-

 

  • Pontefract Road, Hoyle Mill – Pedestrian refuge island
  • Shaw Lane, Cudworth – Provision of a new footway
  • Sheffield Road, Penistone – Pedestrian crossing improvements
  • Park Street, Wombwell - Pedestrian refuge island
  • Hough Lane, Wombwell – Pedestrian refuge island

 

It was noted that all schemes put forward would be scored and ranked by professional and experienced highways engineers..

 

Councillor Hunt thanked the Cabinet Member of the response and in asking a supplementary question noted that the Cabinet report for the 21/22 Neighbourhood Road Safety Pilot dated February 2020 stated that results would be circulated to all Members for information purposes and that quarterly updates would be prepared and circulated to inform Members of progress. Therefore, why had the information given today not been circulated to all Members previously?

 

Councillor Lamb, Cabinet Member Place (Environment and Transportation) responded that due to the pandemic officers had been working hard, focusing on providing services.

 

Supporting documents:

 

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