Agenda and minutes

Members are requested to declare any disclosable pecuniary or affected interest, including the existence and nature of the Party Whip, in respect of any matter to be considered at this meeting.

Any Member with a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest or an affected interest in a matter should withdraw from the meeting when the matter is under consideration and should notify the Democratic Services Officer in attendance that they are withdrawing as they have such an interest. If the Disclosable Pecuniary Interest is not entered on the register of Members interests the Monitoring Officer must be notified of the interest within 28 days.

Councillor McLean informed the Commission that he lived near the Shoulder of Mutton Junction and had obtained advice from the Borough Solicitor on the matter.  Councillor McLean assured the Commission that this did not constitute an affected interest.

Councillor Leake informed the Commission that he had been one of the three Members who had triggered the Call-In and he had therefore decided to ask the Vice-Chairman to chair the meeting.

COUNCILLOR ANGELL, VICE CHAIRMAN, IN THE CHAIR

To receive submissions from members of the public which have been submitted in advance in accordance with the Council’s Public Participation Scheme for Overview and Scrutiny.

There were no submissions from members of the public in accordance with the Council’s Public Participation Scheme for Overview and Scrutiny.

To consider the report of the Assistant Chief Executive on the Call-In of the Executive  Member decision, to approve the introduction of a no right turn restriction on Beehive Road/B3408, London Road, Binfield.

The Commission received a report setting out the reasons for Calling In the Executive Member decision, made on 4 March 2014, to approve the introduction of a no right turn restriction at the Beehive Road/B3408 London Road (Shoulder of Mutton) junction.

Councillor Leake informed the Commission that a correction had been made to paragraphs 1 and 2.3 of the Assistant Chief Executive’s report and that the word Member should be inserted after the word Executive in both paragraphs.

Councillors Harrison, Leake and McLean set out their reasons for requesting the Call-In, including what they regarded to be selective information from officers, the impact of the changes on hundreds of people, residents south of the London Road being cut off from the rest of the village, concern at the capacity of road junctions, the case for the decision not being proven, additional congestion and pollution and what they saw to be flaws in the consultation.  They also felt that the congestion problem arose more from the traffic lights at the junction with John Nike Way.

The three councillors also set out the outcome that they sought to achieve including: reconsideration of the decision based on better information and the use of technical options short of closing the right turn.

Officers informed the Commission that the B3408 was a key strategic transport corridor to and from Bracknell Town Centre forming part of the Bracknell northern distributor route.  The recommendation had been made following extensive professional observations of the traffic movement along London Road between the Popeswood Roundabout Junction and the Coppid Beech Roundabout Junction combined with a series of exercises using Department of Transport approved methodology for modelling a variety of traffic scenarios between now and 2026 when the regeneration of Bracknell Town Centre and the proposed Amen Corner developments (amongst others) were expected to be completed.  Modelling work had demonstrated that traffic flow along the London Road would be significantly improved if the right hand turn out of Beehive Lane was no longer possible, and this was the only option which would meet the current and anticipated demands on the junction which was currently ‘saturated’ at peak times.  Carrying out the junction work would also enable the Council to replace the existing traffic signal infrastructure along the length of the road, which had reached the end of its design life, with modern technology that would enable a more efficient and ‘managed’ corridor.  Overall, the capacity improvement would maximise the throughput of vehicles across the series of junctions along the B3408 corridor enabling a smoother flow of traffic and improved air quality.

Officers informed the Commission that the John Nike Way junction had spare capacity and was not adding to the congestion problem at the Shoulder of Mutton junction, but that the current uncoordinated approach sometimes created conflict.  Modelling work had ascertained that the road networks that drivers would be diverted on to, if they were unable to turn right out of Beehive Lane, would be able to cope with  ...  view the full minutes text for item 58.