Cornwall Council Killing our Carnivals - UPDATED

UPDATE - Lib Dem councillors have now submitted a motion for debate on this issue for the full council meeting on 4th September.

Cornwall Council has just issued a consultation paper about imposing charges on people who organise street events which require traffic management. The problem is that, for the sake of about £50,000, they run the risk of killing off local carnivals.

The background to this is the decision by Devon and Cornwall Police to hand responsibility for event traffic management to the council as from April last year. The council claims that providing advice, signage and temporary traffic management orders costs money and they want to get this back from event organisers.

That's fair enough when it comes to big commercial events like the Royal Cornwall Show, but it could land local carnival committees with a bill for £1000 or more at a time when their income is fast disappearing. Not surprisingly, many carnival committees say they cannot afford this and are thinking of cancelling their events. The same applies to some of the local road races. In the aftermath of the Olympics, Cornwall Council seems to have found a way to put paid to many athletics events making it less likely that the next Mo Farah will come from Cornwall.

Carnivals might seem a bit old-fashioned to some, but they are great community events for many others and bring together people of all ages to celebrate their town or village. From Truro's huge traditional event to St Austell's torchlight procession to Launceston's autumn evening parade, each has its own character.

So what charges does a carnival or other street event face? Whilst they are likely to continue to get general pre-event advice for free, they may face a charge for an event application or temporary traffic regulation order of up to £380.  Then there is the signage itself which the event organiser will have to borrow, hire or buy. It may be that this is a one-off cost for an annual event, but it could be hundreds of pounds. Then there is a charge of up to £200 for no-waiting cones and, finally, a charge of £60 per person for training. If you have a long carnival route then this might be half a dozen people. The total first year charge for a town carnival - anything up to £1000 or even more.

There are some events which are commercial in their nature and which can either afford these costs or adjust their budgets to take account of them. These include the big agricultural shows and some of the commercial road races. But the majority of local carnivals and road races are a different thing entirely. They rely on a series of local fundraising events and the goodwill of volunteers. In good years they might also have an event sponsor. But with the current economic climate, most don't have one this year and are unlikely to get one next.

So all this will turn a tidy profit for Cornwall Council won't it? Actually no. The officers estimate that the income generated will be somewhere around £50,000 per year. To put it into context, this is the amount that our Conservative Council Leader gave to Plymouth City Council to support their bid to bring the football World Cup to Plymouth.

I would urge everyone who has any interest in local carnivals or other events to have their say in response to the formal consultation. Regrettably, the consultation is not available on the Council's online consultation portal. For some reason they have chosen to make it paper and email only. Below you will find the draft proposals and the consultation questionnaire itself.

Charging Framework for Traffic

 Consultation Questionnaire

Local paper coverage is here.

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Newport Road crossing

This afternoon I had a meeting with highways officers to discuss the ongoing quest for a safe way for pedestrians to cross the main road at Newport Square or St Thomas Road. As regular readers will know, money for a crossing was in last year's budget but the project was delayed by a lack of design resources.

The engineers have modelled three options for how a crossing might work. The first two look at the obvious option of adding a pedestrian phase to the traffic lights. Whilst this would be feasible, the knock on effect on the length of time that cars would end up waiting at the junction at peak times is very worrying.

The other option would be an informal refuge type crossing a bit further up the hill towards town. The trouble with this is that it would do little to serve the proposed TRAC trail between Polson and Egloskerry which it is suggested would cross the main road at the Newport Industrial Estate junction.

So the officers are going away to think some more. I'm grateful to them for the work they have done so far and am confident that we will come up with some sort of scheme in the near future.

In the meantime, they are also looking at introducing a length of pavement on the industrial estate side of the road between the junction and Station Road. They are also looking at better understanding the traffic flows to see if the current lights could be re-timed to reduce waiting times.

As with many local problems, there isn't a simple solution, but I am confident that this one is now being addressed.

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Fix My Street launches bespoke council versions

There's been an online service called Fix My Street around for some time. It is a website which allowed members of the public to report potholes and other problems with their local roads and pavements to the council.

Now two local authorities have taken it a step further and worked with the web site owners to develop a bespoke version for their areas. So well done to Barnet and Bromley councils. I have made the suggestion to Cornwall Council that they should do likewise.

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Consultation starts next week on Launceston traffic plans

At long last a consultation on plans to introduce residents parking and new yellow lines in Launceston and the surrounding area will be going to public consultation next week.

Together with my colleagues Sasha Gillard-Loft and Adam Paynter, I've been making representations for changes to various highways rules and regulations for a number of months. Because of the cost of making such changes (typically over £3500 for legal work and advertising), groups of requests are stored up until they reach a critical mass for a particular town or area.

Among the changes going out to consultation are proposals to introduce residents parking schemes in Kensey Hill, Race Hill and part of Western Road. There are plans for new yellow lines in Moorland Road in order to allow the town bus to pass freely and for new disabled parking bays in various streets. There are various other proposals around the town including the official removal of the now redundant parking bays outside the old Newport Post Office.

The official consultation starts on April 25th and lasts until May 18th. Properties which would be entitled to buy residents parking permits will receive a letter from the council. Other residents and visitors are encouraged to have their say as well by responding to the notices which will be in local press and advertised on the Cornwall Council website from the 25th. I'll post a link when this is available.

UPDATE - I forgot to mention originally that the price for the first car in a residents parking scheme has been cut from £55 to £25. A consultation in Truro found that many people would not be prepared the higher figure.

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Delays and mis-communications

This morning I had a meeting with Cornwall Council's Highways and Parking boss Cllr Graeme Hicks and a senior officer to discuss various delays and problems in the Launceston area.

First up was a delay to a number of improvements to roads and parking around town. These changes range from new disabled bays to residents parking schemes in Western Road, Kensey Hill and Race Hill. These were originally meant to be put out for formal consultation in October last year but were then delayed (with no explanation) until March. Only at the beginning of this week were local councillors told that the consultation had been delayed until May.

There can often be good reasons why schemes like this are delayed - but Cornwall Council has lost credibility by failing to keep local people and elected councillors informed.

I've asked officers to tell me why the delays happened and to make sure that there is better communication to residents and councillors in future. I've also asked for the consultation in Launceston to go ahead as soon as possible with no further unexplained delays.

Secondly, I raised the issue of the delay to the new pedestrian crossing at St Thomas Road / Newport Square. This was built into the work schedule for the current financial year and has simply not appeared. Again - there may be valid explanations for delay, but keeping communities in the dark is not acceptable. I've asked for an explanation for the delay and a guaranteed timetable for the works to be completed.

(I also raised the issue of the increased parking charges and the damage they are doing to our town centre. I was told that officers wanted to see the results of the first full year of the new charges - in May - before they would consider action.)

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New Crossing Delayed Again!

Residents of Launceston will know how difficult and dangerous it can be to cross St Thomas Road. For residents living in the Priory part of town you almost feel like you are taking your life into your hands if you try to walk to the town centre.

For many years, local residents have campaigned to get a safe crossing and I have put forward the case numerous times to council officers and even persuaded cabinet member Graeme Hicks to come to see the difficulties for himself 18 months ago.

We were delighted, therefore, when the council agreed as part of the current year's budget to put in such a crossing. Ever since it was agreed, I've been trying to find out exactly when it would be happening.

We are now entering the final month of the financial year and the work still hasn't been done.

Today I received an email from an officer on a completely different project who coincidentally passed on the news that the crossing is being delayed into the new financial year due to 'a lack of resources in the design group'.

I've therefore written to Cllr Graeme Hicks, the cabinet member for highways, to ask for an explanation. Readers will remember that he sent an intemperate email to officers on the subject of highways works. Following that email, he gave local residents a reassurance that this crossing would be done on time. Similar assurances were also given by council officers.

I want to know why this vital crossing has been delayed and why neither Cllr Hicks nor any of the officers concerned told me or local residents about the delay. I want to know what other projects have been delayed and why on earth there is a lack of resources in the design group. I have also asked for a definitive date for when the work will finally be done.

I will, of course, post any response that I get.

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Council acts to end Newport bottleneck

Following requests I made on behalf of local residents and businesses, Cornwall Council has acted to take out the parking bays outside the old Newport Post Office. These have been replaced with double yellow lines.

Hopefully this will stop people from parking here and blocking the very busy traffic on St Thomas Road.

Many thanks to Oliver Jones and his team at the Highways Department for their work on this.

Cornwall Council agrees to reconsider pointless bureaucracy in highways orders

Tonight we held the third full meeting of the Launceston Community Network Area panel. This brings together Cornwall Councillors, parishes, the Town Council, police, health service and anyone else who wants to turn up. The theme for tonight's discussion was traffic and transport.

We were joined by Graeme Hicks, the Cornwall Cabinet Member for highways, as well as some of his officers. Many thanks to Graeme for coming along.

One of the major gripes that I raised was the ridiculous cost of bureaucracy imposed by Cornwall Council and the Government. As regular readers will know, it takes 11 people and costs £3600 to paint 40 feet of yellow line because of a combination of Government and Council paper pushing.

This bureaucracy slows down vital highways improvements and the extra costs mean that less than half of what should be done is actually achieved.

I asked Graeme to look again at the Council policy and to make sure that where there were unnecessary people involved or costly procedures that had little benefit that these are removed. I was delighted that he has agreed to do so. I also hope that he will do what I have done and write to Eric Pickles asking him to lessen the Government bureaucracy too.

Cornwall Council to co-ordinate road cleaning better

Cornwall Council officers have promised to co-ordinate their road cleaning works better in future after residents complained to me that the Council was clearing road gullies only to sweep rubbish straight back into them.

The particular problem arose in Dutson Road where residents found that their drains and gullies were being cleared but that the street sweepers would come along two days later.

I've talked to the Council and the two departments concerned have promised to co-ordinate better in future so that the gulley and drain clearing takes place just after street sweeping rather than just before.

Traffic calming in Town Mills

I've been talking to residents in Town Mills about problems with cars speeding round the tight bends from Under Lane. Drivers who don't know the area often are not aware that they are entering the built-up area of the town and the corners are much tighter than they might expect. As a result, we get cars traveling too fast and sometimes out of control as they go round the bends.

I'm delighted that Cornwall Council has agreed to put some new road markings down to warn drivers that they are approaching a built-up area with tight corners and telling them to slow down.

Packhorse Bridge back open

I'm delighted to report that the Packhorse Bridge between Riverside and Westbridge Road is back open again following work by Cornwall Council.

Last week I reported that the bridge had been closed as water pressure had damaged one of the arches. For two days earlier this week staff worked to make it safe and rebuild the damaged sections and it is now open for pedestrians once again.

Many thanks to Cornwall Council for their swift action.

Kensey Valley Meadow latest

Cornwall Council has now written to residents of Kensey Valley Meadow about the on-going delays with the adoption of the roads of the development.

As regular readers will know, the Council originally said that they aimed to adopt the roads by the end of the last financial year (ie 31st March 2010). This deadline came and went with no adoption and no news. I've been pressing the council to adopt the highways as soon as possible, to explain the delays to residents and to apologise.

Today I've been sent a copy of the letter going out to residents. It includes an apology for the delays and an explanation of the current situation. Whilst there's no definitive completion date, there is a commitment to conclude the adoption as soon as possible and that's a huge step forward. Many thanks to the Council for listening to the concerns of local residents and for producing this letter.

The full text of the letter is as follows:

Dear Sir or Madam

Adoption of New Highways at Kensey Valley, Launceston

I write with reference to the adoption of Highways on the above site.

As you will be aware, there has been some delay between the roads being constructed and their adoption (the process by which liability for their maintenance is passed to Cornwall Council as the Highway Authority).

The development as a whole was presented by the developers to the Council for adoption in 5 distinct phases. Each phase was subject to a separate adoption agreement. In short, the agreements generally state the Council will adopt highways following a 12 month maintenance period which commences once the road has been constructed to an acceptable standard. At this particular site, there have been two additional complicating factors. The roads detailed in the earlier phases cannot be adopted until the ‘Spine Road’ (the road connecting the development to the existing maintained highway) becomes adopted and ownership of the development has changed hands a number of times requiring changes to previously drafted agreements.

Fortunately, the current developer is working with the Council in order to facilitate the adoption of all 5 phases as soon as possible. To that end the Council has agreed that the usual 12 month maintenance period will be reduced to only 3 months. Plans have now been forwarded to the Council which will allow it to draw up the necessary paperwork to facilitate the agreement regarding the ‘Spine Road’ which is incorporated within Phase 5 of the development and amend those agreements in place for the remaining 4 phases. That work is being given priority.

I understand that you were advised the roads would be adopted by 31st March 2010 and I am sorry that this has not taken place. Unfortunately, I am unable to provide a definitive date for completion of the process but can advise you that on completion of the agreements and the final construction and maintenance period (plus time to allow rectify any remedial work which may be identified) the roads will become highways maintainable by the Council.

Please rest assured Cornwall Council is working with the current developer to complete the agreements as soon as possible.

Major road closures in Launceston in October and November

Residents may have noticed that all sorts of markings have appeared all over a number of roads in Launceston. These are surveyors marks which have been made in order to plan for resurfacing of the roads.

I've just received a road closure notice which sets out when some of the works will be done. The roads affected will be Wooda Road, Dockacre Road and the continuation of that road past the junction with Ridgegrove Hill almost to the Prout's Corner junction. In total, the works will take around 5 weeks starting from 18th October.

There will be a diversion route signposted which will take drivers via the Link Road.

A number of other roads are also scheduled for resurfacing works. I am told that these are likely to take place after Christmas.

£3600 cost of painting yellow lines to be reviewed by council and government

On Sunday I blogged about the frankly incredible costs of traffic regulation orders and how it would cost at least £3600 and take eleven people to paint just 40 feet of yellow line outside the old Newport Post Office in Launceston.

I've had a couple of updates since that time.

On Sunday I compared the Cornwall costs with the figure of £800 that I was quoted as being the charge in Cumbria. In fact, this turns out to be the cost for a different type of order and the typical cost across the country is between £3000 and £4000. It's still outrageous, bit it does appear that Cornwall is not completely out of step with other authorities.

The good news is that the Government has acknowledged that these costs are way too high and they are reviewing the system at the moment.

Today I questioned Highways Cabinet member Graeme Hicks on the issue and he agreed that he would look at the way that Cornwall Council operates the system to see if there could be any cuts in charges or staff time.

Any changes which could see the process made quicker or the amount of bureaucracy cut will be very good news and I look forward to hearing more as soon as changes are made.

Success - Action taken on skid surfaces and graffiti

This morning I've had a reply from Oliver Jones, the local highways engineer, about the various issues raised following my walkabout on Tuesday.

On the skid surfaces on Dutson Road, Oliver says:

I have had a look at this and it is clearly a material failure, I am going to arrange for a gang to remove the existing failed surface and take this issue up with the sub-contractor who undertook this work originally regarding remedial measures.

On the graffiti, he has arranged for the swastika on the road surface to be painted over and the local street ranger, Rodney Hancock, is dealing with the graffiti on the wall.

Other minor issues that I raised with him included a hole in the pavement outside Spar which he has had filled with a temporary patch and is taking up with BT who he believes are at fault. Also the cracked paving outside Spar is scheduled for repair although, as it is not dangerous, it will not be done immediately.

Many thanks indeed to Oliver, Rodney and their teams for their very swift action on these problems.

Highways Cabinet Member sees danger of Launceston roads

Yesterday I was pleased to welcome Graeme Hicks, Cornwall Council's Cabinet Member for Highways, to Launceston. Graeme had agreed to come to look at some of the issues surrounding crossing and the need for a safer way for people to walk down Dutson Road.

Whilst we were there, we met a number of local residents and also talked to the Cornish and Devon Post.

I took Graeme from the town centre to Ridgegrove, pointing out that for people to walk to route, they needed twice to cross a main road where there is no safe crossing. There is also a problem for all the people who live in the 135 homes on the Priory side of St Thomas' Road as they have to cross the road to get into the town, and for people wanting to get to the steam railway, to Priory ruins or for kids wanting to access Priory Park to play football.

Once we got to Dutson Road, it was clear that Graeme was shocked that children have to walk down a thunderous main road with no pavement to get to school. I asked him to urgently consider what can be done to make the road safer. Of course, the best idea would be to cut the traffic using the road, but this will be a major project. In the mean time, we considered introducing rumble strips at the top of the road and a 'speedvisor' speed indicator sign which will warn drivers to slow down.

Graeme has promised to work with officers to look at all of these issues. He will work out whether the needed changes can be done and also how much they will cost. In the past, officers have often indicated that changes are simply not possible. I hope that Graeme will have a 'can do' attitude and look to see how we can effectively reduce speed on Dutson Road and provide safe crossings on St Thomas and Western Road.

Graeme did, however, point out that there is little or no money in the budget for any changes. I told him that many millions of pounds have been found for projects in mid and West Cornwall in recent years but that North Cornwall has largely missed out on vital life-saving highways works. I appreciate that the Council has to save money, but it is surely only a small matter of time before there is a fatal accident in our area and we ought to spend the necessary money now to save lives.

Image courtesy of the Cornish and Devon Post

Anti-skid surfaces on Dutson Road

The anti-skid surfaces at the bottom of Dutson Road outside the Spar shop have become detached and are in a very dangerous state.

These surfaces (a large red patch and a smaller grey patch, pictured) were put down by the Council just over a year ago to help drivers if they approach the mini-roundabout outside Spar too quickly. The idea is that they stop a car from skidding and help drivers keep control.

Unfortunately, the surfaces are crumbling in many areas and, much worse, are coming away in huge sheets in places. You can see some of the surface that has come loose at the bottom of the photo. If a car or lorry brakes suddenly on a loose sheet then it will skid a huge distance and the driver will have little chance of controlling their vehicle.

The roads are currently in a very dangerous state and I have written to the Council asking for urgent action to repair them.

Out and about with traffic wardens

This morning I have been spending some time around the town with the supervisor of the traffic wardens who work in Launceston.

Since the signs and lines have been fixed, the civil enforcement officers have been able to do their bit to make the traffic flow as freely as possible. This includes making sure that people don't park in loading bays, that they don't overstay in the limited time parking bays and, of course, that they don't park on yellow lines.

Since April 1st, the officers have also had responsibility for our car parks - including coping with the RingGo system.

The biggest challenge that the officers face is that they are very limited in their numbers. There are currently just five enforcement officers for the former NCDC area - and holidays and sickness can mean even fewer on the streets. The good news is that new officers have just been recruited and there should be a team of ten on North Cornwall streets within a short time.

Whilst we were touring the town we saw some of the officers handing out tickets, as well as taking numbers to ensure people didn't overstay and talking to drivers who wanted to know whether they were parking legally.

Among the tickets handed out were two for people parking in loading bays. Whilst people with disabled (blue) badges can park on some yellow lines, they cannot park in loading bays and one car was tickets for that reason. Another car was simply parked in the loading bay whilst the driver went shopping. They got a ticket and decided to give some pretty childish verbal abuse to the officer when they returned.

I asked about the level of abuse that the enforcement officers are subject to. It was good, if a little surprising, to hear that abuse is relatively infrequent. There is the odd bit of non-threatening verbal abuse (such as I witnessed) and officers are told simply to ignore this. If they are threateningly abused, or if physical violence is threatened, then they are told to leave the area as quickly as possible and report the incident to their supervisor and, if warranted, to the Police.

However, if a driver wants to question why they were ticketed, and they are not abusive or threatening, then the officers are expected to explain the reasons for the ticket as well as explain the ways to pay and the right to appeal.

I'm glad that it now seems that Launceston is getting the parking enforcement support it needs and deserves. Many thanks to the officer who took me around town and to his team.

Councillors get go ahead for highways improvements

After he promised two weeks ago that details of local highways improvements were in the post, Cornwall Cabinet Member Graeme Hicks has finally sent out the details.

Each Cornwall councillor will have a budget of £24,000 to spend over the next three years. It sounds like a lot, but with individual schemes such as new crossings costing as much as £60,000 each, a lot of very necessary changes are still out of the reach of local communities.

That is why I have invited Cllr Hicks to come to Launceston next Tuesday to see for himself the problems faced by local residents and to make the case for additional funding for specific projects which are urgently needed and which cannot be afforded from these new budgets.

Among the people he will be meeting is Mr Lea of Dutson Terrace. Mr Lea and his neighbours have to walk down a main road with no pavement and twice cross an A-road with no safe crossing in order to get into the centre of town.

Kensey Valley Meadow highways fixes

I am very glad to see that Elan Homes, the developers of Kensey Valley Meadow, have contractors on site to deal with the highways and drainage works that need to be done before the road can be adopted.

This afternoon I went round the development with Steve Ewing, one of the council officers in charge of making sure the highways are up to scratch. We looked at some of the works that are being done and talked to a local resident who has had particular problems with drains outside his house. We were very glad to see that Elan had noted the problem with the drain and it was marked up for fixing.

The other issue that needs to be addressed before adoption can happen is the legal transfer of the land from Elan to Cornwall Council. In this area things are not nearly so promising. I am told that work is on-going, but that is what I was told nine months ago. This is incredibly frustrating and I have written formally to the Council's Head of Legal Services asking him to justify the delay and give local residents a definite completing date.