Petitions received in 2019/20

Date received: 21 May 2019
Signatories received: 86
Name of petitioner: Ms A Andrews
_____________________________________________________________________________

Petition response:

Thank you for your letter dated 21 May 2019 regarding the changes to the bus services in the villages of Tixall and Ingestre, and the petition which accompanied it. Whilst we note 86 people have signed the petition, many of the signatories are resident outside of Tixall in locations where a bus service has been maintained.

You will have noted in previous detailed correspondence with officers the reasons behind the changes to the local bus services in Tixall and Ingestre (Chadwick, 28 March 2019; Davidson, 15 April 2019).

The new housing estate called St Mary’s Gate has been provided with a bus service using monies as part of the planning agreement with the developers. The developer funding does not pay for the whole 841 service, but use of the funding does require us to deliver the 30 minute frequency to the new estate.  The scheduling of the “short” journeys do not have enough time to allow any extension to be considered nor do the conditions allow us to put gaps in the service to St Mary’s Gate to accommodate an extension to Tixall. Services to new developments generally are not commercially viable to start with, and the funding is used to sustain them for a period to allow patronage to grow.  It is also expected that the service will attract passengers travelling to Beacon Business Park, the University and the Technology Park which further contributes to the service’s overall viability. 

D&G Buses operate the 841 service and Arriva Midlands is not party to it. 

The Village Link service (route 282) is a commercial service to be operated by Lunar Cars with an 8-seat vehicle. The service is due to start on 10 July 2019 and will operate in the villages of Colton, Colwich, Little Haywood, Great Haywood, Tixall, Hixon and Stowe-by-Chartley. This service will transport passengers to sites where the main bus services operate allowing passengers onward journeys to Stafford or Rugeley. It will also help passengers access the doctor’s surgery in Great Haywood. A copy of the timetable is attached. Lunar Cars will be delivering flyers showing the timetable, and will be dropping off posters at local businesses, shops and notice boards. This service will be commercially operated without any support from the county council and I would urge local residents to support the venture.

Should you require further information regarding your petition please contact Bernie Chadwick on 01785 854070.

Date received: 03 June 2019
Signatories received: 482
Name of petitioner: Ms K Goodfellow

________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Petition response:

I refer to the petition, signed by local residents regarding a campaign for a roundabout to be constructed at the dangerous junction of the A515 at Six Roads’ End.  I can advise you that receipt of the petition will be reported to Cllr Helen Fisher, Cabinet Member for Highways & Transport.

Engineers at the Accident Investigation Unit of Staffordshire County Council conduct annual and quarterly cluster site and route surveys with a view of identifying any clusters of personal injury collisions with similar causation factors. If a pattern of treatable collisions is identified then remedial measures, proportionate to the collision problem, will be proposed and prioritised against other locations across Staffordshire. As the budget for road safety improvements is finite, it is the sites with the greatest proven need which are treated first, and these will have a cluster of incidents with a discernible trend or pattern in the cause of each.

Following a review of the personal injury collision data for this location, there have been five personal injury collisions recorded within the most recent five years of complete data (01 July 2013 – 30 June 2018). Analysing these five collisions, a serious collision took place in 2014 whilst the remaining four collisions had a severity level of slight. Very different vehicle manoeuvres were involved in these collisions and as such no clear treatable pattern can be identified. A site visit was undertaken in 2018 and determined that the signage on all approaches was appropriate and that no further remedial measures proportionate to the collision history would be proposed.

The Council would estimate that costs to provide a roundabout scheme here would be likely to cost in the region of £750k - £1m. At this time, we are not looking to propose any schemes based on the current data we hold for this location, but the site will of course continue to be monitored.

Should you require further information regarding your petition please contact Richard Rayson on 0300 111 0800.

Date received - 25 July 2019
Signatories received - 94
Name of Petitioner - Cllr Janet Eagland
________________________________________________________________________________

Petition response:

I refer to the petition, signed by local residents, regarding a request for a 20 mph speed limits on all the roads within the Cathedral View and Roman Heights housing developments. I can advise you that receipt of the petition will be reported to Cllr Helen Fisher, Cabinet Member for Highways & Transport.

The roads on the aforementioned developments are not currently classed as Highways Maintainable at Public Expense (HMPE), i.e. they are not yet public highway and are not maintained by the council. Once the developments have been completed and the highway infrastructure has been inspected to ensure it complies to appropriate standards, the council will adopt the roads and they will become part of the public highway network.

Once the roads are classed as public highway, the council can consider the implementation of a 20 mph speed limit on the developments.  

Should you require further information regarding your petition please contact Tim Heminsley (Strategic Community Infrastructure Manager) via tim.heminsley@staffordshire.gov.uk.

 Yours sincerely

Date received: 10 October 2019
Signatories received: 1780
Name of petioner: Cllr D Brookes

Petition response:

I refer to the petition, signed by local residents regarding the request for the Area of Reflection.

Staffordshire County Council was first approached for permission to install a silhouetted soldier within Market Place as a temporary measure. Following installation of the memorial we became aware that this was a planned for the memorial to become a more substantial permanent feature. Your planning application that was made to the planning authority describes this as being removable indicating that this wouldn’t be permanent.

The County Council is supportive of the installation of the feature but on a temporary basis during the Armistice period in November each year, and in our response to the planning application we indicated “no objection subject of a permit to dig and license”. A long-standing agreement is something the Council remains willing to enter whereby the “area of reflection” will be re-instated on an annual basis for the month of November, in 2020 and beyond however, to date, we have not received any paperwork to reflect this is a temporary annual installation. Regardless of planning consent being granted, the installation is an illegal obstruction within the highway. I understand that John Henderson, Chief Executive has requested that the installation is removed at your earliest convenience.

Should you require consent to re-install the memorial for November 2020 and beyond please contact David Walters directly via david.walters@staffordshire.gov.uk to allow you to work through the appropriate agreements necessary.

Date received: 22 October 2019
Signatories received: 2464
Name of petioner: Cllr J Salt

Petition response:

I refer to the petition, signed by local residents regarding funding for the Staffordshire Residential Special Schools.  I can advise you that receipt of the petition will be reported to Cllr Mark Sutton, Cabinet Member for Children and Young People.

Staffordshire County Council currently has a contract with the five residential schools in Staffordshire to fund residential education provision. The residential provision is provided to a number of children who attend the schools.

Staffordshire County Council, like many local authorities across the country, faces a significant financial challenge. There are many more children who need our support and we have less money than in the past. As such, we have looked carefully at what we can and what we cannot afford to fund in the future.

Residential education provision is not a service that we are legally required to provide, but we know that it is valued by the children, young people and the families who access it. We have been thinking carefully about the future of this service. Over the next few months we will be working with special schools in Staffordshire to develop a special school strategy for the county. We will consider the residential provision the school provides as part of this work. 

The residential provision will continue to be funded while this review is taking place. Thank you for sharing the petition and raising with the Council the concerns felt about funding of the special school residential provision.

Date received: 3 December 2019
Signatories received: 399
Name of petioner: Ms R Edwards

Petition response:

To view the petition response see our  moderngov page.

Date received - 19 December 2019
Signatories received - 131
Name of Petitioner - Cllr Mark Sutton

Council response.

I refer to the petition, signed by local residents regarding the request to reduce the speed limit within Weston Village from 40 to 30mph. I can advise you that receipt of the petition will be reported to Cllr Helen Fisher, Cabinet Member for Highways & Transport.

I understand a meeting with campaign group residents has been arranged at Blymhill Parish on Monday 24 February where this matter will be discussed in more detail.

In addition, community concerns sites such as this are referred to the Divisional Highway Program process for priority and/or further investigation.

A meeting has been arranged with you for the 2 April.

Date received: 11 February 2020
Signatories received: 355
Name of petioner: Mrs A Didier

Petition response:

I refer to the petition, signed by local residents, parents and staff of the school regarding the request for Highway Improvements along Weston Road, Stafford. I can advise you that receipt of the petition will be reported to Cllr Helen Fisher, Cabinet Member for Highways & Transport.

Staffordshire has one of the safest county council road networks in the country but we welcome and encourage feedback from communities in relation to matters surrounding road safety.

As Weston Road has a speed limit of 40mph there are repeater signs reiterating this to road users to ensure they are aware of what the correct speed limit is. There is already vehicle activated signs as you approach The Weston Road Academy. It is important to note that these signs are only advisory and cannot be enforced by the police however the 40mph speed limit is enforceable.

Due to the increase in demand for services and increased constraints on resources, the County Council is not currently in a position to erect speed cameras however the Police Headquarters are on the same road which would increase the amount of police presence to enforce traffic speeds.

I can see you have also suggested pedestrian guard rails on the Veritas side of Weston Road to protect pedestrians. Pedestrian guard rails are there to prevent pedestrians from crossing the road rather than protecting pedestrians from potential accidents. The section of the footway you refer to also has a cycle way which means pedestrians are further away from the carriageway therefore reducing any potential health and safety risks.

While drop off and pick up times outside schools can be a particularly busy time, we would always ask people to park responsibly and be considerate to residents, other drivers, children and their parents when parking.

We do listen to residents and work with local communities if they have concerns about road safety in their area.  Requests for things like extra double yellow lines can be explored by the local member as part of their local highways programme, however, these would have to be prioritised against other matters in the area. Police would be able to enforce any parked cars on yellow zig-zags however, stationary traffic is not enforceable.

There is a pedestrian crossing near to the roundabout on the A513 Beaconside which leads to a paved area however this is not signalised yet. A request to get this crossing changed to a signalised crossing has been recorded on the Divisional Highway Programme (DHP) for the local County Councillor John Francis.

The County Councillor may consider funding further investigation into your concerns in the future and if the matter is considered a Local Community Priority over other similarly sincere highway concerns within the division. We are unable to confirm if (and when) an issue will be prioritised nor are we able to inform individuals of the status of their reported issue on an ongoing basis.

I hope the you find this reply informative and should you require further information regarding your petition please contact Tom Underwood

Yours sincerely

Tom Underwood

Community Highway Support Officer

Date received: 13 February 2020
Signatories received: 33
Name of petioner: Cllr Kyle Robinson

Petition response:

I refer to the petition, signed by local residents regarding the request for the repair of potholes on Chapel Street, Butt Lane.  I can advise you that receipt of the petition will be reported to Cllr Helen Fisher, Cabinet Member for Highways & Transport.

Firstly I would say that it is fully understandable why you would have aspirations regarding the maintenance of your local road network and I appreciate the time you have taken to contact the Council with your concerns.

Chapel Street, Butt Lane is currently on the preventative treatment programme for this year. As part of this programme pre-patching works have already been carried out on 2^nd and 3^rd March 2020 to make the road safe before these works are carried out. These works will be completed as soon as resources allowed.

All road surfaces deteriorate due to use and weathering and severe weather conditions can accelerate the deterioration of roads. Reactive maintenance work, which is aimed at keeping the roads safe, is identified by a comprehensive system of highway inspections that categorise each defect based on the risk it presents to the travelling public. 

Routine inspections are completed in line with the requirements set by the Department for Transport and completed on either a monthly or annual basis depending on the classification of the road. If there are any other defects in this location that have not already been repaired, then these will be address as part of our ongoing inspections.

Should you require further information regarding your petition please contact Tom Underwood

Date received: 04 March 2020
Signatories received: 66
Name of petioner: Mrs C Plant

Petition response:

To view the response - view our mod.gov petitions page