Minutes:
“On Friday the 18th of May an elderly gentleman was knocked down and killed at the top of my street. Both a tragedy and a horrible event for his wife and family. I hope the Council feel the same way as I do regardless of the circumstances until the authorities have concluded their investigations we as a Council must support certain things that I believe as well as the people of Stapleford could result in the possibility of there being another tragedy. I would like the support of this Council for a 20mph speed limit through the town centre, 7.5 lorry weight limit to be upheld and a traffic review into the number of bumps and free car parking spaces. I have brought up my concern about the number of shops we are granting permission to turn into residential flats. This is causing concern for the residents in the affected areas. As I was asked at a previous meeting the Town Council fully supports what I am suggesting, we do have a traffic and transport group once chaired and supported by Mr Heptinstall. The group now chaired by Cllr MacRae and other members of the Stapleford community need our two County councillors to at least recognise and turn up at these meetings. We as Borough councillors are willing to meet anyone from the county to talk and show what problems are arising which are still falling on deaf ears. Both our two county councillors do not respond to Richard's requests, have I got the support of this Council and if yes what committee will sanction a report?”
The Chair of the Jobs and Economy Committee stated that as the question covered the responsibilities of three different committees the Chair of the Policy and Performance Committee would be better placed to answer the question. The Chair of the Policy and Performance Committee agreed and stated that the Borough Council was indeed horrified to hear of the tragic accident, but the other matters raised by Councillor McGrath fell within the remit of Nottinghamshire County Council/Via East Midlands as highway authority.
With regard to free car parking the Borough Council had progressively introduced free car parking in Stapleford since 2015.In October 2015 it introduced an experimental ‘free after 3’ scheme in all four Borough Council car parks, it also made Halls Road car park free on Saturdays.In September 2016 it made permanent the ‘free after 3’ scheme and made parking free in the other three Borough Council car parks after noon on Saturdays.
The remaining car park charges covered the cost of operating, lighting, maintaining and managing the car parks. Should further free car parking be introduced then more of these costs would need to be borne by the General Fund, potentially the Council Tax payer. On-street car parking was free and a number of private operators offered free car parking, although these are mostly associated with their customers.
Councillor McGrath submitted a supplementary question which requested that consideration be taken of the priority within the Sustainable Communities Strategies regarding there being fewer accidents on the road.
The Chair of the Policy and Performance Committee responded that many town and parish councils had their own Speedwatch facilities and all wanted to see a reduction in accidents.