Agenda and minutes

To receive apologies for absence.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Sutton.

To receive declarations of interest.

There were none.

To approve the minutes of the meeting held on 20 April 2021.

RESOLVED               That the Minutes of the meeting held on 20 April 2021 are approved as a correct record

Councillor Haydn Jones advised whilst the minutes were an accurate record of what happened at the meeting, outside of the last Committee meeting the Head of Planning confirmed there was a drafting error on page 9 paragraph 4 (of the document pack) in relation to the increase of houses from 700 to 900 on PS24.

The Chair of the Committee will answer questions from members of the public submitted in accordance with the Council’s procedures.

Public questions were submitted. They were answered by the Chair, Councillor Turner. Supplementary questions were also answered. (Refer to the recording of the meeting).

To inform Councillors of progress regarding cycling and walking initiatives within the District and present the emerging Stroud Local Cycling and Walking Plan (LCWIP).

The Senior Transport Planner and Principal Transport Planner from Gloucestershire County Council provided a presentation on Stroud’s’ Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plan. The presentation included topics such as; the Climate Emergency, Stroud Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plans, the Stroud study area and what the next steps were.

The Senior Transport Planner advised the Committee that Stroud’s Local Cycling and Walking Plans were a key element of the Local Transport Plan with ambitions to; identify key walking and cycling routes, develop a network of routes, create a high level inventory of improvements required and support future funding applications.

Councillors asked questions relating to areas of the district with no cycling or bus, routes, reduction of bus routes, usage of public transport in whole of Stroud District, Leisure and Tourism barriers and reduction in carbon emissions.

The Senior Neighbourhood Planning Officer introduced the report which was agreed at Environment Committee in June 2017 with aims of allocating a £300K budget towards identified cycling projects. An agreed additional budget of £200K was agreed at Council in February 2021 following a request from Environment Committee in December 2020.

Councillor Kay asked for assurances regarding the equality implications in section 5.3, Officers confirmed that it had been discussed with colleagues and that it was an extremely important issue. The Strategic Director of Place advised that support was available for equality implications from the Corporate Policy and Governance Team. Councillor Kay advised that he would like more emphasis given to equality issues in the future.

The Chair proposed an amendment to section d of the decision which Committee agreed to accept as a friendly amendment to include ‘and Vice Chair’ after ‘Director of Place and the Chair’ and before ‘of Environment Committee to allocate funding’.

On being put to the vote, the Motion was carried unanimously.

RESOLVED    a. Support the emerging Stroud Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plan as the first phase of a District Cycling and Walking Strategy;

b. Work with Gloucestershire County Council in the production of further LCWIP documents for the District;

c. Continue to support the funding of walking and cycling infrastructure projects identified in the Local Plan and Local Transport Plan, and

d. Delegate authority to the Senior Neighbourhood Planning Officer in consultation with the Head of Planning Strategy, Director of Place and the Chair and Vice-Chair of the Environment Committee to allocate funding to projects which are consistent with the above plans.

a) Performance Monitoring Representatives for Civic Year 2021-22

Councillor Bennett was appointed as a Performance Monitor. Councillor James also expressed an interest, however it was agreed to check if Councillor Sutton, who was absent from the meeting, wished to continue his appointment and for Councillor James to take on the appointment if Councillor Sutton stood down. The appointment of the second performance monitor would be brought to the next Committee.

b) Outside Bodies

Councillor Haydn Jones advised that Councillor John Jones, who is not a Member of Environment Committee, was the current representative on the Lower Severn Drainage Board and suggested Councillor John Jones be contacted to see if he wanted to be the representative again. The final appointment would be brought back to the next Committee.

Councillors Haydn Jones and Councillor Brown both expressed an interest in representing the Stroud Valleys Project Board. It was agreed that Democratic Services would contact the Project Board to see if two representatives could be appointed and the final appointment would be brought back to the next Committee.

A report was circulated prior to Committee with no further questions raised.

See Agenda Item 4 for deadlines for submission.

There were none.