21 Ridgeway Connections Scheme: Public Consultation Exercise PDF 678 KB
Minutes:
The
Executive Member for Regeneration and the Director of Regeneration submitted a
report for the Executive’s consideration. Middlesbrough Council was proposing
to connect Hemlington Grange to the existing pedestrian and cycle network
serving Coulby Newham with a new footpath/cycleway, allowing journeys between
the two communities for retail, leisure and education to be made safely on foot
and by cycle. The purpose of the report was to detail the results of the public
consultation exercise carried out for the proposed scheme and to seek Executive
approval for the scheme to proceed to the implementation stage.
As
with all proposed highway improvement schemes, public consultation had been
carried out in order to seek the views of key stakeholders.
Two
consultation exercises had been undertaken and a total of 83 responses had been
received, with 43 of those responding in favour of the proposed scheme and 40
against.
The
main grounds for objection to the scheme were set out in the table below
paragraph 20 of the submitted report, together with the response from Council
officers in each case.
The
results of the second consultation exercise were considered in more detail in
Appendix 1 of the submitted report.
OPTIONS
The other potential
decisions that had not been recommended included:
a)
Do nothing. That was
not recommended, as it would not have provided a safe and direct pedestrian and
cycle route that allowed residents of Hemlington Grange to access the retail,
leisure and educational facilities in the Coulby Newham district centre by more
sustainable alternatives to the private car.
b)
Reassessing the
proposed route alignment. That was not recommended, as re-routing the
footpath/cycleway via Ridgeway (as suggested by a number of the objectors)
would have required pedestrians and cyclists to navigate a circuitous route
through an industrial estate where pavement parking took place on a regular
basis. Consequently, there were strong amenity, personal security and road
safety arguments in favour of the proposed route.
ORDERED
a)
That the responses
received during the public consultation exercise be noted.
b)
That the objections to
the proposed scheme be considered and mitigations noted.
c)
That the proposed
scheme be agreed and progressed to implementation during the 2021/22 financial
year.
REASON
There were currently no
cycle routes connecting the rapidly growing residential area of Hemlington
Grange with the adjacent district centre of Coulby Newham, and the only
existing pedestrian route was circuitous and involved negotiating the busy
B1365 Stokesley Road via an uncontrolled crossing facility.
The proposed
footpath/cycleway planned to address both of those issues and, by doing so,
allowed the residents of Hemlington Grange to access local retail, leisure and
educational facilities by more sustainable alternatives to the private car, in
line with the policies set out in the adopted Middlesbrough Integrated
Transport Strategy.