Agenda item

To review the process and procedure for developing and delivering Traffic Regulation Orders.

By way of introduction, Councillor Overton, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Highways, Housing and Enforcement said that with regard to Traffic Regulation Orders (TROs), the Council looked at all the work and comments made on certain proposals to ensure that these were legally compliant before consulting with Town and Parish Councils.

The Service Delivery Manager for Highways, Engineering and Project Delivery, delivered a presentation to assist members in their understanding of the Council’s processes and procedures for developing and delivering TROs within the Borough.

The presentation also provided clarification as to what a TRO was and how much had been invested by the Council (£7m+) to deliver 20mph zones, safer school routes and behaviour change campaigns.

It went on to describe how consultations were carried out, the production of resultant public notices, managing objections and the periods involved in making TROs.

The presentation highlighted effectiveness risk; post implementation review; limited consultation engagement; improving public involvement and ongoing mitigation all as key risks.

With regard to improving public engagement, members were advised of the use of a modern, digitised TRO Process, which allowed access to all and current TROs online, and which would improve transparency as it enhanced the visibility of TRO activity.  Additionally, in terms of boosting engagement, it was stated that local consultation was complemented by digital tools, which encouraged greater community involvement in shaping road safety measures.

From a community focused approach perspective, annual Traffic and Road Safety Reports were produced to include known enquiries, current works and future schemes.  These reports were shared annually with ward members and Town and Parish Councils to guide decision-making and raise new priorities. 

It went on to talk about supporting the development of future highways investment programmes; ensuring the Council remained responsive to community needs and delivered on locally identified priorities and that regular updates would maintain transparency and progress tracking for all stakeholders.

In response to a member’s question raised during the meeting with regard to enforcement, officers welcomed working closer with the Council’s Enforcement Team despite all TROs in place stating quite clearly what they could and could not permit.

Officers said that speed restrictions, for example, were enforced by the Police and that the Council could not amend these on its own authority.  In terms of capacity with the team to manage its workload, officers confirmed that there was currently a vacancy within the team and that this would be advertised shortly.

In response to a member’s question raised during the meeting with regard to updates on current TROs, officers said they would look into how this might be provided in future.

In response to a member’s question raised during the meeting with regard to the use of social media in this area of work, and what could be done to share what a TRO was and the process around it, officers said there was currently engagement at a local level and were looking at social media templates, however this was a little way off at present.

In response to a member’s question raised during the meeting with regard to the average time for a TRO to take effect, officers said that around 12 months from the date of the request was the norm to allow for the legal process to be conducted and TRO implemented etc.

When limited responses were received to a consultation on a TRO, officers confirmed they would ordinarily go back to ward members who may take a view as to whether the TRO was required, or not.

In response to a member’s question raised during the meeting with regard to reaching out to Town and Parish Councils to include on their respective websites to enable residents to see what the position was with any TRO at any given time, officers said that some Town and Parish Councils did include these on their websites, whilst others did not but it was something that officers would look to explore with them.

In response to a member’s question raised during the meeting with regard to costs and did these vary from one TRO to another, officers said it depended upon what the TRO was for, for example, if a TOR was to impose a revised speed limit, then this would require additional capital investment.