Praise for Pickles

Tonight Exeter City Council's Scrutiny Committee - Resources met in the Rennes Meeting Room in the Civic Centre

Under agenda item 9 we reviewed and discussed the Revenue Budget Proposals 2013/14.

Recently Eric Pickles has agree that councils like Exeter who have a Council Tax rate in the lowest 25% would be allowed to raise their rates by up to £5 a year, rather than by the previously announced 2%, without a local referendum.

This led me to say something I thought I would never say - that I welcomed an intervention by the Secretary of State!

"The Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government often gets a bad press, not least from me on my Twitter feed - but i would like it noted that here in open session that he has come up with a move I welcome.

"The ability to raise Council Tax by £5 per year - that's 10p per week, rather than the 5p week allowed up by a 2% rise - can help deliver the services that Exeter needs, and especially help find the £3m we need to deliver adequate flood defences for the City."

A few more facts and figures wee contributed by Cllr Simon Bowkett:
Exeter Band D council tax = £125 per year
Average Band D council tax across all local authorities = £190 per year.

Cowick Councillors' New Year Resolution

PRESS RELEASE

COWICK COUNCILLORS' NEW YEAR RESOLUTION

For 2 years, City Councillors Paul Bull and Heather have been hearing how speeding in Cowick has affected the lives of residents.

“It shouldn’t be so says Cllr Bull. “In Cowick every street – other than Cowick Lane, Dunsford Road and Buddle Lane – are within designated 20 mph zones and every turning off the main roads are marked with appropriate gateway signs.

“We both believe that 20s Plenty for Cowick and are making it our New Years resolution to try and address this problem.”

Cllr Morris takes up the story. “Every time we go out and meet residents on the doorstep, we are always being asked what we can do about speeding.

"It's worth remembering that when stopped for speeding, the majority of those motorists live within a mile or so of where they were stopped. So we are asking Cowick residents to make sure they always keep to the speed limit of 20 mph."

Devon County Council, as highway authority, has ultimate responsibility for this matter, and appears to have recognised the problem of speeding by installing traffic calming measures along Barley Lane and Bowhay Lane.

A local resident in Bowhay Lane recently told Cllr Bull, “I’ve correspondence going back 12 years and nothing’s changed. I wish you luck”

“There are several speed tables along speeds Lane,” notes Cllr Bull, “yet speeds still exceed the 20 mph speed limit. Because of these measures, the local police are reluctant to carry out speed checks here.”

“I’ve heard talk about involving the local community in a Speed Watch campaign, yet the Community Speed Watch Co-ordinator has no knowledge of these plans, and the Neighbourhood Policing Team have confirmed to me that they do not have the time or capacity to run such a scheme.

Checking with the Aphington PCSO about a similar scheme launched there in 2009, Cllr Bull found that the scheme barely got off the ground and was rather ineffective.

Similarly, along Barley Lane, speed cushions and a speed table were specially installed as part of the planning consent for the new Sylvan Heights development.

Recent monitoring of speeds long this stretch show that average speeds were around 25mph and that 15% of vehicles exceeded the speed limit by more that 10mph.

Cllr Heather Morris is worried about this.

She said  “If a pedestrian is hit by a car travelling at 20mph, their chances of survival would be 9 out of 10. If hit at 30mph, 8 out of 10 survive, but only 50% survive being hit at 35 mph and less than 1 in 10 survive at 40 mph.

“Cllr Bull and I have been looking at the speed humps on Barley Lane and we believe that they have been installed incorrectly. We’ve asked highways officers at the County Council to investigate and we understand that they have been set too far apart, allowing cars to drive through the central gap.

“We have had assurances that this will be remedied as and when budgets allow.”

The councillors have been looking at other measures that could be implemented quickly and cheaply along these two roads and have concluded that flashing Vehicle Activated Signs could be the answer.

Cllr Bull concluded, “Flashing signs advising drivers of the speed limit appear to work. There is a stretch of road in Alphington that is less than half a mile long, yet it has 3 of these signs in operation. Cowick has none. Perhaps the local County Councillor could use some of her remaining locality budget, to pay for some of these signs? Surely this would be better than carrying unspent surpluses forward as she has done in the past? This measure would help reinforce the message that 20s Plenty for Cowick."