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4.13 The Connétable of St. Helier of the Minister for Transport and Technical Services regarding strategies agreed as part of the Sustainable Transport Plan in 2010:
Would the Minister advise when he will bring forward for debate by the Assembly the walking and cycling strategies and other agreed actions that were due to be taken following the approval of the Sustainable Transport Plan in 2010?
Deputy K.C. Lewis of St. Saviour (The Minister for Transport and Technical Services): My Assistant Minister with responsibility for this area will answer this question.
Deputy J.A.N. Le Fondré (Assistant Minister for Transport and Technical Services -
rapporteur):
There is no requirement to bring forward the walking and cycling strategies for debate by this Assembly. The strategies have been combined into what is called an active travel strategy. The most recent meeting on this was yesterday. I would note that there had been share deals well before the question was asked. Hopefully, following some minor tweaks, we are now at final draft which we will be taking back to stakeholders for comment and it will then be presented to the States which should be before the summer recess. That is as a report. In relation to other matters within the question, a draft road safety strategy is close to completion. It should be published for consultation before the summer and that will come to the States for debate and also, as requested, a review of the disabled parking and blue badge scheme is underway. As regards other actions, there are some 40 recommendations in the S.T.P. (Sustainable Transport Policy). I am not going to go through any more of them, and I refer the Connétable to the progress report published last year for all the details.
- The Connétable of St. Helier :
If I could pick up just one of the actions agreed which was in relation to Midvale Road, is the Assistant Minister aware that hundreds of commuters on foot, hundreds of school children following walk to school' advice, brave these inadequate pavements every day and that I raised the inadequacy of Midvale Road as a major transport route for walkers, probably nearly 10 years ago, and it is simply inadequate that the Minister has not even brought forward a feasibility study so that people's lives are imperilled every day in this way. How can the Assistant Minister explain this delay and will he agree to prioritise these matters in the current session?
Deputy J.A.N. Le Fondré:
At the moment, the Midvale Road improvement is programmed for 2015 although some initial design work has been carried out. In terms of other junctions, Gloucester Street, I think, was completed last year. The other 4 junctions which were in the S.T.P. are scheduled for this year although one may be marginally deferred according to resurfacing works. So it is a case if we bring Midvale Road forward - I would have to check with the officers - I would suspect that another junction would fall back in the programme. I am happy to liaise with the Constable if he wants to give that greater priority.
- Deputy M. Tadier :
The Assistant Minister will probably be aware that A.N.P.R. (Automatic Number Plate Recognition) is due to be introduced by the States of Jersey Police. Is there any plan by the T.T.S. Department to use that facility to introduce or at least ascertain the possibility of congestion charging in St. Helier during peak times based on number plates?
Deputy J.A.N. Le Fondré:
Absolutely none that I am aware of.
- Deputy J.A. Hilton:
Can the Assistant Minister confirm that the walking and cycling strategy will not result in the loss of parking spaces for the residents of St. Helier ?
Deputy J.A.N. Le Fondré:
Again, to my knowledge, none. I will only caveat that if some extra bike racks appear in one place, whether you lose one or 2 spaces but to my knowledge none and, at worst, absolutely no significant impact.
- Deputy T.A. Vallois:
Can I ask the Assistant Minister why it is that we have only had one progress report when we should be having annual progress reports on the Sustainable Transport Plan?
Deputy J.A.N. Le Fondré:
Absolutely correct. This particular report has taken a while to come together. Part of it has been trying to get the collection of data into a reasonable format and make it easy to collect and my understanding is that now that we have got one set-up, it should come out a lot more smoothly.
- The Connétable of St. Helier :
Would the Assistant Minister confirm that several of the points made in the transport plan back in 2010 were about increasing the number of parking spaces available in St. Helier for shoppers and residents and would he also agree with me that the Gloucester Street scheme, which was implemented last year against the recommendation of the St. Helier Roads Committee, was not one of the schemes adopted in 2010?
Deputy J.A.N. Le Fondré:
In terms of the amendments to the S.T.P., Gloucester Street appears on the schedule. It says junction of Gloucester Street and the Parade appears on the schedule. That, I believe, was an amendment to the S.T.P. I do not want to go through the odd I think there are 60-odd pages or whatever it is in the S.T.P. to find the amendment. I hope that answers the question. I have forgotten the other part of his query.
The Deputy Bailiff :
Deputy Baudains, you are withdrawing question 15, as I understand it? Deputy G.C.L. Baudains:
Yes, there is no need for it to go forward as the matter has been resolved. The Deputy Bailiff :
Thank you very much. Then we have 4½ minutes left to deal with the final question which Senator Ferguson will ask of the Minister for Treasury and Resources.