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PRESENT: Councillors James Evans (Chairman), Malcolm Beer and Derek Wilson.

Karl Benz (Guards Club Residents Association), Peter England (CTC), David Lambourne (Thames Velo), David Layzell (Maidenhead Cyclists Action Group), Paul Messing (Maidenhead Cyclists Action Group), Mark Powell (Resident), Gary Taylor (Maidenhead and Cox Green Neighbourhood Plan)

Officers: Gordon Oliver, Patrick Romaya and David Cook

15/13 APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

No Apologies received.

16/13 DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

There were no declarations of interest.

17/13 MINUTES

RESOLVED: That the minutes of the meeting of the Forum held on 1^st July 2013 be approved.

18/13 DELIVERING PRIORITY CYCLING SCHEMES

The Chairman informed the Forum that he had met with Gordon Oliver, Councillor Hill and Ben Smith to discuss the administrations manifesto pledges regarding cycling within the district.

The Chairman felt that there was a need to focus on priority projects within the borough prior to the next local election in 2015. To this end he was keen for the cycle forum to organise three special workshops to discuss projects.

Gordon Oliver informed the Forum that there was a policy vacuum regarding cycling that needed to feed into the Local Transport Plan and the Borough Local Plan. To help progress the priority cycling schemes it had been decided to concentrate three workshops on Maidenhead, Ascot and Sunnydale, and Windsor. Views from the workshop will be fed into the Transport Plan.

It was agreed that the first workshop would be held on the 6^th November in the Town Hall to discuss cycling within Maidenhead, the second workshop would be held to discuss Windsor (date to be confirmed) and the third workshop may be held at the next scheduled meeting of this forum. The Forum felt that it was important to get the views of cyclists and non cyclists.



19/13 STAFFERTON WAY LINK ROAD

Gordon Oliver gave a presentation on the proposed Stafferton Way link Road and gave an overview of the scheme that showed how it related to the town centre.

The Forum were informed that the new link road would enable the council to implement its plans to regenerate the town centre and particularly the Stafferton Way Opportunity Area. This was an integral part of the Maidenhead Town Centre Area Action Plan.

The Stafferton Way Link Road would complete the circular route around the town by linking the A308 and the A4 in Maidenhead and will create an alternative route for through-traffic, removing congestion at the rail station and through the town centre; this should enable a greater priority to pedestrians and cyclists in these areas.

The new link will also open up access to the east of the town centre in terms of safe and easy walking and cycling access to the station. The link road will also reduce the journey distance and time for trips between the A308 and the A4.

Funding for the scheme will be secured by £2 million from the Department for Transport as part of its Local Pinch Point Fund Programme. The remainder of the funding will be provided from developer contributions and the council’s own funds. The scheme design would be finalised shortly and, subject to planning permission, will be constructed over a two-year period starting in 2014.

The first scheme related to the Oldfield Road / A4 junction. Currently, that was currently an uncontrolled junction, with banned right turns in and out of Oldfield Road. The proposal was to construct a 4 arm roundabout at the A4 / Oldfield Road junction, with the northern arm being exit only from the A4 onto Lascelles Road.

The Forum were informed that although there were currently no new cycling infrastructure proposed as part of this scheme the existing toucan crossing would, however, be retained.

The Forum raised concern that if separate cycle paths were not included within the scheme there was the possibility of pinch points where traffic gets congested behind cyclists. It was also raised that there was a feeling that shared cycle / pedestrian paths were perceived as being dangerous.

It was raised that the land at a corner of the proposed roundabout was not registered and was maintained by the Council. This may be utilised to increase the size of the roundabout that may improve safety. Confirmation about the ownership of the land would have to be confirmed as a compulsory purchase order could take over 18 months.

Another section of the scheme focused on the railway arches on Oldfield Road and the junction of Oldfield Road and Chauntry Road. Currently, all traffic was funnelled through the western arch, but as the alignment was poor and available carriageway width was limited, it was proposed to open up the second arch to traffic and construct advisory cycle lanes in both directions through the bridge section. It was also proposed to construct a mini-roundabout at the junction at the Chauntry Road Junction. The Panel noted that there was a strip of land that may be usable as a cycle way and that there was a second archway that could be used.

The third element of the scheme was the Link Road itself, which would connect Stafferton Way and Oldfield Road and Forlease Road. The Forlease Road / Oldfield Road junction was currently a T-junction with traffic on Forlease Road giving way to traffic on Oldfield Road. The proposed scheme would create a new T-junction between Forlease Road and the Link Road, with a new roundabout at the Link Road / Oldfield Road junction.

The shared path would continue along Stafferton Way to Forlease Road, but there was not sufficient space to provide cycle facilities along Oldfield Road. Also, due to limitations with land availability and noise barriers, the shared path along the Link Road was likely to have some pinch points.

Although not shown on the plan, it is currently proposed to construct refuge islands to help pedestrians and cyclists cross where NCN4 crosses the link road.

The Panel were informed that there were a number of planned consultation events with the closing date for comments being the 18^th October 2013.

20/13 CYCLING CAPITAL PROGRAMME UPDATE

Gordon Oliver provided an update on how the Council was progressing with its delivery of its cycling capital programme. The programme had been funded from S106 developer contributions to the value of £142,000.

The Panel were provided with a number of plans detailed the delivery of the projects, these included:

Altwood Road/ Boyn Valley Road Maidenhead.
Norreys Drive Maidenhead.
Peascod Street area Windsow

The report also provided an update on the other projects within the work programme. During the discussion on the update a number of points were made in particular:

The Norreys Drive scheme had projected costs of £60k with £40k allocated to the project. To bring the project into budget officers were looking to use different contractors and reducing the width of the cycle path.
The Forum supported a reduction in the width of the cycle path and moving the stop signs to the other side of the road to make the project feasible.
Concern was also raised that on the Norreys Drive scheme there were a number of crossings where cyclists had to stop to access the ramps. It was felt that if this may be dangerous if cyclists did not dismount.
As a vanguard authority it was felt that consideration should be given to adding to the scheme priority to cyclists at the crossings.
It was not feasible to widen the road on the Norreys scheme due to increased costs.
With regards to the Monkey Island Lane scheme it was commented that there would be an improvement if the speed humps were removed and concern was raised about residents placing large boulders at the front of the properties.
BT will be instructed to remove the telephone box along the A308 Maidenhead Road, Winsor.
As the Forum had previously voted to support the Peascod, Windsor they were pleased to see the scheme being allocated funding.

The Chairman thanked Gordon Oliver for the update.

21/13 LOCAL SUSTAINABLE TRANSPORT FUND

Gordon Oliver introduced the report that provided an update on how the Council was progressing with the delivery of the Local Transport Fund Programme.

The Panel were informed that nearly £2 million of grant funding had been obtained for initiatives that helped reduce congestion and carbon emissions. The Council’s bid had been arranged under three schemes:

Managing the network.
Improving Accessibility for all.
Promoting sustainable transport.

With regards to cycling much of the focus had been focussed on Smarter Choices measures that were being delivered as part of the Promoting Sustainable Transport theme.

The report focused on three key projects:

Bike It.
Sky Ride Local.
Workplace Cycle Challenge.
The Panel asked if it was possible to add cycling to The Duke of Edinburgh's Award, the Chairman said he would discuss this with Officers.

22/13 ANY OTHER BUSINESS

The Forum noted that:

Over 180 bikes were being parked at Maidenhead station, which was the highest level so far.
That there had unfortunately been an increase in cycle thefts from Maidenhead station, the police were taking action.
It was suggested that a two tier cycle storage system should be considered at the station and Three should be contacted to see if they could promote cycling under their advert at the station.
The Transport Research Centre were looking for participants to take part in a number or research projects regarding cycling.
The Panel should be consulted on the proposed improvement work regarding Maidenhead Station.
Concern was raised that with some residents gravel driveways there was overspill onto the road.

23/13 DATES OF FUTURE MEETINGS

It was noted that meetings of the Forum were scheduled as follows:-

Thursday 9 January 2014 – Guildhall Chamber, Windsor
Thursday 3 April 2014 – Council Chamber, Town Hall, Maidenhead

24/13 MEETING

The meeting, which began at 7.00pm, ended at 9.10pm.