Agenda and minutes

Laura Dominguez

Brendan McCabe

Steve Rhodes

Councillor Linda Woodings

Of the meeting held on 9 October 2019 (for confirmatuon)

Minute 104 e) :  Clarification was given on this minute – the app is being developed by a transport graduate working at Nottingham City Council, the walks from the walking group are to be included. It is not the walking group that are developing the app.

With this clarification the minutes were confirmed as a true record of the meeting.

In a change to the agenda James Ashton, Transport Strategy Manager for Nottingham City Council gave a presentation on Tackling Roadside Nitrogen Dioxide emissions in Nottingham. The following points were highlighted:

(a)  In 2008 a EU directive was passed that  stated the amount of acceptable Nitrogen Dioxide (NO₂) in the air are 40micrograms per cm cubed;

(b)  High levels of NO₂ have been linked to a number of health conditions mainly respiratory conditions but also dementia and diabetes;

(c)  Nottingham City was identified as one of 5 cities with high levels of NO₂ with the main problems being focused on the city centre. In 2017 the Government challenged Nottingham City to reduce the levels of NO₂in the air;

(d)  Air quality analysis established that the main hotspot for NO₂in Nottingham City Centre was Upper Parliament Street, a street with a large number of busses and taxis and tall buildings, all contributing to the raised levels;

(e)  A number of measures were implemented to improve the air quality, these included retrofitting all older busses with technology to reduce emissions, investing in clean technology for new busses, replacement of the oldest with the greener gas busses. Nottingham’s bus fleet is now considered one of the cleanest in the country;

(f)  Other measures in place to reduce emissions include the Taxi strategy which aims to replace all taxis with electric vehicles by 2025 and to and improved cycling and pedestrian routes;

(g)  DEFRA have provided extra grant money to a ultra low emissions vehicle (ULEV) demonstration. 3 taxis have been purchased and are loaned out to licenced taxi drivers to demonstrate the efficiency and to dispel the myths and misconceptions around the vehicles;

(h)   There have also been small grants to improve cycling, mainly on routes at the north end of the Ring Road, and to improve fleet vehicles, such as road sweepers;

(i)  Nottingham City Council has also recently introduced a no idling rule. This is currently in the bedding in stage and the focus is on awareness rather than enforcement at present, but the focus of enforcement will be around schools and other hotspots;

(j)  These changes to the bus fleet and taxis has reduced the amount of NO₂ in the Upper Parliament Street area from over 40micrograms to around 30micrograms per cm cubed. These figures have been calculated by both real-time analysis and transport modelling;

(k)  Nottingham City along with the rest of the D2N2 area are aiming to reduce emissions further, encouraging low emission vehicles, electric buses, accessible charging points across the city etc.

(l)  There is more work to be done on taxis and on HGV’s entering the city for delivery purposes. There are a number of options to tackle emissions from HGV’s including permit schemes, all options are being assessed;

(m)The planning authority is linked in to the transport strategy and pushes for contributions from developers towards pedestrian and cycle improvement projects and infrastructure as  ...  view the full minutes text for item 114.

Nomination form included in the agenda pack

The Forum thanked Ruth Thurgood for her work as Chair since 2017.  

Resolved to:

(1)  Appoint Helen Hemstock as Chair; and

(2)  Appoint Liz Cordel, Hugh McLintock and Edmund Hopkins as Vice Chairs

Liz Cordle updated the Forum on the work of the walking sub-group. She highlighted the following points:

(a)  The launch of the Bestwood walk will take place on Saturday 18 January 2020, the weather looks like it will be dry and sunny which will hopefully encourage a good turn out. The route is quite long so volunteers will be on hand to help people with public transport options for returning to the start point. The Church will also be open on the day of the walk;

(b)  There are some permissions still outstanding for the walk, liaison with Tesco has been difficult and they have been very slow to respond, the route will not pass through their land at this point. Also, Gedling Borough Council have turned down the request to erect way markers across Bestwood Park;

(c)  Work to develop the Basford walk continues and work to have routes added to the Notts guided walks continues too. 

John Lee will chase up work on getting routes added to the transport app.

Margaret Knowles updated the group on the work currently being done by the Planning subgroup. She highlighted the following points:

(a)  The Local Plan part 2 has now been adopted by Nottingham City Council. There have been a number of changes and modifications to the policies and these are generally welcomed;

(b)  Training is still an issue, emails will be sent to members of the group with possible dates for training sessions. These will mainly be for new members but can act as refersher training for other members is there are spaces;

(c)  A draft rota will be circlated. A number of comments have been submitted on behalf of the group and Margaret extended her thanks to the Planning subgroup for their continued hard work;

(d)  Recently comments have focused on cycle parking. There is a meeting due to take place with the policy officers to look at the issue as from the outside there does not appear to be any great committement to improving the quality of the provision;

John Lee will email members of the sub group with dates for possible training sessions.

Mike Mewes gave a brief update on the work of the Definitive Map subgroup. He highlighted the following points:

(a)  Laura Dominguez has now joined the subgroup making the numbers up to 4 members;

(b)  There are a number of modification applications being worked on as previously detailed. There are also more complex applications, for example, the Park Tunnel, which are still in the investigation stage. John Lee reminded the Forum that in some cases applications can take many years to determine;

(c)  Edmund Hopkins has been asked to look at the route from Sneinton Boulevard through to Greenwood Road which was shut off by Nottingham Academy a number of years ago, the Subgroup confirmed that they would be more than happy to help that investigation;

Hugh McClintock gave an update to the Forum on the foot / cycle bridge proposals from Trent Basin to Lady Bay. A short video was played showing a visualisation of what the bridge might look like. Hugh stressed that this was not a final design and was meant to give an idea rather than confirm a design for the bridge.

The following points were highlighted:

(a)  Final design details will be reliant on exact placement of the bridge and land owner consent from the rugby club;

(b)  Funding for the bridge is not yet in place and will also impact the design of the final structure;

(c)  The pylon will have to be on the south side of the river otherwise it will conflict with the housing development on the north side, the north side of the bank would need more design features to make it more appealing;

(d)  The Environment Agency have expresses support for the bridge and have given a advice on flood alleviation and design aspects. The bridge will fit in with the Trent Gateway project;

(e)  The design should ensure the bridge is a new landmark for Nottingham;

Suggested items for future meetings included:

·  Carbon Agenda – Councillor Sally Longford

·  Urban Design

·  Public Transport

The Forum asked for a comprenhensive list of items from the previous meeting to be collated and circulated to memebers.

Concerns were raised by a forum member about the fake snow used in the Winter Wonderland and how environmentally friendly it was. Councillor Adele Williams confirmed she would look into this matter and circulate a response.

Giselle Sterry informed the forum about the City Nature Challenge, aiming to engage people in biodiversity in the City and recording it. The challenge takes place over a 4 day period later in the year and there might be the opportunity to link in with some of the walking routes, the results have to be within the boundaries of Nottingham City. Giselle will email the link to John Lee to circulate.

The surface of the path from Racecourse Road into Colwick Country Park in a very poor state. There is a large pile of woodchip near Colwick Hall which can be used to repair it. John Lee to arrange repairs and investigate why the surface has been damaged. If it is as a result of the Detonate Festival then Nottingham City Council (as landowner) has an obligation to repair it.

The date of the next meeting is 8 April 2020.