Agenda item

That this Council:-

(a)       recognises and welcomes the progress of the ‘Streets Ahead’ scheme, secured by Liberal Democrat influence in Government and backed by £1.2 billion of Coalition Government funding;

(b)       believes that, as a result of the hard work of Liberal Democrat Councillors, the whole of Sheffield will see dramatic improvements in the quality of its road network;

(c)        however, notes the large swathes of the City’s residential areas, with highly-concentrated areas of on-street parking, and is concerned that no effort has been made to provide alternative parking arrangements to mitigate the significant disruption that will be caused by these vital works; and

(d)       therefore, calls upon the Council to liaise with Amey and local land owners in order to provide free and secure alternative parking facilities to affected residents for the duration of the works.

It was moved by Councillor Ian Auckland, seconded by Councillor Shaffaq Mohammed, that this Council:-

(a)       recognises and welcomes the progress of the ‘Streets Ahead’ scheme, secured by Liberal Democrat influence in Government and backed by £1.2 billion of Coalition Government funding;

(b)       believes that, as a result of the hard work of Liberal Democrat Councillors, the whole of Sheffield will see dramatic improvements in the quality of its road network;

(c)        however, notes the large swathes of the City’s residential areas, with highly-concentrated areas of on-street parking, and is concerned that no effort has been made to provide alternative parking arrangements to mitigate the significant disruption that will be caused by these vital works; and

(d)       therefore, calls upon the Council to liaise with Amey and local land owners in order to provide free and secure alternative parking facilities to affected residents for the duration of the works.

Whereupon, it was moved by Councillor Jack Scott, seconded by Councillor Leigh Bramall, as an amendment, that the Motion now submitted be amended by the deletion of all the words after the words “That this Council” and the substitution of the following words therefor:-

(a)       wholeheartedly supports the decision of the previous Government to invest in the repair of Sheffield’s highways and welcomes the progress of the ‘Streets Ahead’ project under the present Administration, after delays under the previous Administration and this Government;

(b)       acknowledges that the project will cause unavoidable inconvenience for some people and supports efforts to communicate this as much as possible;

(c)        notes a Sheffield Liberal Democrat Group press release dated 18^th October 2012 which states “Liberal Democrat councillors, who helped secure the project, are raising concerns about the effect on on-street parking. With each of the planned 108 'work zones' taking between 15-20 weeks to complete” and “Liberal Democrat councillors want the Council to work in conjunction with Amey, the organisation contracted to carry out the work, to temporarily provide free, alternative parking arrangements for residents. Proposals include unused land or existing parking bays from local retailers, pubs, or supermarkets, offering residents flexibility during the vital works.”;

(d)       further notes with great concern comments by the Federation of Small Business regarding the idea that local businesses’ parking spaces should be used to accommodate local residents affected by the Streets Ahead project -  “We perceive this to be a policy which will cause devastating loss of trade to local retailers and will potentially bring about unnecessary business closures, with the attending loss of livelihoods and jobs” and is concerned that adopting this policy would be anti-business and contradict the present Administration’s desire to be a business friendly Council;

(e)       believes it is completely impractical to offer parking for everyone affected by the works, noting feedback from officers that there are not the facilities available in the whole City to provide alternate parking arrangements and realistically to make any attempt to do this it would involve the Council having to secure free parking;

(f)         further believes that the only way to achieve this would be to pay a private contractor for parking and, based on a cost of £4 per day per car, assuming one car per household in the City, forecasts this could cost up to £132 million in the first 5 years;

(g)       notes that people are being supported to make their own arrangements whilst the work is taking place and are being given a lot of advance warning to put these arrangements in place;

(h)        appreciates that with this amount of investment and improvement, a level of disruption is unavoidable for some residents and notes that the Council wouldn’t be asking people to do this if it wasn’t to make such important improvements to transform the roads network, which we all know that people really want to see; and

(i)         notes that in the first three zones where work has started (Shiregreen, Carbrook and Ewden) the Administration’s approach is working well, without wasting significant amounts of resources on providing alternative parking and therefore condemns the main opposition group for seeking to scaremonger and undermine the Streets Ahead project, which is vital for Sheffield’s future.

On being put to the vote, the amendment was carried.

After a right of reply by Councillor Ian Auckland, the original Motion, as amended, was put as a Substantive Motion in the following form and carried:-