Agenda

To confirm as a correct record the minutes of the Infrastructure, Housing and Economic Development Committee meeting held on 15 November 2022.

Items of other business notified under Council Procedure Rule 30 to be announced, together with the special circumstances that justify their consideration as a matter of urgency. The Chair to rule on the admission of such items.

To receive any declarations of interest.

This report provides an update on the Council’s Parking Service including the parking account and the parking enforcement service and includes some suggestions for modifications to the Council parking permits.

This report requests that the committee agrees the current work programmes of scheme to deliver cycling and walking improvements and Parking Management improvements in the Three Rivers District. Both programmes are promoted by the District Council working with its partners.

Both programmes are set biannually but the Cycling and Walking Programme has not been updated since 2021, awaiting development of the overlapping Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plan which was completed in draft in September 2022 and has been agreed for consultation. Equally the delivery timeframes for the Parking Management Programme (2021-23) were rescheduled due to unplanned additional work during the pandemic and unexpected staffing reductions throughout the programme period. This report therefore recommends that both programmes be extended to 2024 subject to the necessary staffing resource being maintained. There are no new proposals added to these programmes to those already agreed.

At the Council meeting on 13 December 2022 it was noted that the motion below had been referred to the Infrastructure, Housing and Economic Development Committee meeting on 17 January 2023 under Rule 11(5) of the Council Constitution

Councillor Philip Hearn, seconded by Councillor Ciaran Reed to move under Notice duly given the motion as follows:

Three Rivers District Council recognises the incredible value of Chorleywood Common to our area. Chorleywood Common is a County Heritage Site, a Conservation Area, a Local Nature Reserve and home to a rich range of fauna, flora, fungi, birds and wildlife. Chorleywood Common is a vital source of open green space that allows people from across the area to access rural beautiful scenery. Cycling is not currently allowed anywhere on Chorleywood Common.

This Council fully supports efforts to improve cycling routes across the District and acknowledges the physical constrains on achieving this. However, this Council cannot support any proposal to introduce a cycling path on Chorleywood Common, especially any path that includes lights or tarmacked surfaces. Such proposals would irreparably damage the wildlife and rural nature of this precious asset.  

Three Rivers District Council resolves that Chorleywood Common will be protected from any cycle path on it to preserve this precious green space for future generations. 

To agree the Committee’s work programme.

           If the Committee wishes to consider the remaining item(s) in private, it will be appropriate for a resolution to be passed in the following terms:-

            “that under Section 100A of the Local Government Act 1972 the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the following item(s) of business on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined under paragraphs 1 to 7 of Part I of Schedule 12A to the Act. It has been decided by the Council that in all the circumstances, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.”

            (Note: If other confidential business is approved under item 3, it will also be necessary to specify the class of exempt or confidential information in the additional items.)