Traffic Regulation Orders, Road Humps and Traffic Calming Delegated Powers
North Lanarkshire Council · 8 February 2023
Back to Environment and Climate Change Committee — 8 February 2023 and its agenda
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North Lanarkshire Council Report Environment and Climate Change Committee Does this report require to be approved? ☒ Yes ☐ No Ref PH/GW Date 08/02/23 Traffic Regulation Orders, Road Humps and Traffic Calming Delegated Powers From Pamela Humphries, Chief Officer of Place E-mail woodg@northlan.gov.uk Telephone Gary Wood, 07939 284954 Executive Summary The purpose of this report is to seek the Committees agreement to proposals to revise the Scheme of Delegation to officers in relation to the promotion of Traffic Regulation Orders, traffic calming, and road hump schemes in order to progress delivery of schemes more timeously and minimise risk of losing external funding. Recommendations It is recommended that the Committee: 1. Delegate to the Chief Officer of Legal and Democratic, in consultation with the Chief Officer of Place, the authority to approve Traffic Regulation Orders under the terms of the ‘Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984’, subject to the exclusions below: a) any proposal where the number of objections outnumber those in support, by six or more, and b) any proposal which is referred to the Reporter as set out in Regulation 8 of ‘The Local Authorities’ Traffic Orders (Procedure) (Scotland) Regulations 1999’. 2. Delegate to the Chief Officer of Place the authority to implement traffic calming and road hump schemes, under the terms of the ‘Roads (Scotland) Act 1984’, subject to the exclusion below: a) any proposal where the number of objections outnumber those in support, by six or more. The Plan for North Lanarkshire Priority Improve the health and wellbeing of our communities Ambition statement (17) Ensure we keep our environment clean, safe, and attractive
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1. Background 1.1 The Council’s Infrastructure Committee approved a delegated authority report on 12 September 2018, which enabled Council officers to implement Traffic Regulation Orders, traffic calming, and road hump schemes without the need for Committee approval. 1.2 This provided the Head of Environmental Assets delegated authority to implement traffic calming and road hump proposals. It also provided the Head of Business for Legal for Democratic Solutions delegated authority, in consultation with the Head of Environmental Assets, delegated authority to implement Traffic Regulation Orders. These delegated powers were subject to certain exclusions. 1.3 The Council’s current policy is that if no objections are submitted and maintained during the consultation process, the proposals would be taken forward to implementation. In situations where six or more objections are maintained, then the decision on whether to progress with the proposals is referred to a relevant Committee. 2. Report 2.1 The Council has a duty to undertake consultation when considering the introduction of Traffic Regulation Orders, road humps, and traffic calming. It is important to seek the views of all key stakeholders as part of this process. Historically, any decision taken by the Council has been guided by the volume of objections received as part of this formal consultation process. 2.2 Since the COVID-19 pandemic, online consultations have become more popular. Whilst this cannot replace the duty on the Council to insert an advert in a local newspaper to publicise its intentions to promote a Traffic Regulation Order, it does allow the Council to gather more meaningful and quantifiable data from the consultation process. 2.3 By publishing consultations online, it has been possible to provide better information and detail on proposals. This has also allowed the public the opportunity to respond online in a questionnaire format. This brings additional value to the process, as it allows the Council to better assess the extent of support or objections to proposals. Previously, the process was to only invite feedback from those who wished to lodge a formal objection to the proposals. 2.4 To further improve and streamline the process, it is proposed that the Service has delegated authority to implement Traffic Regulation Orders, traffic calming and road hump schemes, with the following exceptions: • Any proposal where the number of objections outnumber those in support, by six or more, will be referred to a relevant committee for a decision. • any objections submitted to a proposal which triggers the requirement for referral to a Reporter as set out in Regulation 8 of ‘The Local Authorities’ Traffic Orders (Procedure) (Scotland) Regulations 1999’. 2.5 This report does not remove the duty on the Council as per Regulation 17 of ‘The Local Authorities’ Traffic Orders (Procedure) (Scotland) Regulations 1999’, to write to any consultee who has maintained their objection, outlining the reasons why the Council have implemented the proposals. 2.6 To ensure that there is a fair and transparent process, only one response per household will be considered. In addition, a name and full postal address must be provided to validate the response.
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3. Measures of success 3.1 Reduced timeframes and processes for the consideration and determination of Traffic Regulation Orders, traffic calming, and road humps proposals. 4. Supporting documentation None Pamela Humphries Chief Officer of Place
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5. Impacts ( http://connect/report-template-guidance ) 5.1 Public Sector Equality Duty and Fairer Scotland Duty Does the report contain information that has an impact as a result of the Public Sector Equality Duty and/or Fairer Scotland Duty? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? If Yes, has an assessment been carried out and published on the council’s website? https://www.northlanarkshire.gov.uk/your-community/equalities/equality-and-fairer- scotland-duty-impact-assessments Yes ☐ No ☐ 5.2 Financial impact Does the report contain any financial impacts? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, have all relevant financial impacts have been discussed and agreed with Financial Solutions? Yes ☐ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.3 HR policy impact Does the report contain any HR policy or procedure impacts? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, have all relevant HR impacts have been discussed and agreed with People and Organisational Development? Yes ☐ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.4 Legal impact Does the report contain any legal impacts (such as general legal matters, statutory considerations (including employment law considerations), or new legislation)? Yes ☒ No ☐ If Yes, have all relevant legal impacts have been discussed and agreed with the Chief Officer of Legal and Democratic Yes ☒ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? The contents of this paper have to be checked against the statute of The Local Authorities’ Traffic Orders (Procedure) (Scotland) Regulations 1999 5.5 Data protection impact Does the report / project / practice contain or involve the processing of personal data? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, is the processing of this personal data likely to result in a high risk to the data subject? Yes ☐ No ☐ If Yes, has a Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) been carried out and e- mailed to dataprotection@northlan.gov.uk Yes ☐ No ☐ 5.6 Technology / Digital impact Does the report contain information that has an impact on either technology, digital transformation, service redesign / business change processes, data management, or connectivity / broadband / Wi-Fi? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact?
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Where the impact identifies a requirement for technology, has an assessment been carried out (or scheduled) by the Enterprise Architecture Governance Group (EAGG)? Yes ☐ No ☐ 5.7 Environmental / Carbon impact Does the report / project / practice contain information that has an impact on any environmental or carbon matters? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.8 Communications impact Does the report contain any information that has an impact on the council’s communications activities? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.9 Risk impact Is there a risk impact? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the key risks and potential impacts, highlighting where the risk(s) are assessed and recorded (e.g. Corporate or Service or Project Risk Registers), and how they are managed? 5.10 Armed Forces Covenant Duty Does the report require to take due regard of the Armed Forces Covenant Duty (i.e. does it relate to healthcare, housing, or education services for in-Service or ex- Service personnel, or their families, or widow(er)s)? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the provision which has been made to ensure there has been appropriate consideration of the particular needs of the Armed Forces community to make sure that they do not face disadvantage compared to other citizens in the provision of public services.