Coalition government gives York £1 million to improve transport

Lendal Bridge recriminations continue

Lendal bridge without traffic

York been awarded a further £1million by the Department for Transport as a dispute about who paid for the Lendal Bridge trial has surfaced.

Refund decision- who decides and when?

None of the Council’s decision making bodies has considered a proposal to repay Lendal Bridge fines. It is merely a proposal to creep out for a “behind closed doors” meeting of the Labour Group. It is a key decision but does not appear in the Councils forward plan. The last time the Council considered the issue Labour Councillors combined to vote down a request for an independent scrutiny review of the failings of, and lessons to be learned from, the Lendal and Coppergate trials.

Now a decision date will have to be set and a report on the methodology – and costs – of setting up a refund system will have to be written and published. The ultimate success of a proposal to repay fines is not in doubt, as both Opposition parties (LibDem and Tory) have previously called for the refunds to be made. There is considerable doubt, though, about when such payments might start and what paperwork vehicle owners may be expected to complete.

How much did it cost and who pays?

The present government allows Local Authorities a large measure of devolution on transport spending priorities and last year the Councils Labour Leadership chose to spend some grant money on access restriction hardware (such as ANPR cameras).

This totalled around £100,000 and is money that has now effectively been lost. The latest grant allocation (see below) was made before the York Council made its announcement about refunding Lendal Bridge fines, so it remains to be seen whether the fiasco will adversely impact on future transport funding allocations for the City.

The vast majority of the costs of the Lendal Bridge and Coppergate schemes were funded by fine income. The detail was reported to the Cabinet earlier in the month Click here for report Para 23 makes it clear that £1.756 million in fine income had been received by the end of March. Administrative costs were £718,000. In the main, those were the costs of enforcement and processing the FPNs. The Council has never revealed how much it was charged by the Peterborough based company that it used to process the fine notifications.

LTP3 – What did it say?

Some commentators are also claiming the the Local Transport Plan (LTP3), submitted to government in 2010 when the Council was LibDem led, somehow prompted the Lendal Bridge access restriction trial. The plan can still be viewed on the Council’s web site click here

The Plan does suggest a trial which would have given public transport priority on Ouse Bridge (not Lendal Bridge) in the medium term (2019). However that was conditional on other network improvements being completed – notably to to the northern by pass and to Park and Ride facilities – in the interim. The Labour Leadership must accept full responsibility for trying to bounce an ill considered Lendal Bridge scheme, onto an unsuspecting public, before even the two new Park and Ride sites had been completed.

£1 million more from Government

We hope that the Council will get back to basics and ensure that there is full public discussion of their plans for the use of this money. They have gone backwards recently with the removal of card payment options at the Maygate car park, travellers can no longer look on the web to see which car parks are full and on street visual display boards are often not working.

Well used sub-urban bus stops still don’t have real time “next bus arriving” screens yet.

All are issues that need addressing before anymore money is squandered on “vanity” projects
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York Council to repay Lendal Bridge Fines

Coppergate fines stand – for now

In an amazing U turn – before even the results of their appeal against the traffic adjudicator ruling have been revealed – the York Council’s Labour Leadership has announced that they will refund over £1 million in fines levied against motorists who used Lendal Bridge during the ill fated access restriction trial.

They have yet to submit the proposal to a formal Council decision meeting.

The Council have already spent over £700,000 – of the £1.8 million fine income that it raised from Lendal Bridge and Coppergate – on administering the trial, so taxpayers are in for a hefty hit.

The Council only broke even on its budget during the last financial year because of the ANPR camera bonanza.

The failed experiment ultimately led to the demotion of Labour Councillor Dave Merrett, although he still holds a £20,000 a year Cabinet job.

Residents will now be looking at the future of Council leader James Alexander who bears ultimate responsibility for the financial and organisational disaster.

The Council have not said how motorists will be able to claim a rebate.

There is a suspicion that visitors – particularly those from overseas – may never hear about the change of heart. They may continue to be out of pocket as a result of the Councils unlawful actions.

Last month Labour Councillor Stephen Burton (Westfield) led an attempt to block plans to have an independent inquiry into the fiasco.

When unveiled a year ago, Liberal Democrats opposed the trial saying that it was badly timed and poorly executed.

In September 2013 (after only a few weeks of the trial) Liberal Democrats called for it to be abandoned against a background of huge enforcement issues.

If the Council had accepted then that they had made a major mistake, taxpayers would not now be facing a £1million bill.

The Council statement comes only 2 days after a Liberal Democrat Councillor tabled the following question for next Thursdays Council meeting.

(xxxiii) To the Cabinet Member for Transport from CllrAspden: “ Would the Cabinet member confirm the number of Fixed Penalty Notices issued for breaches of the access restrictions on Coppergate since 1st April 2014 and would he confirm that no action is currently being taken to enforce the restrictions?”

The Council was also finally set to discuss a motion submitted 4 months ago by Cllr Ann Reid which read,

To deal with the following Lendal Bridge notice of motion referred back to Council by Cabinet, from its meeting on 6 May 2014, after consideration of the evaluation of the trial. A copy of the Cabinet report and minute are attached as Annexes 1 and 2 (Annexes A to G of this report are available online only).

(i) From Cllr Reid

“Council notes the report in The Press on 27th February which revealed important facts about the Lendal Bridge closure.

Council further notes that:

The Labour Cabinet’s six-month trial closure of Lendal Bridge should have finished at the end of February
The closure has brought widespread criticism from local residents, business owners, tourists and tourist groups
Negative media and social media coverage has been generated to the detriment of our city
The closure has failed to significantly improve overall bus journey times
Traffic displaced by the closure has caused increased congestion elsewhere in the city e.g. Foss Islands Road and Water End at Clifton Bridge
Officers have admitted that the trial closure has had little impact on overall air quality
The Labour Cabinet Member responsible has admitted that the signage at the start of the trial was “very confusing”
Around 45,000 motorists have received fines for crossing the bridge.

Council therefore resolves to ask Cabinet to:

immediately end the trial closure of Lendal Bridge
publicly admit that the trial has been botched and to apologise for this
immediately publish the raw data on the trial ahead of their detailed evaluation report
commit to consulting with residents and local businesses before bringing forward any future plans for Lendal Bridge.”

It seems, that with many Labour Councillors now deserting a sinking ship, the Leadership has decided to try to find a lifeboat of its own!

Lendal Bridge – Council Leadership move to block scrutiny review of their decisions

Papers published for a meeting of the Council scrutiny committee, which covers transport issues, today reveal that the Labour Leadership are trying to block an inquiry into their handling of the Lendal Bridge closure.

Residents in general – and the 70,000 motorists fined “unlawfully” by the Council for using Lendal Bridge and Coppergate in particular- had been expecting the answers to a string of questions about the muddle and confusion which surrounded the ill-judged trial.

The Council Leader describes the request as “politics not scrutiny” and says that “an independently chaired congestion commission” should report first. As any such commission would take months – if not years – to report, this is clearly an attempt to bury the issue until after the local elections which are scheduled to take place next May.

Similarly the disgraced Cabinet member, who was responsible for the shambles, argues that a review is “premature” and should await the result of the Council’s appeal against the traffic adjudicator’s judgement. As this appeal expected to be resolved within the next 2 months, it does not seem be a valid reason to delay setting up a review committee.

The committee meets next week to decide on its work programme for the coming year.

Although there is a Labour majority on the committee, they will not be able to deny answers to residents legitimate questions for ever.

The new Council, which will be elected in May 2015, will be able to set up an Inquiry when it takes office.

There will be nowhere for the former Labour Leadership to hide then.

Lendal Bridge and Coppergate – York Council stopped issuing fine notices at the end of March

Coppergate restrictions still not being enforced

ANPR fine notices issued Click to access

A Freedom of Information response has revealed that the York Council stopped issuing Penalty Charge Notices (PCN) – using its ANPR camera information – on 30^th March 2014.

That is a week earlier than they admitted in the media at the time.

The figures cast doubts on the claims being made by Labour Councillors early in April when they said the controversial restrictions were still being enforced.

A few days later, senior Council officials clamed that the number of notices issued had been “scaled back” but declined to say by how much or in what way.

In reality it seems that the camera enforcement was abandoned even before the Lendal Bridge restrictions were formally jettisoned on 12^th April.

The situation on Coppergate appears to be different, at least in so far as the restrictions remain in place.

However no PCNs have been issued on Coppergate for over 6 weeks.

Contrary to claims made in the media (that the number of drivers ignoring the restrictions was reducing), the latest figures reveal that during March around 50 motorists a day were still being fined on Coppergate.

Things were little better on Lendal Bridge where 2135 motorists were caught on camera during March alone.

The Lendal Bridge trial closure had been due to conclude at the end of February and the Labour Council leadership was heavily criticised for not suspending camera enforcement until the results of the trial had been assessed.

In total 74,000 transgressions had been identified by the cameras before they were abandoned at the end of March.

Coppergate

The Council is now awaiting the results of its appeal against the Traffic Adjudicators ruling that both sets of restrictions were unlawful. If the Council fails to win, then it could face costs of over £1 million with many drivers likely to seek the return of unlawfully imposed fines.

The Appeal could take several more weeks to be concluded.

An Inquiry into the collapse of the whole project is expected to start in the summer using the Council’s “scrutiny” mechanisms.

Although the camera evidence is no longer being used on Coppergate, the restrictions there could – in theory – be enforced by a uniformed police officer.

Cross-party review of Lendal Bridge trial moves a step closer

York Council’s Labour leader has finally backed Liberal Democrat calls for a cross-party scrutiny review of the Lendal Bridge trial, saying “it is the right thing to do”.

The Liberal Democrat Group has called for an independent review of the trial by the council’s cross-party scrutiny committee. The Lib Dems say there are still unanswered questions over the trial, which was abandoned last month after a Government Traffic Adjudicator ruled the Labour run council had no power to issue penalty fines. The Lib Dems say it is essential that lessons are learnt so that future attempts at tackling city-centre congestion are more successful.

At last night’s Cabinet meeting the Council Leader, James Alexander, was challenged on the issue by Lib Dem Councillors Ann Reid and Ian Cuthbertson and admitted that it would be right to hold a review if that is what opposition councillors wanted.Before last night, Labour had failed to support a full scrutiny review of the trial and instead announced plans for a ‘commission’ to look at the more general issue of congestion in York.

Cllr Ann Reid, Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Transport on City of York Council, commented:

“I am pleased that the Labour leader has finally appeared to back our calls for a full cross-party scrutiny review of the Lendal Bridge trial. He now needs to ensure that his fellow Labour councillors support the move and play a full role in the process.

“We need a proper review in public to get answers to the questions which Labour have ducked so far. These include how the Labour run council implemented a scheme which was ruled ‘unlawful’, why the signage was so poor that 50,000 motorists were fined, and why there no real public consultation before the trial.

“We also need to understand why in the face of overwhelming opposition from residents and local businesses Labour pushed on with the closure beyond its original six months. And why Labour is using taxpayers’ money to fund its legal battle to now justify the botched closure.

“Only by properly reviewing the Lendal Bridge trial and learning what went wrong can the council hope to be more successful in other attempts at tackling congestion.I recognise that there are serious challenges for the future, but it is crucial that we first learn the lessons from this episode.”

A video of last night’s Cabinet meeting can be found here: http://www.york.gov.uk/webcasts Cllr James Alexander made his statement during the ‘Public Participation’ section in response to Cllr Ann Reid.

The Liberal Democrat Group will formally submit the topic for scrutiny review at next week’s Annual Scrutiny Work Planning Event.

Lendal Bridge – what Labour were going to say before their U turn

York Council plans for use of fine income click to enlarge

Details of a draft report on the future of the Lendal Bridge traffic restrictions, which was written before the scheme was abandoned, reveal that Labour had intended to continue with the restrictions.

The report was substantially rewritten when it became clear that the Council had been acting unlawfully in fining over 50,000 motorists who had travelled over the bridge during restricted hours. To make that decision, the Council used an arcane interpretation of its own constitution claiming that the Council Leader “could take any decision which would normally be taken by the Cabinet“.

It is clear from the report that key background information was still not available when the Leader took his decision on 8th April.

Although draft reports are often re-written to improve clarity before they are published, there are some glaring differences and omissions from the report being considered by the Cabinet later today (Tuesday).

Reinvigorate York

The original draft claimed that

“de-trafficking of Lendal Bridge and environs also allows buses to be removed from Exhibition Square and makes it easier to deliver the Reinvigorate York scheme there”. In arguing in favour of the restrictions being made permanent the draft report goes on to say,”

The Reinvigorate York schemes proposed for Exhibition Square and Duncombe Place would be limited in scope, reducing the ability to make significant enhancements to the public realm or attract additional footfall to the city centre. Other transport aspirations could also be curtailed, in particular options for, and the operation of, a public transport interchange at the station and the ability to provide journey time and reliability improvements for public transport”.

The final report fails to mention any dependence the “reinvigorate” programme might have on the Lendal Bridge scheme.

Congestion

The final report plays down the effect that the closure has had on traffic congestion.

The original draft admitted, “During the Lendal Bridge trial additional delay and congestion has been experienced at the Water End junction. Analysis of the TrafficMaster data has identified that during the 4pm – 5pm period some journeys can experience significant extra delay”.

The draft implies criticism of the timing of the trial saying that the A59 road works had made congestion worse. The premature timing of the trail was a criticism made by many residents a year ago.

The draft report in admitting major congestion issues at Water End suggests changes to traffic signals at Salisbury Terrace. “Longer term measures are being investigated should the completion of the A59/A1237 road works not resolve the traffic issues in this location. (Cabinet Member briefing note is available and with alteration could be provided as an annex)”.

No annex was provided in the final report.

Visitor Numbers

The draft report said, “Since 2010 there has been a downward trend in footfall in the city centre, approximately 11% reduction in annual total 2010-2013 (as measured in Parliament St)”. The report was annotated to say “What is happening nationally? City centre/out of town?”

No such information is provided in the final report

Also omitted from the final report, but included in the draft, was the comment

“For most of the trial the number of PCNs being issued has remained at a relatively constant level, rather than reduce and plateau as predicted”

Costs

One of the most telling sections of the draft report (and not included in the public version) was an analysis of the increased costs that the trial had accumulated during its 7 month period of operation.

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Scale of Council’s Lendal bridge confusion revealed

Council’s legal costs total £6,900 and rising

A freedom of Information request has revealed that the amount of money spent on legal advice in connection with Lendal Bridge, following a recent adjudicator decision, is £6,900 and rising.

This is in addition to the £350,000 in capital and running cost already incurred by the Council.

Originally the Council said that the trial would cost less than £100,000 (and be paid for by appropriating monies provided by central government for improvements to public transport in the City)

If the fine income has to be repaid to drivers, then the costs of the trial will become a heavy burden on York Council Taxpayers

Meanwhile the long awaited analysis of the successes and failures of the Lendal Bridge trial has been published.

The absence of the report was used by Labour at the last Council meeting on 27^th March to avoid making an early decision on scrapping the restrictions. Labour subsequently wilted under sustained criticism from residents when it became clearly that nearly £2 million in fines income (Coppergate and Lendal Bridge combined) had been levied unlawfully.

It is the appeal against the adjudicator’s decision on the latter which has led to escalating legal costs.

The report makes it clear that the imperative for bringing forward the Lendal Bridge access restrictions from 2025 – the target date included in the current Local Transport Plan (LTP3) – was the Labour Councils proposal to increase the size of the City by 25% over the next 15 years. Most commentators have already condemned such growth as irresponsible with likely catastrophic consequences for the environment in general and transport systems in particular. The report says that such growth would lead to a 41% increase in traffic across the City.

The main objectives of the trial were always unclear. They are now retrospectively claimed to be to

reduce congestion in the city centre and on the route between the Station and Gillygate/Clarence Street in particular;

create a bus corridor that provides improvements in bus reliability and journey times, thus encouraging greater use of public transport and

Improve the public realm at the north end of the city centre by reducing the impact of traffic.

Even with benefit of hindsight, and manipulating data to fit a required outcome, the trial fails 2 of these 3 criteria. There was less traffic on Lendal Bridge but overall the number of car journeys was the same, congestion (which is not high between 10:30am and 5:00pm anyway) simply transferred to other roads and emissions impacted on the air quality at different locations – it did not reduce.Over 70% of respondents to the Council surveys felt that the restrictions had adversely affected them. This compares to 79% who responded to surveys in west York saying that the Lendal Bridge trial had not been successful.

Objective	Council verdict	The reality
Accommodation Occupancy Levels in City	Increase	Hotels – not affected by the trial have also shown increased use. It is linked to an improving economy, good weather and special events held in the City. It has not been influenced by the Lendal bridge restrictions. York hotelier groups were opposed to the restrictions
Footfall (Parliament Street)	Increase	Footfall in Parliament Street showed a substantial fall in the early part of the trial. It recovered in the run up to Christmas. Again it reflects changing economic times. Many retailers report lower sales over the 6 month trial period. The longer term reputational damage caused by the high level of fines has yet to be felt by the City.
Parking in City Centre Car Parks	Static	The council is forecasting that it will have a lower income from car parking in 2013/14 than it budgeted for.
Citywide Traffic Counts	Static	The same amount of traffic, just using different routes.
Journey Times	Increases/Decreases	In the main, the mileage covered – and subsequent longer journey times for those who otherwise would have used Lendal Bridge – were significantly higher. The Council have failed to analyse this cost.
Bus Journey Times	Increases/Decreases	The report fails to list the journey time and passenger number impacts on a route by route basis. Without that information, no conclusions on public transport can be drawn. The Council has failed to isolate cause and effect. If bus patronage is up 7% how much of that is down to economic factors, how much to the fare/routes changes introduced in September etc.?

The data reveals that between September and December 2013 there were 2 serious accidents on Lendal Bridge (compared to none during the same period in the previous year).

The number of “slight” accidents did however reduce.

So where now?

Labour are promoting an all party “traffic congestion Commission”. Apparently to be independently chaired, the body would be doomed before it started if it was asked to provide transport solutions for the journey demands that would be generated by a 25% increase in the City’s size.

That is mission impossible.

It is made worse by the Labour Councils reliance on the development of Green Belt land – which generally has poorer public transport options than the brownfield alternative which is closer to the City centre.

The real choice will be for residents to make at the 2015 Council elections.

The Liberal Democrats will be offering a policy of sustainable growth.

It remains to be seen what other options are tabled.

Lendal Bridge – final report published

The Council has published its final analysis of the Lendal Bridge “trial”.

It can be found by clicking here.

We will be commenting on the report over the weekend.

Signs still say Lendal Bridge is closed

Lendal Bridge restriction sign on Holgate Road 19th April 2014

In what is usually one of the busiest weekends of the year, some Council signs are still saying that restrictions apply on Lendal Bridge.

The Council has said that the decision to revoke the traffic order, which underpins the restrictions on the bridge, must be ratified by the Cabinet when it meets on 6th May.

In the meantime, the Council should either remove or cover up all the enforcement signs to avoid confusion

Lendal Bridge – Council closure case published

The York Council has finally published the presentation which apparently led to Labour Councillors abandoning the traffic restrictions on Lendal Bridge.

click to download full presentation

The papers have crept into the daylight following a vigorous campaign by Liberal Democrats and residents for a full scrutiny review of the fiasco.

The presentation is not the final report, which is still scheduled to be considered by the Cabinet on 6th May.

However there are some glaring anomalies in the claims made by officials.

In claiming that hotel and bus use had increased, they have failed to include benchmark comparisons; preferring just to assume that any favourable trend is a result of the Lendal Bridge restrictions.

In truth the economic recovery and good weather have played a part in attracting more visitors to the City over the last few months.

& First buses claimed in September that their new fare pricing and routing policies, would attract more passengers (as appears to be the case although robust bus reliability measures are missing).

Also missing are details of the number of PCNs issued during the period between the end of the trial and the decision to abort the traffic regulation order.

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