Issue - meetings

To discuss the establishment of the Cheshire Road Safety Partnership

The Committee discussed the Cheshire Road Safety Partnership (CRSP) with the Head of Highways and Transport. The CRSP was established as a partnership between the Council, the Police Service and the Fire and Rescue Service which was committed to improving road safety in Cheshire East.

The work of the partnership was based on three priorities; Education, Engineering and Enforcement. Education pertained to the role the Fire and Rescue Service played in educating children and young people about safer road use as pedestrians and cyclists and as future motor vehicle drivers. Engineering pertained to the responsibility of the Council to maintain public highways and ensure safety measures were appropriate and effective. Enforcement pertained to the role of the Police to monitor road use and enforce the law.

Currently the Fire and Rescue Services education programmes had a good up take from schools and a performance framework had been developed which would enable the service to evaluation the effectiveness of the programmes. The Council were conducting route reviews and developing road maintenance programmes to coordinate the work being carried out on the borough’s road network. The Police were conducting local forums which helped to identify local issues with roads in Cheshire East to consider were to target enforcement.

Members of the Committee asked questions and the following points arose:

·         The safer routes to school review was separate from the routes review which was concentrated on key and strategic routes in Cheshire East such as the A50 and A34.    

·         The decisions on where road safety measures were needed were guided by accident statistics.           

·         Highways had been working closely with Local Area Partnerships (LAPs) to identify priorities for highway maintenance and 20mph zones.

·         The routes review would take into account all road users including cyclists. Ensuring safety throughout cycle routes and adding cycle lanes to roads was part of the engineering programme.

RESOLVED – That the report be noted