County Council backs down in attempt to block review of £6 million London Road walking and cycling scheme decision
Surrey County Council has backed down after originally telling members of the public and councillors that the decision not to proceed with a walking and cycling scheme for London Road did not count as a formal decision and therefore could not be called in for scrutiny by backbench councillors. The decision is now to be reviewed by the council’s Community, Environment and Highways Select Committee at 2pm on Tuesday 19th November.
At its Cabinet meeting on 29 October Surrey County Council took the unusual step of acting against officer recommendations and voted by a margin of 6 to 3 not to proceed with the implementation of the London Road active travel scheme in Burpham, Guildford, which would have seen a £6 million upgrade of walking and cycling facilities along the road, including widened pavements and a new pedestrian crossing.
After months of planning, revisions, and public consultations the scheme appeared to have gained broad support amongst most residents, with 50% supporting the scheme in a consultation with only 30% against, and would have meant that local facilities, including a secondary school, would be more readily accessible by walking and cycling.
Supporters of the scheme, who were disappointed at the decision, had asked councillors to ‘call-in’ the decision for review by a backbench scrutiny committee, only to be told by the Conservative committee chairman that:
“[…] The Cabinet voted AGAINST a proposal to implement a decision. Therefore, technically, the Cabinet did not take a decision. As no decision was taken by the Cabinet there is consequently no decision for the Committee to call in.”
This interpretation of the rules was challenged by Liberal Democrat councillors, who pointed out that the Council’s constitution said that any decision made by the Cabinet could be called-in by the relevant scrutiny committee.
Liberal Democrat Cllr George Potter, who represents Burpham as a borough and county councillor, said:
“The decision not to proceed with the London Road walking and cycling scheme in Burpham had no regard for the actual evidence presented to the County Council's Cabinet committee. Thankfully, the law gives scrutiny committees the right to 'call-in' such decisions to review the decision-making process and to potentially ask the Cabinet to think again.
"I was therefore absolutely appalled when members of the public were told that a decision not to go ahead with the scheme (and to hand back £6 million of government funding as a result) did not technically count as a decision and therefore could not be called in.
“Call-in is meant to be part of ensuring healthy democratic accountability at every council, so it was quite shocking to see Surrey County Council throw every possible roadblock in the way of that happening. It was only after considerable debate with county officers, including a meeting between myself and the Monitoring Officer, that they conceded that we were legally within our rights to call-in this decision for scrutiny.
“I’m pleased this decision will now be scrutinised properly, with councillors having the opportunity to review the evidence in detail and to ask the Cabinet to make the decision again, but it is hard to see the past week’s events as anything other than a deliberate attempt to thwart democratic scrutiny of a contentious decision where the Conservative Cabinet were on the wrong side of both public opinion and their own officers’ evidence.”
The decision not to proceed with the London Road scheme has now formally been called in by Liberal Democrat Cllr Lance Spencer, who is Vice-Chairman of the Community, Environment and Highways Select Committee.
Commenting, Cllr Lance Spencer said:
“Given the time and money already spent on the planning and public consultation on this scheme; given that the funding is coming from the government; given that so many different road users are now in favour of implementing the proposals; given that this a scheme for the future of Burpham and in particular to allow our young people to travel more safely, breathe cleaner air and make the most of local facilities, I felt it was incredibly important that the decision on this scheme received the most thorough scrutiny and consideration possible, and that is what call-in can achieve.
“No scheme will ever be perfect, but this was a scheme which was recommended for approval by officers with a weight of evidence behind it and would have been a major improvement on the status quo. For that scheme to be abandoned, with no indication of what will happen to the funding as a result or what, if anything, will be done to improve the London Road instead, is not good decision-making.
“I look forward to the committee scrutinising this decision and know that members will take their role seriously in deciding what the next steps should be”.