End of the line for controversial active travel scheme

Surrey County Council’s Cabinet meeting held on 26 November saw a disappointing end to the controversial active travel scheme that had been proposed for London Road, Burpham. The decision not to proceed with the plans had been called in by the Communities, Environment and Highways Select Committee (CEHSC), where Members voted seven to four in favour of sending the issue back to Cabinet for reconsideration.

Disappointingly, the meeting allowed no opportunity for discussion or debate. Instead, the Leader of the Council Tim Oliver, made a statement to the effect that the Cabinet had not changed their minds and that the original decision would stand. He then quickly moved on to the next item on the agenda without even having a debate or a vote on the London Road scheme or the Select Committee's recommendations.

The call in process had been initiated by Vice Chair of the CEHSC Lance Spencer (Lib Dem divisional member for Goldsworth East and Horsell), who had voiced concerns about how the decision had been reached. After the meeting he expressed his disappointment about how the matter had been handled:

“The Community, Environment and Highways Select Committee spent nearly two hours discussing and debating the decision made by the Cabinet on this project. It was a robust demonstration of our democracy working, and the outcome clearly demonstrated that the view of the majority of the select committee members was that the Cabinet needed to reverse its decision. It is hard to understand why the Cabinet continues to ignore all the professional advice from the consultants ARUP, appointed by the council with more than 30 years of relevant experience, the National Highways officers with vast experience of road safety and the council’s own experienced Highway Officers, who all deemed the scheme to be safe. 

George Potter, Divisional Member for Guildford East, who had spoken at length at the previous Cabinet meeting in support of the proposals that many of his residents also wanted to see implemented, expressed his frustration:

“Shamefully the Conservatives have doubled down on their decision to throw out much needed walking and cycling improvements in Burpham, despite the clear recommendation of cross-party backbench councillors that their previous rejection was based on a failure to properly consider, or understand, the evidence in front of them. This scheme would have delivered seven new pedestrian crossings, widened pavements and proper cycle lanes, all of which would have been paid for by central government funding, but thanks to this ideologically-driven decision, my community are now going to be left with dangerous roads without safe crossings and without safe ways for children to cycle to school. I am utterly depressed at this decision to ignore evidence, to ignore the community, and to make life worse for local people all for the sake of ideological opposition to investing in pedestrian and cyclist safety."