Agenda and minutes

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Venue: Civic Centre, Gravesend, Kent

Contact: Committee Section  Email: committee.section@gravesham.gov.uk

Items
No. Item

1.

Apologies

Minutes:

Apologies for absence were received from Cllr Bob Lane and County Cllr Bryan Sweetland (KCC).

 

2.

To sign the minutes of the previous meeting pdf icon PDF 87 KB

Minutes:

The minutes of the meeting of the Board held on Tuesday 25 May 2021 were signed by the Chair.

 

3.

To declare any interests members may have in the items contained on this agenda. When declaring an interest members should state what their interest is.

Minutes:

Cllr Nirmal Khabra declared an other interest as he was a local taxi driver in the Borough of Gravesham.

 

4.

Matters Arising from Previous Meetings pdf icon PDF 96 KB

Minutes:

The Chair expressed disappointment that the Dartford & Gravesham District Manager (KCC) was not in attendance to give updates on the points raised in the previous minutes and on Matters Arising.

 

As Dartford & Gravesham District Manager (KCC) was not in attendance to answer questions, the Chair asked the Board to roll their question to the next Board meeting or raise any concerns now for noting.

 

Cllr Hills raised concern regarding the walkway outside of 203 Lower Higham Road as the repair work that was promised to be completed by July 2021 had not been carried out; the previous minutes reflected the original concern raised by Cllr Hills. Cllr Hills advised that the owner of 203 Lower Higham Road had passed away, but the pavement still posed a significant danger to pedestrians that had to walk over it, particularly with winter approaching as there was the potential for ice to form where the water had built up. Cllr Hills had also spoken to Claire Venner about the issue and been promised a response.

 

The Parking & Environmental Enforcement Services Manager informed the Board that Claire Venner had moved areas and was now working in the  Tonbridge & Malling area instead of Gravesham. The Parking & Environmental Enforcement Services Manager promised to circulate details of her replacement to the Board once he had them.

 

Cllr Sullivan suggested that Cllr Hills contact Thomas Williams who was a Highways Officer at KCC. 

 

Following a discussion by the Board, concerning the lack of KCC officers in attendance to answer important questions, it was agreed that an email would be sent to the Chief Executive (KCC) detailing the Boards concerns around the lack of KCC officer attendance and lack of responses to issues raised by Members. The Board requested that the email of concern be forwarded to the Chief Executive (KCC) by the Chief Executive (GBC) along with the minutes/matters arising of this meeting attached to the email with a request to have responses to each outstanding action.

 

The Chair agreed that there wasn’t an issue with officers joining virtually from home as it was good for the environment and allowed officers more flexibility however, they still needed to attend all of the Gravesham JTB meetings and provide responses to Members questions/issues.

 

5.

For Information Reports

5a

MaaS (Mobility as a Service) Scheme in Gravesham - KCC Presentation pdf icon PDF 1 MB

Minutes:

The Gravesham Joint Transportation Board were given a presentation by the Project Manager – Public Transport (KCC). The Project Manager – Public Transport (KCC) drew Members attention to the MaaS (Mobility as a Service) Scheme and outlined key points from the presentation regarding how the Scheme would operate within Gravesham.

 

The presentation could be viewed through the below link:

 

 

Following the presentation, the Project Manager – Public Transport (KCC) fielded questions from Members and explained that:

 

  • As part of the requirement specification, it had been written in that the MaaS partners had to accept all of the discount/concessionary charges such as rail cards, Kent Saver card, Kent Travel Pass and OAP bus passes etc on all relevant modes of transport within the Scheme. It was KCC’s intention that everyone who was entitled to concessionary travel would continue to be offered that entitlement in the MaaS Scheme
  • The Scheme was inclusive of the private sector; as part of phase two, KCC wanted electric taxis to join the MaaS app and offer their services to the people of Gravesham through the app
  • It was true that not everyone had smart phones or felt comfortable using smart apps but KCC wanted MaaS to be as inclusive as possible so a call centre would be set up for those they would not/could not use smart phones. The call centre could be contacted through a resident’s landline and multiple journeys could be booked in advance via the call centre. Further conversations were required with colleagues as to how those not using smart phones would be able to benefit from the proposed MaaS loyalty scheme; it would be picked up as part of the Schemes specification
  • The point of the MaaS consortium was to bring the different companies (public and private) together and agree to a shared arrangement and a commercial agreement as well as sign up to a MaaS code of conduct
  • The Legal Team were working on the code of conduct and had based it on the international MaaS Reliance code of conduct instead of the DFT, as originally planned, as they took too long to give a response
  • The cost of the MaaS Scheme was being finalised and would be part of the business case submitted to KCC’s DMT meeting in October so no details could be given at this time
  • MaaS was an emerging market in the UK but there were many organizations deploying MaaS in the international market. The Project Manager – Public Transport (KCC) had engaged with around thirty organizations that used MaaS and witnessed how the app worked and had reviewed case studies on the app in operation from around the world
  • The behavioural change campaign focused on explaining the benefits of using the MaaS app and next year messages would be released to inform more people of the benefits of making a change and not using a private car as their primary form of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5a

5b

Gravesham Highway Works Programme (Information only) pdf icon PDF 138 KB

Minutes:

The Board were presented with the Gravesham Highway Works Programme.

 

As the Dartford & Gravesham District Manager was not in attendance to answer questions, the Board agreed to roll any questions over to the next Board meeting. 

 

5c

Gravesend Bus Hub pdf icon PDF 75 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Board was presented with a progress update on the Bus Hub Scheme at Barrack Row.

 

As the Dartford & Gravesham District Manager was not in attendance to answer questions, the Board agreed to roll any questions over to the next Board meeting. 

 

The Parking & Environmental Enforcement Services Manager informed the Board that he had received a partial response today concerning taxis being allowed trough the bus gate at Barrack Row. The Board were advised that KCC had sent details to the KCC TRO Coordinator, to detail how the ANPR enforcement would operate and if any modes or transport or vehicles would be exempt from the bus gate restriction. The Parking & Environmental Enforcement Services Manager proposed to KCC that cyclists and taxi drivers should be allowed through the bus gate; it was hoped that KCC would provide an answer to that proposal by the next Board meeting so that it could be reported to Members.

 

5d

Parking Amendment Order pdf icon PDF 4 MB

Minutes:

The Board were presented with the Parking Amendment Orders for Gravesham.

 

The Parking & Environmental Enforcement Services Manager informed the Board that the consultation to propose new parking restrictions and amendments to existing parking restrictions had been completed. The consultation started on 22 July 2021 and ran for the statutory twenty one days; during that time ten items of feedback were received from residents. None of the feedback raised any safety related objections and all feedback was responded too and was considered closed. The Boards support was sought to proceed with the proposals and implement the proposed changes.

 

The Board support the proposed Parking Amendment Orders as outlined in in the report.

 

Cllr Sullivan requested an update on the double yellow lines consultation on Packham Road.

 

The Parking & Environmental Enforcement Services Manager explained that he had spoken with the relevant TRO Coordinator last week who advised that he was waiting for the lining team to confirm a date when the lines would be installed. Once the lining work is completed KCC will ‘Make’ the Order and the restrictions will come into force. The TRO Coordinator had chased the issue several times already with the person responsible for the lining contract. The Parking & Environmental Enforcement Services Manager advised that it would be best for Cllr Sullivan to contact Nicola Floodgate to get a better response on the matter. 

 

6.

Issues raised by Councillors with the approval of the Chair

Minutes:

In response to Cllr Meade’s question, the Chair advised that if a Member wanted to raise an issue then it should be raised with the Chair before the meeting so that it can be added to agenda and a response prepared.

 

7.

Any Other Business which by reason of special circumstances the Chair is of the opinion should be considered as a matter of urgency.

Minutes:

The Chair asked the Assistant director (IT & Transformation) if there would be an issue with KCC officers joining Gravesham JTB meetings virtually for future meetings.

 

The Assistant Director (IT & Transformation) confirmed that it was not an issue and outside parties had joined the recent Climate Change meeting virtually.

 

The Chair advised that he was also happy with GBC officers attending virtually as some of them had to travel very far to get home after an evening meeting.

 

Cllr Meade informed the Board that KCC published a municipal calendar of meetings for the year to their website and he had noticed that the last two meeting of Gravesham JTB had been listed as non-public meetings. It was noted that Ashford’s JTB meetings had been marked as public and this raised concern as it meant that members of the public that may want to attend Gravesham JTB meetings are being turned away.

 

Cllr Meade, through the Chair, asked that the Committee Team make contact with KCC to inquire why KCC aren’t publishing Gravesham JTB meetings as public meetings.