Issue - meetings

Daniel Cresswell (Team Leader, Project and Programme Management) informed the committee that site development was progressing on St George’s Way as the gabion walls towards Network Rail's boundary work was completed. A specialist engineer was being sought regarding the gas barrier work and design; the barrier in place at the time of the meeting was working well. Development of the bridge was being discussed with Network Management in terms of road and lane closures. £10.359 million was funded towards the scheme and they were within budget at the time of the meeting, and they should finish at the end of 2022. In response to a question submitted by email from Councillor Clare Golby (division member for the project), Daniel Cresswell confirmed that the Bermuda Road and Heath Road junction was considered when remodelling the benefits. Japanese knotweed was being removed on site and the contractor was revising the work programme due to earlier project delays, but the bridleway will be completed in spring 2022.

In response to Councillor Matecki, Daniel Cresswell stated that they were confident that they will complete the project within budget as material prices are the contractor’s risk.

In response to Councillor Richard Baxter-Payne, Daniel Cresswell agreed to obtain a breakdown of spending costs. Following a supplementary from Councillor Baxter-Payne, Daniel Cresswell stated that the business case was regularly reviewed so the latest model should be accurate.

In response to the Chair, Daniel Cresswell confirmed that the cycle lane was not in the work programme yet because it was still being designed and reviewed against the budget; the design should be complete in the next few months, and a decision taken by the project board whether the current budget will allow for these extra works.

Following a question from Councillor Sinclair, Daniel Cresswell stated that from the construction side, everything is assessed during construction and transport-planning remodel the scheme, and asses what was initially designed. Developments are reported back to the Major Schemes Board.

In response to Mark Ryder, the Committee requested that a report of the scheme came back to the committee post-implementation so the expected and actual successes could be reviewed. David Ayton-Hill suggested reviewing old schemes first, Councillor Sinclair suggested there be an annual report for the OSC to scrutinise schemes already implemented. 

In response to several questions from Councillor Baxter-Payne, Daniel Cresswell stated that traffic congestion was considered after the project was completed instead of during construction. Any environmental reviews during construction would more likely be done by the local planning authority. Daniel Cresswell agreed to investigate looking at air quality and environmental implications from traffic caused by the development.

Councillor Fradgley praised this idea and suggested that this could be part of the annual report.

Councillor Kam Kaur (Portfolio Holder -Economy & Place) suggested looking and how other local authorities dealt with this issue first due to the amount of officer time a report like this would take. Mark Ryder suggested a scoring suggestion could be used with this, but this idea  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4