Agenda and minutes

To approve as a correct record and sign the Minutes of the meeting held on 4 July 2013.

The Minutes (copies of which had been circulated) of the meeting held on 4 July 2013 were approved as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

Councillors and officers to declare any interests which they have in any of the items on the agenda for the meeting.

No declarations of interest were made.

To consider call-in items (if any).

There were no call-in items to consider.

To consider a report of the Service Director (Special Projects)

The report provides an update on the progress of the second phase of the consultation on the A6 to Manchester Airport Relief Road Scheme and the proposed next stages in the development of the scheme.

The Scrutiny Committee is recommended to:-

·         Note the report and support the on-going work to develop the final preferred scheme for future approval by the promoting authorities; and

·         Support the submission of a planning application for associated work at Styal Golf Club and the oil terminal pipeline if necessary.

Officer Contact: Sue Stevenson on 0161 474 4351 or e mail: sue.stevenson@stockport.gov.uk

The Service Director (Special Projects) submitted a report (copies of which had been circulated) providing a summary of the A6 to Manchester Airport Relief Road Phase 2 consultation feedback which had been received and analysed up to and including 19 July 2013. The consultation had been carried out using a variety of methods in order to try to ensure that all who wished to provide their comments could have the opportunity to do so. The Phase 2 consultation had run from 3 June to 19 July 2013.

Prior to the meeting, Members of the Scrutiny Committee had been provided with a copy of the extracts from the Minutes of those Area Committees affected by the scheme who had considered an item on the Second Phase Consultation at their meeting in July.

An updated version of the report would be submitted to the Executive Meeting on 13 August 2013.

The Service Director (Special Projects) advised Members at the meeting that:-

·         There had been over 9,000 responses as part of the Phase 1 Consultation, with 70% indicating support for the scheme and 13% not in favour.

·         Significant changes had been made to the scheme following the Phase 1 consultation with regard to the junction arrangements and noise mitigation etc. With regard to the latter, every effort had been made to minimise the visual and noise impact of the road with sound bunds and fencing being proposed as well as landscaping treatments.

·         The consultation in Phase 2 had been more specific, for example with specific questions with regard to ecology, landscaping and noise impact. The majority of the respondents felt that the changes had improved the scheme.

·         There had been an additional meeting with residents of Hazel Grove in respect of location 6, junction of Macclesfield Road.

·         The proposed scheme would also include a dedicated cycle route along the entire length (including retrofitting the existing A555 road) as well as a range of measures to project access to rights of way that intersected the road route.

·         Residents had expressed concerns about the problems that would arise should the traffic modelling be found to be incorrect.

The Service Director (Special Projects) updated the Scrutiny Committee with the following information on responses to the consultation since 3 June:-

·         A total of 112 calls had been received;

·         A total of 208 e-mails had been received to the dedicated e-mail address;

·         471 on-line questionnaires had been completed; and

·         4,898 postal responses had been recorded (received up to and including 26 July 2013).

He further reported that:-

·         The @SEMMMSA555 Twitter account had 195 followers;

·         The scheme’s Facebook page which provided information about the consultation had 59 ‘likes’;

·         Nine letters had been received to date; and

·         There had been 6,440 unique visitors and 45,137 page viewers to the website.

Nine exhibitions had been held and had been attended by over 900 people. Local Liaison Forums (LLFs) had been organised and over 1,000 people had been invited to the forum meetings. A second forum event had been held for people in Hazel Grove, adjacent to Macclesfield Road, in order to address the concerns raised at their first meeting. An additional LLF area had been created around the Stanley Green roundabout at the request of local residents.

The responses from the events and questionnaires would be analysed and considered and used to inform the development of the preferred scheme that would be submitted for a planning application in the autumn. The outcome of the consultation and the final preferred scheme would be the subject of future reports to the three authorities promoting the scheme (Stockport Council, Cheshire East Council and Manchester City Council).

A number of other areas of work were being progressed in parallel with the consultation, including discussions with landowners along the route. These included detailed discussions with Styal Golf Club regarding the need to remodel the course to replace affected holes, and with the owners of Bramhall Oil  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

To consider a report of the Democratic Services Manager

The report sets out planned agenda items for the Scrutiny Committee’s next meeting and Forward Plan items that fall within the remit of the Scrutiny Committee.

The Scrutiny Committee is invited to consider the information in the report and put forward any agenda items for future meetings of the Committee.

Officer contact: David Clee on 0161 474 3137 or e mail: david.clee@stockport.gov.uk

A representative of the Democratic Services Manager submitted a report (copies of which had been circulated) setting out the planned agenda items for the Committee’s next meeting and Forward Plan items which fell within the remit of the Scrutiny Committee.

RESOLVED– That the report be noted.