Agenda item

(See report at agenda item 13 (pages 2 to 6) of the supplement to the Cabinet agenda of 10 January 2016)

RECOMMENDED BY THE CABINET

That the Council requests the Secretary of State for Transport to instruct Highways England, first, to undertake a new consultation on improvements to the A27 around Chichester with an extended range of options including the two previously developed northern bypass options, and, second, to publish without delay the results of the consultation held between July and September 2016. 

Mr Dignum (Leader of the Council), seconded by Mrs Lintill, moved this recommendation to the Council.

Mr Dignum introduced this report (copy attached to the official minutes), stating that the Council at its meeting in September 2016, had previously given support to Option 2 on the basis that Highways England (HE) gave serious consideration to important mitigation measures. The Council had written to the Secretary of State (SoS) requesting him to provide a thorough and comprehensive justification for discounting the previously considered offline routes.  A response had been received from HE four months later, on 17 January 2017, and only one paragraph of the response referred to the dropping of the northern options.

The inadequate response from HE on the reasons for dropping the northern options left only one practical way of securing transparency and achieving a full and open comparison of all the options which was to request the SoS to rerun the consultation on a wider range of options.

He therefore asked the Council to agree to request the SoS for Transport to request HE, firstly, to undertake a new consultation on improvements to the A27 around Chichester with an extended range of options, including the two previously developed by-pass options and, secondly, to publish without delay the results of the consultation between July and September 2016.

Mr Dunn did not support the recommendation.  He was concerned that the recommendations from Cabinet were the wrong way round, and that HE should be requested to publish the consultation first to establish the result before asking for a re-run of the consultation.  He proposed an amendment to the recommendation:

To request HE to publish, without delay, the results of the consultation held between July and September 2016’.

He was seconded by Mr J F Elliott.  Discussion then took place on this amendment.

There was concern that if the consultation was published it could be subject to a judicial review and clarification was requested before going to the vote.  Mr Dignum advised that he had understood that once the proposed route was published it could not be retracted.

Mr Carvell drew attention to the statement in the penultimate paragraph of the HE letter which stated that they were on course to publish the results of the consultation.

Mr Ransley supported the amendment adding that the end of the sentence referred to by Mr Carvell stated ‘which will inform our preferred route announcement’.

Mrs Purnell did not support this amendment, saying that the publication went hand in hand with asking for a further consultation in the belief that there was no transparency in the first one.

Mr Hobbs stated that we had not yet had the level of transparency we were seeking from the SoS to satisfy our local communities.  In the interests of local democracy he had supported re-running the consultation as the only mechanism we had.  However, if greater transparency was able to be achieved with the publication of the results of the consultation, then he supported Mr Dunn’s proposal.

Mr Oakley, Mr Barrow and Mrs Apel did not support the amendment.

Mr Galloway requested a recorded vote and was supported by four councillors.  The amendment to the recommendation was then put to the vote.  On this amendment being put to the vote, it was declared not carried.

For the motion: Mr M Dunn, Mr J F Elliott, Mr M Hall, Mr G McAra, Mr H Potter, Mr J Ransley and Mr N Thomas (7)

Against the motion: Mrs C Apel, Mr G Barrett, Mr R Barrow, Mr J Connor, Mr I Curbishley, Mr M Cullen, Mrs P Dignum, Mr A Dignum, Mr J W Elliott, Mr J Brown, Mr N Galloway, Mrs N Graves, Mrs E Hamilton, Mr R Hayes, Mr G Hicks, Mr L Hixson, Mrs G Keegan, Mrs J Kilby, Mrs E Lintill, Mr S Lloyd-Williams, Mr L Macey, Mr S Morley, Ms C Neville, Mr S Oakley, Ms P Plant, Mr R Plowman, Mrs C Purnell, Mr J Ridd, Mr A Shaxson, Mrs J Tassell, Mrs S Taylor, Mrs P Tull, Mr D Wakeham and Mrs S Westacott (35)

Abstained: Mrs J Duncton, Mrs P Hardwick and Mr F Hobbs (3)

Discussion then resumed on the substantive recommendation from Cabinet.

Mr Oakley, Mrs Dignum, Mr Cullen and Mr Budge, Mr Shaxson, Mr Galloway, Mr Hixson, Mr Barrett, Mr Connor, Mr Ridd and Mr Brown supported the recommendation to reopen the consultation.  It was accepted that the allocated funding may be lost with a delay.

Mr Ransley did not support the current recommendation as he did not wish to place the budget for this scheme at risk.  The response from HE was clear and he saw no reason to recommend a delay in proceedings.

Mr Lloyd-Williams did not support this recommendation, saying it was a waste of time and money.

Mr McAra was concerned that this revised recommendation had been brought about as a result of an informal discussion relayed to Mr Dignum by Mrs Goldsmith and that there may be no substance to this.

Mr Plowman stated that the whole process had been flawed and divisive for the whole of Chichester.  He cautioned members that they needed to be sure about the decision to re-run the consultation as the funding was available now.

Mr Shaxson requested an amendment to the recommendation as follows:

That the Secretary of State for Transport be requested to request Highways England, first, to undertake a new consultation on improvements to the A27 around Chichester with an extended and reassessed range of options, including the two previously developed northern by-pass options, and secondly, to publish, without delay, the results of the consultation between July and September 2016.

He was seconded by Mr Plowman.  On the amendment being put to the vote, it was declared carried.

A recorded vote was requested, which was supported by four members.

The substantive recommendation, including the amendment above, was then put to the vote, which was declared carried.

For the motion: Mrs C Apel, Mr G Barrett, Mr R Barrow, Mr J Connor, Mr I Curbishley, Mr M Cullen, Mrs P Dignum, Mr A Dignum, Mr J W Elliott, Mr J Brown, Mr N Galloway, Ms N Graves, Mrs E Hamilton, Mr R Hayes, Mr G Hicks, Mr F Hobbs, Mrs G Keegan, Mrs J Kilby, Mrs E Lintill, Mr L Macey, Mr S Morley, Ms C Neville, Mr S Oakley, Ms P Plant, Mr R Plowman, Mrs C Purnell, Mr J Ridd, Mr A Shaxson, Mrs J Tassell, Mrs S Taylor, Mrs P Tull, Mr D Wakeham and Mrs S Westacott (33)

Against the motion: Mr P Budge, Mr M Dunn, Mr J F Elliott, Mr M Hall, Mr L Hixson, Mr S Lloyd-Williams, Mr G McAra, Mr H Potter and Mr J Ransley (9)

Abstained: Mrs J Duncton, Mrs P Hardwick and Mr N Thomas (3)

RESOLVED

That the Secretary of State for Transport be requested to request Highways England firstly, to undertake a new consultation on improvements to the A27 around Chichester with an extended and reassessed range of options, including the two previously developed northern by-pass options, and secondly, to publish, without delay, the results of the consultation between July and September 2016.