Parking in Church Road, Buxted

The request was successful.

Dear East Sussex County Council,
1. Please advise me if I can find, in any publication by East Sussex Highways Department, the criteria used for deciding if Double Yellow lines should be installed on a road.

2. What was the logic used for the double yellow lines on both sides of the road to the new Beechbrook Park housing development ?
Was the parking of vehicles on this road instead of in the Buxted Station Car Park taken into consideration ?

3. What is the logic for making the decision not to have double yellow lines for both sides of Church Road, Buxted ?
Was the parking of vehicles here instead of the Buxted Station Car Park taken into consideration ?
Why is parking vehicles on the now damaged verges considered acceptable when there are no pavements on either side of the road for pedestrians ?

4. What is the criteria for deciding whether or not pavement are installed on Church Road ?
Who makes that decision ?

5. When will Church Road be repaired and the faded, broken yellow lines reinstated ?

Thank you.

Yours faithfully,

Derek Speight

Freedom of Information, East Sussex County Council

 

 

Dear Mr Speight

 

FOI Request ref:  5414 / Parking in Church Road, Buxted

 

Thank you for your request for information about the above. Your request
was received on 1/4/2015 and I am dealing with it under the terms of the
Freedom of Information Act 2000.

We always aim to respond as quickly as possible, and in this case will do
so no later than 1/5/2015, which is the 20 working day deadline. The
deadline is counted from the first working day we receive it, not the date
a letter is written / posted or an email sent.

In some circumstances a fee may be payable and if that is the case, I will
let you know. A fees notice will be issued to you, and you will be
required to pay before we proceed in dealing with your request.

Please quote the above reference number in any communication regarding
this request.

 

Yours sincerely

 

Amilia Holland

Customer Information Adviser

 

East Sussex County Council

Communities Economy and Transport Directorate

W1D, County Hall

St Anne’s Crescent

Lewes

East Sussex BN7 1UE

 

Phone: 01273 482913
Fax: 01273 481208

email: [1][East Sussex County Council request email]   web: [2]www.eastsussex.gov.uk/foi

P  please consider the environment - do you really need to print this
email

 

 

This message is intended for the use of the addressee only and may
contain confidential or privileged information. If you have received it in
error please notify the sender and destroy it. You may not use it or copy
it to anyone else.

E-mail is not a secure communications medium. Please be aware of this
when replying. All communications sent to or from the County Council
may be subject to recording and/or monitoring in accordance with
relevant legislation.

Although East Sussex County Council has taken steps to ensure that this
e-mail and any attachments are virus free, we can take no responsibility
if a virus is actually present and you are advised to ensure that the
appropriate checks are made.

You can visit our website at http://www.eastsussex.gov.uk

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[East Sussex County Council request email]
2. http://www.eastsussex.gov.uk/foi

Freedom of Information, East Sussex County Council

1 Attachment

 

 

Dear Mr Speight

 

FOI Request ref:  5414 / Parking in Church Road, Buxted

 

Thank you for your request for information about the above, which has been
dealt with under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act 2000. Your
request and our response are set out below. Please note that any
information we provide is subject to the copyright and reuse of
information terms and conditions set out at the bottom of this email.

 

REQUEST

 

1. Please advise me if I can find, in any publication by East Sussex
Highways Department, the criteria used for deciding if Double Yellow lines
should  be installed on a road.

 

2. What was the logic used for the double yellow lines on both sides of
the road to the new Beechbrook Park housing development ?

Was the parking of vehicles on this road instead of in the Buxted Station
Car Park taken into consideration ?

 

3. What is the logic for making the decision not to have double yellow
lines for both sides of Church Road, Buxted ?

Was the parking of vehicles here instead of the Buxted Station Car Park
taken into consideration ?

Why is parking vehicles on the now damaged verges considered acceptable
when there are no pavements on either side of the road for pedestrians ?

 

4. What is the criteria for deciding whether or not pavement are installed
on Church Road ?

Who makes that decision ?

 

5. When will Church Road be repaired and the faded, broken yellow lines
reinstated ?

 

RESPONSE

 

1.    Please find a copy of the Policy relating to parking restrictions at
road junctions attached.

 

2.    This answer comes in 2 parts:

 

a.    The first section of lines is related to Specific Policy number 1 on
the attached, in that a new junction has been created in a location where
there were existing double yellow lines. The existing lines have therefore
been carried into the development about 15m in order to keep the junction
clear.

 

b.    Upon constructing the new estate road, Taylor Wimpey (the developer
of the site) noticed that vehicles were parking there. From observations
made it appeared that these were commuters making use of the free parking
near to the train station. Taylor Wimpey consulted East Sussex County
Council on what they could do to stop this. As the road is not adopted as
Highway yet they were told that it was private land and their
responsibility. It was suggested however, that they could put their own
yellow lines down on the road. These lines are not enforceable, but would
most likely deter motorists. Once the roads near adoption a Traffic
Regulation Order will be progressed in order to make these additional
yellow lines enforceable.

 

3.    We hold a request on our parking priority list for double yellow
lines opposite St Mary’s Mead in Church Road in response to a request in
2013 but it is not high priority. We do not hold any requests for double
yellow lines along the length of Church Road. The view taken is that
parking can provide a certain level of traffic calming and that the
introduction of any double yellow lines would lead to displaced parking
elsewhere. This raises the potential issue of how much double yellow line
would need to be proposed as the parking would recommence where the lining
stops.

 

4.    We have a limited amount of funding to develop local transport
improvements and we need to ensure that we target our resources to those
schemes which will be of greatest benefit to our local communities. To
help us prioritise the numerous requests for improvements we developed an
evidence-based process to determine which schemes should be funded through
our capital programme for local transport improvements.

 

The assessment consists of a two stage process:-

 

 1. High Level Sift – a short assessment to establish how the scheme fits
with the transport objectives set out in the LTP3.
 2. Detailed appraisal – a detailed assessment of how the scheme fits with
the objectives of LTP3, as well as assessing value for money, risk and
equalities impacts.

 

For your information the key objectives against which scheme requests are
assessed include the extent to which it will:-

 

o Improve the economy
o Improve public safety and health
o Tackle climate change
o Improve accessibility to employment, education, health facilities and
other services 
o Improve quality of life

 

Initial requests for schemes are assessed on a quarterly basis through the
‘High Level Sift’ stage, and if successful at this stage, a further Stage
2 assessment will then be undertaken. 

 

This will assist in identifying those schemes to be considered for
possible inclusion in a future year’s capital programme for Local
Transport Improvements. This is considered by the Lead Cabinet Member for
Economy, Transport and Environment in March each year.

 

5.    There are currently no plans for any capital works in Church Road in
Buxted. If there are any safety defects present they should be reported to
the Highways Contact centre who can send the local steward out to inspect
the road.

 

Please note some of your request does not appear to be a request for
recorded information and is therefore not currently a valid request under
the terms of the FOIA. The FOIA provides public access to information held
by public authorities,

It does this in two ways:

o Public authorities are obliged to publish certain information about
their activities; and
o Members of the public are entitled to request information from public
authorities.

The Act covers any recorded information that is held by a public authority
in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and by UK-wide public authorities
based in Scotland. Recorded information includes printed documents,
computer files, letters, emails, photographs, and sound or video
recordings. We cannot provide opinions or considerations of employees.

 

I hope that this answers your enquiry. If you believe that the County
Council has not complied with the FOI Act in responding to your request,
you may ask for an internal review. If you wish to do so, please set out
the grounds of your appeal in writing to:

 

Philip Baker, Assistant Chief Executive, East Sussex County Council,
County Hall, St Anne’s Crescent, Lewes, East Sussex. BN7 1UE.

or by email to him at [1][email address]

 

Please quote the FOI reference number in any communication regarding this
particular request.

 

If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you then
have the right to apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a
decision. Generally, the Information Commissioner cannot make a decision
unless you have exhausted the County Council’s internal review procedure
as described in the previous paragraph. The Commissioner can be contacted
at: Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane,
Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF. Tel: 0303 123 1113.  [2]www.ico.org.uk

 

 

Yours sincerely

 

 

Amilia Holland

Customer Information Adviser

 

East Sussex County Council

Communities, Economy and Transport

W1D, County Hall

St Anne’s Crescent

Lewes

East Sussex BN7 1UE

 

Phone: 01273 482913
Fax: 01273 481208

email: [3][East Sussex County Council request email]   web: [4]www.eastsussex.gov.uk/foi

P    please consider the environment - do you really need to print this
email

 

 

 

Copyright and Re-Use of information

1. Providing you with documents under the Freedom of Information Act does
not give you an automatic right to re-use those documents in a way that
would infringe copyright – for example by making multiple copies, or by
publishing / issuing copies to the public.

2. Copyright in the information is owned by East Sussex County Council
and/or its contractor(s) unless otherwise stated. Brief extracts of the
material can be reproduced under the “fair dealing” provisions of the
Copyright Design and Patents Act 1988 (S.29 and S.30) for the purposes of
research for non-commercial purposes, private study, criticism, review and
news reporting.

3. We do not give permission for this information to be used for the
purposes of direct marketing.

4. If you wish to use this information then, in accordance with the
Regulations on the Re-use of Public Sector Information 2005, you must
first ask our permission. Such re-use may or may not involve the granting
of a licence and the application of a Fee.

 

 

 

This message is intended for the use of the addressee only and may
contain confidential or privileged information. If you have received it in
error please notify the sender and destroy it. You may not use it or copy
it to anyone else.

E-mail is not a secure communications medium. Please be aware of this
when replying. All communications sent to or from the County Council
may be subject to recording and/or monitoring in accordance with
relevant legislation.

Although East Sussex County Council has taken steps to ensure that this
e-mail and any attachments are virus free, we can take no responsibility
if a virus is actually present and you are advised to ensure that the
appropriate checks are made.

You can visit our website at http://www.eastsussex.gov.uk

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
mailto:[email address]
2. http://www.ico.org.uk/
3. mailto:[East Sussex County Council request email]
4. http://www.eastsussex.gov.uk/foi