ECCLESHALL PARISH COUNCIL – HIGHWAYS AND TRANSPORT COMMITTEE – Wednesday, July 2^nd 2025

 DRAFT

A meeting of the Highways and Transport Committee was held on Wednesday, July 2^nd 2025, at Eccleshall Community Centre at 8.30pm, following a meeting of the Planning Committee.

Present were:-

Councillor D. Hill (Chair)                                  Councillor C. Wilkins

Councillor R. Taylor                                            Councillor R. Langford

Councillor G. Dale                                              Councillor M. Gosling

Councillor C. Ryan-Bloor

Mrs S. J. Worden (Clerk)

No members of the public.

1).    Apologies:-

Apologies were received from Cllrs. Perren, Jones and Reid.

2).    Election of Chairman / Vice Chairman:-

Councillor Jones was nominated and re-elected as Chairman for the ensuing year.

Councillor Perren was nominated and elected as Vice- Chairman for the ensuing year.

3).   Minutes of the meeting held on Wednesday, April 2^nd, 2025:

The minutes, which had previously been noted by the Council were agreed and signed.

4).   Updated Committee name and Terms of Reference:

The members formally noted the name change of the committee from the Traffic Management Committee to the Highways and Transport Committee, to better reflect the remit of the role.

5).  To provide any updates from the working group in relation to the project to build a vision for our town centre, to include opportunities for provision of additional parking:

There has not been a meeting since the last committee meeting, due to overlapping discussions within the planning committee in relation to infrastructure requirements and potential planning applications.

6).   Staffordshire County Council Highways:

• The Clerk has contacted Highways to ask for a repair timeline for the utility grid that is requiring traffic lights by Sancerre Grange. A response is awaited.
• It was agreed to request further road sweeping with the larger sweeper, to sweep the B5026 from Sugnall and through Croxton.
• A report will be submitted to request repainting of the Stafford Street zebra crossing

7).   Request for additional gritting bins:

Members submitted suggestions for where additional grit bins would be beneficial, which was collated into a document for consideration. It was resolved to put forward the following locations for consideration by the County Council:

• Top of St. Chad’s Lane where it is closest to Overton Manor
• Junction of Eagle Crescent and School Road (end closest to Shaws Lane junction)
• Stafford Street near the pedestrian crossing/public toilets
• Top of Kerry Lane
• Croxton
  • Halfway up the hill from Woodwall Green on the lane going towards Lodge Lane
  • Bottom of the hill in Woodwall Green
  • Junction of Back Lane with the B5026
  • Near the bottom of Langot Lane new New Inn Bank
  • Langot Lane
  • Junction of Fair Oak bank and Lodge Lane

It was noted that the grit bin and grit pile map on the website was out of date and not indicative of current locations. An update will be requested.

8).   Correspondence

A resident has contacted the council with concerns over the road safety at the crossing point at the junction of Newport Road and Cross Butts/Green Lane, where some school children cross unaccompanied and has enquired about the potential for a zebra crossing/school crossing patrol person. The committee noted that the indicative cost of £50,000 for installation of a zebra crossing makes this an unlikely avenue with the current lack of county council funding but will make enquiries with regards to the school crossing patrols and feedback on the response.

9).   Items for the next meeting

An updated report on the speed indication devices was requested.

9).  Date of next meeting:- 1^st October 2025, following a meeting of the planning committee

There being no further business, the Chairman declared the meeting closed at 9.10pm.