Council and democracy

Agenda and minutes

Venue: Committee Room 1, Civic Offices, New Road, Grays, Essex, RM17 6SL. View directions

Contact: Lucy Tricker, Democratic Services Officer  Email: direct.democracy@thurrock.gov.uk

Items
No. Item

9.

Apologies for Absence

Minutes:

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Andrew Jefferies and Councillor Terry Piccolo. Peter Ward, Thurrock Business Board Representative also sent his apologies, and John Speakman acted as his substitute.

10.

Minutes pdf icon PDF 71 KB

To approve as a correct record the minutes of the Lower Thames Crossing Task Force meeting held on 10 June 2019.

Minutes:

The Thames Crossing Action Group (TCAG) Representative highlighted page seven of the agenda and clarified that ground investigations would be taking place both north and south of the river. She also clarified that on page eight of the agenda, she anticipated that additional consultation would be occurring, rather than believed.

The minutes from Lower Thames Crossing held on 10 June 2019, subject to those changes, were approved.

11.

Items of Urgent Business

To receive additional items that the Chair is of the opinion should be considered as a matter of urgency, in accordance with Section 100B (4) (b) of the Local Government Act 1972.

Minutes:

There were no items of urgent business.

12.

Declaration of Interests

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest.

13.

Highways England Health Impact Assessment Update pdf icon PDF 151 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Highways England (HE) People and Communities Advisor gave a presentation regarding the Health Impact Assessment (HIA) and began by stating that it would have a community focus, highlighting economy, places, equality, health and people. She stated that the HIA would be combined with an Equalities Assessment to ensure a collaborative approach, which would identify potential benefits and adverse effects of the scheme, whilst taking into account mitigation, existing and future communities and local area understanding. She commented that a Community Impacts and Public Health Advisory Group (CIPHAG) had been set up which was comprised of affected Local Authorities, and had an independent Chair. The HE People and Communities Advisor then went on to discuss the timeline of the CIPHAG and discussed how it had been set up in November 2018, had agreed the Terms of Reference in January 2019 and had then been involved in topic specific sessions. She clarified that each meeting related to a specific topic and outlined which topics had been discussed so far, with accessibility and road safety being discussed in April 2019, and air quality and noise discussed in June 2019. She stated that the next CIPHAG meeting would be held in September. She added that so far the CIPHAG had agreed the definition of health the HIA would use, which would be the definition used by the World Health Organisation (WHO), the social model of health to be used, the topics scoped for assessment, and the collation of localised baseline data. The HE People and Communities Advisor added that they had a comprehensive baseline dataset of Thurrock collected, which had been provided by Thurrock Council officers, and ensured the data covered local areas as well as borough-wide. She moved onto outlining the process of the HIA and highlighted that the Lower Thames Crossing (LTC) scheme was currently undertaking topic-based assessments to feed into the HIA, and this included areas such as accessibility, travel time, and public transport. She summarised and stated that the HIA would consider potential impacts and benefits during construction and operation of the scheme, and outlined the next steps for the HIA over summer.

The Chair began the debate and asked how the departure of the LTC Project Lead would affect the scheme, as he felt Thurrock Council had had a good relationship with him. He also highlighted Appendix A of the report and drew the Committee’s attention to the fact that areas such as Tilbury, Chadwell St Mary and South Ockendon already had higher levels of COPD than other areas of Thurrock and England. He asked what environmental measures would be in place to protect those residents living in urban areas close to the scheme, such as cut and cover along the route. The HE External Affairs Advisor replied that the LTC Project Lead had left to develop his career, but his legacy was the relationship built with Thurrock Council, which would continue. The HE Stakeholder Engagement and SoCG Advisor added that big projects such as the LTC  ...  view the full minutes text for item 13.

14.

Task Force Priorities List pdf icon PDF 122 KB

Minutes:

The Assistant Director LTC stated that no updates had been received regarding the Task Force Priorities List, but this was a standing item on the agenda. Councillor Kelly stated that many questions on the Task Force Priorities List related to consultation, and asked if a question regarding the business case and how the LTC would be charged could be added. He felt that residents should be able to access the LTC for free, or heavily discounted, and the charging system should be linked to DartCharge to make it easier for all users. Councillor Massey asked if a question regarding the Proposed Rest and Service Area in East Tilbury be added to the Priorities List, and the Assistant Director LTC replied that this had been discussed during consultation, but when HE clarified the scheme then further discussions could be had on this topic.

15.

Work Programme pdf icon PDF 45 KB

Minutes:

The Assistant Director LTC stated that although the Work Programme looked bare, this was because HE were reviewing their consultation responses, so were not in a position to provide updated to the Task Force. She stated that consultants were currently analysing the traffic modelling data, and once this was complete a traffic modelling workshop with the Task Force could take place.