Petition P-05-738 Public Petition for the Dinas Powys By-Pass - Correspondence from Petitioner, 26.06.19

Dear Chair,

Petition P-05-738 Public Petition for the Dinas Powys By-Pass

In response to Vale Council Leader Neil Moore’s email to you this petitioner believes the Vale Council has failed to comply with WAG’s WelTAG process.

• During the more detailed design and assessment of short-listed options, engagement with the public and other stakeholders will assist in gathering evidence on the impacts of each of the proposed options and the consequences of doing nothing. Involving people affected by decisions in the process is a requirement of the Wellbeing of Future Generations Act and often facilitate the identification of new solutions which would bring most benefit to the seven well-being goals.  WelTAG Page 6 Para 2

• The WelTAG process is designed to share understanding between those involved in making the decisions and those affected by those decisions.  This underlies the importance of stakeholder involvement and public consultation in the gathering of evidence of the need for an intervention, the setting of the criteria against which proposed options will be assessed, and the likely impacts of each option.  WelTAG Page 6, Para 4 

The Vale Council has eliminated a by-pass route option before the draft Stage 2 Study has been completed, considered by the Review Group or held or received response from any Public Consultation.

Dinas Powys Community Council held an extra-ordinary meeting on 21^st February 2018, and voted unanimously to request the Vale Council to widen the scope of the Stage 2 Study at the Barry end to include consideration of alternative by-pass routes for the southern section of the by-pass.

This was affirmed by the Vale Council Cabinet on 16^th April 2018. Consultant Arcadis was informed and a price agreed for the additional work to be carried out. The Vale Council requested WAG to grant the funding required for these further activities.

The draft Stage 2 Report was submitted to Vale Officers in September 2018 and put before the WelTAG Review Group on 2^nd October 2018.  Itincluded two basic route options – the initial ‘Green’ route and an alternative ‘Blue’ route.  But there was only a cost/benefit assessment for the ‘Green’ route not for the ‘Blue’ route. This meant their respective value for money scores could not be compared.  A variation of the Green route was termed the Pink route, with the sole difference being an added roundabout.

The Blue Route has added potential over the Green / Pink route to:

· Relieve traffic congestion on the A4055 between Biglis (MacDonalds) roundabout and Ffordd y Mileniwm. 

· Provide a spur to filter traffic from the Cog development and the B4267 at Sully, which otherwise will be overloaded with a further 4,000 road trips daily by 2026.  According to Vale Council consultants by this time the Merrie Harrier will have become 400% over capacity.

· Open up a potential 200 acre brown field area in East Barry to potentially provide 5,000 new jobs and £200 million extra GVA

The October Review Group meeting concluded that further activities needed to be carried out to complete the draft Stage 2 Report.  Activities include area wide traffic modelling and economic assessment for all by-pass options. 

By spring 2019, WAG funding had not been obtained when the Vale Cabinet Member for Transport presented an update report on the Stage 2 Study to the Vale’s Environment and Regeneration Scrutiny Committee on 7^th March 2019, at which the recommendation for further activities was agreed. However, a motion to stop work on the ‘Blue’ route was made and this resolution was confirmed by the Vale Cabinet on 15^th April 2019.

This decision effectively removes the alternative ‘Blue’ by-pass route leaving only the ‘Green/Pink’ option without the possibility of comparing the merits of an alternative route.

WelTAG states that all options covered by the Study should be fully assessed before consideration by the Review Group and at Public Consultation. Great emphasis is placed on:

“the importance of stakeholder involvement and public consultation in the gathering of evidence of the need for an intervention, the setting of the criteria against which proposed options will be assessed, and the likely impacts of each option.”

To date there has been only one Public Consultation – on 13^th March 2017.

Surely only after the full process of Review Group and Public Consultation can the Stage 2 proposals be referred to the Vale Cabinet for their final decision of what they wish to refer through for Stage 3 funding? Without full comparisons of all options the public would be unable to provide well informed and meaningful input. 

We've addressed the points made within to the Vale Council but no response has been given.

Yours sincerely,

  Rod Harrod

Rod Harrod, Petitioner,                                                                                                                                            Dinas Powys By-pass