‘A transport network that works for everyone’: Lib Dems to launch biggest ever survey of Hull road users
HAVE YOUR SAY: Hull City Council leader Mike Ross with the survey that will be delivered to every household in the city
By Simon Bristow
EXCLUSIVE
The biggest ever public consultation of Hull road users will be launched next month as the new leaders of Hull City Council look to tackle the key issue of congestion on the city’s roads.
The Liberal Democrats swept to power in the Local Elections in May amid widespread anger and frustration over rush hour gridlock on Hull’s roads, with many blaming a plethora of roadworks begun under the previous Labour administration.
Hull Liberal Democrat group leader, Councillor Mike Ross, had used his maiden speech as city council leader to pledge “an emergency roads summit” to tackle the issue.
The Hull Story can reveal that process will begin in mid-August when a questionnaire titled Time To Have Your Say On Hull’s Roads is sent to every household in the city. The survey will also be available to complete online, and from customer service centres and events in the city.
Announcing the launch, Coun Ross said: “This is really important for us because we want to make this a council that engages with and listens to the public and represents their views. Part of that is recognising we can’t always do everything the public say, but it is important to have that conversation around what it is they wish to see. It should be a case of if it matters to them it matters to us.
“This is a major exercise. In my time in Hull I don’t think anything has been done on this scale. It’s the biggest survey of its kind. Obviously there’s been quite a lot of heat on this issue. I really would encourage people to fill it in and get their views sent in.”
‘WE’LL BE A COUNCIL THAT LISTENS TO THE PUBLIC’: Councillor Mike Ross, Liberal Democrat leader of Hull City Council
The consultation will run until September 30 and will be followed by a transport summit in the autumn. The summit “will invite businesses and other stakeholders to take part in a range of strategic discussions on various topics including decarbonisation, accessibility, technology and spatial planning”. It’s findings, along with the results of the survey, will be used to “build a transport network that works for everyone”.
During his first leader’s speech in May, Coun Ross told the chamber: “There has been much frustration on this issue for the last few years. Whatever your view on this subject, clearly the current situation is not good enough. We have too much gridlock on Hull’s roads and not enough people able to travel by alternative means. More must be done to change this. So we will get to work straightaway on this.
“It is our plan to invite a wide and varied list of interested groups to get round the table and discuss what can be done to bring about the change Hull needs on this matter. It will be, if you like, the emergency roads summit knocked back a few months ago in this chamber.”
Coun Ross said “nothing is off the table” in seeking a solution to the problem.
The consultation signals what Coun Ross says will be a change in tone from the new Lib Dem administration after the party took control of the Guildhall from Labour for the first time in 11 years.
“We will take a very different approach to how we do things,” he said. “We want to work much more with the residents of the city. It’s about a collective effort and recognising the council cannot and should not try to do everything on its own.
MUCH TO DO: Councillor Mike Ross in the leader’s office at the Guildhall
“Sometimes that change is about helping and supporting others to do the work rather than try to take control of everything. That means having an open and honest relationship with the business community, the third sector, the public sector, across the range. That partnership approach is really important for us.”
The Lib Dems have begun delivering on their election pledges, including a promise to review the location of a site next to The Deep as the proposed home for a new cruise terminal.
This was followed by an announcement earlier this month from the party ruling that site out. Coun Ross said: “That took some planning and was a big news story for us and it’s gone down well in the city. I was at the university recently and people stopped me and said they were really pleased with the decision. The Deep and the university were very happy.”
Alternative locations for what had been billed as a £73m project will now be explored.
The Lib Dem Cabinet has also commissioned a new plan for Hull, which it calls its Community Strategy. Its central idea is to have “a council that listens and delivers a greener, cleaner, healthier, and safer Hull”.
And last week, the Lib Dems said the current summer edition of the council’s Love Hull magazine, which was delivered free to households three times a year, would be the last. Axing the magazine will save £140,000 a year, the party said.
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Another issue that has forced its way into consideration is the climate crisis, with Hull like the rest of the country wilting under the stifling effects of a record-breaking heatwave last week. Relatively brief but nonetheless severe, the extreme temperature carried with it a risk to life and led Humberside Fire and Rescue Service to declare a major incident.
Hull’s infrastructure escaped largely unscathed, although a pavement “buckled” under the intense heat, Coun Ross said. The council had teams in the parks and grassed areas monitoring the situation.
Coun Ross said: “The general feedback was there were no major issues but one of the pavements buckled a bit. There were some changes about bin crews starting earlier. I think the thing for me past the general fact of people having to accommodate working in these conditions, is whether this, as many think, could become a more common factor.
“Schools were keeping children inside, people were having disruption on the travel network. A couple of days and you can work round it but that’s not a long-term solution. It’s going to be about how society deals with this in general. Having to hide people away from the heat is not going to be a stable long-term solution.
“It’s something we are having discussions in the Senior Leadership Team about; what does this look like in terms of addressing this? There was a big impact on the emergency services, the fire service in particular, and hats off to everybody who did tremendous work tackling the effects of the heatwave. This issue wasn’t particularly felt in Hull but across Humberside it was.”
The event has led to renewed calls from campaigners to demand local authorities stop their pension funds being invested in fossil fuel companies. The East Riding Pension Fund administers a pension scheme for the four unitary authorities around the Humber, including Hull.
‘WE WANT TO BE HERE FOR THE LONG-TERM’: Councillor Mike Ross
Coun Ross said: “I’m very sympathetic to what they are pushing for. It doesn’t solve the problem but it’s a good way of setting an example. I’ve been in discussion with Cabinet colleagues on this about what we can do.
“The pension scheme is in the East Riding pension scheme. Hull City Council is represented on the committee and I think it’s right to have an ethical approach to investments by the public sector. I‘d like to see it go in that direction and move away from investments in companies that are clearly seen to be causing damage to the climate and environment.”
The city council itself declared a climate emergency in 2019, in line with many other public sector organisations.
Coun Ross said he believes his party was returned to power because the city was “crying out for change”. He added: “I think there was a sense the Labour administration had run out of ideas. The biggest thing was they had just stopped listening to the city.”
Looking forward, he said the Lib Dems were planning to be in office “long-term”. But despite his criticism of Labour, the new city council leader said he wanted to have a good working relationship with Hull’s three Labour MPs, and also extended an olive branch to opposition councillors.
Coun Ross said: “Team Hull is very much the mantra and what I’m looking for. I’ll work with anybody who’s going to be working in the best interests of Hull. Hull will always be the priority and the interests of its residents. It’s not about political advantage.
“Of course we’ll have our differences but I hope we can work together in the best interests of our city, and the same goes to the Labour opposition on the council as well. We disagree on many things but we also want to work together.”