The March 2021 HATOC minutes clearly state: ‘The Traffic Regulation Order (TRO) for the bus gate has been drawn up but had not been put out for advertising/consultation.’
To support this escalation and ensure full transparency, I have included a Freedom of Information request seeking:
1. All consultation notices and evidence of who was notified
Please see this Devon County Council (DCC) webpage for a copy of the advert that was circulated in order to notify people of this matter.
Additionally, postcards were sent to addresses in Clarendon Gardens, Gatcombe Mews, Gratton Way, Highgrove, Kensington Close, Old Torrington Road, Osborne Gardens, Sandringham Gardens and Windsor Gardens in Barnstaple.
2. Any assessments of the impact on DCC commissioned transport
There are none and so DCC does not hold this information. This is because the proposal was agreed by North Devon Council as part of a planning consent for the adjacent development, to replace the rising bollard that existed on Gratton Way.
3. Traffic modelling or analysis undertaken
There are none and so DCC does not hold this information. This is because the proposal was agreed by North Devon Council as part of a planning consent for the adjacent development, to replace the rising bollard that existed on Gratton Way.
4. Internal correspondence relating to exemptions
Section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 makes provision for public authorities to refuse requests for information where the cost of compliance would exceed the appropriate limit, which for local government is set at £450 or 18 hours of officer time.
In order to comply with this request we would have to manually check approximately 2,000 emails. Even if we searched using keywords, significant manual review would then be needed to find any relevant information. Even a conservative estimate of 30 seconds per email means that this would exceed the appropriate limit.
This response acts as a Refusal Notice for this part of your request.
5. The rationale for excluding PHVs
Private hire vehicles were never permitted to use the bus gate in Gratton Way. The same restriction was replicated for the new Bus Gate in Old Torrington Road that replaced the rising bollard.
7. All HATOC papers and internal reports relating to the TRO
Regarding HATOC papers, this information is exempt from disclosure under Section 21 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (Information Reasonably Accessible by Other Means).
The requested information is already publicly available on this DCC webpage.
DCC does not hold any internal reports relating to the TRO.