Proposed Green Composting Facility, Weldon, Northamptonshire
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PROPOSED GREEN COMPOSTING FACILITY, WELDON, NORTHAMPTONSHIRE OUR REF; 21301/11-15/4113 TRANSPORT STATEMENT REV A – DECEMBER 2015 Introduction Mewies Engineering Consultants Ltd (M-EC) has been commissioned by Landmark Planning on behalf of The Green Composting Company to produce a Transport Statement (TS) in support of a planning application for a green composting facility at land off Stamford Road, Weldon. A site location plan is included in Appendix A. This TS has been produced to provide further information on the existing highway conditions, potential trip generation and the site access. Rev A of the document has been produced following receipt of the accident data provided by NCC. Existing Site Site Location The site is located outside the village of Weldon, situated 1 mile south of Corby town centre. The site is centred within grid reference 491811, 288201. The site is irregular in shape and currently consists of greenfield space, comprising a section of several large cultivated agricultural fields intersected by a series of hedgerows. It is bounded by Stamford Road to the north with the A43 located to the west. The Corby Household Waste Recycling Centre and Landfill is located to the east and south of the site which takes access from Stamford Road. Current operations on adjoining land already generate trips through the delivery of household, and recyclable waste. It is understood that the majority of these trips use the A43 to approach and exit the site as the road links the two nearest large towns of Kettering and Corby. Stamford Road Stamford Road is located to the north of the site and provides a link between Weldon to the north east and the A43 to the west. The carriageway is approximately 6.5m – 7.0m in the vicinity of the site and is considered appropriate for the types of vehicle associated with the proposed development. Large HGV’s currently use Stamford Road to access the adjacent waste recycling and landfill site. Stamford Road has a derestricted speed limit past the site the site. A43 The A43 is located to the west of the site and provides access for vehicles to Stamford Road. The A43 is a dual carriageway with a 50mph speed restriction with access from the south into Stamford Road facilitated by a right turn lane with deceleration approach lane. Accident Data Personal injury accident (PIA) data was requested from NCC for the most recent 5 year period which covers the period 01/10/2010 to 30/09/2015. The following paragraphs provide analysis Report Ref. 21301/11-15/4113 Rev A Page 1 Transport Statement – Stamford Road, Weldon of the recorded PIAs within the identified study area. The locations of the accidents are illustrated in Figure 1 below. Full accident data records are included in Appendix B. Figure 1 – PIA Location Plan In total there have been 7 PIAs recorded within the study area during this period. A summary of the number of recorded accidents, split by year and severity is provided below in Table 1 with a summary of accident conditions provided in Table 2. Table 1: Breakdown of accidents within the study area Accident Severity Year Total Slight Serious Fatal 2010 0 1 0 1 2011 1 0 0 1 2012 0 1 0 1 2013 0 0 0 0 2014 0 0 0 0 2015 3 1 0 4 Total 4 3 0 7 Table 2: Summary of Accident Conditions Lighting Dry Wet Other TOTAL Conditions Light 4 0 0 4 (57%) Dark / Lit 1 1 0 2 (29%) Dark / Unlit 1 0 0 1 (14%) Total 4 (86%) 1 (14%) 0 (0%) 7 (100%) Six of the accidents occurred at the Stamford Road/A43 junction. Three of the accidents were considered as serious and the others were considered as slight. The first serious accident occurred in 2010 and involved a car turning onto the A43 in front of another vehicle. The Second serious accident occurred in 2012 and occurred in wet conditions and involved a car pulling out in front of a motorcycle consequently resulting in a collision. The third serious accident occurred in 2015 in daylight with dry conditions and involved a bus pulling out in Report Ref. 21301/11-15/4113 Rev A Page 2 Transport Statement – Stamford Road, Weldon front of a car consequently resulting in a collision. The other accidents were all considered to be slight and were all caused by rear end shunts. The last accident which has been considered as slight occurred along a stretch of Stamford Road and occurred on an unlit stretch of the carriageway with a dry road surface and involved a driver losing control of the car resulting in it leaving the carriageway. It is understood from discussions with NCC that there are concerns relating to the existing waste recycling centre access to the east of the site and as a result, additional signage has been provided to notify vehicles approaching from the east. It is noted the location of the proposed access into the green composting facility is located further west along Stamford Road on a straight section and therefore will not encounter the same visibility issues as the adjacent site. Sustainability Existing Cycle Facilities A review of sustrans.org.uk highlights that are no routes within Weldon. Previous PPG13 guidance provided advice on likely journey lengths for cyclists, and although this guidance has since been superseded, it is still commonly accepted that cycle journeys can potentially substitute for car trips over distances up to 5km, or as part of a multi-modal journey that includes cycling and public transport (especially rail). Based on typical cycling speeds, such a journey might take just over 20 minutes to complete. Journeys to/from surrounding residential areas Corby and Stanion are all located within this 5km radius and it is therefore considered staff at the proposed development have the opportunity to cycle to work. Existing Public Transport – Buses The closest bus stops to the site are located 1500m walking distance from the site centre along Stamford Road (a walk of eighteen minutes). The stop, which is next to The Londis along the southern side of the carriageway, is a flag-and-pole stop with timetable information and shelter provision. There is also a stop along the northern side of the carriageway of the same nature. Bus services 2A and X4 operate at the stop with a 30 minute frequency Monday to Saturday. Bus timetable information accompanied by a bus route map can be found within Appendix C. Table 3: Summary of bus services operating within close proximity of the site Approx. Service Operating Frequency Route Time Mon-Sat 0528-0018 Milton Keynes – Peterborough via X4 Every 30 Mins Sun Northampton and Corby 0815-2215 Mon-Fri Corby Estates – Asda via Corby Town 2A Limited Service 0505-2306 Centre And Weldon Industry Based on the distance to the existing stops, it is unlikely that staff of the proposed development will access the site via public transport. Trip Generation and Vehicular Impact Proposed Development The process of the development involves 12 tonne refuse collection vehicles to bring compostable material to the site with 25 tonne vehicles used for collecting material from the Report Ref. 21301/11-15/4113 Rev A Page 3 Transport Statement – Stamford Road, Weldon site and bringing bulky materials to the site. Vehicles of this size are already in operation along Stamford Road for the adjacent site. Information has been provided by the applicant in relation to the estimated number of daily trips during the ‘peak’ periods (April through to September) and an average daily trip figure. Table 4 provides a summary of the information supplied. Table 4: Summary of Traffic Generation No. trips during Peak Times Average No. Trips (Apr – Sept) No. Refuse Collection Vehicles per day 80 (40 in, 40 out) 36 (18 in, 18 out) No. HGVs per day 30 (15 in, 15 out) 14 (7 in, 7 out) Total Daily HGV Movements 110 (55 in, 55 out) 50 (25 in, 25 out) The results provided in Table 4 above show that as a worst case during the peak months the maximum number of daily vehicle movements will be 110 (55 arrivals and 55 departures). Averaged over an 8 hour working day this would equate to 14 vehicle movements per hour, or 1 every 4 minutes. It is considered trip generation of this magnitude will not have an adverse impact on the operation of the highway network. An average figure of 50 HGV movements per day as been calculated, which split over an 8 hour working day results in 6 trips per hour, or 1 every 10 minutes. As discussed later in this document, the proposed development will have 5 employees and therefore, a maximum of 5 additional cars will be present at any one time. It is to be noted that the site will not be open to the public and any visitors will be made by appointment only. Consequently the number of additional rips generated by visitors will be negligible. Notwithstanding the above, it is also considered the number of peak hour movements (0800 – 0900 and 1700 – 1800) will be minimal therefore the impact of the development on the local highway network during the peak periods will be negligible. Other than the occasional Refuse Collection Vehicle from the Weldon area, all other HGV trips will be routed to/from the A43 to the west of the site. It is considered where possible vehicles will be routed to/from the site via the A43. In order to reduce the impact and potential conflict of vehicles crossing the A43, if required by the highway authority the applicant is willing to enter into a routing agreement that all vehicles routing from the site will continue past the Stamford Road junction and perform a U-turn at the roundabout to the north to enable them to turn left into Stamford Road.