GETTING AROUND – TRANSPORTATION AND ACCESSIBILITY Stedham with Iping Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group November 2017 CONTENTS INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................................................... 2 ROADS ...................................................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined. Traffic Speed ........................................................................................................................................ 3 Option A - Imposition of speed limits ............................................................................................. 4 Road Maintenance / Improvements .................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined. Maintain lay-by parking for school walking bus on A272 ............................................................. 18 Clear sight lines to north on the A272 at Iping cross roads .......................................................... 19 CYCLE WAYS ............................................................................................................................................ 6 PUBLIC RIGHTS OF WAY .......................................................................................................................... 8 PARKING IMPROVEMENTS .................................................................................................................... 12 PUBLIC TRANSPORT .............................................................................................................................. 16 INTRODUCTION This document explores local transport and accessibility issues within our parish and seeks to identify suitable approaches which could be adopted in the Neighbourhood Plan to resolve those issues through the introduction of planning policy. Conflicting interests and priorities arise when considering transport and accessibility within the parish. The two main issues emerging from the questionnaire and other parish meetings are the speed limits set on roads within the parish and the parking problems in Stedham villlage. The parish questionnaire underpins much of the work in the Neighbourhood Plan. The key points, relating to “Getting Around”are: • 274 vehicles are owned by the 311 people who responded to the questionnaire. The highest number of cars in a single household is six. Sixty five of the 274 vehicles have to be parked on a public road as a result of lack of parking on their own properties. • Looking at the use of cars or other forms of transport for work: Of the residents who were employed or self-employed 37% worked from home, while 63% worked away from home. Of those who travelled to work, 20% worked within 5 miles, 43% worked more than 5 miles away, but not London, while 23% travelled to London. The remaining 14% worked within the parish. • Concerns were raised with regard to speeding on the parish roads which are often narrow with poor visibility around bends. • Of the respondents to the parish questionnaire 43% used a bicycle. Suggestions for improvement to the existing facilities included signs warning of cyclists in the lanes of our parish, provision of a cycle lockup and better signage of existing cycle paths. • New routes were suggested for cycleways from Ingrams Green to Midhurst, the line of the old railway from Petersfield to Midhurst and a ‘Green Bridge’ over the A272. • Suggestions for improvement of footpaths included pram friendly gates. 38% of respondents were put off using Stedham Common when the cows were grazing there. PUBLIC HIGHWAY OVERVIEW The main arterial road through our Parish is the A272 running between the towns of Midhurst to the east and Petersfield to the west. This has a national speed limit of 60mph for all of the section within our parish. Lying to the north of the A272 are the villages of Stedham and Iping as well as the hamlets of Stubbs Hill and the Tote Lane part of Woolbeding (which is in our parish). The settlements of Minsted and Ingrams Green are to the south of the A272. Iping Common lies to the south, as does the major part of Stedham Common, though residual parts of the latter are north of the A272. The parts of common land which run between School Lane and the A272, from the Sawmills site past the school to Iping Lane, were cut off from the main part of the Common when the A272 was constructed in 1966. The majority of the roads within the parish (excluding the A272) are single track with passing places and can have poor visibility because of blind corners, overhanging foliage and the absence of street lighting. Speed limits are not imposed on any of the roads, except those in Stedham village where there is a 30mph speed limit. The small road running north through Iping is used as a through route by from the A272 to Liphook station and the A3. This route, in particular, can be dangerous to non-vehicular traffic because of fast moving vehicles. There is a heavy reliance on private motor vehicles, which will continue into the foreseeable future, given the parish’s rural location and the limited bus service. There is therefore a need to both maintain and upgrade our roads to facilitate and enhance the movement of vehicular and non- vehicular traffic together with initiatives to encourage a move to a greener transport network with less reliance on private motor vehicles. It should be noted there has been no demand to remove the Dark Skies policy, which our parish has consistently endorsed and which is now also a part of the SDNPA draft local plan. This policy could be seen as being detrimental to road safety, as it can limit artificial lighting, but it appears there is a consensus to prioritise dark skies at this time. TRAFFIC SPEED The parish survey raised concerns about speeding vehicles within the parish. These concerns were mainly related to The Street and School Lane in Stedham, the section of the A272 between Trotton and the Stedham Crossroads and Iping Lane running north towards Liphook and the A3. In these locations the roads are narrow increasing the risk to other roads users. There are several ways to either reduce or mitigate the impact of traffic speed but not all will be appropriate to the parish or achievable through the Neighbourhood Plan. The options considered are set out below. OPTION A - IMPOSITION OF SPEED LIMITS Speed limits are set by the Highway Authority and not controlled by planning law and are generally outside the scope of a neighbourhood plan. New or lower speed limits can only be introduced by the planning system if a development (which needs planning permission) requires the reduction or imposition of a speed limit to make the development acceptable in planning terms. Whilst this is the case, the Parish Council, public and highway authority can work together outside of the planning system to introduce reduced speed limits where they are considered necessary. OPTION B – SEGREGATION OF ROAD USERS One way to address the problem is to separate vehicle traffic from pedestrians and other road users. By doing so the safety issues associated with traffic speeds would to some degree be mitigated. It is considered this can be achieved by: (i) Creating new pavements – unfortunately this is not feasible on many of our roads within the parish as they are too narrow to accommodate separate paths and cannot be widened given that they are either bordered by private land or are enclosed by high banks which form part of our heritage and cannot be cut into. (ii) Promoting other routes – other routes for pedestrians could be created of promoted so that pedestrians do not have to share the same space as motor vehicles. However, whilst this may be possible in some locations in others, such as within our villages it may be harder to introduce. OPTION C - TRAFFIC CALMING Traffic calming measures can include speed bumps, road narrowing, chicanes etc. Many of these measures, like the above can only be required if a development (which needs planning permission) requires them to make a development acceptable in planning terms. However, many traffic calming schemes require planning permission in their own right and therefore the neighbourhood plan could offer support for some traffic calming schemes. One approach that has been discussed by the Steering Group is introducing shared space within Stedham. Shared space is a design approach that minimises the segregation between different of road user. This is done by removing features such as kerbs, road surface markings, traffic signs, and traffic lights and is widely believed that by creating a greater sense of uncertainty, and making it unclear who has priority, drivers will reduce their speed. This approach reduces the dominance of motor vehicles, reducing vehicle speeds further and improving the safety of all road users. It is recommended the Neighbourhood Plan adopt a combination of Option B(ii) and Option to seek to reduce traffic speeds, in accordance with the communities wishes, across the parish. Option B(ii) would result in the plan actively supporting the maintenance of existing and creation of new public or permissive rights of way within the parish – this is considered later in the document under Public Rights of Way. Option C proposed the introduction of traffic calming measures, particularly shared space within our villages. Such schemes would CYCLE WAYS The roads in our parish, apart from the A272, are narrow rural roads with insufficient room for separate cycle lanes. In addition,