Residential Development at the Old School Site, High Street, T11 Polesworth,Tamworth, Warwickshire

RESIDENTIAL DEVELOPMENT AT THE OLD SCHOOL SITE, HIGH STREET, POLESWORTH, WARWICKSHIRE TRANSPORT STATEMENT July 2017 G.J.Ford B.Sc, C.Eng, MICE, MCIHT Impact Design Consultants CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION 2. DEVELOPMENT PROPOSAL & LOCAL HIGHWAY NETWORK 3. TRAFFIC GENERATIONS 4. ACCESS TO SERVE THE SITE 5. SUSTAINABILITY ISSUES 6. CONCLUSIONS Appendices (i) Location Plan (ii) Indicative Layout & Access Proposals (iii) Local Plan Allocation (iv) Highway Authority comments (v) Bus Timetable Route 65 (vi) Site Photographs 1.0 INTRODUCTION 1.01 The Trustees of the Sir Francis Nethersole Foundation are the owners of a former educational site in High Street Polesworth and are to seek planning consent for a residential development on the land. 1.02 The site was formerly home to the Nethersole First School and latterly the Polesworth Learning Centre, a part of the North Warwickshire & Hinckley College. 1.03 The site has been allocated as a housing site in the North Warwickshire Local Plan (Draft for Consultation, August 2016). Included within Category 1 which covers market towns it is one of six sites within the Polesworth and Dordon area and covers an area of 0.7 hectares with the potential to deliver up to 14 dwellings (see Appendix iii). 1.04 This Transport Statement examines the impact in traffic and transport terms of a residential development on the site. 2.0 DEVELOPMENT PROPOSAL 2.01 The site houses the now vacant 19th Century Nethersole First School which was in use for 116 years from 1848 – 1964. In order to retain a link with the long history of education on the site it is proposed to convert the building to provide 3 dwellings. 2.02 South of the aforementioned building additional single storey school buildings of a more recent date and construction are to be taken down to create space for further dwellings and their access on the site. 2.03 A feature of the site is the views from the High Street through to the Abbey Church and its grounds. The need to preserve these has dictated the proposed housing layout together with the road layout that will serve it. 2.04 The proposed housing layout is shown in Appendix (ii) and comprises a total of 11 dwellings. Three are achieved by the conversion of the former school together with 8 detached dwellings served from both High Street and a new Spine Road. 2.05 An area along the frontage of the site has provided end on parking for many years for parents and staff of the school. It is now used by a number of customers of the Co- Operative Store opposite and some visitors to the Abbey Church and its grounds. The proposed layout retains the boundary wall to the school and an area that can accommodate 8 parking spaces. 2.06 High Street Polesworth is located in the historical centre of the village which is divided into two distinct areas straddling the River Anker and its floodplain and the Coventry Canal. The site is located within an established residential area but close to the facilities that serve the village. 2.07 Polesworth is a large village in the north west district of Warwickshire. With a population in 2011 of 8423 it can be considered a market town. It lies close to the borders of both Staffordshire (4 miles) and Derbyshire (6 miles). 2.08 Polesworth has a central location within the country with links to the A5 Watling Street and Junction 10 of the M42 Motorway. For those living in the village the B5000 provides a ready link into Tamworth to the west. 3.0 TRAFFIC GENERATIONS 3.01 In assessing the traffic generated by the site and the routes it may take the distances to local centres of employment, schools, retail, leisure, health facilities all play an important role. Polesworth is located within convenient distances of the following, some of which can be reached by public transport :- Location Distance (miles) Tamworth 5 Atherstone 6 Nuneaton 12 Lichfield 13 Burton upon Trent 18 Walsall 19 Birmingham 20 3.02 The primary local centres of employment are to be found in Tamworth and Atherstone. Schools are to be found both junior and senior within Polesworth, many of which are within walking distance of the site. 3.03 Traffic that will be generated by the proposed development on a daily basis can be assessed by adopting trip rates for residential dwellings. A range of values can be used but this practice has recently adopted urban values as follows which when applied to a development of 11 dwellings and rounded to the nearest whole number produces :- Am IN Am OUT Total Pm IN Pm OUT Total Trip Rate 0.153 0.426 0.579 0.405 0.234 0.639 Trips 2 5 7 4 3 7 3.04 The above are typical residential values and indicate that the new dwellings will generate 7 trips in both the am and pm peak periods on the highway network. It is understood that Warwickshire County Highways has made use of urban trip rates of 0.12 inbound (AM) and 0.48 outbound (Am) with a reversal for the peak period in their traffic models. This produces a similar result to that indicated above. On a daily basis each dwelling is capable of generating 7 trips resulting in 77 trips onto the local highway network. 3.05 The routes that drivers will follow to and from the site will depend upon their objectives and their destinations with for many employment opportunities located in Tamworth to the west and Atherstone to the east. For those who travel south the A5 will be the favoured route which can be reached via the village centre to Dordon. It is anticipated that the majority of trips will be west along High Street towards Bridge Street where they will split between Station Road to the north and south along Bridge Street to the village centre and beyond. Flows will thereafter split between the B5000 Tamworth Road and Fairfields Hill/Dordon Road/Whitehouse Road to the A5 Trunk road. 3.06 Considering the prime locations for employment, education, retail and leisure as assessment has been made of the anticipated routes and daily trips as follows :- Route % of total trips Daily Trips High Street East 20 15 High Street West 80 62 Station Road 8 6 Bridge Street 72 56 B5000 East 7 5 B5000 West 35 28 Fairfields Hill 30 23 A5 East 10 8 A5 West 20 15 It can be seen that the traffic flows will be diluted across the local highway network in a sustainable manner. 3.07 Of interest to the highway authority is how the above predicted traffic generations compare with the previous uses of the site. In considering its role as the Nethersole School this was divided into 4 phases which were:- Infant School 1848 – 1964 Infant Department of Polesworth Nethersoles junior & infant School 1964 - 1973 First School 1973 - 1994 Infant Department of Primary School 1994 – 1995 There were 250 pupils at the school with 30 – 40 staff making use of 7 permanent classrooms and 4/5 temporary classrooms. 3.08 There are no traffic counts available for the school but an assessment can be made by reference to TRICS data which provides indicative trip generations in the range 30 – 60 trips per 100 sq m for primary schools. The range reflects the wide variety of results, each dependent upon the location of the school in relation to its catchment area and the availability of school transport. It is understood that the school served a number of local villages in the area and adoption of a mean value in the above range would not be inappropriate. The combined area of the school buildings, old and more recent equates to 965 sq m and adopting a value of 45 trips/100 sq m gives a daily trip generation of 965/100 x 45 = 434 trips. 3.09 As an alternative this practice has made use of TRICS based trip rates/pupil of 2.215 & 1.336. Applying these to 250 pupils produces 554 and 334 trips respectively. Adopting a mean provides a daily figure of 444 which is not far removed from the aforementioned value. 3.10 From the above it would appear that daily traffic flows in excess of 400 trips a day may have been associated with the site during its role as the Nethersole School which are significantly in excess of those associated with a residential development of 11 dwellings. 3.11 In more recent times the site has been The Polesworth Learning Centre which was part of the North Warwickshire & Hinckley College. The applicant has provided details of the staff and student numbers at the centre at its busiest times. The centre comprised 2 classrooms, 1 computer room, 1 workroom, 1 hall and a kitchen. Four part time members of staff undertook the roles of tutors also doubling up as office and support staff. The principal was resident close to the site at the Abbey and walked to work each day, all others came by car. 3.12 Three classes were run concurrently each day with a morning session 1000 – 1200 hours, an afternoon session 1300 – 1500 hours and an evening session 1900 – 2100 hours. Classes required a minimum of 12 pupils to function but numbers were generally in excess of this. The principal advised that there were between 100 and 200 pupils on the premises each day. 3.12 If we adopt a mean of 150 students this equates to 50 pupils for each session. The principal also advised that approx.

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