COMMENTS FROM MR SNARTT CC H Development Control and Regulatory Board - 19 August 2010

Comments from Mr. D. Snartt CC

I am concerned that in the recommendations to Paper H, there is no reference to the impact of traffic on the County roads. This includes the Transport Assessment which I believe does not outline the impact of traffic along County roads through adjacent villages. I have real concerns about the access point from the development near the Leicesrer Road, Thurcaston. I detail my concerns below.

I have great concern about the impact of increased traffic levels through the county villages which are in close proximity to the proposed development. These villages such as Thurcaston, , Anstey, Birstall and will inevitably take the full weight of the many extra vehicles travelling north to access the A6, M1 and various destinations within the north of and beyond. The vision that has been set out in the masterplan seems, in my view, to focus on travel to the city including such schemes of high quality public transport and frequent bus services. This is a reasonable assumption to make if the new residents work and use the services in the city, but in reality, it is my view, this will not be the case, therefore the transport assessment could be way off the mark. During a briefing I was told that only a very small percentage of the total traffic from the site will use the routes through county villages. This is further complicated by having one of the three access points to the development site adjacent to Greengate Lane, Birstall and Road Thurcaston. This begs the question, if the vast majority of traffic will be going south to the city, why is it that this access point has been proposed? In my view this will make it the preferred choice to travel north through the villages mentioned above. All local authorities are now looking to move forward with potential developments , this will include Charnwood. I believe Ashton Green should be measured in parallel with other emerging developments, we must not look at the impact of this development in isolation. I therefore hope that we will see a change to the current proposal which would remove the access point from Leicester Road Thurcaston and concentrate on routing the traffic south to the city and the A46, which would be in line with the assessment. If this does not happen, again, it is my view that life in neighbouring villages will become blighted by not only the increase in traffic levels but by a reduction in air quality which will surely defeat the objective around the green credentials of the Ashton Green development.