Access Appraisal
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Access Appraisal Mr Steve Austen Welham Green, Hatfield September 2011 Mr Steve Austen Welham Green, Hatfield September 2011 Quality Assurance Site name: Welham Green, Hatfield Client name: Mr Steve Austen Type of report: Access Appraisal Prepared by: Donna Tobin BSoc Sc, MRUP Signed Date September 2011 Reviewed by: Steve Amann BSc (Hons), MSc (Eng) CMILT Signed Date September 2011 Mr Steve Austen Welham Green, Hatfield September 2011 Table of Contents 1 ACCESS APPRAISAL..........................................................................................................1 Introduction............................................................................................................................1 Site Description......................................................................................................................1 Policy Requirements..............................................................................................................2 Access Potential for Proposal Site .........................................................................................2 Adjacent Site Access .............................................................................................................2 Trip Generation......................................................................................................................3 Accessibility ...........................................................................................................................4 Pedestrian & Cycle Accessibility ............................................................................................5 Summary and Conclusions ....................................................................................................6 1 ACCESS APPRAISAL Introduction 1.1 Bidwells Transport Planning has been instructed on behalf of Mr Steve Austen to provide an Access Appraisal with respect to land to the south and east of Welham Manor, Welham Green, Hatfield. 1.2 The client's site comprises approximately 1.942ha of grazing land to be promoted through the Local Development Framework (LDF) process. 1.3 The purpose of this Appraisal is to consider the residential development potential of the site in the context of the capacity of the local road network and to understand whether there are any significant transport and access constraints to the development of this site. 1.4 The Appraisal also considers whether the potential development of an adjacent, 0.4ha competing site, would compromise the number of units that could be allocated on the site or whether both sites could be taken forward together and utilise the same access arrangements. Site Description 1.5 The site covers an approximate area of 1.942ha. The northern boundary of the site is located adjacent to existing housing that forms part of the village of Welham Green. The north-eastern corner of the site is adjacent to allotments with all other boundaries adjacent to open country-side, however these boundaries have mature planting which provides strong enclosure to the site. The site is bounded by existing residential development to the north and Greenfield agricultural land to the south and west. 1.6 The principal access to the site is taken via Welham Manor, a residential estate road with a 4.8m wide carriageway width and a 1.8m footway to its north eastern edge. The road is subject to a 20mph speed limit and has the benefit of street lighting. Welham Manor, is a no through road which terminates with a turning head arrangement some 130m into the residential estate. 1.7 Welham Manor forms a priority junction with Dixons Hill Road. Dixons Hill Road is a 7.0m wide single carriageway road subject to a 30mph speed restriction within the Village limits. A 1.8m footway runs along both sides of the carriageway boundary with the southern boundary footway terminating on the entry to Welham Manor. Dixons Hill Road is classified by Hertfordshire County Council as a Local Distributor Road. 1.8 Welham Manor at its junction with Dixons Hill Road benefits from visibility in accordance with the requirements set out in the Design Manual for Roads and Bridges (1992) for a major road speed of 30mph, which equates to a visibility requirement of 4.5m x 90m in either direction. 1 1.9 A site location plan is contained in Appendix 1. Policy Requirements 1.10 Residential access requirements for the site have been assessed in the context of the current Hertfordshire County Council guidance, Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council guidance and the guidance set out in the Manual for Streets (2007). 1.11 Advice contained within the County Council publication, Roads in Hertfordshire 3rd Edition, (RIH) (2011) and the Department for Transport publication, Manual for Streets (MfS) (2007) and its companion document, Manual for Streets 2 (2011), forms the design guidance basis for the provision of access to residential development in Welham Green. 1.12 The guidance in RIH sets out that either a Major Access or a Minor Access Road can take a connection to a Local Distributor. Welham Manor, is a 4.8m carriageway road with a 1.8m footway and as such conforms to the standard for a Minor Access Road. 1.13 Minor Access Roads as set out in RIH can serve a maximum of 100 dwellings and as such the maximum number of dwellings that could be served off Welham Manor would be 100. Access Potential for Proposal Site Welham Manor 1.14 Currently Welham Manor serves a total of 45 dwellings and as such the potential exists for development to be taken off this access of up to a further 55 units. 1.15 In consideration of this, the potential to provide vehicular access from Welham Green to the site has been considered and a number of opportunities exist. 1.16 The identified blue hatched area of land illustrated in Appendix 2 is sufficient in terms of width to provide a vehicular link between Welham Manor and the site and access could be provided either by way of minor access road or a shared surface road which could provide access for a further 55 dwellings. The carriageway width requirements would conform to either 4.8m plus a 1.8m footway for a minor access road or 4.1m for a shared surface road connection. Adjacent Site Access 1.17 The access potential and requirements for the adjacent 0.4ha site has been considered. This site is currently accessed via a shared surface access way which forms a continuation of Welham Green, however, due to the multiplicity of access requirements and the convoluted nature of the road, it would not necessarily accord with the standard requirements for residential development access. 2 Notwithstanding this, it is considered that as the site and the existing access arrangements currently experience a level of vehicular use associated with the existing vehicle and tyre repair business, there is reasonable likelihood that an argument to continue the use of these access arrangements to serve a residential development would succeed. 1.18 In addition, based on the existing road layout of Welham Manor there appears to be the potential, subject to confirmation on landownership, to extend the existing carriageway to serve the site. This would provide a more conventional approach to accessing the site and be more likely to be acceptable to the Highway Authority. 1.19 There is some flexibility in the application of the guidance set out in Roads in Hertfordshire and as such there may be the potential to agree a modest increase in the total number of units that can be accessed off a minor access road and as such it is recommended that some discussion with the Highway Authority is commenced in to establish their position. Trip Generation 1.20 The traffic generation potential of the site has been considered in the context of a residential development of up to 55 units. 1.21 The TRICS 2011(b) database has been interrogated to provide trip rates for development proposals of similar sizes in similar locations. Residential developments of between 10 and 150 units in similar have been considered. The details of the TRICS appraisal are held in Appendix 3. 1.22 Table 1.1 provides peak period summaries of the vehicular trip rates for the residential uses proposed. Table 1.1 Residential Trip Generation Summary AM Peak PM Peak Arrivals Departures Total Arrivals Departures Total Trip Rate 0.169 0.410 0.579 0.377 0.231 0.608 Total Trips 55 Units 9 23 32 21 13 34 1.23 The trip generation summary indicates that the proposals would have the potential to generate 32 two-way movements in the AM peak and 34 two-way movements in the PM peak. 1.24 Observations during the peak periods at the junction of Welham Manor and Dixons Hill Road indicate that the junction currently operates well within capacity and as such the additional traffic 3 associated with further residential development off Welham Manor can be accommodated without having a significantly detrimental impact for either highway safety or capacity purposes. Accessibility 1.25 Accessibility is measured by reference to the number and frequency of services available within easy walking distance of the proposal site. Easy walking distance is considered to be up to 400m in the case of accessing bus based public transport. This equates to a five minute walk time assuming a walk speed of 80m per minute. There is a bus stop located on Dixons Hill Road 140m from the proposal site. Routes from these stops serve Hatfield, Potters Bar and St Albans. 1.26 Table 1.2 below outlines the services that operate from the aforementioned bus stops include: Table 1.2 Buses servicing Dixons