10. Priory Road / Cooksland Road
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
10. Priory Road / Cooksland Road 10.1 To facilitate access to the Priory Road development area (BdUE1), a site access is required on Priory Road. In addition, the overall growth identified for Bodmin would result in the existing Priory Road / Cooksland Road junction reaching capacity as additional traffic travels to and from the A30(T) / A38(T) junction at Carminow Cross. 10.2 The developer of the Priory Road site has proposed a junction just to provide access to their sites on either side of Priory Road. The existing Priory Road / Cooksland Road junction is poorly aligned, particularly from Cooksland Road and therefore discussions took place between the developer and Cornwall Council to develop a combined access solution. 10.3 The access road to the Police headquarters is a public highway and land adjacent to this location is under the control of the developer of the Priory Road sites. 10.4 It is therefore proposed to divert Cooksland Road to the west of the Police headquarters, utilising the existing public highway. A traffic signal controlled junction at Priory Road is proposed that will provide access to the Priory Road development area, provide sufficient capacity to accommodate future traffic growth and also to provide controlled pedestrian / cyclist crossings. These pedestrian / cycle crossings will form part of the new network of cycle paths linking the development site to Bodmin town centre and local employment areas and also provide links between Bodmin, the Camel Trail and Lanhydrock. 10.5 The existing road layout and the proposed Launceston Road / Cooksland Road scheme are shown below. EDG110-04 Bodmin Town Framework 33 October 2013 A389 Priory Road / Cooksland Road – Existing Road Layout A38 Cooksland Road A389 PrioryRoad Not to Scale © Crown copyright and database rights 2013 Ordnance Survey 100049047 Aerial Photography © Cornwall Council EDG110‐04 Bodmin Town Framework Consultation Page 34 October 2013 A389 Priory Road / Cooksland Road – Proposed Road Layout A38 Cooksland Road A389 PrioryRoad Not to Scale © Crown copyright and database rights 2013 Ordnance Survey 100049047 Aerial Photography © Cornwall Council EDG110‐04 Bodmin Town Framework Consultation Page 35 October 2013 A389 Priory Road / Cooksland Road – Proposed Road Layout ‐ Visualisation EDG110‐04 Bodmin Town Framework Consultation Page 36 October 2013 11. Strategic Transport Proposals 11.1 When undertaking the review of previous transport work in Bodmin, including the Masterplan, the following five criteria were considered: 1. To enable economic and housing growth within Bodmin 2. To reduce future congestion in town 3. To improve town centre environment 4. To manage air quality within town 5. To facilitate the expansion of St. Petroc’s School 11.2 As has been summarised above a number of transport schemes resolve issues relating to particular development areas and do not have a strategic benefit to Bodmin as a whole. 11.3 When considering the five criteria above it has been assumed that criterion 1, ‘To enable economic and housing growth within Bodmin’ has to be met for all transport scenarios as without growth there would be no need or potential funding for infrastructure improvements. 11.4 Criteria 2 to 4 are key aspirations for the transport strategy as for this work we focussed on developing a town centre that would be operationally functional and a pleasant environment to draw in those who people who would live in the proposed new housing or work in the proposed employment areas. 11.5 In resolving criteria 2 to 4 there are a number of specific issues that needed to be considered. Reducing Congestion 11.6 At peak periods the central area of Bodmin, between Five Ways in the west and Church Square in the east can become moderately congested. 11.7 There are a number of reasons for this congestion, as follows: Traffic volumes are high across Bodmin Interaction of side road traffic leads to stop/start traffic flow Interaction of pedestrian crossings leads to stop/start traffic flow Traffic seeking free parking on Fore Street can drive around the Dennison Road / Turf Street / Fore Street / Lower Bore Street loop on multiple occasions prior to finding a space or going elsewhere. 11.8 The aim of the transport strategy has been to reduce congestion whilst supporting growth in the town and also improving accessibility of people who walk, cycle or use public transport. Improve Town Centre Environment 11.9 Currently, Fore Street and Turf Street are impacted on significantly by through traffic and traffic seeking on-street or off-street parking. Fore Street, in particular, can be a hostile environment with vehicles parking on the very narrow footways due to all on-street parking and loading bays being full. Turf Street is impacted on by traffic travelling to south-east Bodmin and by vehicles accessing/egressing the Priory Car Park and the Fore Street Car Park. 11.10 The high quality streetscape outside of Shire Hall can not be appreciated by visitors to Bodmin due to the impact of the high traffic volumes in the area. Pedestrians walking from the Priory Car Park are required to cross Turf Street and EDG110-04 Bodmin Town Framework 37 October 2013 whilst there is a controlled pedestrian crossing in this location delays are inevitable given the volume of traffic. 11.11 The Fore Street car park is not currently well used due to the steep gradients and steps linking the car park and Fore Street. It was an ambition of the masterplan that redevelopment of the town centre could bring about level access or reduced gradient access between this car park and the town centre. 11.12 If vehicular traffic was removed or reduced significantly on Fore Street and Turf Street the environment for visitors would improve significantly. Air Quality 11.13 There is a statutory air quality management area (AQMA) defined for Bodmin town centre, including St Leonards, Dennison Road, Turf Street and Fore Street. The AQMA has been defined because levels of oxides of Nitrogen are higher than permitted by UK and European Legislation. 11.14 Cornwall Council has a legal duty to manage the air quality in a defined AQMA and the principal reason for the Bodmin AQMA is queuing and stop/start traffic on the roads within the area. The principal non-compliances occur on Dennison Road in the vicinity of Rhind Street and Turf Street near to Honey Street. 11.15 Given the close proximity of buildings to the roads in these areas a ‘canyon effect’ is occurring where exhaust gases from vehicles remain trapped between the buildings. This leads to the high levels of pollutants which triggered the AQMA. 11.16 To manage the issue a number of measures could be taken. These include: Reducing traffic volume Reducing vehicle stoppages – improving flow Removing or reducing the ‘canyon’ Expansion of St Petroc’s School 11.17 The final criterion that was considered in developing the strategic transport solution was the preferred location for expansion of Primary School places in Bodmin, which Cornwall Council’s Education Service identified as St Petroc’s School. 11.18 The Education Service has an immediate need for additional primary school places in Bodmin and this need would be exacerbated by future growth in the town. 11.19 To accommodate the immediate need for primary places a local school with sufficient land for expansion is required. This school has been identified as St Petroc’s after careful consideration of the other schools in the town and the potential to build a new school on future development land. 11.20 To expand in the short term the school would not be able to use their existing vehicular access on Athelstan Park as congestion is becoming an issue in this location. Therefore, the school would need to identify an alternative access to the school. 11.21 As part of the work Cormac were undertaking for the emerging Bodmin transport strategy an opportunity arose for St Petroc’s School to possibly gain vehicular access from the Priory Link Road proposal. The road scheme has been identified as needed for strategic purposes and the added benefit to the school would reduce their capital investment based on developing their own access. EDG110-04 Bodmin Town Framework 38 October 2013 11.22 Alternative access to the school has been considered as part of the transport strategy. EDG110-04 Bodmin Town Framework 39 October 2013 12. Development of the Strategic Transport Solution 12.1 The key to developing the strategic transport solution was to balance the need for growth in Bodmin with the need to ensure that the local environment was not adversely impacted upon. 12.2 To facilitate growth of approximately 3,000 residential dwellings plus employment and retail development difficult decisions need to be made as to how the infrastructure improvement will be made. 12.3 Using the five criteria above the following permutations of effect were considered when developing the transport strategy: Growth only Growth and reduce future congestion in town Growth and reduction in future congestion and improvement in air quality All criteria except facilitate the expansion of St Petroc’s School All criteria 12.4 A number of distinct areas of the network were considered in isolation prior to being combined as part of a strategy to meet one of the above groupings of improvement criteria. The key areas were: Church Square Turf Street Fore Street Linking Priory Road to St Nicholas Street Harleigh Road / Beacon Road EDG110-04 Bodmin Town Framework 40 October 2013 13. Church Square 13.1 Developing an appropriate improvement for the Church Square junction has been complex as any delay on the approaches to the junction impacts on the air quality on Dennison Road and Turf Street.