Freedom of Information Request 00
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Environmental Information Regulations 2004 Information Request: 2541296 Date of Request: 11th February 2015 Date of Disclosure: 11th March 2015 Request “I would like to make a request under the Freedom of Information Act for copies of all correspondence relating to planning application 03/2163/14/O between:- Richard Jackson and PCL Planning Ltd Richard Jackson and Richard Mays” Response We have completed a search as requested and no emails have been sent or received between Richard Jackson and Richard Mays. However the Council has identified the following correspondence between Richard Jackson and employees of PCL Planning Ltd which is provided below. Information marked ***PCL has been removed as we consider it constitutes personal data of PCL employees. Information marked ***DCC has been removed as we consider it constitutes personal data of DCC employees. We feel disclosure of this information would breach the first principle of the Data Protection Act. Therefore this information is the subject of the exception from disclosure at Regulation 12 (3) of the Environmental Information Regulations 2004. For attachment Please click on red coloured link. From: ***PCL Sent: 29 May 2014 10:23 To: Richard Jackson Cc: ***PCL; ***PCL Subject: RE: Proposed Junction Realignment for Great Court Farm, Totnes Dear Richard, Thank you very much for your comments last week. I will be responding to your queries below in the same order as stated in your e-mail. Re: the length of the yellow box we will prepare an alternative version of this with a shorter yellow box for your review. Re: visibility we will be preparing a drawing showing visibility splays plotted on a 1:500 scaled drawing as required. This will also show the red/blue line and will include a long section showing the vertical alignment. Re: the sun glare study, we have looked into this. This is a very unusual request that neither ***PCL nor myself have ever been asked about this kind of study before. We have been advised that these studies, when required, involve the development of new roads and/or junctions, which is something that we are not doing in our case. This has never been raised as an issue in any of the meetings or public consultations held to date, and accident records do not show any issues re: sun glare. The junction is included within a 30mph speed limit area, and the Highway Code requires drivers to slow down and even stop when affected by sun glare. We would like to know further about the need to prepare this study and what is expected to come from it as we are not clear about the outcomes of this study on an existing road and junction. We have already commissioned a Stage 1 RSA for both junctions as requested by yourself and these will be carried out next week. As this is for an outline application we are happy to provide the Stage 1 RSA as stated in the DMRB HD 19/03, however we do not quite understand the need to provide for a Stage 2 RSA at this moment as this is for an outline planning application and we are not preparing a detailed junction design at this stage. Could you please let us know if this is acceptable. I will come back to you with the provision of the additional information as stated in the above paragraphs. Best regards, ***PCL Principal Transport Planner PCL TRANSPORT PLANNING LTD From: Richard Jackson Sent: 20 May 2014 10:22 To: ***PCL Cc: ***PCL; Darren Cole Subject: FW: Proposed Junction Realignment for Great Court Farm, Totnes Dear ***PCL, Many thanks for the drawings and figures. I have consulted the traffic engineer at DCC and his comments are below. Notwithstanding Mike’s question below over whether the box is appropriate, if it is decided to go with a shorter yellow box it should be noted - Traffic regulation orders are not needed in order to install yellow box markings, although the police should always be consulted. I note your comments about visibility and I would like to see the splay plotted on a 1:500 scaled drawing. I would also like to have sight of a red/blue line boundary plan to be sure the land required for the works is within the applicant’s control. It would also be useful to see a visibility splay long section in relation to the road vertical alignment. Also it would be useful if you could try and demonstrate how the sun affects drivers visibility at the key times of the day. As can be seen below both Mike and myself will require an independent Stage 1 and 2 safety Audit and designers response for both new scheme proposals. I would like to see this in advance of the Planning Application submission. Many thanks, Richard Jackson Senior Highways Development Management Officer From: ***PCL Sent: Mon 19/05/2014 15:24 To: Richard Jackson Cc: ***PCL Subject: Proposed Junction Realignment for Great Court Farm, Totnes Dear Richard, I hope you are doing very well. Following the public consultation and general issues raised we have examined the realignment of the existing junction between Blackpost Lane and the A385 Totnes Road and we have widened the junction taking some land to the east of the junction, in order to incorporate a flare lane for up to two vehicles for right turning traffic from Blackpost lane onto the A385. This will improve junction performance and will facilitate the manoeuvring of large vehicles leaving Blackpost Lane, especially buses turning right onto the A385. The widening of the junction also allows more space for vehicles turning left from the A385 onto Blackpost Lane, which was noticed during the site visits as large vehicles had difficulty manoeuvring to access Blackpost Lane. This improvement is corroborated in the tracking that has been prepared and that is shown in the drawing attached. A yellow box is also proposed to facilitate vehicles getting in and out of Blackpost Lane in the periods with higher volumes of traffic flows. The junction performs adequately at the main AM peak time (08:00-09:00). The flare lane has provided a betterment when compared to the existing situation, and even with the impact caused by the proposed development (and based on a worst case scenario of 83 residential dwellings) the junction will perform better in the future scenario (2019). The survey data used (from the traffic count surveys at the junctions of the A385 Totnes Road with Blackpost Lane and Weston Lane, carried out on the 29th of April 2014), along with the trip generation (based on the latest TRICS database v. 7.1.1) and the results of the junction modelling (using the latest PICADY version) are also attached to this e-mail. The visibility splays at the junction also comply with the standards as set out in the DMRB document for trunk roads. Under DMRB, visibility splays under a 30mph speed limit should be provided for a minimum of 70 metres on both directions. Furthermore, the 85th percentile speed surveys recorded at the survey undertaken by DCC between the 08th and the 14th of March 2014 were of 34.2mph (on both directions as provided in the survey), and are also attached to this e-mail. This would require visibility splays of 81 metres under a worst case scenario, which would also be complied with by the existing visibility splays. The improvements at Blackpost Lane will be further enhanced by providing only a “left turn in” approach at the junction of the A385 Totnes Road with Weston Lane to minimise any concerns of highway safety in the proximities to the junction leading to Berry Pomeroy. This suggestion was well received at the public consultation. To sum up, the proposed layout for the Blcakpost Lane junction will: - Comply with the visibility splay standards stated in the DMRB document - Provide a wider area for the manoeuvring of large vehicles operating at the junction - Performs adequately with the flare lane provided at the Blackpost approach to the junction at the Future + Development traffic scenario - Facilitate the operation of vehicles in and out thanks to the provision of a yellow box - Reduce highway concerns on the Weston Lane junction by allowing only a “left turn in” approach from the A385 onto Weston Lane We trust that the proposed measures are appropriate for the scale of the development. We would be grateful if you could let us know whether this satisfies the requirements for the proposed development. Best regards, ***PCL Principal Transport Planner PCL TRANSPORT PLANNING LTD From: Richard Jackson Sent: 07 January 2015 09:11 To: ***PCL Cc: ***PCL Subject: RE: Great Court Farm - information for Committee Meeting Dear ***PCL, Many thanks for the update. I have let the Planning Officer know also. I look forward to receiving the extra plans etc. Please bear in mind I have no plotter in my office so A3 would be ideal. Kind regards, Richard Jackson Senior Highways Development Management Officer From: ***PCL Sent: 06 January 2015 16:30 To: Richard Jackson Cc: ***PCL Subject: Great Court Farm - information for Committee Meeting Dear Richard, Many thanks for your call this morning informing me of the latest developments for Great Court Farm. I have now spoken to ***PCL and ***PCL regarding our phone conversation on the two issues mentioned, and which are further discussed in the points below: 1. Vehicular and pedestrian access to the site off Blackpost Lane PCL Transport Planning will design two different options accommodating the vehicular access arrangements as discussed with you. The two options will take into account the pedestrian access regarding whether the land to the south of the oak tree is owned by Highways or not.