Highways Assessment West Tey
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SEPTEMBER 2019 Examination in Public (EiP) Highways Assessment West Tey Iceni Projects Limited on behalf of ED L&Q /Cirrus Land/G120 September 2019 ICENI ICENI PROJECTS LIMIT ON BEHALF OF /CIRRUS LAND/G120 L&Q Iceni Projects Da Vinci House, 44 Saffron Hill, London EC1N 8FH t: 020 3640 8508 | w: iceniprojects.com | e: [email protected] linkedin: linkedin.com/company/iceni-projects | twitter: @iceniprojects Examination in Public (EiP) Highways Assessment Examination in Public (EiP) Highways Assessment (September 2019) Iceni Projects Limited on behalf of L&Q /Cirrus Land/G120 2 CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY..................................................................................................... 4 1. INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................... 6 2. SCOPING DISCUSSIONS WITH ESSEX COUNTY COUNCIL ................................. 9 3. EXISTING HIGHWAY AND TRANSPORT NETWORK ............................................ 14 4. HIGHWAYS ENGLAND A120 AND A12 UPGRADES ............................................. 29 5. WEST TEY GARDEN VILLAGE PROPOSALS ........................................................ 31 6. ASSESSMENT METHODLOGY ............................................................................... 45 7. IMPACT ASSESSMENT AND JUNCTION MODELLING ......................................... 56 8. MITIGATION ............................................................................................................. 61 9. CONCLUSION .......................................................................................................... 69 Examination in Public (EiP) Highways Assessment (September 2019) Iceni Projects Limited on behalf of L&Q /Cirrus Land/G120 3 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY i. This report has been undertaken to assess how the West Tey Garden Community proposals will affect the local highway network, how traffic impact can be mitigated and identify opportunities to provide new and upgraded existing pedestrian, cycle and public transport facilities. Importantly it considers the early release of housing prior to the A12 and A120 strategic route upgrades. ii. Meetings have been held with Essex County Council (ECC) to agree the scope and range of works to be included within this Examination in Public (EiP) assessment. The scope of works established key parameters for the assessment work, including, but not limited to, the extents of the study area, vehicle trip generation, distribution and junction modelling methodology. iii. The West Tey masterplan is split into four phases and the traffic impact of Phase 1, for 2,500 dwellings has been assessed at local junctions within the study area discussed with ECC during scoping (although 2,800 dwellings have been tested for robustness). iv. The proposed access strategy for West Tey Phase 1 is to provide a southern bypass of the existing A120 into the West Tey land between Coggeshall and the existing Marks Tey settlement adjacent to the A120. The localised A120 bypass will provide benefits compared with the existing road in terms of carriageway width and reducing delays associated with the number of existing accesses and junctions currently served from the A120. v. Two proposed signal-controlled junctions on the bypass link will provide access to West Tey Phase 1 which will include at-grade pedestrian and cycle crossing facilities. The proposed access junctions have been designed with future development access potential to adjacent land, future proofing the access strategy. There is also a potential to downgrade the size of the junctions in the future as vehicle traffic reduces as a result of the local strategic highway network upgrades at the A120/A12. vi. An upgrade to replace the existing Ashbury Drive/A120 mini roundabout with a signal- controlled junction is proposed which provides the opportunity to include bus priority measures for existing and future bus services, including ECCs aspirations for Rapid Transit in north Essex, and a potential new access road to land north of the A120 including new at- grade pedestrian and cycle crossings. vii. It has been demonstrated that the impact of traffic associated with West Tey Phase 1 can be mitigated through improvements at the Prince of Wales, Marks Tey and Marks Farm roundabouts. The proposals provide betterment in terms of additional capacity beyond mitigating the development impact and include potential for new pedestrian, cycle and bus facilities. Examination in Public (EiP) Highways Assessment (September 2019) Iceni Projects Limited on behalf of L&Q /Cirrus Land/G120 4 viii. The local strategic highway network, is the subject of proposals for upgrades to increase capacity. A new alignment of the A120, to be upgraded to a dual carriageway road will route between Braintree and an upgraded A12 which will draw a significant volume of traffic away from the current A120 at Marks Tey by the end of West Tey Phase 1. The current preferred option, which would provide a new A12/A120 interchange south of Kelvedon, would take a significant proportion of the current A120 traffic away from Marks Tey, with only localised traffic travelling along the current alignment. ix. The timing of the delivery of Phases 2, 3 and 4 of West Tey means that they should come forward following the upgrades of the A120 and A12 whereby links to the upgraded A12 can be facilitated, subject to the construction programme for both road improvement schemes being confirmed, although it can be demonstrated further phases could come forward with the addition of a link to the existing A12 during the interim period. As stated 2,500 units would be delivered during Phase 1, with the A12 widening and a new junction between the A12 and existing A120 further phases can come forward, increasing to total to 6,000 dwellings in Phase 2 and circa 9,000 dwellings in Phase 3. On the assumption the A12 is widened as part of Phase 2 then West Tey has sufficient land to deliver an interim staged/phased A120 bypass to the east of Coggeshall prior to the proposed delivery of the strategic realignment and dualling of the A120 by the HE. x. To summarise, this highways assessment has demonstrated that West Tey Phase 1 traffic impact can be mitigated through improvement measures to the A120 and local existing junctions. Access to West Tey Phase 1 can be provided via new signal-controlled junctions on a localised bypass of the existing A120. The proposed improvements to the local highway and junctions provide a betterment in terms of traffic capacity and reduced journey times. On the basis of the above, West Tey Phase 1 can be accommodated within the local highway network and deliver 2,500 dwellings. Future phases of West Tey and associated traffic can also be delivered through increased local infrastructure, linking to the proposed upgrade of the strategic highway network (A12) and improvements to the A120 either as part of the strategic route realignment and dualling or more localised as part of the development works at West Tey . Examination in Public (EiP) Highways Assessment (September 2019) Iceni Projects Limited on behalf of L&Q /Cirrus Land/G120 5 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 Iceni Projects Ltd has been appointed by L&Q, in conjunction with Cirrus Land Limited, and Gateway 120 (the ‘Client’) to prepare a Highways Assessment (HA) report to support an Examination in Public (EiP) in respect of the potential residential-led mixed use development of land to the west and north of Marks Tey. 1.2 The client includes a consortium of landowners, who together have control of significant areas of land around Marks Tey, which will enable a strategic, sustainable and integrated development to be delivered. 1.3 The proposals include for circa 17,000 residential dwellings which will be delivered in combination with significant infrastructure. It is important to recognise that the development would seek to operate as a comprehensive, standalone community, and as such would be designed with appropriate transport infrastructure and key employment, education, health, retail and leisure facilities to ensure this is delivered. 1.4 The proposed development forms a significant proportion of the one of three North Essex Garden Communities (NEGC), referred to as Colchester Braintree Borders, see Figure 1.1. The NEGCs have been identified and are being promoted by Braintree District Council (BDC), Tendring District Council (TDC), Colchester Borough Council (CBC) and Essex County Council (ECC). The authorities have combined to form NEGC Ltd to take forward the proposals for the three Garden Communities. The client has undertaken initial discussions with CBC, BDC, Highways England (HE) and ECC. Figure 1.1: Illustrative Location of Proposed West Colchester Garden Community (West Tey) Examination in Public (EiP) Highways Assessment (September 2019) Iceni Projects Limited on behalf of L&Q /Cirrus Land/G120 6 1.5 The purpose of this report is to consider the potential traffic impact of the proposals on the existing highway network and assess the opportunities to improve sustainable travel. The results of the traffic assessment have been used to inform mitigation measures and potential junction upgrades to deliver improved operational capacity where possible and to reduce journey times and delays. 1.6 More specifically this report considers the delivery of West Tey Phase 1 of the development within the Local Plan period, in particular the potential delivery of 2,500 homes as identified within the draft Local Plan. 1.7 West Tey is located