As a resident of , I'm emailing to raise some concerns about the proposed site for , and the impact this will have on local traffic.

The impact I feel will be felt both on local roads and on the A1/M1:

On the weekdays mornings when I drive to work, I regularly queue when on the A1/M1 anyway, due to the high volume of traffic travelling towards (and other location further south) at that time. (It can sometimes take an hour to get into work, and this is just due to volume of traffic, not when there are any accidents or extraordinary circumstances.) Adding to this already large amount of traffic will cause even further delays. (I actually use the Park and Ride, and even if the cars used that facility, it still wouldn't solve the problem for the motorway leading from to that exit.) Although I believe that additional slip roads will be provided off the motorways at the Garforth roundabout, and a second lane up to the entrance to Parlington, the huge amount of cars potentially housed there will mean that the roads they use will still struggle to manage the numbers of cars, particularly at rush hour. Most 'settlements' of the size proposed at Parlington (basically the size of a small town in itself), normally have a number of exits/entrances - but the plans create a bottleneck of a single way in/out. (And even if another entrance/exit is provided, it would be through one of the local villages, which have narrow, winding roads, that are simply not designed to take that level of traffic.) Imagine Garforth or Boston Spa with just one road in/out - it just wouldn't work! The exit from Aberford onto the road towards Garforth is a difficult crossroads. On weekday mornings, traffic can build up on the both Aberford and Micklefield sides, while drivers wait to pull out. Increasing the amount of traffic on this road is only going to make this much worse - and will undoubtedly mean that some people will end up pulling out without waiting for a safe gap (because it will never come!). This junction can be dangerous at the best of times, increasing the amount of traffic on it can only make it worse. Aberford is already used as a 'through route' for cars, lorries, etc. due to its position (between the A64, A1/M1 junctions, etc.). Any marked increase in the volume of traffic can see the village come to a standstill. For example, if the motorway is busy, and people start to cut through, we have long queues of traffic in the village. If you increase the volume of traffic, just by increasing the amount of local residents in such a huge way, it could mean constant traffic jams through the village. Aberford is a village in which many of the houses in the Main Street do not have off-road parking, and so is lined with parked cars much of the time. This means that traffic going through the village has to navigate past the cars - and at times when the road becomes busy, people tend to do so without as much care as should be given. In addition, because of the parked cars, crossing can be difficult - and an increase in traffic will only make this much worse. Because Aberford is used as a route for Emergency Services, no speed bumps are permitted here. This means that people drive through the village at higher speeds than is safe. Again, more traffic just means more chance of this happening. (Though I guess you could argue, no chance of moving quickly, if we're all queuing! - But then how do the Emergency Services actually manage to use the village to gain access to the A64/motorways)

I know that there is an impact on traffic of any new housing estate, and some of that has to be accepted. But the local roads round Aberford (and indeed Barwick and Garforth) are simply not equipped to deal with the potentially huge increase in traffic that we could see. Aberford is a village, with houses running along the main road, it cannot be made into 'two lanes' or have measures put in place to prevent traffic problems (putting a sign up saying 'no through route' isn't going to stop anyone!). The scale of the proposed Parlington estate will increase the traffic by a huge amount - and the local area is simply not designed to cope with the traffic it will bring. I hope that you will consider the impact this traffic could have.

Many thanks for your time, Sarah (Taylor)