Assessment of Construction Traffic Impacts

Appendix 5

Upper Farm, near Bradley, Hampshire: Proposed Installation of Single Wind Turbine

ASSESSMENT OF CONSTRUCTION TRAFFIC IMPACTS

10th June 2014

Lander House May Court Threemilestone Truro TR4 9LD

01872 225259 www.laurenceassociates.co.uk

Richard Marsden Planning Director

Geoffrey Brown Landscape Architect

CONTENTS

1 Introduction

2 Methodology

3 Landscape and Visual Baselines

4 Application Documents

5 Landscape Effects Assessment

6 Visual Effects Assessment

7 Cumulative Effects Assessment

8 Summary and Conclusions

1 INTRODUCTION

1.1 INSTRUCTION

This Assessment of Construction Traffic Impacts (the Assessment) has been prepared on behalf of the Applicant, KS SPV31 Ltd. It has been compiled according to established guidance on the basis of the Environmental Statement (ES) prepared for KS SPV31 Ltd and submitted in May 2013.

Author of this report is Geoffrey Brown, Landscape Architect CMLI, on behalf of Laurence Associates, Chartered Town Planners, Architectural Consultants and Landscape Architects, of Lander House in Threemilestone, Truro, Cornwall. Laurence Associates was established in 1993 and offers consultancy services in Town Planning, Architectural Design, Building Consultancy and Landscape Architecture. The planning section specialises in renewable energy development.

1.2 PURPOSE

The ES of May 2013 studied the effects anticipated from realising a solar photovoltaic park (the proposal) at Upper Farm, Bradley (the application site). It contained an assessment of the landscape and visual effects (the LVIA) and a Construction Traffic Management Plan (the CTMP) to assess the scale and nature of the effects anticipated. The proposal is considered in the context of its immediate environs (the application site) and the wider landscape (the study area); then in the context of other similar developments, be they operational, consented or under construction, or still in the planning process.

Further information on this ES was requested in a letter from the Planning Inspectorate dated 30th May 2014. This Assessment responds to the remit of that letter to provide the following additional information to the LVIA:

‘An assessment of construction traffic impacts within the ES. The ES includes a Construction Traffic Management Plan (CTMP) intended to minimise disruption during construction. The ES does not provide an adequate assessment of the likely significant effects to demonstrate why the CTMP is necessary and effective as a mitigation measure.’

1.3 SCOPE

This document describes and assesses the effects anticipated to be caused by road traffic during the construction and operational phases of the proposal from a landscape & visual perspective. Disturbance to traffic flow, dilapidation of road surfaces and other technical parameters dealt with elsewhere in the ES are not covered.

The study area for this assessment is that of the LVIA, a circle of radius 5km centred on the application site. This is shown in overview on Appendix 4 of the LVIA. Particular attention is focussed on the proposals for construction traffic access and departure routes between the site and the M3 motorway as shown on Figures 1 and 2 of the CTMP.

2 METHODOLOGY

2.1 GUIDANCE

The 2013 LVIA was written in accordance with the following best practice guidance:

 Guidelines for Landscape and Visual Assessment, Third Edition (Landscape Institute and Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment, 2013);  Landscape Character Assessment - Guidance for England and Scotland (Countryside Agency and Scottish National Heritage, 2002).

2.2 APPROACH

This document builds on the approach adopted in the LVIA and explained at Section 4.5 of the ES. Construction traffic is assessed within three parameters using these key terms:

The landscape impacts of development are defined by the Landscape Institute and Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment in their Guidelines (GLVIA3) as 'changes in the fabric, character and quality of the landscape as a result of development'. These include local, physical impacts from building operations as well as loss of features or damage to quality, character and statutory designations. These changes impact on the landscape, in this context that around local roads, as a resource for all time.

Visual impacts, on the other hand, are described in the same document as relating 'solely to changes in available views of the landscape, and the effects of those changes on people'. They apply to those people inhabiting the landscape today or who might reasonably be expected to do so in the foreseeable future.

Effects result from relating both types of impact to the specific sensitivity of the category of landscape or visual receptor affected; they can be direct or indirect, adverse or beneficial, and can combine with those of other developments.

Cumulative effects can arise from both landscape and visual impacts. Receptors here are landscape character (a landscape high in sensitivity has a low capacity for change) and groups of people inhabiting this landscape. The higher the effects other existing or planned schemes have, the more that landscape will already be characterised by modern elements.

2.3 ASSESSMENT STRUCTURE

The purpose of an LVIA is to identify, describe and assess the potential significant effects of a proposal on its surroundings. The assessment process recommended in GLVIA3 has been applied to this document; it can be summarised in three stages.

Section 3 below forms the baseline assessment. This first stage of the LVIA process aims to review the existing landscape features, character and quality, and then the visual amenity of the study area. This establishes the baseline against which to compare the magnitude of the landscape and visual effects the proposal would cause, with the sensitivity of the receptors involved, in order to determine their significance. The baseline information given here summarises that of the 2013 LVIA.

Section 4 sets out the construction traffic anticipated as a summary of the 2013 CTMP.

Sections 5 to 7 below address the predicted changes this traffic could bring the baseline landscape. Section 8 then completes the process with an assessment of significance of the changes predicted to result from overlaying the proposal onto the study area. 2

3 LANDSCAPE AND VISUAL BASELINES

3.1 STUDY AREA

A scope of radius 5km was agreed at the screening stage of this application. The LVIA Location Plan shows this study area in overview. Only elements of this area relevant to the traffic assessment in this document are summarised below.

This area extends from the application site to the M3 motorway; particular reference is made to its settlement pattern. This is very dispersed with few concentrations of population, and large areas with low densities. Basingstoke lies 8km to the north at its nearest point and only the villages of Preston Candover, Medstead and Bentworth lie within the 5km radius. Further hamlets include Axford, Bradley, Upper and Lower Wield, Ellisfield, Herriard and Lasham, and there are several farms and homesteads.

Road routes through the study area emanate from Basingstoke, with the A339 linking Alton with Basingstoke and the B3046, Alresford and Basingstoke. A network of unclassified lanes runs between these. The M3 motorway runs some 7km to the north-west of the site, linking Southampton, Winchester and Basingstoke with London.

Patterns of vegetation are broadly split into wooded blocks and shelter belts, which are larger in the north of the study area, and hedgerows. Villages are also characterised by trees but the hedgerows along local lanes are significant for their typical screening effect on views to and from traffic routes. The fields between them are open and large in scale.

3.2 SITE

The application site occupies fields bounded by the woodland blocks of Bradley Wood, Hunt’s Copse and Mayhew’s Wood, with Stubbins’ Copse and South Lease Copse immediately to the east. The proposed access to this location is the existing track serving Upper Farm. This leads southwards from Red Lane, north-east of the village of Bradley, over fields east of the village, through Bradley Wood and onto the site from its north-west.

3.3 LANDSCAPE RECEPTORS

The roads through the study area are dimensioned primarily for local and agricultural traffic. The network of lanes mentioned above, and related to the access and departure routes set out at Section 4 below, are wide enough to allow even large vehicles to pass one another, albeit at reduced speed. Their construction strength is not the subject of this document.

Although the application site lies within no designation, the proximity of the South Downs National Park to the south, the Surrey Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) to the east and the North Wessex Downs AONB to the north-west is relevant to the recreational use of local roads, footpaths and cycleways. Visitors to all these scenic areas may pass through the study area and be affected by local traffic, and informal outdoor recreation is also significant within the study area itself.

3.4 VISUAL RECEPTORS

The visual amenity, that is the quality of views currently available within the study area, is decided by the sensitivity of the people enjoying that view, how important it is to them, and the reason they are there. The identity and nature of the people likely to suffer changes to, or a loss of, amenity is established below. 3

Of the settlements in the area it is the villages, hamlets and farmsteads which represent the greatest potential for visual disturbance. Those within the 5km radius lying between the site and the M3 include Preston Candover, Axford, Bradley, Ellisfield, Herriard and Lasham; Farleigh Wallop and Cliddesden lie between the study area and Basingstoke.

Upper and Lower Wield, Medstead and Bentworth lie within the 5km radius to the south of the site. They are thus intervisible with traffic around the site itself, but would not naturally be likely for consideration on routes for construction traffic.

The main road routes through the area, the A339 and the B3046, are both regional routes. Those travelling between Basingstoke and Winchester/Southampton would tend to take the trunk roads M3 or A30, as would a large proportion of commercial traffic.

With the South Downs National Park immediately south of Medstead and the two AONB mentioned above, secondary roads could be expected to carry more than average levels of tourist traffic. Visitors to the National Park and those walking the footpaths around the area would have a higher level of sensitivity as defined by the criteria of the LVIA Methodology. The main road through the village of Bradley is also National Cycle Route 23, so there could be significant cycle usage, especially in the summer months.

Disturbance would therefore be minimised by routing construction traffic onto larger roads leading as close as possible to the site, away from settlements in the area, and by avoiding routes used by leisure visitors.

4 APPLICATION DOCUMENTS

4.1 CONSTRUCTION TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT PLAN

A full specification of management measures and indicative access arrangements proposed can be found in the CTMP, along with plans of the proposed delivery and departure routes. Designated vehicle storage areas are to be provided onsite during the construction phase.

In summary, construction traffic would leave the M3 at Basingstoke and travel down the A339 to deliver materials to the site. From M3 Junction 6, 9km are travelled on the A339 then 3km on the dual-track road Bagmore Lane. This turns into the single-track Red Lane, followed for 2km, before vehicles turn into the 1.7km lane through Upper Farm, north-east of Bradley village, which leads to Bradley Wood.

In order to minimise disruption in the vicinity, departing lorries would avoid the A339 and return by the B3046. The same Bradley Wood section is travelled on the return route to the unclassified road Red Lane. This lane is followed for 2.6km to the B3046 junction; the B3046 is followed for 10km, then the A339 taken for 2.3km to the M3 junction.

The Upper Farm track across open fields avoids both the village centre and the section of Berrywood Lane shared with National Cycle Route 23. It does cross two Public Rights of Way, one of them the Three Castles Path; but the one section of this route used for both arrivals and departures would lie 200-500m to the east of the village itself.

It is proposed to bring components to the site on heavy good vehicles (HGV) to minimise lorry movements. The volumes are predicted to be 376 delivery journeys spread over a construction phase of 16 weeks, giving a total of 752 lorry movements in both directions. This works out at four round trips a day on average, with an anticipated maximum of 10 visits daily during the week when earthworks and panel mounting works overlap.

During the operational phase of 25 years, inspection, repair and maintenance visits are the only traffic expected to be generated. The majority of these visits should involve only light vehicles, although to deal with incidents arising, larger vehicles cannot be ruled out.

4.2 LVIA

Landscape & visual effects of the proposal were assessed in Section 4 of the ES according to the methodology outlined in Section 2 of this document. Criteria were defined there and effects assessed for a series of viewpoints agreed with the local planning authority. The approach taken in this document is to add the assessment of construction traffic required as further information to those made in the LVIA in order to produce a more rounded result.

The LVIA summarised the landscape impacts over the life of the proposal as follows:

The Magnitude of Landscape Effects would be Medium scale i.e. a number of medium scale changes to some landscape characteristics) over Temporary timespan within this Moderate sensitivity landscape. In this context, the significance of adverse landscape effects is considered to be Moderate (i.e. some medium scale changes to medium sensitivity landscape).

The visual impacts for the 5 viewpoints assessed for the construction phase were:

Overall, for this temporary period of time, the Magnitude of Visual Effects are likely to be Medium i.e. the proposal is likely to be significant and immediately apparent within the

5 scene affecting the overall impression of the view.

Therefore, it is reasonable to reason, the Significance of Visual Effects for this temporary period are likely to be (adverse) Moderate significance i.e. Temporary deterioration in Highly sensitive viewpoints with high quality.

The operational phase was assessed for visual impacts as follows:

In the Short – Medium term, the likely visual effects are reasoned to be different to those likely to be experienced in the Medium – Very Long term (with the establishment of mitigation vegetation to the southern boundary of Field A).

Therefore, it is reasonable to reason, that in the Short – Medium Term, the Magnitude of Visual Effects is likely to be Medium i.e. the proposal is likely to be significant and immediately apparent within the scene affecting the overall impression of the view.

In this instance, the Significance of Visual Effects are likely to be (adverse) Moderate i.e. Small deterioration in Highly sensitive viewpoints with high quality views.

In the Medium to Very Long Term, It would be reasonable to reason, that the Significance of Visual Effects are likely to diminish over the lifespan of the Proposed Development.

Therefore, it is anticipated, the Significance of Visual Effects are likely to be (adverse) Negligible significance i.e. adverse effect with minimal significance.

Section 5 below additionally assesses the impacts of construction traffic according to the same criteria. The landscape effects summarised above were assessed in the LVIA as having a Moderate Adverse significance on a permanent basis; the visual effects are also Moderate Adverse in the short to medium-term assessment, reducing to Negligible in the long-term assessment.

5 LANDSCAPE EFFECTS ASSESSMENT

5.1 LANDSCAPE RECEPTORS

Those receptors relevant here are set out below, then the direct and indirect effects on landscape fabric and character predicted to be caused by the proposal.

The proposal is sited (as noted at Section 4.22 of the LVIA) in NCA 130: the Hampshire Downs and at a County level in the LCT Open Downs. The local level Landscape Character Area (LCA) is the Candover Valley and this is characterised as ‘quiet, unspoilt and with a strongly rural character. The topography of the area isolates it from the wider landscape, giving it a sense of remoteness and the identity of a rural backwater.’

5.2 APPRAISAL OF LANDSCAPE EFFECTS

Construction traffic for the proposal would contribute to the total volume of traffic on these roads, but that is a visual effect assessed below. The effects on landscape character would be temporary in nature, but the tranquillity that characterises the local LCA would be compromised during this phase.

Deliveries would have little adverse impact on the natural fabric of the study area; beyond lorries slowing down to pass other traffic, no road would be physically affected.

The local rights of way network is comprehensive and could lead walkers across and even along the construction traffic route at several places. It would experience a temporary increase in traffic compared with existing levels. The Three Castles Path in particular leads walkers between Bradley and Preston Candover, first crossing the Upper Farm track, then running parallel to the departure route, at times within 500m of it.

All in all, the magnitude of landscape impacts is felt to be very localised. Over the study area as a whole, the scale of change predicted is assessed according to the LVIA criteria as Very Low: occasional, small scale changes to unimportant landscape characteristics.

The sensitivity of landscape character is not assessed but the quality is held in the LVIA to be Good with integrity and tranquillity facing several forces for change. The significance of landscape effects to the study area is nonetheless considered to be Negligible: small scale, short-term impacts with no lasting adverse effect on existing landscape character.

The loss of tranquillity during construction is assessed separately, at Section 6 below, and the cumulative effects are assessed at Section 7 below.

6 VISUAL EFFECTS ASSESSMENT

6.1 CONSTRUCTION PHASE

The visual assessment considers the groups of people whose visual amenity is affected. The scale of visual effects results from overlaying the impacts on visual amenity which the development creates, with the sensitivity of these receptor groups. The effects on visual amenity predicted to be caused by the proposal during its operational phase, the longest phase of its life cycle, are set out at Section 6.2 below.

Impacts during the construction phase would involve the traffic volume of 376 journeys each on the delivery and return routes over the 16 weeks, with 752 lorry movements on the shared delivery/return section east of Bradley village itself.

This represents a temporary potential for increased volumes on sensitive country lanes. Possible impacts include higher traffic flows leading to congestion on local communication routes, the degradation of public vehicle routes, and vehicle parking outside the site. The results of increased vehicle movement on the immediate road system can include frustration for local residents, farmers, commercial drivers and visitors at delays in travelling through the area, and threats to wildlife through intensified vehicle movements.

Mitigation measures are set out in the CTMP. This foresees the bulk of the delivery/return lorry miles travelled to be on the two classified roads, whose volumes would even at peak construction times barely be affected by site traffic. The section between these roads and around Bradley village represents the shortest possible route length on local lanes.

Up to 50 installation personnel at peak times would add a small number of journeys to this total. As set out in the CTMP, staff would be accommodated locally and taken onsite by minibus, with a handful of minibus journeys each day. No night-time work is proposed either during the construction or the operational phases.

Bradley village residents are the main visual receptor group predicted to be affected. Their sensitivity, that of cyclists using National Cycle Route 23, and that of walkers crossing the route or on the Three Castles Way, is assessed as High. The magnitude of visual effects here is predicted to be Small: a visible and recognisable new development in the overall view, but which is not intrusive.

The 8km section of unclassified road between Herriard and Preston Candover is also narrow, especially the Red Lane section. Any one point along it would however be used for either delivery or return journeys, not both as is the case near Bradley village.

Herriard residents would experience a minimal increase in traffic flow for delivery journeys and those of Preston Candover, Axford and Farleigh Wallop the same for return journeys, but these levels would in real terms be insignificant even during peak activity. The magnitude of visual effects for these settlements is held to be Small: awareness does not affect the overall quality of the scene. The CTMP strategy would keep the remaining settlements of the study area largely free of adverse effects.

The magnitude of visual effects during the construction phase, seen over the study area as a whole, is held to be Very Small: the additional traffic would be scarcely appreciated.

Over the 16 weeks involved, its significance is considered to be Minor.

6.2 OPERATIONAL PHASE

This section considers the predicted change to visual amenity during the 25 year period to be licensed for operation, when the movement of inspection staff, maintenance operatives, and possibly heavier vehicles as needed for ad hoc repairs, would be the only impacts. Such vehicles would be no longer bound to the proposed routes, but could approach the site from any direction.

The assessment of visual effects for this phase must base on the scheduled inspections and maintenance visits, as outlined in the CTMP; but also the frequency and implications of repairs, which is more difficult to estimate. The proportion of repair visits predicted to involve HGVs is nonetheless assessed as minimal.

Most inspections and maintenance visits would generate no more than a van of the type regularly seen on even small country lanes such as these. The worst case scenario would be the need to exchange a large element such as the DNO Cabinet of the Centre Station, but individual panels could be transported on smaller vehicles.

The sensitivity of locals and visitors, as noted above, is held to be high, but the magnitude of visual effects during the operational phase, seen over the study area as a whole, to be Very Small: the additional traffic would be assimilated into the everyday picture, and so scarcely appreciated. Over the 25 years of its operation, the significance of this additional traffic is considered to be Negligible: a very slight deterioration to views.

7 CUMULATIVE EFFECTS ASSESSMENT

7.1 OTHER SIMILAR DEVELOPMENTS IN THE STUDY AREA

The cumulative effects in this report arise from construction traffic for this scheme adding to that of others being built nearby at the same time.

Currently the only other development with planning permission already granted is listed as BDB/73851: permitted solar PV development, nominally 5MW. This is situated 4.8km north north east of the site near Herriard (source: Hampshire County Council online planning register / Basingstoke and Deane District Council online planning register).

Herriard is located directly on the A339, so construction traffic would share one section of around 7km of the proposed delivery route for this scheme. This shared section is on the road with the highest capacity proposed to be used by this scheme.

Unless an incident were caused, no realistic risk of cumulative effects is predicted.

8 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION

8.1 SUMMARY OF FINDINGS

The study area is accessed by a network of narrow country lanes that would need to be used for this development. Some of these carry traffic to the South Downs National Park, others are used as a National Cycle Route, and footpaths cross the road network at several points. There is therefore a need to minimise the disturbance caused to local residents and other road users, in particular during the 16 weeks of construction activity.

The CTMP proposes separate routes for delivery and return journeys during this phase. Its approach is to maximise the distances travelled on classified roads between the site and the M3 motorway, which are built to accommodate the HGV traffic that would be called for, in order to minimise impacts on narrow lanes and in the local villages. It also regulates the types of vehicle to be used and the times of day when they may be operated.

The LVIA assesses the landscape & visual effects of the proposed development as highest during the construction and early operational phases. In addition to the effects caused by the development itself, those caused by construction traffic would also peak during the construction phase. Effects during operation would be negligible by comparison.

The landscape effects of the development itself, over its 25-year life cycle, were assessed in the LVIA as having a Moderate Adverse significance; the significance of landscape effects caused to the study area by construction traffic is considered in this document to be Negligible so the LVIA conclusion is held to be unaffected. Landscape effects from construction traffic to this proposal are predicted to be Negligible.

Exactly the same holds true of the cumulative assessment: construction traffic is not considered to affect the overall result of the 2013 LVIA.

The visual effects of the development are also assessed in the LVIA as Moderate Adverse in the short to medium-term, reducing to Negligible in the long-term assessment.

While the change to visual amenity in the study area as a whole is considered to be of Minor significance, effects do focus on the immediate site area. The magnitude of visual effects around the shared delivery/return section is predicted to be Medium: a visible and recognisable new development, which although not always immediately apparent, could be intrusive. Due to the sensitivity of its visual receptors, the significance of effects on the shared section of the two routes is the highest consequence of construction traffic predicted for this phase of the development.

In the context of the whole study area, visual effects during the construction phase are assessed as Minor Adverse: a small-scale deterioration, and during the operational phase as Negligible: a very slight deterioration to visual amenity. Over the 25 years of its operation phase, the additional significance of construction traffic is considered to be Negligible: no change to the overall result.

8.2 DISCUSSION

The three assessment types show varying results. Traffic impact on the landscape is very low since the resource is not predicted to be affected; its character would not change on a permanent basis, additionally to those changes caused by the proposal itself. Also the cumulative assessment shows low levels of change when combined with those of the construction traffic serving the single other development in the area. 11

It is the visual assessment that highlights the effects anticipated, and these focus on the environs of the village of Bradley, its residents and visitors, and the users of its lane and footpaths during the construction phase. They are the visual receptor groups predicted to feel the most tangible effects from component delivery traffic; aggregate levels of disturbance across the study area as a whole are very low.

8.3 CONCLUSION

The strategy of transporting components in heavy good vehicles would reduce the number of journeys compared with smaller vehicles, but could lead to intrusive visual effects on narrow lanes. The routes proposed therefore minimise distances travelled on these.

Bringing installation workers in by minibus is a positive proposal, as is limiting site work and component transport to daylight hours.

Visual effects would focus around Bradley where residents, walkers and to some extent, cyclists, would be affected by construction traffic. The volume and perception of traffic near this village would increase. This would also be the case on the 8km section of the unclassified road between Herriard and Preston Candover, but less so. Effects on both the A339 and the B3046 even at peak times are held to be negligible.

The proximity of the South Downs National Park and the two AONB raises the significance of tourist traffic, especially in the summer months. Since routes converge around Bradley village, and Berrywood Lane is a National Cycle Route, the first four of the 16 weeks of construction activity should if possible be scheduled to avoid the peak tourist season.

The combination of vehicles and routes proposed in the CTMP would minimise disruption to the study area. Bradley village cannot entirely be avoided, but the choice of the field track, avoiding the village centre, would resolve most issues identified; the residual effects are temporary, limited to peak activity during construction, and they are acceptable.

The mitigation strategy proposed in the CTMP is considered appropriate and effective.