Comments received – 20/7/18 – S/2075/18 – Land adjacent to WATERBEACH BARRACKS & AIRFIELD SITE, Waterbeach
Please find attached Horningsea Parish councils response to the above application
Thanks
Hayley
------Forwarded Message ------Subject: Correspondence regarding application at: Land adjacent to WATERBEACH BARRACKS & AIRFIELD SITE, Waterbeach, Cambridgeshire Ref: S/2075/18/OL Date:Wed, 13 Jun 2018 17:07:23 +0100
From:[email protected]
Reply-To: [email protected]
Horningsea Parish Council
Comments on RLW Outline Planning Application S/2075/18/OL
We welcome the opportunity to comment on this outline planning application. The comments are in line with the material considerations Highway Safety, Traffic, Noise, Effect on listed buildings and conservation area, Layout and density of buildings and Design and appearance. The relevant OPA documents are referenced in footnotes. Footnotes in italics cite external sources.
Housing and employment
We understand the need for housing in South Cambridgeshire, especially affordable and social housing. However, there is no clear indication in the application that the number of dwellings suggested, making a total of 11,000 dwellings with those of the Urban & Civic application, are necessary to meet employment needs only in the north of Cambridge1. Areas of growing employment are situated to the east and south of the city e.g. ARM at Cherry Hinton, Marshal Holdings at Newmarket Road, the Biomedical campus near Addenbrookes, Granta Park at Great Abington and research centres at Babraham and Great Chesterford and in the centre of the city at CB1 development, eg. Microsoft and Mott MacDonald. The Cambridge Science Park at Milton has reached building capacity with employment growth slowing. This would suggest that the type and cost of housing available on the complete Waterbeach development would be attractive to new employees at the distant employment sites resulting in increased transport needs with comensurate pressure on the already unsustainable transport system north of Cambridge. The importance of Cambridge as an economic centre encourages employment mobility and commuting distance to places of work has increased significantly.2
Building density and layout
The proposed number of dwellings and associated business, leisure and educational buildings on this site will result in high density building, especially around the proposed new rail station site incongruent with a fenland area.3 The pollution associated with their construction will be significant.4
1 DAS 3.2 Economic context 2 Office for National Statistics 2011 Census Analysis Distance Travelled to Work 26 March 2014 3 DAS page 160 4 Hilber, CAL & Palmer, C, London School of Economics, Urban Development and Air Pollution 1 Horningsea PC Comments on RLW Outline Planning Application S/2075/18/OL
The proposal for car free residential streets at The Steads and Sociable Streets is likely to be untenable. 5 6 Residents are unlikely to leave their cars at remote peripheral parking and only use the car parking areas for offloading. A more holistic approach to car-free development, car parking zones and Community Travel Plans is needed as suggested in recent research7.
Transport Strategy - Effect of increased traffic and lack of mitigation
Until the outcome of the A10 Corridor study is known, the viability of proposed transport mitigation cannot be assessed. More information on this study, the cost of A10 improvements, their timings and the body responsible for their funding and maintenance is needed. While the DAS acknowledges that the size of the new town may be in excess of 30,000 people, the transport strategy seems less than robust and lacks detail. 8 It relies heavily on use of the new rail station and public transport without mitigation of the increased vehicular traffic which will affect the B1047 apart from hoped for additional capacity on the A10 and at the junction with the A14.9 During the first five years approximately 1,250 homes are proposed to be built at the RLW site while 1,500 new homes are proposed for the U&C site. The total of 2,750 homes could generate at least 3,000 work journeys daily. If only 10% of those travel by car to employment sites to the south and east of Cambridge there will be significant impact on the villages of Horningsea and Fen Ditton, especially on Ditton Lane where commuters using the A10 and then A14 join the B1047.10 In the following five years both sites will generate a further 3,000 dwellings and increased job opportunities in the new town. There is no guarantee that these jobs will be filled only from within the town resulting in more traffic from Cambridge. If only 10% of these additional 12,000 residents travel south on the B1047 there will be implications for highway safety within the villages, increased traffic causing noise and pollution and subsequent effect on listed buildings within the conservation area. The bridge at Clayhithe would be vulnerable. This TA does not include detailed designs of highway access proposals, suggesting that the primary vehicular access to the New Town will be formed by adding a fourth arm to the existing CRP roundabout on the A10 and a second vehicular access from a new three-arm roundabout on the A10 about 400m north of Denny End Road junction. It is unlikely that
5 DAS p169 6 TA 2.9.6
7 Car-free development through UK Community Travel Plans, Morris, D, Enoch, M, Pitfield, D, Ison, S Loughborough University
8 DAS p146 9 Transport Assessment 1.2.4 10 TA 2.5.1 2 Horningsea PC Comments on RLW Outline Planning Application S/2075/18/OL
residents travelling south from the eastern area of the site will take this route, adding to vehicular traffic on the B1047.11 It appears that an increased bus service from Waterbeach through Horningsea and Fen Ditton is only “likely” and not definite and therefore cannot be relied on for mitigation of increased traffic.12 13 Considering the current rat running through Horningsea to avoid congestion on the A10, it seems unlikely that at completion of the development there will be a peak time increase of only 19 trips and 109 AADT trips on the B104714. Three months’ data from a mobile VAS15 in Horningsea show a total of 2000 vehicles on the High Street in each direction daily. Data from Speedwatch indicates peak time journeys between 200 and 350 vehicles currently resuting in grid lock at the B1047 junction with A14 and at Ditton Lane in Fen Ditton. At the ten year point, if only 10% of the population of the new town travelled to employment locations south and east of Cambridge there would be an increase of 1200 vehicles, statistically significant and a practical nightmare. Waterbeach, Horningsea and the northern area of Fen Ditton lie within agricultural land where farm traffic, including deliveries and collection of produce, are intrinsic to daily life. Increased traffic on B1047 will create issues for farm vehicle access at Manor Farm, Gayton Farm and especially at the drove entrance at Clayhithe, almost immediately south of the bridge. This drove also gives access to vehicles for Conservators of the River Cam, whose office and works shops are on the east side of the river at Clayhithe. The two industrial and retail outlets, Grange Farm to the north of the village on Clayhithe Road and Scotsdales Garden Centre at the southern end of the village, generate a lot of traffic; right turn egress will be particularly challenging if peak flow increases. The additional capacity to distribute traffic from north of Cambridge promulgated in the Cambridge Transport strategy appears to have been ignored 16
Cycle route provision17
Waterbeach is connected to the national cycle route 11, which runs from the existing railway station along the River Cam, past Horningsea, Milton County Park and Fen Ditton. Cyclists can cross the River Cam at Baits Bite Lock before continuing to the Horningsea Road where the segregated cycle route can be picked up, providing access to East Cambridge. However, the crossing at Baites Bite was not designed as a
11 TA 2.8 12 TA 2.8.9 13 TA 5.7.3 14 TA Table 46 15 mobile VAS data three months to July 2018 16 Transport Strategy for Cambridge and South Cambridgeshire, Section D The Road Network, Fen Ditton Link Road. 17 TA 4.4 3 Horningsea PC Comments on RLW Outline Planning Application S/2075/18/OL
major cycle route having two flights of steps causing difficulty in crossing when more than a few cyclists need access. An increase in cycle traffic will require a new bridge at Baites Bite and an improved cycle accress to Fen Ditton. Horningsea is connected to Waterbeach via Clayhithe Road with no cycleways; an increase in vehicular traffic would make this even more dangerous than currently. The proposal for Greenways does not include a joined-up route and is only at the concept stage and no decisions on routes will be made until 2020/21.18. It is most unlikely that a majority of residents would use such a tortuous route by cycle when it would appear easier and safer to access the B1047 from within the new town by car. It has been shown that regular cycling improves when continuous dedicated routes have been provided.19 20 While the benefits of cycling over car use are recognised, more than just the provision of infrastructure is needed to achieve a modal shift.21 We believe that more work is needed on alternative cycle routes and measures to prevent access to the B1047 by vehicles. Without dedicated cycle routes the increase in traffic will make cycling on the B1047 hazardous to those who currently use it for commuting, both due to volume and pollution.
S106 contributions
The proposal for contributions to off-site Greenways Improvement, i.e. improved or new pedestrian and cycle connections between Waterbeach village, linking to north of Cambridge is welcome.22 We suggest that a cycle path should be introduced on Clayhithe Bridge with an alternating one-way, traffic light controlled system for vehicular traffic. This should be linked to a designated cycle path on Clayhithe Road and Horningsea Road linking Waterbeach to the cycle path at Fen Ditton. A structural survey of Clayhithe Bridge would be needed. S106 contributions are also need for improvements to the rail crossing at Station Road. These improvements should be undertaken as part of the initial infrastructure before dwellings are constructed. An s106 contribution for a pedestrian crossing on Horningsea High Street would be welcome to safeguard children and elderly residents crossing to ‘bus stops from the expected increased traffic flow associated with the development. S106 coontributions will be needed for a cycle and pedestrian bridge at
18 Cambridge Area Greenways Review (v) Appendix 2 Waterbeach; Appendix 3 Horningsea 19 Dekoster, J. & Schollaert, U. European Commission Cycling – the way ahead for towns and cities 20 Transport Strategy for Cambridge and South Cambridgeshire, Figure 4.10. Barriers to walking and cycling. 21 Pucher, J & Buehler, R, Making Cycling Irresistible: Lessons from the Netherlands, Denmark, and Germany 6 July 2007 22 Proposed s1-6 HoT Sumission p8 4 Horningsea PC Comments on RLW Outline Planning Application S/2075/18/OL
Baites Bite and improved cycle access to Fen Ditton.
Rejection of the OPA
The OPA appears premature, taking into consideration current examination of the Local Plan, the ongoing decisions on Greater Cambridge City Deal and Regional Devolvement and the unknown outcome of the CCC A10 Corridor strategy Horningsea Parish Council objects to this application and asks for it to be referred to the Planning Committee. While Horningsea PC makes the above representation at this stage, it reserves the right to be consulted further before submission of the OPA to SCDC Planning Committee.
M. G. Starkie Chair, Horningsea Parish Council 19 July 2018
5 Horningsea PC Comments on RLW Outline Planning Application S/2075/18/OL