PO Box 26486 Glasgow G74 9BU Tel: - 01355 224888 - e-mail: - [email protected] Malcolm Smith Esq., TMS Planning & Development Services Ltd., ‘Balclune’ 32 Clune Road Gowkhall Fife KY12 9NZ Our Ref: - JDM/1213 6th April 2012 Dear Mr Smith, Proposed Housing Developments, Bouprie, Aberdour I refer to our recent site visit and discussions about the proposed housing developments to the west of Aberdour, in Fife. The site location is shown in Figure 1, below. Proposed Development Site National Cycle Route 76 Ordnance Survey © Crown Copyright 2002. All Rights Reserved. Licence Number 100005505 Figure 1 – Site Location John D McIlhagger BSc CEng MICE MCIHT Traffic & Highways Engineering Consultant The Aberdour site is some 4 miles to the east of Junction the M90 Junction 1 at the north end of the Forth Road Bridge and just under 10 miles from Kirkcaldy. The site is less than half a mile from the Post Office and Hotel in the centre of Aberdour. The A921, as it enters Aberdour from the west is a single carriageway road with a footway on the north side, but no footway on the south side. The National speed limit of 60 miles per hour applies with a 30 mile per hour limit starting at the existing edge of Aberdour, marked with the usual speed limit signs and reinforced with a ‘30’ decal on the road surface and a short length of red road surfacing material. Once inside the 30 mile per hour area, there is a system of street lighting. The site is currently in agricultural use and is located immediately to the west of Aberdour, north of the A921, Inverkeithing Road. Figure 2 shows an indicative site layout for 107 housing units, prepared by Oliver & Robb Architects. Figure 3 shows the approximate site shape and nearest existing bus stops. Figure 2 – Arcihitect’s Indicative Layout Page 2 of 8 Existing Bus Stops Figure 3 – Approximate Site and nearby Bus Stops Photographs 1 and 2 show the A921 in the vicinity of the site, looking west and east respectively. Photograph 1 – A921 looking west, away from Aberdour Page 3 of 8 Photograph 2 – A921 looking east, towards Aberdour For new developments such as that proposed, it is important to have good connectivity for walking and cycling to existing development and services, easy access to good public transport services and also good and safe access arrangements for vehicles. Walking and Cycling Facilities There is an existing footway on the north side of the A921 into and through Aberdour. As the site fronts onto the A921, it would be possible to provide upgraded footways between the site access point(s) and the existing footways in Aberdour. The National Cycle Route 76 between St Andrews and Stirling passes through Aberdour, joining the A921 Inverkeithing Road at the St Colme Avenue junction just east of the site. Towards the west, the National Cycle Route starts as a traffic free route through the golf course and leads to Dalgety Bay and Inverkeithing and then on to Dunfermline or the Forth Road Bridge. Towards the east, there is a short on-road section of the path through Aberdour (passing the railway station and Primary School) and it then becomes a traffic free route to Burntisland, leading to Kinghorn and to Kirkcaldy on the way to St Andrews. National Cycle Route 76 also forms part of the long-distance routes promoted by Sustrans of Coast and Castles North and Round the Forth. Page 4 of 8 From the site, it would appear that it could be possible to create an eastbound link for pedestrian and cyclists to connect to an existing path which leads to Inverkeithing Road / High Street (see Photograph 4 below). This would enable traffic-free connections for pedestrians and cyclists to the west end of High Street. At this point, High Street is part of the on-road section of National Cycle Route 76. Photograph 4 – Existing Link at west end of High Street Public Transport There are eastbound and westbound bus stops within 400 metres on the A921, close to McLaughlin Rise, just to the east of the site. From an Internet search, bus routes serving these stops were identified and are as shown in Table 1 below. Service No Route Mon - Fri Saturday Sunday 7 / 7A Kirkcaldy Bus Station to Dunfermline Bus Station 3 / hour 3 / hour 1 / hour (Stagecoach) 57 / X57 Kirkcaldy Bus Station to Edinburgh Bus Station 1 bus per hour (via Ferry Toll Park and Ride) Table 1 – Bus Services It should be noted that bus services and timetables can be subject to change. Page 5 of 8 There is a railway station in Aberdour, some 800 metres to the east of the site. Adjacent stations are Dalgety Bay to the west and Burntisland to the east. Aberdour Station is managed by First ScotRail and is on the Fife Circle Line. It is served by two weekday daytime trains per hour which serve all stations between Edinburgh Waverley and Kirkcaldy. One an hour continues on to terminate at Markinch, while the other runs to Glenrothes and Thornton and continues round the Fife Circle Line returning to Edinburgh via Dunfermline. Therefore, the site is well served by public transport. Development Proposal It is proposed to develop the site for housing. Traffic Generation associated with some 100 houses would not create any traffic capacity issues in or around Aberdour. The Architect’s layout (Figure 2 above) shows a priority junction arrangement. As this drawing is indicative, some adjustment would be required around the junction to accommodate visibility splays etc. It might also be prudent to avoid development on any area required for a future roundabout which could also serve land to the south of the A921. With a priority or roundabout type of junction arrangement, standards for the access road to the A921 would be to the principles of the Design Manual for Roads and Bridges (DMRB) and Fife Council. For a priority junction, visibility splays at the access are essential to ensure road users can see oncoming vehicles and would be required in both directions. These are provided to enable emerging drivers to have adequate visibility in each direction to see oncoming traffic in sufficient time to make their manoeuvre safely without influencing the major road traffic speed. Drivers on the major road shall also have forward visibility equivalent to the desirable minimum stopping sight distance to be aware of the presence of the access. For a 30mph road, the e X–distance (the set-back measured from the nearer edge of the major road running lane) should be 4.5 metres and the Y-distance (measured from nearer edge of main road on centre line of access) should be 90 metres. Such visibility splays would be required in both directions. Photographs 5 and 6 show the available visibility for a junction on the north side of the road, close to the existing 30 mile per hour speed limit. Page 6 of 8 Photographs 5 and 6 – Existing Visibility from possible Site Access The access junction is shown outside the existing 30 mile per hour speed limit area. Hence, the speed limit would have to be moved to a point west of the access. Distances and off-peak drive times from the proposed access off the B7015 to the following nearby attractions were identified using the computer program Microsoft AutoRoute. Dunfermline 8.1 miles 11 minutes off-peak drive time Kirkcaldy 9.3 miles 11 minutes off-peak drive time Glenrothes 18.5 miles 17 minutes off-peak drive time Edinburgh Airport 14.7 miles 19 minutes off-peak drive time Edinburgh Centre 16.4 miles 22 minutes off-peak drive time Figure 4 below shows the off-peak 10 and 20 minute drive time isochrones, again identified using the computer program Microsoft AutoRoute. Figure 4 – 10 and 20 minute (Off-Peak) Drive Time Isochrones Page 7 of 8 In conclusion, it is my opinion that: - The site could be well served by pedestrian and cycle routes to Aberdour and beyond The site is well served by existing bus services to Kirkcaldy, Ferry Toll Park & Ride, Dunfermline and Edinburgh, with bus stops within 400 metres of the site access position The site is well served by train services from Aberdour Station, some 800 metres away An appropriate junction could be formed off the A921 Traffic generation from the proposed housing developments would not create any link or junction capacity issues I trust this is of assistance and look forward to hearing from you. Yours sincerely, John McIlhagger CC Peter Bell, Campion Homes Page 8 of 8.