Brecon Beacons National Park Authority PLANNING, ACCESS AND RIGHTS OF WAY COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE DIRECTOR OF PLANNING ON APPLICATIONS FOR DETERMINATION BY THE PLANNING, ACCESS AND RIGHTS OF WAY COMMITTEE Page 1 of 52 APPLICATION NUMBER: 17/15291/FUL APPLICANTS NAME(S): Powys County Council SITE ADDRESS: Land Off Cerrigcochion Road Brecon Powys LD3 9SR GRID REF: E: 305287 N:229237 COMMUNITY: Brecon DATE VALIDATED: 21 September 2017 DECISION DUE DATE: 5 December 2107 CASE OFFICER: Donna Bowhay PROPOSAL Construction of a new high school, access, parking and associated works ADDRESS Land Off Cerrigcochion Road, Brecon , Powys Page 2 of 52 CONSULTATIONS/COMMENTS Mid And West Wales Wales Fire And Rescue Service 28th Sep 2017 I acknowledge receipt of your e-mail and letter dated 25th September 2017 in relation to the above proposed development. The Fire and Rescue Service will make comment on the submission once planning has been approved and the necessary plans are submitted to this Service by the local authority Building Control department or an Approved Inspector as part of the full consultation process. Should you require any further advice please contact the above-named Officer. Powys County Council Leisure And Recreation No comments received to-date. Sustrans Cymru 17th Oct 2017 Thanks you for allowing Sustrans the opportunity to comment on the design of the new school The 21st Century schools program all over Wales has consistently ignored the design outside of the school boundary and has not considered or provided adequate means to allow pupils and staff to access the new school by foot or cycle. This project has an opportunity to change that trend and ensure that walking and cycling provision is provided to standards set out in the Active Travel Act Guidance and the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015. The project must consider complete routes to the school that will allow the 36 per cent of pupils and 2 per cent of staff to access the school. Often provision is only considered at points just outside the school such as light controlled crossings. These complete route need to be considered for all those pupils that do not have access to school transport, therefore, where practical, a radius of 3 miles. Recent surveys conducted as part of the active travel INM stakeholder engagement revealed a very low number of students at the high school who currently use active travel, with the common complaint being the existing poor facilities to the school. The new school presents the opportunity to address this Page 3 of 52 issue and make improvements. Getting more people travelling to this site by sustainable means will increase health and well-being and will reduce traffic movements. Reducing vehicle traffic will make walking and cycling more attractive, reduce pollution and reduce potential conflict between people and vehicles. Comment - Noted and agreed. The design and access statement in its original format did not consider walking and cycling at all and yet it considers transport links. This suggests that walking and cycling has only been considered very late on in the design process and therefore walking and cycling measures are inadequate. It states that lots of students will arrive by vehicle, so it ignores the needs of the 36% of students who presently walk to school. This needs to be addressed in the report. This is demonstrated by the design of the bus access to the school where vehicles are driving in, turning around and going back out. This is a design that is going to bring conflict between vulnerable people on foot or cycling with moving vehicles. Poor designs in these areas have resulted in serious accidents and a number of parent lead demonstrations recently complaining about such provisions. There appears to have been an opportunity missed to bring the majority all vehicle movements to the front of the school near to the existing highway. We understand that this was considered but there were concerns about potential vehicle accidents on the highway. It therefore appears that vulnerable people walking and cycling have been considered to be less important than those travelling in vehicles. The design of the site and the network of walking and cycling routes around it needs to consider the findings of the on-going Active Travel Act (ATA) Integrated Network Map (INM) consultation. The design of the site and the surrounding network of walking and cycling routes needs to look carefully at the standards set out in Appendix A of the ATA design guidance and special attention should be made to: o Width of footways o Width of shared use paths (i.e. for walking and cycling) o Surfacing of shared use paths - Must be machine laid, not by hand as is often the case. Comment - Noted In summary the design of the school site should include a network of good quality routes constructed to ATA standards that will support existing walking and cycling and encourage more people to travel sustainably. It should, where practical, cover a 3 mile radius of the school to support pupils that do not have access to school transport. Brecon Cricket Club No comments received to-date. Brecon Athletic Club 15th Oct 2017 Page 4 of 52 Brecon Athletic Club is one of Brecon's most successful sporting community clubs, which have been training athletes for 50 years. The club currently has a healthy membership of 250 aged 7 years and upwards. Due to the facilities it offers, superb coaching team and location within Wales the club is fortunate enough to host many national athletic events throughout the year. These qualities also attracted Olympic medallist Colin Jackson to train with the club. We recognise and are fully supportive of the need for a new high school in Brecon. We feel a new, modern high school will have a hugely positive affect on the area, attracting more children to the school and families to the area. This in turn will strengthen the community of Brecon so it is imperative the sporting facilities at Penlan are not jeopardised in any way under the proposals of the new high school. The athletics facilities at Penlan are the only facilities between the M4 corridor and Wrexham and as a result Brecon Athletic Club hosts a number of school, regional and National competitions throughout the year. It is therefore vital the athletics track and surrounding facilities are carefully considered in this application to ensure continued strength of the club and existing community use. Given the importance of this sporting facility, our areas of concern with the proposal are: o Proximity of the school site and boundary fence to the existing track and field facilities. Looking at Site location plan 578218, we have two main areas of concern: o The track finish line - many officials need to be located at this point. Tents / gazebos are required as shelter for the officials in this area. Welsh Athletics supply additional time/officiating equipment; all of this equipment is normally positioned in this area. The proposed plans would not allow sufficient space for this to happen. This is also an area for many spectators to watch. As the spectator stand is not fit for use (most of the seats have been removed) spectators wish to be along the 100m straight as close to the finish line as possible. Many of the larger school and national events attract several hundred competitors and spectators therefore space needs to be provided to both groups. (see attached photograph) o Disabled /emergency first aid access to the pavilion is via the back of the pavilion - again with such a close boundary this would not be possible. o Re-location of the existing external throws cage. On Site Plan 578206 the cage has been relocated to an adjacent football pitch outside of the athletics facilities i.e. on land owned by Powys County Council. This field event would not be able to run in conjunction with any football / sporting activities taking place at the same time for obvious safety reasons. o Given the poor state of the existing pavilion and spectator stand which will be in extreme close proximity to the school, is there potential to invest in new or improve provision of these for mutual benefits for all users under a Section 106 Agreement. Should this be possible it would then create a facility to benefit the whole community, improving Page 5 of 52 physical activity through sports for the Brecon area. If the existing spectator stand were to remain in its current format, then one element of the stand would face the school. o The proposed plans show trees planted on the boundary between the school and right behind the pavilion. There is concern over the safety of trees / large shrubbery growing in this location should the roots grow excessively causing structural damage to the pavilion and stand. Plus the shading of sunlight on the pavilion. Ultimately, the survival of Brecon Athletic Club relies on the availability and 'fitness for purpose' of the track and pavilion. If the track and pavilion are compromised in any way this would dramatically affect the clubs reputation and ability to host events necessary for the successful continuation of the club. We hope the above points will be given careful consideration prior to authorizing the proposed plans. Powys County Council Contaminated Land 11th Oct 2017 The following documents have been submitted in support of Planning Application 17/15291/FUL: Arcadis Consulting (UK) Ltd 'Brecon High School Replacement, Brecon: Phase 1 Geo- Environmental Desk Study (ref: 004-UA006590-16-UP32R-01) December 2016. Integral Geotechnique Brecon High School, Brecon - Site Investigation Report (ref: 12038/JJ/17/SI/RevA) September 2017.