Harworth Bircotes Step Change Programme Road Improvements PROMOTER’S INFORMATION Promoting Organisation: Bassetlaw District Council Mark Ladyman Contact name and role: (Director of Regeneration and Neighbourhood Services) Bassetlaw District Council, Queens Street, Worksop. Address: Nottinghamshire. S80 2AH Email: [email protected] Telephone: 01909 533160 SCHEME DETAILS Scheme name: Harworth Bircotes Step Change Programme: Road Improvements Scheme location: Harworth Bircotes, North Nottinghamshire Lead delivery organisation: Bassetlaw District Council Other delivery partners & roles: Nottinghamshire County Council Scheme Type (refer to and 100% Highways (New roads, widening, junction improvements) complete Annex 1) Which category / code (Annex 1) does the majority of your scheme T1 fall within: The scheme includes four separate road improvements spilt into two Total Scheme investment: 1 phases. This totals: £2.6m £1m from private investment Total Private investment: (£0.75m from developer contributions & £0.25m from CIL payments) Total Other public sector £0.65m from D2N2 LEP investment (non-SCRIF funding): SCRIF as % of total scheme Total SCRIF funding sought (£): £0.95m 36.5% investment: 1 The cost of the works is based on the costings derived in the District Wide Transport Assessment. The figures have been verified by the County Council, who will be delivering this project, and have confirmed no further additions need to be added to provide a realistic cost for delivering the proposed improvements. Harworth Bircotes Step Change Programme Road Improvements SCHEME SUMMARY Please provide a summary description of your scheme (approx. 300 words). Append any graphics. [Description to include a summary of scheme purpose, required investment, location, and direct and indirect benefits that will be delivered] The Council has developed an ambitious Step Change programme for Harworth Bircotes, as set out in its adopted Core Strategy, focused on the delivery of c.1500 new houses (including improvements to non- traditional housing stock); c.100 ha of new employment land; and focussed environmental improvements (chiefly public realm improvements to the town centre) over the next 15 years. The Council also wishes to secure the delivery of a key brownfield site, the former Harworth Colliery Site, for mixed use housing and employment development, comprising c.62ha of developable land (with planning permission for 996 houses and 76,645m2 of employment space, but has yet to be commenced). In order to facilitate this level of growth, improvements are required at key pressure points on the road network around Harworth Bircotes, to ensure that traffic continues to flow efficiently and to ensure that access to, and around, the town remains effective. This will ensure that it remains attractive to new residents and to businesses looking to locate to expansive areas with ready access to the A1; M1; and M18 The necessary road improvements (shown overall in Appendix A and in detail in Appendix B) to deliver the planned growth at Harworth Bircotes include: 1. A614 Bawtry Road/Blyth Road junction (introduction of traffic lights); 2. Blyth Road/Scrooby Road/Tickhill Road/Main Street junction (removing two mini roundabouts and replacing them with traffic lights); 3. A1/A614 junction (circulatory carriageway closed on one of the two feeder roundabouts to the A1(M) junction at Blyth); and 4. A614/Scrooby Road junction (traffic lights added and junction widened). The preparation for the road improvements will be done throughout 2014/15 with the delivery of the road improvements within two phases: Phase 1 (2015/16): road improvements 1, 2 and 3 Phase 2 (2016/17): road improvement 4 The road improvements will be partly funded through SCRIF, D2N2 Local Growth Fund, Developer contributions and CIL payments that the Council is expecting to receive. For more details, please see Appendix C. The injection of public sector funding could accelerate the delivery rates in Harworth as it is felt these are the fundamental improvements which will unlock the existing permissions and to ensure that the delivery of the second phase of employment sites come forward in a timely fashion to deliver the regeneration benefits and the step change planned for Harworth Bircotes. The percentage ask from the SCRIF has been calculated through establishing what other sources of funding is available and how important the road improvement is to the delivery of the economic benefits. For this reason, road improvements 1 and 3 in phase 1 are seeking a 75% contribution (the remaining the 25% will come from the D2N2 bid or if this is not successful, the Council will secure the funding either through CIL or developer contributions) to ensure swift delivery of these junctions. 25% of the cost of the other junctions are being applied for to link in with the other LEP bid/CIL/developers contributions, as these can be delivered at a later stage and allows for more match funding to be secured. Why is the Scheme needed and what it will deliver for the Sheffield City Region (approx. 300 words) Harworth Bircotes Step Change Programme Road Improvements This scheme will unlock a significant area of highly marketable and otherwise unconstrained employment land within the Sheffield City Region (see Appendix D). The economic growth planned is outlined in the Council’s Core Strategy (and the sites either with planning permission or are included within the Council’s Site Allocation Preferred Options document), which will result in inward investment and job creation. It is anticipated that the proposed levels of development identified in the Site Allocation Preferred Options document will lead to the creation of between 5,000 and 12,000 jobs over the plan period and enable Harworth Bircotes to make the step change it requires in its social and economic fortunes. The scheme will mitigate the effects on traffic flow caused by the proposed levels of growth set out for the town in the Core Strategy. It will also enable the delivery of highways schemes originally planned to be delivered as part of the former Colliery permission, which, until they are secured, could delay other development coming forward. Given the 15 year permission on the Colliery site, and the current lack of development there, it is important that alternative sources of investment are secured to deliver transport improvements for the wider benefit of the town. The road improvements have been identified as part of the District Wide Transport Assessment due to the impact of the proposed levels of growth identified in the Site Allocations Preferred Options document. The junctions above are identified as requiring improving for the following reasons: 1. Blyth Road is forecasted to be at 97% stress levels with the proposed levels of growth and traffic through this junction is experience material increases in 2-way traffic flows as a result of growth traffic2 2. The two mini-roundabouts on Blyth Road at its junctions with Scrooby Road and Main Street/Bawtry Road (see image overleaf) also suffer from existing capacity issues. The Blyth Road through the junctions is forecast to experience material increases in 2-way traffic flows as a result of growth traffic3 3. This junction was recently improved by the Highways Agency, but already experiences peak period congestion and will require improvement to be able to accommodate additional traffic flows as a result of future growth proposals4 4. This junction is currently a key link between Harworth town centre and the A614 and will experience increase flows of traffic with the proposed levels of growth planned for Harworth5. Furthermore, the scheme will work alongside other partners in the private sector to ensure that these sites deliver the economic benefits in a timely fashion, which are unable to be funded elsewhere. 1. STRATEGIC CASE SHEFFIELD CITY REGION STRATEGIC VISION & OBJECTIVES Vision: Sheffield City Region will be the best place to collaborate, to invest, to innovate and grow a business, and live, work, play and study. It will be supported by an unrivalled skills base and quality of life. Objectives: this vision to be delivered by: Increasing the Sheffield City Region’s Gross Value Added (GVA); 2 Taken from the District Wide Transport Assessment March 2014 table 9 and para 8.2.102 3 Taken from the District Wide Transport Assessment March 2014 para 8.2.108 4 Taken from the District Wide Transport Assessment March 2014 para 8.2.96 5 Taken from the District Wide Transport Assessment March 2014 para 8.2.113 Harworth Bircotes Step Change Programme Road Improvements Increasing the number of jobs in the Sheffield City Region / overall employment rate; Rebalancing the economic base of the City Region, by: 1) increasing the proportion of the workforce employed in the private sector; and 2) helping address the economic performance gap that exists between the City Region (as with other northern city regions) and the Greater South East; and Capitalising and enhancing the quality of life in the Sheffield City Region and delivering sustainable economic growth. 1.1 SCHEME RATIONALE What opportunity or barrier will SCRIF investment unlock? Please make specific reference to barriers to economic growth. (approx. 500 words) The proposed scheme will serve to unlock the future economic growth identified in the Core Strategy and detailed in the Site Allocations Preferred Options document, through the Harworth Colliery planning permission and in the Site Allocations document (which is currently under development). The SCRIF investment will allow the swift delivery of c.100 ha of new employment land over the next 15 years (c. 400,000spm of B1, B2, and B8 land uses) (through the developments at E2 and E3 – see Appendix G for indicative scheme submitted as part of the outline application) and the 76,645m2 of employment space granted as part of the colliery application (see Appendix H for indicative scheme). For more details on the proposed levels of growth, please refer to the map in Appendix A.