The Planning Act 2008 The A556 (Knutsford to Bowdon Improvement) Development Consent Order 201[…] Examining Authority’s Report of Findings and Conclusions and Recommendation to the Secretary of State for Transport _______________________________________ Peter Robottom MA(Oxon) DipTP MRTPI MCMI Examining Authority Report to the Secretary of State 1 This page intentionally left blank Report to the Secretary of State 1 ExA’s findings and conclusions and recommendation in respect of The A556 (Knutsford to Bowdon Improvement) Development Consent Order 201[…] File Ref: TR010002 The application by the Highways Agency (HA), dated 23 April 2013, was made under section 37 of the Planning Act 2008 and was received in full by The Planning Inspectorate on 24 April 2013. On 24 January 2014, the applicant formally submitted changes to the original application and on 17 February 2014, the Secretary of State accepted these changes as non- material alterations. This report addresses the application as amended. The application was accepted for examination on 17 May 2013. The examination of the application began on 3 September 2013 and was completed on 3 March 2014. The development proposed comprises a 7.5 kilometre/4.7 mile improvement to the A556 trunk road in Cheshire between M6 Junction 19 near Knutsford, Cheshire and M56 Junction 7 near Bowdon in Greater Manchester. The scheme would improve the route to a consistent standard of modern dual carriageway. Its main aspects, as shown diagrammatically on the scheme plan in the Environmental Statement Non-Technical Summary (APP-032), include: . construction of a new, dual carriageway standard section of the A556 from M6 Junction 19 to a point north of Bucklow Hill to bypass Tabley, Mere and Bucklow Hill; . improvement of the existing A556 north of the new bypass section, from the point north of Bucklow Hill up to the M56; . improvement of the layout of M56 Junction 7 at Bowdon. improvement of the M6 Southbound carriageway between M6 Junction 19 and Knutsford Services; . creation of junctions at Tabley, the A50 and at Millington allowing local road traffic access to and from the new A556; . changes to existing adjacent local roads to allow connections with and over the new A556; . changes and improvements to facilities for non-motorised traffic to enable crossings of the new A556; . changes to the section of the current A556 to be bypassed, including the creation of additional facilities for non-motorised traffic along with measures to make the bypassed section more suitable as a road for rural, local traffic; . the transfer of responsibility for the section of the current A556 to be bypassed to the local highway authority, Cheshire East Council, and . measures to mitigate the environmental impacts. Summary of Recommendation: 1.1 Subject to the receipt of signed Agreements with Cheshire East Council, I recommend that the Secretary of State should make the Order in the form attached at Annex I. Report to the Secretary of State 1 Section Contents 2 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................... 3 3 MAIN FEATURES OF THE PROPOSAL AND SITE ................................. 6 4 LEGAL AND POLICY CONTEXT ...................................................... 14 ENVIRONMENTAL STATEMENTS AND PLANNING STATEMENTS ................. 14 PLANNING ACT 2008, AS AMENDED BY THE LOCALISM ACT 2011 - NATIONAL POLICY STATEMENTS ................................................................ 15 EUROPEAN REQUIREMENTS AND RELATED UK REGULATIONS ................. 16 5 FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS IN RELATION TO POLICY AND FACTUAL ISSUES ..................................................................................... 27 ENVIRONMENTAL STATEMENT AND ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT (EIA) .................................................................................. 32 THE PRINCIPLE OF THE DEVELOPMENT ............................................ 33 ALTERNATIVE OPTIONS ........................................................ 37 ENVIRONMENTAL CONSIDERATIONS ...................................... 53 OVERALL CONCLUSION ON THE MERITS OF THE ORDER (INCLUDING IN RELATION TO THE GREEN BELT AND THE DEVELOPMENT PLAN) ............... 72 6 FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS IN RELATION TO HABITATS REGULATIONS ........................................................................... 75 7 COMPULSORY ACQUISITION ........................................................ 78 8 DRAFT DEVELEOPMENT CONSENT ORDER .................................... 111 9 SUMMARY OF CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ................ 123 RECOMMENDATION ................................................................. 125 Appendices Contents ANNEX A - EXAMINATION LIBRARY ................................................... A1 ANNEX B - EVENTS IN THE EXAMINATION ........................................ A20 ANNEX C - LISTS OF ATTENDEES .................................................... A25 ANNEX D - LIST OF INTERESTED PARTIES ........................................ A33 ANNEX E - GLOSSARY OF ABBREVIATIONS ....................................... A35 ANNEX F - REPORT ON IMPACT ON EUROPEAN SITES ........................ A37 ANNEX G - HEADS OF TERMS FOR AGREEMENTS WITH CHESHIRE EAST COUNCIL .................................................................................. A51 ANNEX H - OTHER CONSENTS REQUIRED ......................................... A54 ANNEX I - RECOMMENDED DEVELOPMENT CONSENT ORDER .............. A55 Report to the Secretary of State 2 ERRATA SHEET – Knutsford to Bowdon - Ref. TR010002 Examining authority’s Report of Findings and Conclusions and Recommendation to the Secretary of State for the Department for Transport, dated 2 June 2014 Corrections agreed by the Examining Authority prior to a decision being made Page No. Paragraph Line Error Correction 5 2.13 6 Annex H Annex G 7 3.6 10 with within 7 3.7 1 Delete Second ‘would’ 7 3.7 8 sites Sites 9 3.16 2 include including 11 3.22 11 Document references are wrong- ExA meant to the references lead to refer to REP-159 “Rev1”documents and 160 and/or AS-079 22 4.39 8 considers consider, full stop missing at end of paragraph 31 5.13 2 Should read ‘…of the documents’ 35 5.29 6 association Association 41 5.47 14 attending attended 50 5.82 8 Should read ‘..is a factor..’ 50 5.83 7 show Show 53 5.93 1 Missing closing bracket after (RR-029) reference 55 5.106 7 Word(s) missing after Insert ‘request’ ‘..specific..’ 57 5.114 2 Delete ‘is’ Page No. Paragraph Line Error Correction 62 5.133 16 Missing space within document references 70 5.163 1 Land Lane 77 6.14 5-6 Duplicate ‘of the’ 80 7.7 2 Delete ‘General’ 100 7.94 8 Bolin Bollin 101 7.95 5 Order order 105 7.112 3 Superfluous ‘be’ 106 7.113 16 affairs Affairs 108 7.123(ii) 3 Superfluous ‘that Variant’ 109 7.123(iii) 4 7/r 7/4r 109 7.124 4 Should read ‘..may be appropriate..’ 110 7.127 2-3 Duplicate ‘is necessary’ 111 - - Heading to section 8 DEVELOPMENT ‘DEVELEOPMENT’ 112 8.6 13 relation of relation to 116 8.15 10 Missing word ‘..there are further..’ 117 8.19 12 7/r 7/4r 118 8.25 13 Annex J Annex I 120 8.30 1 recommends recommend 120 8.30 5 5.162 5.163 120 8.30 7 equestrian equestrians 120 8.32 7 Annex J Annex I 120 8.36 2 Annex J Annex I 2 INTRODUCTION 2.1 The application seeks development consent to authorise the construction of a 7.5 kilometre/4.7 mile improvement to the A556 trunk road in Cheshire between M6 Junction 19 near Knutsford, Cheshire and M56 Junction 7 near Bowdon in Greater Manchester. The scheme would improve the route to a consistent standard of modern dual carriageway. It also includes improvement to Junction 19 of the M6 and a length of the southbound carriageway of the M6 at its southern end and to Junction 7 of the M56 at its northern end. 2.2 The objectives of the scheme are set out in the accompanying Environmental Statement (APP-030) as: . to improve the local environment in Bucklow Hill and Mere; . to improve road safety and journey time reliability; . to reduce conflicts between local and long distance traffic; and . to minimise the environmental impacts of the proposed scheme both during construction and once the scheme is open. 2.3 It should be noted that all references are to links contained in the Examination Library that forms Annex A to this report. 2.4 Following acceptance of the application and the period of advertisement to enable relevant representations to be made, on 24 July 2013 the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government appointed Peter Robottom MA(Oxon) DipTP MRTPI MCMI as Examining Authority. Notice of this appointment is set out as Annex G to the letter issued under Rule 6 of the Infrastructure Planning (Examination Procedure) Rules 2010 on 24 July 2013 (DEC-003). The Rule 6 letter also enclosed a draft timetable for the Examination that was considered at the Preliminary Meeting held on Tuesday 3 September 2013. A timetable was subsequently published in the Rule 8 letter dated 12 September 2013 (DEC-004). This timetable was subsequently updated and extended by procedural decisions dated 10 October, 18 October and 9 December 2013 and 31 January 2014. The final timetable of the Examination is set out as Annex B. 2.5 Requests for information and questions initially under s89(3) of PA 2008 and subsequently under Rule 8 or 17 of the Infrastructure Planning (Examination Procedure) Rules 2010 as well as s89(3) were made on 24 July 2013, 12 September 2013, 18 October 2013, 16 December 2013, 21 January 2014, 31 January 2014 and 14 February 2014. 2.6 Accompanied site visits