DAVIDSONS DEVELOPMENTS LTD PROPOSED RESIDENTIAL DEVELOPMENT ON LAND OFF WYKIN LANE, STOKE GOLDING, LEICESTERSHIRE SURVEY OF PEDESTRIAN AND CYCLIST MOVEMENTS ON WYKIN LANE ADC Infrastructure Limited Suite 3a, King Edward Court King Edward Street Nottingham NG1 1EW www.ADCinfrastructure.com project number: ADC2042 report reference: ADC2042-RP-F version date author comments 1 Rebecca Leconte internal draft 2 19/08/2020 Rebecca Leconte first issue to Davidsons WYKIN LANE, STOKE GOLDING SURVEY OF PEDESTRIAN AND CYCLIST MOVEMENTS ON WYKIN LANE ADC2042-RP-F-v2 INTRODUCTION 1. Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council refused an outline application for a residential development of up to 55 dwellings on land at Wykin Lane in Stoke Golding, Leicestershire (application reference 19/01324/OUT). There were two reasons for refusal. One was related to highways: “the proposed development would lead to an unacceptable increase in traffic movements, including commuter and delivery vehicles, especially in the evening, along Wykin Lane, which is a single track road. This would result in a severe impact upon the safety of vehicular traffic as well as cyclists and pedestrians, and is therefore contrary to Policy DM17 of the Site Allocations and Development Management Policies DPD (2016).” 2. The Transport Statement that was submitted as part of the outline application assessed the impact of the development on the highway network. It examined the amount of traffic that would be created, its routing on the highway network, existing traffic volumes, speeds, accident records, and other context. The Transport Statement concluded that, in accordance with paragraph 109 of the NPPF, the development would not have an unacceptable impact on highway safety or a severe impact on the highway network. 3. This conclusion was mirrored in the 17 February 2020 consultation response of Leicestershire County Council (LCC), the local highway authority. They stated that “in its view, the impacts of the development on highway safety would not be unacceptable, and when considered cumulatively with other developments, the impacts on the road network would not be severe” (Appendix A). Despite these conclusions, the refusal included the highways reason quoted above. 4. The reason for refusal specifically refers to cyclists and pedestrians. The Transport Statement submitted with the application assessed the impact on all road users. However, it did not quantify the pedestrian and cycle movements on Wykin Lane. Therefore, there was no factual context and the perceived impact of the development traffic on pedestrian and cycle safety was subjective when the application was refused. This paper has been prepared to evidence the number of pedestrians and cyclists using Wykin Lane SURVEY METHODOLOGY 5. There are no footways on Wykin Lane, but there are six public footpaths that connect to it. These are rural footpaths used by leisure walkers. They are shown on Figure 1. In addition, Wykin Lane and Stoke Lane are recommended on-road cycle routes in LCC’s network (see Figure 7 of the Transport Statement). They are used both by commuter and leisure cyclists. 6. Camera surveys were undertaken at each of the six public footpaths, to quantify the number of pedestrians, cyclists, and equestrians, that used Wykin Lane and the footpaths. The surveys were undertaken on Thursday 16 July 2020, in dry conditions, between 7am and 7pm. 7. The surveys were undertaken during the Covid-19 pandemic, but after lockdown had been partially lifted. The results of the surveys are therefore a worst case. This is because there are many people furloughed or working from home, and many more children not attending school than in usual conditions. Working patterns and travel patterns were disrupted and, whilst vehicular traffic had decreased, there were more people walking and cycling. In seeking consent to carry out the surveys, LCC agreed that the results would “represent a worst case scenario along the route given the current circumstances”. 8. Analysis by the Transport Technology Forum of local authority travel and transport data finds that cycling levels on Thursday 16 July 2020 were 53% higher than the baseline (1-7 February 2 WYKIN LANE, STOKE GOLDING SURVEY OF PEDESTRIAN AND CYCLIST MOVEMENTS ON WYKIN LANE ADC2042-RP-F-v2 2020)1. The Department for Transport reports cycling levels to be 167% of a 1 March 2020 baseline2. Neither organisation produce figures for pedestrian journeys, although greater increases are likely. 1 2 4 3 5 6 Figure 1: plan showing the public footpaths that cross Wykin Lane and Stoke Lane 1 https://www.ttf.uk.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/08-LA-travel-and-transport-data-Weekly-Digest-20-Jul- 20.pdf 2 https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/transport-use-during-the-coronavirus-covid-19-pandemic 3 WYKIN LANE, STOKE GOLDING SURVEY OF PEDESTRIAN AND CYCLIST MOVEMENTS ON WYKIN LANE ADC2042-RP-F-v2 SURVEY RESULTS 9. The full survey results are in Appendix B. A summary of the results is shown in the table below. Footpath 1 is the most northern footpath, closest to the site, and Footpath 6 is the most southern footpath, closest to Wykin village. pedestrian cyclist equestrian northb’d southb’d northb’d southb’d northb’d southb’d 1 AM peak hr (8-9am) 2 6 5 5 0 0 PM peak hr (5-6pm) 5 6 7 10 0 0 7am-7pm 53 58 59 74 1 0 2 AM peak hr (8-9am) 2 6 5 5 0 0 PM peak hr (5-6pm) 5 6 8 10 0 0 7am-7pm 31 29 62 73 1 0 3 AM peak hr (8-9am) 1 5 3 3 0 0 PM peak hr (5-6pm) 8 4 9 9 0 0 7am-7pm 33 31 61 75 1 0 4 AM peak hr (8-9am) 1 5 3 4 0 0 PM peak hr (5-6pm) 1 4 7 9 0 0 7am-7pm 21 32 60 78 1 0 5 AM peak hr (8-9am) 1 5 3 5 0 0 PM peak hr (5-6pm) 3 6 10 9 0 0 7am-7pm 28 32 61 79 1 0 6 AM peak hr (8-9am) 1 4 3 5 0 0 PM peak hr (5-6pm) 3 8 10 9 0 0 7am-7pm 25 31 63 78 1 0 10. There were low numbers of pedestrians using the Wykin Lane carriageway in the peak hours. There were eight pedestrians recorded in the morning peak hour and 11 in the evening peak hour at the busiest end, closest to the site (footpaths 1 and 2). In 12 hours, there were 111 pedestrians recorded on Wykin Lane at the northern end (footpath 1), and 56 recorded at the southern end (footpath 6). 11. There were 10 cyclists recorded in the morning peak hour and 18 recorded in the evening peak hour on Wykin Lane. In 12 hours, there were 141 cyclists recorded on Wykin Lane. 12. Equestrian use is very low, with only one horse-rider recorded in 12 hours. 13. All these figures are greater than normal, given their recording during the pandemic. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS 14. This paper presents the results of a count of pedestrians, cyclists and equestrians using Wykin Lane. The results supplement the context and calculations in the Transport Statement that supported the planning application and allow an informed judgement on the potential impact of the additional development traffic on the safety of pedestrians and cyclists. The Proof of Evidence that is produced to support the appeal will conclude in detail on the impacts. 15. In advance of that, in the morning peak hour, the development will add 17 vehicles to Wykin Lane, a 20% increase on the existing 86 vehicle movements. Some of these extra vehicles, around one every 3.5 minutes, will interact with some of the pedestrians and cyclists that are also on Wykin Lane. The survey recorded 8 pedestrians and 10 cyclists during the morning peak hour, although these figures are inflated because they were recorded during the pandemic. 4 WYKIN LANE, STOKE GOLDING SURVEY OF PEDESTRIAN AND CYCLIST MOVEMENTS ON WYKIN LANE ADC2042-RP-F-v2 Taking the DfT’s figure of 167%, normal figures would be 5 pedestrians and 6 cyclists, equivalent to one every 10 minutes. 16. As determined in the Transport Statement, these pedestrians and cyclists are already using Wykin Lane, and yet no accidents have occurred. Conditions would be improved by the addition of passing places. The results of the survey reported in this paper reinforce the conclusions reached by the applicant and LCC, that the development would not have an unacceptable impact on highway safety. Contrary to the reason for refusal, there would not be a severe impact on the safety of vehicular traffic as well as cyclists and pedestrians. 5 WYKIN LANE, STOKE GOLDING SURVEY OF PEDESTRIAN AND CYCLIST MOVEMENTS ON WYKIN LANE ADC2042-RP-F-v2 APPENDIX A LCC CONSULTATION RESPONSE (17/02/2020) 6 Substantive response of the Local Highway Authority to a planning consultation received under The Development Management Order. Response provided under the delegated authority of the Director of Environment & Transport. ____________________________________________________________________________ APPLICATION DETAILS: Planning Application Number: 19/01324/OUT Highway Reference Number: 2019/1324/04/H/R1 Application Address: Land At Wykin Lane Stoke Golding Leicestershire Application Type: Outline (with access) Description of Application: Re-consultation. Residential development of up to 55 dwellings (Outline - access only) ____________________________________________________________________________ GENERAL DETAILS Planning Case Officer: Jenny Brader Applicant: Davidsons Developments Ltd County Councillor: Cllr Ivan Ould Parish: Stoke Golding Road Classification: Adopted Unclassified ____________________________________________________________________________ Substantive Response provided in accordance with article 22(5) of The Town and Country Planning (Development Management Procedure) (England) Order 2015: The Local Highway Authority Advice is that, in its view, the impacts of the development on highway safety would not be unacceptable, and when considered cumulatively with other developments, the impacts on the road network would not be severe.