ODYSSEY MARKIDES TECHNICAL NOTE PROJECT : Land at Hartswood Farm, Reigate JOB NO. : 14-281 NOTE TITLE : Highways & Transport Overview AUTHOR : DCP / RJH APPROVED : ACM DATE : November 2014 1.0 INTRODUCTION 1.1 This technical note provides a highways and transport overview with respect to the potential to bring forward land at Hartswood Farm in Reigate for residential development. 1.2 The site has the potential for c.250 dwellings and is located to the south of Slipshatch Road as shown in Figure 1. 1.3 Section 2.0 sets out how vehicular and pedestrian access to the site could be achieved, Section 3.0 considers the site’s accessibility to the wider sustainable transport network, whilst Section 4.0 considers the traffic impact on the local highway network. A summary and conclusions are given at Section 5.0. 2.0 SITE ACCESS 2.1 The site benefits from a c.170m highway frontage with Slipshatch Road. This includes a simple priority junction with the existing road to Hartswood Farm itself, which is now converted to residential dwellings. 2.2 Slipshatch Road is c.4.5m to 5m wide and is subject to a 60mph speed limit for the majority of the frontage except for the last few metres at the eastern end where a 30mph limit commences on the entry to the adjacent residential area. At the existing farm access junction visibility is not available to the full 60mph standard due to the curvature of Slipshatch Road however the available visibility splay equates to over 50mph to the west and over 40mph to the east, refer Drawing 14-281-001A. Whilst this will ultimately DCP/RJH/Reports/14-281-02 1 LAND AT HARTSWOOD FARM, REIGATE 14-281 Technical Note – Highways & Transport Overview November 2014 _________________________________________________________________________________________________________ need verifying by a speed survey this is likely to be sufficient, not least because any development of the site would also be accompanied by relocating the start of the 30mph limit further to the west past the farm access. 2.3 Given the position of the farm access on the frontage this was considered to be the most logical way of serving the proposed development, whilst in doing so retaining the access route through to the farm dwellings. The existing farm access road is only c.3m to 3.5m wide so in order to serve 250 dwellings it would need to be widened out to 5.5m as shown on Drawing 14-281-001A. The widening has been undertaken on the western side in order to avoid tree root protection zones. 2.4 The access to the main area of the residential development can then route eastwards. Although the farm access is tree lined it is envisaged that this route could be achieved with the loss of only one tree. 2.5 For a development of c.250 dwellings a simple priority junction with Slipshatch Road should provide sufficient capacity to service the site. It is not considered necessary to provide a ghost island right turn lane in if the 30mph limit is extended and as the flows from the west into the site are anticipated to be light. 2.6 It is understood that the land to the north of Slipshatch Road is also being promoted in which case a roundabout junction would enable both sites to be served; an indicative arrangement is shown on Drawing 14-281-002. 2.7 At 250 dwellings the site itself would likely require a secondary, emergency access. The logical means of providing this is as part of a shared footway / cycleway link. In terms of location the desire line for pedestrians would be to the east towards the existing residential area hence locating it at the north eastern corner of the site as shown on Drawing 14-281-001A. This will tie in with the extent of the existing footway on the southern side of Slipshatch Road which currently finishes at the last house. Providing this link into the site may avoid the need to provide a footway along the remainder of the site frontage so long as the internal site layout is arranged to channel pedestrians to the north east rather than out along the vehicular access. 2.8 Following review of the ecology report we noted the hedgerow which sits to the left of the main field following the line of the brook is classed as important. We have therefore prepared two alternative access options should the development be contained to the east of the hedgerow (reference ‘H4’). Alternative priority junction option two is shown on Drawing 14-281-003 and positions the main access between the hedgerow H4 and the eastern site boundary. We have not shown it but emergency access could be provided at an appropriate location from the existing farm access. Option 3 is shown on Drawing 14- 281-004 and provides a link into the main field off the existing farm access track but only once it is past where hedgerow H4 intersects. For this option the emergency access would be provided in the same way as on the original layout. DCP/RJH/Reports/14-281-02 2 LAND AT HARTSWOOD FARM, REIGATE 14-281 Technical Note – Highways & Transport Overview November 2014 _________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 3.0 SUSTAINABLE ACCESSIBILITY 3.1 As set out above the existing footway network serves the last house on Slipshatch Road at the north eastern corner of the site. This continues eastwards into the wider footway network that serves the existing residential areas of Woodhatch and South Park and the facilities within them. These include local shops and the YMCA sports and community centre that are both located on Slipshatch Road only 300 to 350m to the east of the site boundary. There are no existing public footpaths across the site. 3.2 The nearest bus stops to the site are located 400m from the site boundary at the junction of Slipshatch Road with Sandcross Lane and Prices Lane, refer Figure 2. These are served by bus routes 430/435 which are operated by Metrobus and connect the site to Reigate, East Surrey Hospital, Redhill and Merstham. Each route runs at a typical half hourly frequency Monday to Saturday and hourly during the late evening and on Sundays and public holidays. Due to the partial circular nature of the routes the frequency for journeys to and from Redhill town centre and Merstham actually doubles thereby giving a typical 15 minute frequency or 30 minutes during the evening and on Sundays, refer timetables contained in Appendix A. 3.3 Initial discussions with the bus operator confirm that most routes are operating within acceptable occupancy levels. The busiest journey through Woodhatch is the 0734 route 435 from Merstham as it carries large numbers of schoolchildren to Redhill and Reigate School; this is very busy when running through Prices Lane. The 0748 on route 430 also has high patronage but is relatively quiet by the time it gets to Prices Lane as it drops the children off at Reigate School beforehand. 3.4 In respect of the distance to the site the 400m from the site boundary equates to the recommended maximum to a bus stop, that said in London a distance of 640m is taken for a stop to be ‘accessible’. By coincidence the distance from the site boundary to the centre of the developable site area, i.e. excluding floodplain, is 240m. We would assert that the majority of the site would be accessible. In this respect it is worth noting that CIHT’s report on “Providing for Journeys on Foot” has concluded that four fifths of short journeys under one mile were made on foot and of all journeys under two miles almost 60% were walked. Furthermore is it highly unlikely that the operator would agree to diverting the existing route in order to serve the site at a closer distance. This may change if the land to the north was also to come forward as well although we note that most of this land is within 400m of the stops on Sandcross Lane, pending confirmation of boundaries. 3.5 The buses provide access to rail services at Redhill at a typical 15 minute frequency and to Reigate and Earlswood stations at a typical 30 minute frequency. Redhill station sits at the junction of the Brighton mainline and the North Downs and Tonbridge lines. As such it benefits regular trains to a range of services to destinations including East Croydon, London Bridge, London Victoria, Tonbridge, Gatwick, Horsham, Dorking, Guildford and Reading, refer rail network map in Appendix B. DCP/RJH/Reports/14-281-02 3 LAND AT HARTSWOOD FARM, REIGATE 14-281 Technical Note – Highways & Transport Overview November 2014 _________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 3.6 As well as bus access each of these three stations are within cycling distance of the site with Earlswood at 3.5km, Reigate 4km and Redhill 4.5km. 3.7 Slipshatch Road and Prices Lane are signed routes on the Surrey Cycleway and National Cycle Network, whilst Sandcross Lane is a recommended cycle route. These form parter of the wider cycle network which serves Reigate and Redhill, refer Appendix C. 4.0 TRAFFIC IMPACT 4.1 The vehicle trip generation for the proposed development was estimated using the TRICS database. The trip rates and number of trips for 250 residential units during the AM and PM peak hours are shown in Table 4.1 whilst Appendix D contains the TRICS output data. Table 4.1: Residential Trip Rates & Traffic Generation AM Peak Hour PM Peak Hour (08:00‐09:00) (17:00‐18:00) In Out In Out Trip rates (per dwelling) 0.118 0.411 0.340 0.196 Trips (250 dwellings) 30 103 85 49 4.2 To put the traffic generation into context historic traffic count data has been obtained from Surrey County Council for the junction of Flanchford Road and Clayhall Lane to the west of the site and at the junction of Prices Lane and Western Parade to the east.