Transport Statement Appendix I CastlePrimarySchool AUGUST2011 Transport Statement Extension of Castle Primary School St George’s Street Northampton For Galliford Try Report Reference: 4622R002 TS Date: August 2011 BCALCONSULTING. Lloyds Bank Chambers, Market Street, Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, NN8 1AA Telephone: 01933 440024 Fax: 01933 440041 E-mail: [email protected] Web: www.bcal.co.uk 4622 R002 Transport Statement Extension of Castle Primary School, Northampton August 2011 REVISION RECORD Report Ref: 4622R002 TS Rev Description Date Originator Checked - Planning Issue 02-08-2011 MA PK Disclaimers This report has been prepared for the sole use of the named client and, consequently, is confidential to the client and his professional advisors. The Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999 does not apply, nothing in this report confers or purports to confer on any third party any benefit or right. No responsibility whatsoever is accepted to any other person than the named client and, consequently, the contents of this report should not be relied upon by third parties for the whole or any part of its contents. This report is made on behalf of BCAL, no individual is personally liable, and by receiving this report and acting upon it, the client - or any third party relying on it - accepts that no individual is personally liable in contract, tort, or breach of statutory duty (including negligence). O:projects\4600\4622\Admin\4622R002TS\4622R002TS.pdf 1 4622 R002 Transport Statement Extension of Castle Primary School, Northampton August 2011 Contents Page Page No. 4622R002 TS Contents Page 2 1.0 Introduction 3 2.0 Site Description and Proposed School Extension 3 3.0 Surrounding Highway Infrastructure 3 4.0 Site Access and Parking 4 5.0 Traffic Observations 4 6.0 Sustainable Forms of Transport 5 7.0 Assessment of Vehicular Impact 7 8.0 Existing Recorded Accident Statistics 8 9.0 Conclusion 9 Appendices Appendix A Location Plan BCAL drawing no. 4622-21 Appendix B Proposed Site / Ground Floor Plan GHM Rock Townsend drawing no. RX-2876-CP-04 Appendix C Travelling Distances BCAL drawing no. 4622-22 Appendix D Bus Route Map and Time Tables Appendix E Trip Generation Rates from NMMS Appendix F Accident Data O:projects\4600\4622\Admin\4622R002TS\4622R002TS.pdf 2 4622 R002 Transport Statement Extension of Castle Primary School, Northampton August 2011 1.0 Introduction 1.1 This report comprises a Transport Statement in support of a planning application for the proposed extension of Castle Primary School. Castle Primary School is located off St George’s Street, Northampton. 1.2 The objective of this report is to provide the Planning Authority and Local Highway Authority (LHA) with sufficient information to consider the highways issues of the proposed school extension for a planning application. 1.3 The reports were scoped with Mr M. Tilley of Northamptonshire County Council who advised that a Transport Statement would be the appropriate level of assessment for the proposed extension of Castle Primary School. 2.0 Site Description and Proposed School Extension 2.1 Castle Primary School is located off St George’s Street, Northampton as shown on the location plan enclosed in Appendix A. The school is located on the edge of the centre of Northampton in a predominately residential area. 2.2 Castle Primary School is for pupils aged from 4 to 11 years. The school is currently expanding from a 1.5 to a 2 form entry. The school currently has capacity for 315 pupils an additional half form for the school will result in a proposed capacity of 420 pupils. The expansion at Castle School will result in approximately 7 additional members of staff. The proposed development is shown on the plan enclosed in Appendix B. 3.0 Surrounding Highway Infrastructure 3.1 The surrounding highway infrastructure is shown in Appendix C. The vehicular access to the school is located off St George’s Street. St George’s Street is a cul-de-sac subject to a 32kph (20mph) speed restriction. St George’s Street connects with Barrack Road to the east via a left in / left out arrangement. St George’s Street is bound by footways on both sides of the carriageway. 3.2 The school also has a pedestrian access which is located off the Barrack Road within close proximity of the existing staggered Puffin crossing. Barrack Road is bound by footways on both sides of the carriageway and is generally subject to a 48kph (30mph) speed restriction. There are illuminated 20mph warning signs on Barrack Road which are switched on during school arrival and departure times. 3.3 St Georges Street is subject to a 2 hour parking limited in designated bays between 0800 and 1300 with no return within one hour. Barrack Road within the vicinity of the pedestrian access is subject to a no waiting restriction on both sides of the carriageway. O:projects\4600\4622\Admin\4622R002TS\4622R002TS.pdf 3 4622 R002 Transport Statement Extension of Castle Primary School, Northampton August 2011 4.0 Site Access and Parking 4.1 The school has a single vehicular access located off St George’s Street Road. This access is gated and partially closed to discourage parent usage at the beginning and end of the school day. 4.2 The school has two pedestrian accesses, one of which is located off St George’s Street adjacent to the vehicular access. A second pedestrian access is located off Barrack Road within close proximity of the staggered Puffin crossing. 4.3 The existing school has 30 parking spaces which includes 4 disabled spaces. The proposed school will provide 34 parking spaces including 4 disabled spaces. 5.0 Vehicle Movement Observations 5.1 Vehicle movements at the school were observed on the 22nd June 2011 between 08:00 and 09:00. During this time it was noted that St George’s Street was lightly trafficked as it is a cul-de-sac and does not offer through routes. 5.2 From observation it would appear that there is a high level of walking to and from the school by guardians and pupils. The high level of walking is probably encouraged by surrounding highway infrastructure which is not sympathetic for car users wishing to drop their children at the school and continue their journey. 5.3 The relatively small number of pupils who were dropped off by their guardians tended to park near the gates on St George’s Street. 5.4 Movements at the pedestrian access on Barrack Road were also observed. From observation it would appear that people who utilised this access generally walked to school and did not park within the vicinity of the school gates. 5.5 There were no observed traffic movement issues which we believe could be significantly exacerbated by the proposed extension of Castle Primary School. O:projects\4600\4622\Admin\4622R002TS\4622R002TS.pdf 4 4622 R002 Transport Statement Extension of Castle Primary School, Northampton August 2011 6.0 Sustainable Forms of Transport 6.1 The available sustainable transport infrastructure resources, within the vicinity of the proposed extension are set out below. Details are correct at the time of writing the report. The location of sustainable transport facilities and walking / cycling distances are shown in Appendix C. 6.2 Walking 6.2.1 The surrounding local highway infrastructure is described in section 3. Walking distances, to various locations are shown on the plan enclosed in Appendix C. 6.2.2 Suggested acceptable walking distances for school journeys which were produced by Institution of Highways and Transportation (IHT) are shown in table 1 below. It can be seen on the plan enclosed in Appendix C that a large number of residential dwellings are located within the IHT acceptable walking distance of 1000m. Desirable Acceptable Preferred Maximum Suggested Acceptable Walking 500m 1000m 2000m Distance – School Table 1: Extract of Table 3.2 from ‘Providing for Journeys on Foot’ - IHT 6.2.3 The existing pedestrian network will therefore provide adequate links for the proposed new pupils at the school. 6.2.4 The existing footway widths would appear to be appropriate for existing and proposed pedestrian trips. 6.3 Cycling 6.3.1 The proposed extension will connect with the surrounding local highway infrastructure which provides adequate facilities for those predicted to be generated by the school extension. PPG 13 states that cycling has the potential to substitute the car for journeys less than 5km, it is shown in Appendix C that a significant number of residential dwellings are located within a 5km travel distance. O:projects\4600\4622\Admin\4622R002TS\4622R002TS.pdf 5 4622 R002 Transport Statement Extension of Castle Primary School, Northampton August 2011 6.4 Public Buses 6.4.1 The school is served by two bus stops located on Barrack Road near the schools pedestrian access. These bus stops provide two-way access to bus routes shown on the route map enclosed in Appendix D. General bus service frequencies are set out in table 2 below and are correct at the time of preparing this report. Full bus time tables for the bus routes can be found in Appendix D. Service Route Frequency Monday – Saturday Sunday 4 Northampton Town Centre – Every 10 mins ≈07:15 to Every 30 mins Kingsthorpe – Holly Lodge ≈18:50 then every 45 mins ≈09:00 until Drive until ≈20:15 then 1 further ≈18:00 service 4A Northampton Town Centre – Every 15 mins ≈07:30 to Every 30 mins Kingsthorpe – Acre Lane ≈18:30 then two further ≈09:20 until services on the hour until ≈18:00 ≈20:00 10 Sixfields – Spring Park – Mon to Fri University Term No Service University of Northampton Time Only – Hourly ≈08:20 until ≈18:00 19/19E/