Northampton County Council NORTH-WEST RELIEF ROAD STATEMENT OF COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT JUNE 2019 PUBLIC Northampton County Council NORTH-WEST RELIEF ROAD STATEMENT OF COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT TYPE OF DOCUMENT (VERSION) PUBLIC PROJECT NO. 70021598 DATE: JUNE 2019 WSP The Mailbox Level 2 100 Wharfside Street, Birmingham B1 1RT Phone: +44 121 352 4700 WSP.com PUBLIC QUALITY CONTROL Issue/revision First issue Revision 1 Revision 2 Revision 3 Remarks Date 17/06/2019 Prepared by Andrew Shepherd Signature Checked by Andrew Palmer Signature Authorised by Andrew Palmer Signature NORTH-WEST RELIEF ROAD PUBLIC | WSP Project No.: 70021598 June 2019 Northampton County Council CONTENTS 1 INTRODUCTION 1 1.1 PROJECT BACKGROUND 1 1.2 OPTIONS 2 1.3 PROPOSED SCHEME 3 2 2017 CONSULTATION 5 2.2 PUBLICITY 5 2.3 EVENTS 5 2.4 STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT 6 2.5 STAKEHOLDER GROUPS 6 3 DESIGN EVOLUTION 8 4 2019 CONSULTATION 10 4.1 STAKEHOLDER CONSULTATION APPROACH 10 4.2 PUBLIC INFORMATION EVENTS 10 4.3 LEAFLET TO RESIDENTS 12 4.4 LETTERS TO COUNCILLORS AND PARISH / TOWN COUNCILS 13 4.5 PROJECT WEBSITE 14 4.6 PRESENTATION TO COUNCILLORS 14 4.7 WASPRA 14 5 CONCLUSIONS 15 APPENDICES NORTH-WEST RELIEF ROAD PUBLIC | WSP Project No.: 70021598 June 2019 Northampton County Council Appendix A – General Alignment Drawing Appendix B – 2017 Questionnaire Appendix C – 2017 Consultation Report Appendix D – 2019 Information Display Boards Appendix E – 2019 Press Release NORTH-WEST RELIEF ROAD PUBLIC | WSP Project No.: 70021598 June 2019 Northampton County Council 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 PROJECT BACKGROUND 1.1.1. This Statement of Community Involvement (SCI) has been prepared in support of a planning application submitted by Northamptonshire County Council (NCC) (the ‘Applicant’) to construct the Northampton North-West Relief Road (NWRR) between Sandy Lane and Dallington Grange Kings Heath development, hereafter referred to as the ‘Proposed Scheme’. This SCI replaces the Memo originally submitted with the planning application dated 6th June 2019. 1.1.2. The vision for the scheme is: To contribute to making Northamptonshire a location of choice to work, live, learn and invest through the competitive ability to provide fast and efficient movement of people and goods. Improving journey time reliability and accessibility in Northampton will support economic and housing growth, by enabling people to get to work and services more efficiently within timescales of greater confidence. This will support businesses to flourish to make Northamptonshire an exemplar for industries. 1.1.3. Scheme Specific Objectives are: § O1 - To support free flow traffic movements on key local routes in North West Northampton during off peak periods and minimise delay during peak periods. § O2 - To increase journey time reliability and minimise travel costs on key strategic routes in North West Northampton. § O3 – To unlock housing development at Dallington Grange. § O4 - To support the delivery and purchase of planned housing development sites in North West Northampton to support economic growth. § O5 - To improve access to employment sites for residents in North West Northampton. § O6 - To reduce the number and severity of accidents in North West Northampton, particularly in hot spot areas including the A508. § O7 - To support the reduction of emissions and better air quality in the vicinity of AQMAs in Northampton. 1.1.4. Following a long history dating back to the 1980s, an assessment of options, and extensive consultation with stakeholders and the public the NWRR design has developed to completion of a preliminary design submitted for planning permission. 1.1.5. This SCI summarises the public consultation undertaken to date and the conclusions drawn from this process to shape the design of the Proposed Scheme. NORTH-WEST RELIEF ROAD PUBLIC | WSP Project No.: 70021598 June 2019 Northampton County Council Page 1 of 15 Figure 1: Proposed Route option 1.2 OPTIONS 1.2.1. An Options Appraisal Report (OAR) followed a process of assessing options against the scheme objectives to: § established that an intervention should be implemented in the area where the greatest impact will be achieved in North West Northampton. § generate extensive options for interventions in Northampton across a range of modes § complete an initial sift of the long list of the options against the scheme specific objectives to discard those options which do not meet the key objectives and do not fit with existing local, regional and national strategies, as well as wider government priorities. 1.2.2. The resulting shortlist of options are described as follows: § Option 1 (demand management measures on identified public transport corridors) would have support air quality improvements and journey time reliability for public transport. Stakeholder support, including operator support, for this option was a key uncertainty. This option was likely to have a medium Value for Money (VfM). Option 1 had minor barriers to its practical feasibility in terms of the small amount of necessary land take; however key risks included maintenance of the infrastructure and the resource required to manage and maintain operations. The capital cost for Option 1 was unknown, however this option did not have any committed funding. NORTH-WEST RELIEF ROAD PUBLIC | WSP Project No.: 70021598 June 2019 Northampton County Council Page 2 of 15 § Option 2 (North West Relief Road) fully addressed the identified problems, with the intervention supporting the development of housing and wider support to the growth of employment sites. The NWRR would also provide greater journey time reliability and reduce traffic flows in conservation areas such as Chapel Brampton and Church Brampton. The intervention would likely provide a positive air quality due to additional capacity reducing stop/start movements. However, the option would likely have a negative impact on the local environment as a result of land requirements. The NWRR would support economic growth with a high VfM and the potential for outputs to support job creation and the delivery of 6,600 dwellings across three Sustainable Urban Expansions. The option would be a medium-term intervention with various barriers such as environmental constraints. The option would have excellent quality of supporting evidence with the intervention first introduced in the late 1980s. Although the option represented the highest cost, funding arrangements to deliver the scheme were allocated. § Option 3 (re-examination of all 40 mph speed limits within the built-up area) would likely have a minor impact on addressing the problems. The focus of this intervention would benefit safety and accessibility for cyclists and pedestrians; and would support the reduction in stop/start movements. Key uncertainties for the option included stakeholder support and the enforcement measure for reducing speed limits. Option 3 would likely have a medium VfM, but only provides weak economic growth. The capacity of the existing network is capped and therefore has a limited opportunity to provide economic growth and may create some safety issues. Option 3 would involve a lengthy study but would be a short-term intervention in terms of construction on site. The option had minor barriers to its practical feasibility due to the small amount of necessary land take. Similar interventions elsewhere were in the region of £2 million in terms of area wide sign-only schemes, however the option does not have any committed funding. § Option 4 (introduction of additional 20 mph zones) would have had a minor impact on addressing the problems but would benefit safety of cyclists and pedestrians as well as the reduction of stop/start movements. Key uncertainties for Option 4 included stakeholder support and the enforcement measure for reducing speed limits. The option would have a medium VfM, with weak economic growth. Option 4 had minor barriers to its practical feasibility because of the small amount of land take required. Similar interventions elsewhere were in the region of £2 million in terms of area wide sign-only schemes, however the option did not have any committed funding. 1.2.3. The only option that truly delivered against objectives was the preferred option taken forward from the OAR - Option 2 NWRR. 1.3 PROPOSED SCHEME 1.3.1. The Proposed Scheme comprises a new relief road measuring approximately 1 mile in length. To the north, the new relief road will connect into a new roundabout at the Sandy Lane junction with the A5199 Northampton Road before connecting into a further new roundabout at the Brampton Lane junction with A5199 Welford Road. To the south, the new relief road will connect into the Dallington Grange Roundabout, a new roundabout east of Grange Farm which will provide access to the proposed Dallington Grange residential development which includes a link to the A428 at New Sandy Lane. NORTH-WEST RELIEF ROAD PUBLIC | WSP Project No.: 70021598 June 2019 Northampton County Council Page 3 of 15 1.3.2. The Proposed Scheme will include the following engineering components: § Single two-lane carriageway (plus shared cycle/footway to the west side of the road) connecting the Dallington Grange Roundabout to the A5199 at Sandy Lane; § Railway overbridge over the Rugby to Milton Keynes railway line; § A new roundabout at the Sandy Lane junction with A5199 Northampton Road including PRoW crossing provisions; § Single two-lane carriageway (plus street lighting) connecting the new Sandy Lane Roundabout and Brampton Lane; § A new roundabout at the existing Brampton Lane, A5199 Welford Road and Northampton Road Junction, including PRoW crossing provisions including the diverted Public Footpath CC6 and National Cycle Route 6; § Modifications to the existing A5199 Northampton Road from Sandy Lane to Brampton Lane to provide a traffic free route for non-motorised users; and § Flood and drainage provisions. 1.3.3. General Alignment Drawing can be viewed in Appendix A. NORTH-WEST RELIEF ROAD PUBLIC | WSP Project No.: 70021598 June 2019 Northampton County Council Page 4 of 15 2 2017 CONSULTATION 2.1.1.