High Level Transport Review
NATC’s High Level Transport Review:
- Barn Meadow awarded the worst ‘RED’ rating overall for site access and costings
- Confirmation that it’s the least sustainable site for transport in every single category – but you already knew that!
- The Transport Review table shows how each site rated on the Department for Transport’s connectivity scale – We have highlighted the worst scoring site for each category
- Barn Meadow scores lowest or joint-lowest in every single category – Making it the worst site for connectivity and therefore the least sustainable
- Local Plan Policy CP10 Transport – states that development should be located and designed to reduce the need to travel. This site would require the most travel.
- The report map shows another new position for the access road – this time, it’s right above a naturally forming pond and stream on Flood Zone 2 & 3, just metres from the SSSI and Special Area of Conservation – perhaps this is a mistake? Have a look at our video below and judge for yourself!
- Para. 159 of the NPPF states that inappropriate development in areas at risk of flooding should be avoided by directing development away from areas at highest risk. This is the only site with flooding issues and requires an entrance over High Flood Risk Zone 3.
- This is the 3rd position proposed for road access to the floodplain. We are working on the basis that the previous two locations – on Drove Lane and further to the north on Winchester Road – were judged to be too unsafe.
- Is this one any better?
Road Safety
This proposal ignores longstanding community concerns about safety on Winchester Road:
- Over the years there has regularly been collisions on this stretch of road including fatalities in separate incidents, one of them only 50 metres from the proposed entrance
- High sided vehicles pass in the centre of the road under the railway arch, just 70 metres from the entrance
- Vehicles travel at speed down the long hill from the A31 and accelerate as they leave town
- Collisions continue to occur along this stretch of Winchester Road, adding a junction on the bend will increase existing risks
- Over many years, New Alresford Town Council has consistently committed to support the local residents’ requests for improved road safety. NATC has:
- written to HCC to request a reduction in the road speed and the Police to enforce speed limits here
- only recently, committed to install town entry gates and road markings at this exact location in order to help reduce road speeds due to safety concerns
- NATC’s new speed reminder cameras were bought as as result of Winchester Road residents’ concerns in relation to road safety with recorded speeds in excess of 80 mph here
The entrance to this floodplain development would be on the busy Winchester Road approach to Alresford.
This stretch of road has seen a number of fatal collisions over the years and has seen constant pressure from residents to improve road safety through a number of measures.
Up until now, New Alresford Town Council has consistently shown its support for the residents and over many years has been firm in its resolve to improve road safety on Winchester Road. It would be a betrayal of the trust of those residents if NATC were to now abandon that support due to the apparent determination of some to see this development built, irrespective of the environmental damage, flood risks and impact on the ‘High Priority’ landscape.
NATC has only just signed off the introduction of white town entry gates and ‘Dragons Teeth’ road markings to emphasise the dangers along this stretch.
The new speed limit reminder signs, improving road safety across town, were bought as a direct result of requests from Winchester Road residents concerned by the safety of their families and other road users.
We are very concerned that the developer and landowner would consider introducing another junction at this location, due to the increased risk it would inevitably bring. We must question why NATC’s Neighbourhood Plan Advisory Committee has considered this scheme appropriate to be put out to community consultation.
These safety concerns have not been invented to block an unwanted development, they have been consistently followed up over many years. The following documents give a tiny snapshot of the pressure that has been raised by the community since 2017.
Many will remember New Alresford Town Council’s April 2017 meeting for other reasons, but these extracts show the minutes and NATC’s support for the unanimous petition from the 70 residents of Winchester Road and Drove Lane to reduce the speed limit and seek enforcement of the speed limit
This is the local response to Hampshire County Council’s post-Covid transport strategy consultation. Whilst other sites in the town received fewer than 10 responses, this one got to over 100. Thankfully, social distancing is no longer an issue, but the road safety concerns remain.
The request, so widely supported, was to reduce the speed limit and provide other safety measures. Adding another junction will only make the road safety issues worse.