Policy S23: Transport and Accessibility

Housing for people who cannot afford to buy. Talking about roads more zebra crossings in Selsey especially Chichester Road [brackets illegible] bus stops and in Manor Road near Ellis Square.

The A259 Emsworth to Fishbourne is getting more overloaded day by day, with people avoiding the A27.

5.31 Add to Wider Plan Area row "Small-scale junction improvements on A259 between Emsworth and Chichester.

On Policy S23: Transport and Accessibility
* The Chichester Society welcome this additional policy and support its purpose in the Plan.
* It especially welcomes the proposed New road connecting Birdham Road to A27 Fishbourne roundabout (see Policy AL6), known as the Stockbridge Link Road when first proposed by Highways England as part of Option 2b in the 2016 Consultation.

Given he fact that Chi has had for 10 years an AQMA in Stockbridge, this road will further exacerbate the non compliant AQ problem.
Without a long term solution to the A27, CDC should push back on the Government and decommit to a meaningful local plan.
Chi District AQ problem, with the resultant exacerbated effects from the local plan, requires a full impact assessment as part of the transport study. Execution of the plan as stated will result in Chichester moving in the opposite direction to DEFRA. Unless factual data/believable simulation data is provided to support S23, I wish to raise this public issue with the Examiner.

The Chichester Local Plan Review has much to recommend it, and it is obviously the result of a lot of careful work by the Planning Officers. But I should like to comment on two aspects.

(A) The future relationship between the proposed Local Plan and Local Traffic Flows. This needs to be clarified in order to make sure Chichester fit for sustainable living and possible climate change by 2030, in line with the recommendations by the International Committee on Climate Change. Local traffic is the main air pollutant for Chichester. Recent data from the Office for National Statistics shows that Chichester produces more pollution per had than Hastings and Worthing together. This needs to be substantially reduced by establishing an integrated and sustainable plan for future traffic flows. I submit there must be a much sharper distinction between through traffic and local traffic, notably along the A27 and the A 286. Rather than simply introducing traffic light controls along the A27 (which is a start) I suggest that there should be individual permits for residents cars (and delivery traffic). This could be augmented by a 'park and deliver' system adjacent to the A 27 as part of the Southern Gateway plan, where long distance deliveries could be transferred to local electrically-powered delivery vehicles.
(B) There are two fields lying to the south of the Brandy Hole Copse Local Nature Reserve abutting onto the north side of the B2178. They have currently been included in Phase 1 of the policy for the land West of Chichester (Policy AL1), and designated as an open space as part of a putative country park. There is also a plan in the current development plan for a strategic wildlife corridor linking Chichester Harbour to the South Downs National Park. I consider that the two fields which lie to the south of Brandy Hole Copse should be integrated along with Brandy Hole Copse into the proposed wildlife corridor. They could, for example become wildlife meadows, accompanied by a strategic policy of tree planting, which would not prevent them from becoming a key aspect of the putative country park, where children could play and rediscover nature.. PERHAPS THE TWO PARTS OF THE PLANNING DEPARTMENT COULD LIAISE ON THIS BEFORE THE PHASE ONE PROPOSALS FOR AN S.106 AGREEMNT FOR THESE TWO FIELDS ARE SIGNED OFF WITH THE DEVELOPERS.

To add under New Integrated Traffic measures an additional bullet point concerning cycling on Route NCN2

With reference to the A27 corridor in the Chichester area, I believe the Northern Bypass (in some form) remains the only viable option to make the Manhood Peninsula more accessible. I appreciate that Highways England has rejected this twice no, but it is the only logical way forwards especially as this can be primarily developed off-line with minimal impact during construction

Notwithstanding my earlier objection to the Highgrove development, any new developments should include cycle routes and for the larger developments bus routes one site. Other developments should see an increase in bus services (or in the case of villages on the A259 corridor, reinstatement of the peak hour frequency train service reduced from May 2018).

A coordinated package of improvements to junctions on the A27 Chichester Bypass, along with a new road between Birdham Road and the Fishbourne Roundabout south-west of Chichester and other small-scale junction improvements within the city and elsewhere. These will increase road capacity, reduce traffic congestion, improve safety and air quality, and improve access to Chichester City from surrounding areas;

Residents of the Manhood Peninsular and Donnington would be hugely disadvantaged when trying to access the A27 to travel east.
Extra congestion would be caused on the A27 between the Fishbourne and Donnington roundabout, and also ob back roads that drivers would use to circumvent the Donnington roundabout.

The long timescale for these changes to A27 junctions would cause unacceptable hardship to local residents. Increased gridlock at busy times for three yeasr is an horrific prospect.
The supposed advantages of the Plan are for through traffic. Local traffic would be heavily disadvantaged.
The Plan is very similar to Option 3a from Highways England. It is unacceptable for CDC to resurrect these proposals that were emphatically rejected by local residents across all of Chichester. At best this is disingenous. At worst it shows contempt for the people who will be affected and who have already made their views known.

DM8 suggests: 'Development is located and designed to minimise additional traffic generation and movement, and should not create or add to problems of highway safety, congestion, air pollution, or other damage to the environment'
Building homes and industrial units with a new road joining south of the Fishbourne Roundabout compromises all of these aspects. FB Roundabout is already very dangerous and highly polluting and this will add to standing traffic and the number of vehicles unable to exit the A259 at FB. A hamburger roundabout will necessarily give priority to the main A27 east west routes and all other access points will generate longer queues at peak times than current. Further building in FB and along the A259 westwards will hugely increase the traffic levels joining the A27 at FB because there are no other access routes onto the A27 for Nutbourne, Southbourne, Bosham - all of which have large numbers of homes expected.
Further the new road is planned to be 5m high to avoid the flooding planes - this will seriously damage the views fro AONB at the harbour towards Kingley Vale and the Cathedral.

The Fishbourne roundabout is already one of the most dangerous roundabouts I have experienced in the area.
Accessing the A27 (towards Brighton) and/or either of the roads into town (Tesco and Terminus Road) from the Fishbourne slip road is a nightmare.
There are invariably three lanes of traffic to cut across - as people unwittingly(?) also use the left hand lane of the A27 (westbound) to continue on the A27 towards Portsmouth and one can NEVER be sure where these cars are actually going.
There is, in my opinion, a very serious accident waiting to happen here...
Please do not funnel extra westbound cars along the A27 to the Fishbourne roundabout by decommissioning the right hand turn off towards Chichester town centre and station at the Stockbridge roundabout. Increased numbers of drivers heading for Portsmouth will then undoubtedly seek to avoid any tailbacks in the right and middle lanes of the A27 by using the incorrect left hand lane, currently meant to be only used for Fishbourne traffic.

Our understanding is that the proposed changes to the junctions of the A27 are very similar to those that were contained in Option 3a of the Highways England consultation (restricting right turns from the southern approaches to the A27 at the Stockbridge Road and Whyke Road roundabouts). These proposals were rejected at the time as being completely unfair and disruptive to local residents in favour of 'out of town' commuter and goods traffic.
Furthermore, the disruption that these 'minor improvements' would cause for up to three years (and no doubt longer if the simple bridge project is anything to go by) would also call into question the viability/cost v benefit of such proposals.

Road congestion is a major issue but the solutions have already been identified. The need for as Northern Bypass is clear and this should be re-stated as it was in previous plans.

The solution to the level crossing problem is once again clear with the need for a road bridge adjacent to the railway station. This was suggested when the site to the south of the railway became available and was raised again in the 'Southern Gateway' document. There is still time to provide a bridge using land to the north of the sorting office and the old bus station site. The proposed road layout running to the south of the sorting office and then north will enable both sides of the railway station to be accessed by buses unhindered by the existing gates.

Support donnington bypass.

I agree that a new link road from Birdham road to Fishbourne would significantly help congestion and pollution in Donnington and Stockbridge. Donnington is often gridlocked in the summer and becomes impossible to leave the house in hot weather. It will unfortunately be visible from the AONB , so feel strong mitigation measures should be made to ensure it is hidden from view (e.g built into a grassed/tree lined bank) and noise barriers/ reducing surfaces should be used to minimise harm to the residents and wildlife. The turning restrictions on Stockbridge junction will also significantly reduce traffic flowing through Donnington.

The plan may bring marginal through-traffic improvements on the A27; but will be a step backwards for those on the Manhood. The plan to ban east bound traffic coming up the Manhood and the new link road from Fishbourne to the A286 is a rehash of a plan that got a huge rejection in the failed HE consultation. Spending large sums on A27 tinkering is seen by me and most folk on the Manhood as a way to avoid a more effective Northern route.
The plan fails its own test of minimising flood risk in terms of site AL6

The disruption likely to be caused to local residents is completely unacceptable

Regarding the Peter Brett Associates (PBA) report:
-harm to local and regional economy due to piecemeal introduction of A27 measures over protracted period will need quantifying as Mott McDonald did in 2016 -Para 1.3.2 makes clear the limited life of the PBA mitigations which need to be tempered by the comment in the fourth bullet at the bottom of page xviii;
-4.4.1 congestion at peak times: changing travel behaviour is difficult or impossible for many-especially through traffic: increase in peak period conditions is more likely and has been taking place for some time already, therefore -Para 4.4.3: a 5% reduction in traffic through modal shift is a facile construct with which to suggest the scale of the problem will be eased;
-7.4.17 Jct 10 and Fig 7.15 This merely moves traffic congestion from the
A27 Roundabout to this new junction and will increase collision risk as traffic jostles and approaches the next roundabout at Sherbourne Road, the College, and the end of Cathedral Way
-7.5.8 Link road and Fishbourne A27 junction: a further collision hazard -the link road combined with no right turns at Stockbridge ad Whyke is fraught with complications for the junction between A286 and narrow and windy Wophams Lane and beyond to Green Lane, B2201, and Hunston. Figures for volume changes at some junctions are given, but base levels are not..
-Rat running around the N of the city may be reduced, but not through the City. A host of new problems will arise around the already problematic south and the Peninsula, as drivers invent new ways of avoiding right turn restrictions.
increase in HGVs will have a disproportionately negative effect on congestion and air quality on the unsuitable local roads: conflicts with Para 5.18 of Transport Infrastructure section; -Appendix K Item 3: Wophams Lane, on page 4 hints at one example, but more over a wider area come easily to mind; -A serious injury accident before midday Saturday 2nd Feb blocked the A 286/Wophams Lane junction for hours. During that time two additional collisions occurred on Wophams Lane itself and on the B2201 respectively; the ensuing chaos which extended as far south as Almodington and Earnley, sadly provided a foretaste of what might come.

Regarding the Local Plan document:
-Stockbridge link road mentioned twice in S 23: fourth and seventh bullet; -Paras 5.21, 5.22, 5,23, referring to the A27 and northern bypass not reflected in S23 -No mention of noise in S 23 -Peter Brett Associates Stockbridge link road and junction changes is Option 2/ 3 hybrid-both rejected in 2016 HE consultation
- limited achievement of improved safety, city access, congestion; in
2016 HE modelling shown to be inferior to other options, in particular in the longer term.
- no separation of local and through traffic --Para 5.24 CDC June 2018 resolution to support a northern bypass in the
future: not reflected in the Policy
-£6m to £8m cost of non strategic link road will likely not be financially supported by HE: S106 and S178 will be insufficient to fund link road let alone PBA mitigation measures at £65m to £68m: developers will not fund such a figure and go elsewhere..
-most serious aspect is air quality which is dealt with very sketchily in PBA report; needs a much more intelligible report before local plan review draft is agreed and published and presented for Examination in Public

SUMMARY

Invidious to propose the off line link road/restricted turning measures again when these have been so roundly rejected more than once, shown to be short term, and of limited effectiveness against HE monetised criteria in the very comprehensive and clear Mott McDonald reports for HE in 2016.
Drip feed of funding will mean protracted construction periods over years punctuated by setbacks and inactivity..It is questionable whether all measures will ever be fully introduced in which case the CIty, the Manhood, and the wider area will be left with an unsafe, economically and environmentally damaging number of white elephants..


CHANGE TO PLAN

-Delete one reference to the Link road
-The measures shown must more clearly satisfy two further aims: to be for the long term, and not cause harm to the environment or unacceptable noise ,
- a much clearer report with monetised outputs must be commissioned on how PBA measures achieve sustainable improvement in the three AQMAs; -reduction in noise, accident rates, light pollution, and congestion over the long term needs to be demonstrated in monetised outputs;
- CDC's June 2018 resolution to support a northern bypass must be included in Policy S 23 as an aim; -insert additional comment between 5.26 and 5.27 as follows: 'meanwhile the likely alignments of a northern route as identified in existing 2016 HE studies will be safeguarded against other development' ; include same in Policy S23 -Third bullet in Policy S23 : change 'Planning to achieve...' to 'Requirement to achieve....'

This policy is seriously flawed because the supporting paragraphs do not reflect the extent of the traffic problem on the Western Manhood Peninsula (WMP). Much emphasis is, rightly, placed on the highway network and A27 but nothing of significance is planned or allowed for in respect of the worsening traffic congestion on the WMP. Indeed worse than that the CDC advocates building many hundreds of additional houses without any mitigation and a total disregard for the consequences.

I would like to see firm targets here for improvements in public transport/ reduction in car 'wheelfall' and reduction in CO2 emissions over the period. In addition, reductions in atmospheric pollutants other than CO2 should be planned to be monitored, with the expectation of significant falls over the period.

A27:J14 (Stockbridge);J15 (Whyke)
The PBA Report(pp67-68) states there will be banned right turns "...from the A27 onto Stockbridge Road" and "...from the A27 onto B2145 Whyke Road". This will be incredibly disruptive and inconvenient for all residents of the area.
Figs.7.5/7.6 also show arrows in North/South directions that imply there are no right turns onto the A27 either (see attached). If this is not the case, the diagrams and/or text should be modified to ensure clarity and that meaningful consultation is permitted.
Whilst I understand that keeping the flow of through traffic is important, it should not be done to the detriment and inconvenience of local traffic.
Appendix F (Journey Times) to the PBA Report does not include a comparison of journeys impacted by the "No Right Turn" restrictions.

I object to the proposals for the A27 junctions. This is a major rebuild of all junctions and will implement the least popular of all the options from Highways England, imposing a large number of traffic lights on through traffic. It appears to be designed to ensure that the A27 around Chichester will rival the daily problems experienced around Worthing and Lancing. If the authorities spend £62m on this inadequate rebuild, it is very unlikely priority will be given again to developing a real solution to A27 problems for another 30 to 40 years.

The planning officers at the exhibition assured me that there would be no further public consultation on these proposals, despite the last sentence of S23. I object to this process, which seems designed to force through significant developments without proper consultation and regard to the views of local residents.

It states that cycling will be promoted as a sustainable method of travel, but there are no defined proposals to encourage it. The only way to seriously promote it is to provide a dedicated cycle route from Chichester into the peninsula and east / west that is separated from road traffic. The subsequent reduction in vehicle traffic would possible mean that many road improvements would not be needed. That would be a better use of S106 / S278 funds than a new link road that will have a major adverse impact on the countryside of this area.

5.24 and CDC's resolution to support a northern alignment to the A27 is not reflected in Policy S23

Peter Bretts' traffic mitigation study in the Local Plan has a clear dependency on Government's funding of the A27 improvements in Road Investment Strategy 2. The mitigation described in their study will mean that Chichester District Council will violate air quality levels throughout the plan period. Add to this the congestion and air and noise pollution due to construction and the spread of pollution during works for diversionary routes .

What planning can achieve timely delivery of transport infrastructure- Ref Brett Study- 3 years construction period for each of 5 junctions- 15 years of construction- at what cost to the local and regional economy during the life time of this plan? Increase of Air Pollution from diversionary routes and congestion. Brett in its calculations has omitted high season from their data where Selsey alone doubles in residents, sending all this traffic and the other Manhood area residents onto a single lane road up to the Fishbourne roundabout to compete with the 48% of through traffic (48k vehicles movements on a daily basis at last count). This just restricts the East -West Chichester corridor, the City and the Manhood residents from accessing their only local distributor road -A27 and will only shift congestion to new areas.

The outcome of these designs will be shifting the AQMA at Stockbridge along the A27 to Fishbourne Roundabout and the AONB.

Proposed measures to include electric vehicle charging points, green travel measures, incentives to encourage the use of walking, cycling, public transport, and electric or low emissions vehicles. No specific evidence has been provided to show how those measures are likely to be in reducing the use of private petrol & diesel vehicles and hence reduce NO2 emissions during the lifetime of the plan.

In DFT Traffic Forecasts 2015 to 2050 , some key data shows at :
Para 13. From 2015 to 2050 overall traffic is forecast to grow by between 17% and 51%
Para 16. LGV traffic is 19% of total traffic and is forecast to grow by between 23% and 108% ( these are of course diesel)

The Second report, The Road to Zero, sets outs the DFT assumptions / intentions (but not a firm plan) for their desire to have by 2030, 50% - 70% new cars sold to be zero emission. Then by 2050 they want almost every car and van ( note no definition of van) to be zero emission. Is a van a LGV or just the small van?

So if we combine the output of these two reports, of traffic growth on one hand, particularly of diesel LGVs and HGVs and some possible reduction in emissions from mainly cars. 2050 is 25 years after this current plan comes to an end, thus this is contrary to Peter Bretts 10.4 Summary 10.4.1 "Given continuing improvements in vehicle emissions, the increase in the proportion of electric vehicle mix in the future, it is not considered that the impacts of the proposals contained in the Local Plan Review will not adversely impact the local environment."

Peter Brett's document states "The modelling for the local plan is not required to assess weekends, bank holidays or seasonal changes". In Chichester's case this arises every summer during tourist season and bi-annual Goodwood events. These are regarded as infrequent occurrences for the purpose of this study, the Council would be required to carry out more localised studies. This approach reflects policy and recognised best practice in transport studies across the country." {3}
What was in the CDC Scope for the consultant?
Surely with the extent of the tourist season for weekend traffic, holiday related population increase in the summer, the Goodwood events that bring both the A27 and the inner city rat runs to a halt, this must have been discussed by Officers and the CDC Executives and Cabinet before the Scope of the Consultant study was concluded? Yet this has not been factored into the traffic plan.

In relation to localised studies, to address the impact to AQ from any alterations to the current A27, the CDC Cabinet member responsible for the environment, supported by the leader, have continuously declined to undertake such studies asked upon them by residents at council meetings and via private correspondence. This seems to be the case with this Transport Study. It would therefore appear that the impact to AQ/Public Health was excluded in the CDC Scope of works. If that deduction is correct the public are being misled during the consultation.

At no point in this Policy is there a mention of reducing or protecting from light and noise pollution:
A raised Stockbridge Link Road over a Flood Plain 2 & 3 in the vicinity of the AONB, SSSI, Ramsar, SAC and SPA- Dark Skies area and infringing 7000 m2 into the Fishbourne Conservation area which will increase air, noise and light pollution. No mitigation methods will save the historic view of the Chichester Cathedral from the harbour- to be covered more in AL6.

I wish to raise this with the examiner.

1 There is no provision for Park and Ride facilities in the district
2 Proposed changes to the A 27 are likely to result in considerable long term disruption with minimal gain, especially at the Fishbourne roundabout. Salthill Road is a very busy cut-through for traffic from the A259 to avoid this roundabout. This feeds traffic onto narrow country roads ill equipped to provide routes into and north of Chichester.
3 Current housing developments in the district will generate more traffic for the A27 ,with seemingly no provision in place to deal with this before any A27 improvement are made..

I have been studying your proposals in the Local Plan 2035. It does seem to me that this seems remarkably like the rejected route Option 3A. This seems to benefit through traffic rather than local traffic.

Air Quality at the Stockbridge roundabout is already bad, this can only make it worse.

We all remember the trouble caused by the work on the footbridge over the Stockbridge roundabout, having continuous and more serious work as envisaged by this plan will make travel in/through Chichester terrible for years.

There are no proposals for extra schools on the Manhood peninsular, school traffic is already a major contributor to traffic jams and poor air quality, this can only make it worse.

I understand that there is an alternative site within the buffer zone at Goodwood and the employment land should be allocated there.

Can I also ask will you be building on a flood plain?