WMPC 8th August 2017 Agenda item 6 a)
WM Planning committee met on 1st August 2017 and recommends the following response:
WMPC Response to TDBC LDO on Nexus 25
It is taken as a given that the LDO will be made. The comments and suggestions from West Monkton Parish Council are for consideration in setting out the extent and nature of the proposed development together with the criteria and requirements that proposals must meet to satisfy the terms of the Order. The comments and suggestions from (WMPC) are based on knowledge of present and future planning in the MH Urban Extension (including Phase 2); experience of existing traffic flows, and what influences them; and the desire to ensure that the Parish is developed in a sustainable and eco-friendly.
Employment
WMPC notes the potential risk to the delivery of employment sites designated in the UE – such as Langaller - if the Nexus development goes ahead in isolation from the MH Employment Land provision. The apparent lack of marketing of the employment sites in the MH UE is clear, it has been reported to the developers and TDBC and no satisfactory response or reassurance has been forthcoming. West Monkton Parish Council will not support any measures that dilute the importance of promoting employment in Monkton Heathfield. One of the aspirations of the MH development is to provide homes and employment close to each other, so smaller employment units in Monkton Heathfield (as planned) will enhance, not detract from, the stated aspirations of the Nexus. The importance of marketing and delivering both MH employment land and Nexus, side by side, is crucial to the success of the aspirations stated above; and suggestions to turn MH Employment land over to housing using the argument of over-supply of employment land are strongly resisted by WMPC. The development of MH employment land is time dependent, and would clearly be more at risk if the Nexus were to be completed before any employment sites were developed in MH.WMPC strongly recommends that the marketing of both options is incorporated as a condition of the LDO. The WM & CF Neighbourhood Plan recognises the potential threats to Employment delivery on MH and has sought to protect the employment land by NP Policy E3.
The Parish Council is fundamentally opposed to profit driven initiatives that will serve to create bland suburbia in Monkton Heathfield rather than the vibrant and sustainable community represented in the Monkton Heathfield Design Code.
WMPC recognises that many businesses wish to be located close to a motorway junction. It is therefore suggested that when Nexus and MH employment sites are marketed, those companies having multiple vehicle movements daily should be located in Nexus, and later, at Walford, whilst those companies with fewer daily vehicle movements should be located in the MH employment area. It is also envisaged that the types of companies needing smaller quieter employment bases would be better suited to Monkton Heathfield, whilst the high-end businesses alluded to in the Nexus press release would be better suited to Nexus. Thus, the two options should not be seen as competition for each other, rather, they should be complementary.
West Monkton Parish Council endorses the view that Nexus cannot be the only employment land in the location, and other employment land should continue to be available.
Connectivity
Transport Policy T2 of the Neighbourhood Plan supports the development of a comprehensive and high-quality cycle and footpath network. West Monkton Parish Council is taking every opportunity to ensure that the links from the MH development into the existing footpath/cycleway network are in place. This is so that residents from the new development, in particular, can walk and cycle to shops, schools, doctors and employment, thereby fulfilling criteria for healthy communities living sustainably.Examination of the map of the area shows a number of options to link the Nexus site to the Monkton Heathfield development by footpath/cycleway – this being important since it is probable that a number of people coming to new jobs at Nexus will choose to live in MH. Therefore, WMPC strongly recommends that it should be a condition of the LDO that dedicated foot and cycle paths should link Nexus to the wider community in the Monkton Heathfield Urban Extension, by the most expedient route, to facilitate cycling and walking to work. As a further condition of the LDO WMPC strongly recommends that the cycle/footpath links between Nexus and Monkton Heathfield Urban extension are in place before the opening of the first employment unit.
Footpath/cycleway routes suggested include another bridge over the motorway, although there is one that could be used at Hyde Lane, a bridge over the A358 from the Ruishton side into Nexus, and developing a route alongside the canal from MH to the east side of the Motorway and down to Nexus. To encourage people to choose to cycle or walk the route must be as direct and as short as possible.
One very popular alternative means of getting from home to employment is of course the car, and it is not unreasonable to assume that in the event of inclement weather more people will be tempted to use their vehicles. Therefore, WMPC believes that road links between Nexus and MH need careful consideration. Despite modelling and forecasts, the daily experience of local residents and Parish Councillors indicates that the existing road infrastructure is absolutely at capacity, and it takes very little to create gridlock along the A3259, Bridgwater Road and A38 ERR. The three options for road infrastructure in MH2 do very little to address the problems that WMPC has repeatedly highlighted to SCC and TDBC. To minimise the daily gridlock,it is crucial that another way is found to take traffic from the north and west of Taunton to Nexus avoiding the three roads mentioned above,which are gridlocked by vehicles travelling into Taunton from the east in the mornings and exiting travellingeastwards away from Taunton in the evenings. WMPC suggests that the morning travel between MH and Nexus could be directed easterly to get across the motorway and railway line, then south through Creech/Ruishton, reverse flow in the evenings. This would necessitate road improvements in Creech St Michael and Ruishton as on ‘bad weather days’ this route is likely to become congested, especially past the primary school and medical centre.However, by reducing the overall vehicle numbers by removing the short distance ‘bad weather’ traffic from the roads leading to Junction 25, the proposals for the improvements to junction 25 may be able to maintain efficient traffic flow round the junction, and therefore retain the attraction of Nexus’s close proximity to the motorway junction. The proposals for improvements to Creech Castle junction ‘to free up Monkton Heathfield’ (including MH employment sites) will of course influence traffic flows, although to what extent cannot be predicted until plans are available. WMPC recommends that as a condition of the LDO road infrastructure improvements between Nexus and Monkton Heathfield Urban Extension are completed before the first employment unit is opened.
To further reduce vehicle numbers following the conventional route along the A3259,Bridgwater Road and the ERR heading for junction 25 to get to Nexus, it is suggested that a condition of the LDO should be to implement and run (by subsidy if necessary) a frequent express guaranteed rapid shuttle bus service between the Park and ride at Henlade, through the Nexus estate, through the MH development to the Park and Ride in the east of the Monkton Heathfield development, and later on to extend the service to the employment site at Walford Cross. This would serve to remove vehicles from the gridlocked areas, by enabling off-site parking supported by a very efficient rapid transit system, delivering people to their places of employment. However, take up will be virtually non-existent if RAPID transit is not assured by protected bus lanes. No-one will swap their own vehicle for a bus to sit in the same traffic jam. Therefore, WMPC recommends that as a condition of the LDO, road infrastructure is suitably improved to facilitate the installation and implementation of an express shuttle service from the earliest stage of the development of Nexus, and not left until the development of the site is complete.
Experience
The residents and Parish Council of West Monkton have now experienced the majority of the first phase of the Monkton Heathfield development – about two thirds of the total dwellings have been built. WMPC wishes to bring the experience of this development to bear upon the development of Nexus.
Despite any developer protestations about viability, it is fundamental to the success of Nexus that sufficient infrastructure is in place to get the ‘green park’ off on the right footing. So from the start, it must be made an easier choice to cycle or walk or use the bus to get between Nexus and the nearest centre of population at the Monkton Heathfield urban extension. If a phased approach is adopted, as was the case in Monkton Heathfield, experience shows it will allow a culture of car using to develop. The Parish Council believes that the extra traffic movements incurred by 4500 more houses from what is currently there, much of it likely to be going to and from Nexus, will bring the area to a complete standstill. WMPC has yet to be convinced about the forecasts for traffic flows and the results from traffic modelling when the evidence of the inadequate road capacity is visible on a daily basis. The damage to the road fabric of the ‘back lanes’ to the north is tangible following various road closures on the A3259/A38 ERR/Bridgwater Road: the road surface has been broken up, the edges have been destroyed resulting in deep potholes, soft verges have been driven over to create passing places resulting in blocked ditches and damaged hedges. Last year an officer of SCC attended a site visit/drive round and agreed the damage, which, in the absence of budget lines, remains to be repaired. The knock-on impact in terms of road repairs, and drainage systems/water flows is costly. At Monkton Heathfield, it was agreed to overturn the initial agreement to put in the ERR in advance of any development, quoting changes in the economy. The road infrastructure was built as the site was developed at Monkton Heathfield, and a pattern of vehicular use was established as there was no bus service. Now a bus service has been introduced, take up is very slow, so it becomes difficult to develop a culture of walking, cycling and using the bus. To assist and encourage the use of the bus service, WM & CF NP Policy T 1 states that bus shelters must be provided at bus stops. WMPC would also support electronic display systems in the bus shelters.
West Monkton Parish Council strongly recommends that the infrastructure of roads, cycleways and footpaths, and a rapid transit shuttle service is scheduled for completion BEFORE the first employment unit opens at Nexus. This should be a condition of the LDO which is non-negotiable.
West Monkton Parish Council
2nd August 2017
Page 1 of 3 West Monkton Parish Council response to LDO, Nexus 25, 2nd August 2017