Formal Response to Planning Application No: P/20/2252/2
Cllrs Deborah Taylor & Paul Baines: 9th February 2021
This planning application is an outline application for residential development for up to 120 dwellings on land south of Groby Road, Anstey. As Councillors for Anstey, we would like to object to this development for the reasons highlighted under each heading below.
Green Spaces
The Master Plan shows development right up to the boundary of the properties on Peartree Close at the front part of the site. There is some hedgerow at the back of the site between the two developments and this should be continued for the whole length of the development to protect the view and privacy of the existing properties.
Policy ST/2; Limits to Development: this establishes the existing build limits to settlements in order to distinguish between areas of development potential and restraint. This site lies outside the defined settlement limits for Anstey. This proposed development will reduce the green wedge surrounding Anstey and is forcing development nearer to the A46 and A50 and extending the village beyond an acceptable level.
Services
Anstey is presently classed as a ‘Service Centre’ but is losing core services. For example, the last remaining banking facility is earmarked for closure at the end of March 2021. In future, residents will need to travel to Leicester City Centre, Birstall, or Coalville to obtain in-person banking services. This will therefore make travel out the village for banking essential for some, adding additional pressure onto the local traffic network.
Highways
The Traffic Assessment concludes that there would be no severe impacts on the operation of the local highway network and the development would not cause an unacceptable impact on highway safety. The Transport Assessment indicates that the development would generate some 76 two-way vehicle trips in the peak hour. The Traffic Assessment considers the impact on the Bradgate Road/Groby Road junction, on The Nook, and on the A50/Anstey Lane T junction.
However, the traffic counts are very old. Some date back to 2010, 11 years ago now. They do not reflect the amount of traffic that comes in and out of Anstey, even at non-peak hours.
There are two route options to reach the A46, or to travel into Leicester, from the site; either via Anstey Lane and the A50 to the west and south of the site, or via Bradgate Road, through The Nook and along Leicester Road to the north and east of the site. However, because of the restricted movements at the A50/Anstey Lane T-junction, all traffic arriving at the site from the A46, or from Leicester must travel via Leicester Road and through The Nook.
The road layout at The Nook has been the subject of improvements associated with consented residential developments in the village. The results of the Transport Assessment confirm that the junction would operate acceptably in both the morning and evening peaks. The additional development traffic would not increase the safety risk and would not have an unacceptable impact on highway safety at the junction.
The above two paragraphs are taken from documentation submitted. What this assessment doesn’t explain is the current operation of The Nook. Following changes made from previous approved residential developments, The Nook is now operating differently, but we do not agree with any statements that suggest its operation has been improved.
We no longer have long queues on the A46 roundabout or on Leicester Lane as you approach Anstey. The changes made with the installation of the traffic light operations at the roundabout has allowed traffic to flow better into the village. The downside with this improvement is that we have longer, unacceptable queues on Cropston Road, trying to access the roundabout. This is due to vehicles blocking the roundabout that are entering the roundabout from the other arms. With additional traffic from this application and the other application (P/20/2251/2) submitted at the same time, the peak hour trips traffic will be coming down Bradgate Road, into The Nook and preventing vehicles entering the roundabout from Cropston Road. This is a known issue with the local highway authority (LHA), and we have attached a copy of the revised observations from the LHA in 2014, in response to the Bloor Homes Ltd planning application:
Site for residential development of up to 160 dwellings. This deals with the alterations to The Nook area and we quote (quotes in red):
Page 2 - Capacity of Existing Junction Layout
Capacity assessment of The Nook roundabout had been undertaken using the ARCADY program. The theoretical assessment revealed that in 2018 with the proposed and committed developments the junction has sufficient capacity in the AM peak hour. However, in the PM peak hour, the Leicester Road Arm is overcapacity with a predicted maximum queue of 55 vehicles. The PM peak hour was therefore considered to be the worst case.
Page 3 - Capacity of the Proposed Improvement
Capacity assessments had been undertaken using the LINSIG program. Table 6 of the TA shows the headline results of capacity in 2018 with the proposed and committed developments. The theoretical results using LINSIG show that the junction has overall spare capacity in both peak periods. Further examination reveals that in the PM peak hour, the degree of saturation on the Leicester Road arm is 84% with a Mean Max queue of 15 vehicles. It should be noted that the LINSIG assessment has been undertaken with the pedestrian crossing being called every 60 seconds which is the worst case.
However, the actual queuing observed at the junction was more than predicted by the ARCADY and LINSIG models. This is due to the interaction of the parked vehicles and the bus stop on Leicester Road.
The VISSIM Modelling results for 2018 without and with mitigation show in the PM peak hour queue lengths on the Leicester Road approach reduce significantly from an average queue of 287 metres to 26 metres and from a maximum queue of 775 metres to 133 metres. For the Cropston Road arm the average queue increases from 12 metres to 38 metres and the maximum queue decreases from 110 metres to 96 metres.
The overall capacity of the junction is improved with the largest benefit being the significant reduction in queuing on Leicester Road. Concern has been raised at the lack of VISSIM modelling for the AM peak hour, particularly in respect of queuing on Cropston Road. In the ARCADY modelling for 2018 with development, the RFC ratio for the Cropston Road arm is 0.65 with a maximum queue of 2 vehicles and in the LINSIG modelling for 2018 with development, the degree of saturation is 71 % with a Mean Max queue of 5 vehicles. As a comparison, the queue increases from 2 to 5 vehicles without and with the development. The VISSIM modelling for the PM period shows an increase in the average queue along Cropston Road and from LINSIG there is likely to be increased queuing on Cropston Road in the AM peak hour. Although there is likely to be increased queuing along Cropston Road in the AM peak hour, the significant reduction in queuing on Leicester Road in the PM peak hour must be taken into account and overall it is considered that the proposed scheme mitigates against the impact of the proposed development and therefore the Highway Authority would not be able to sustain a highway objection.
These above observations have not rung true on the ground with extensive queuing on Cropston Road, at all times of the day, evening and weekends. Queueing is occurring not just at peak hours. These observations show that The Nook has seen some improvement but has also seen some negative effects. The Nook junction, in our view, cannot take further traffic from both these proposed developments. More traffic on the Bradgate Road arm of the Nook roundabout will cause even more queueing on the Cropston Road arm. The new roundabout is constantly blocked by vehicles when the traffic lights change on Leicester Road. The new layout does not work, and the only benefit achieved is less queueing on the A46 roundabout, the A46 and Leicester Road. All other arms are in a worst position than they were before. This is unacceptable. Our mailboxes are full of complaints about The Nook layout, and its failure to address the traffic congestion from the three recent developments on Cropston Road. New developments will simply add to the pressure and the dissatisfaction of local residents.
The only option is to look at the A50 junction and make alterations to improve that junction and allow traffic movements both in and out of Anstey. This junction is under-used at the moment due to restrictive movements. If one wants to drive out of this junction from Anstey and head onto the M1, both north and south, A46 South bound and the A50 East bound, then it is necessary to cross 4 lanes of busy traffic. One has to drive from a stationary position across either four lanes of queueing traffic or four lanes of traffic (including many large HGVs) that should be travelling at 40mph but, in reality, the vehicles travel a lot faster up to the A50 roundabout. One takes one’s life in one’s own hands every time an attempt is made to cross this junction and many residents decide to take the longer route through The Nook, as the safer option.
S106
The applicant has stated that they will enter into a Section 106 obligation. It is anticipated that the application will be subject to a Section 106 agreement that will provide the following Heads of Terms. Listed below are the proposed contributions:
• Up to 30% affordable housing provision: Anstey is in desperate need of affordable housing and I hope that this is fulfilled and not removed due to an independent valuation that decides the site is unviable further down the line, as seems to have happened on previous applications.
• Any necessary contributions towards primary and secondary education facilities: The schools have very limited capacity to expand and the time is rapidly arriving when they will be unable to expand any further.
• Contributions to any necessary public transport improvements: The St James Gate development has a bus gate on Groby Road with a bus stop just north of this on Freer Way, approximately 200 metres from the proposed site access. Previously, Centrebus Service 54A served this route, running between Anstey and Leicester City Centre every 20 minutes from Monday to Friday, and every 30 minutes on Saturday. The bus entered via the bus gate and exited via Summerfield Road. However, the service ceased in December 2019, and has not been replaced. The service ceased when the five-year funding from Davidsons associated with the St James Gate development ended.
There is no bus service near to this site, unless a bus service is put back into place. This makes this site heavily reliant on private cars.
• Any necessary contributions towards improvements to youth/adult play facilities offsite: Although there does not appear to be one at present, we are sure there is a need to install a hard outside play area on the development.
• Any necessary contributions to library facilities: The community library will need support to remain open.
There is no mention of funding for health services or the police. Both services are stretched to capacity and are in urgent need of additional funding.
The leaflet that was sent out to local residents to listen to their feedback was useful. When the responses were broken down into issues, Transport (31%) was the most frequent issue raised in relation to land north of Groby Road, followed by Planning and Urban Design (25%).
The main issue raised throughout the consultation for both sites was in relation to increased traffic and congestion on the local highway network. Comments were raised about existing issues at The Nook junction. There are some comments and suggestions in relation to traffic signalisation of the A50 junction and direct access to Groby Road from the A50 from Leicester. As we highlight in detail above, the road network is at capacity and is unable to take further traffic without fundamental improvements.
Additional Points
The Severn Trent letter refers to: Proposed Development: (500 mixed dwellings) – Land off Groby Road, Anstey, Charnwood, LE7 7FL – 454606 307948. We are struggling to understand what this statement relates to as it refers to 500 dwellings. Is this the same application?
The loss of light for the residents of properties on Peartree Close will have a fundamental effect on their lives and may affect their property resale values.
For the above reasons, we would like to object to this development application as it stands and therefore call-in this application.
Cllr Deborah Taylor and Cllr Paul Baines
Ward Members for Anstey
