Testun llawn:
The Highways Agency welcomes the opportunity to comment on the Publication Draft Local Plan and broadly supports the overall spatial strategy, which focuses future development on the most sustainable and accessible locations.
The Highways Agency broadly supports the strategic transport objectives set out at Para 5.31 of the Publication Draft Local Plan, particularly the need to carry out improvements to major congestion hotspots and to fostering a more sustainable transport pattern.
The Highways Agency has worked with Warwickshire County Council to assess the transport implications for the wider Warwick and Leamington Area and for the M40 Corridor resulting from the growth proposals set out in the emerging Local Plan. This work has identified a number of transport interventions and priorities that would be required to accommodate the Local Plan proposals including improvements to the SRN at A46 Thickthorn and Stanks Roundabouts. Whilst the Grey's Mallory Roundabout is not on the SRN, the proposed improvement will assist traffic flow to and from the M40 J14.
These schemes have been identified in the draft Infrastructure Delivery Plan including indicative costs and this is welcomed by the Highways Agency. It is also clear from Policy TR3 that contributions will be sought from all development that will lead to an increase in traffic on the road network in accordance with the Infrastructure Delivery Plan.
Draft Policy TR2 requires all large scale development proposals with significant traffic generation to be supported by a Transport Assessment and a Travel Plan where necessary. At Para 5.49 the supporting text to Policy TR2 states that a Travel Plan will be required for all non-residential developments. This approach does not accord with Government policy set out in the NPPF and Circular 02/2013, which also require the submission of a Travel Plan to support residential developments where there is expected to be a material traffic impact on the SRN.
The Highways Agency therefore considers that Policy TR2 should clearly state that Travel Plans will be required for both residential and non-residential development which will result in significant traffic movements on the SRN.
Draft Policy TR3 states that contributions towards transport improvements will be sought from all development that will lead to an increase in traffic on the road network in accordance with the Infrastructure Delivery Plan (IDP). The draft IDP (April 2014) identifies a number of highway infrastructure schemes relating to the SRN including the A46 Thickthorn Roundabout, Kenilworth; A46/A425/A4177 Birmingham Road 'Stanks Island' and Grey's Mallory Roundabout. The Highways Agency agrees with the priorities and phasing identified in the Draft IDP for these improvements, though we note that the funding source has yet to be confirmed.
However, in respect of the proposal for the introduction of "Smart Motorways" on the M40 between J14 and J15, there is less certainty that this will be required within the Plan period or any guarantee that the Highways Agency will be in a position to fund it.
At the time Warwickshire County Council was preparing the STA(4) to inform the Local Plan the Highways Agency specifically requested the County Council to remove the term "Smart Motorway" on the M40 from the document and replace it with a more generalised term of "Traffic Management", which could include a range of initiatives to manage traffic in a safe and efficient manner.
Whilst STA(4) no longer refers to "Smart Motorways" the IDP still does. Therefore the Highways Agency requests that the term "Smart Motorway" in respect to the M40 in the Draft IDP, which forms Appendix 4 to the Draft Local Plan, be replaced with the term "Traffic Management".
The Highways Agency is looking forward to working with the District Council and Warwickshire County Council to facilitate development in Warwick District supported by the timely delivery of required infrastructure improvements.