Traffic and
Transport
The development
of the West Kent Cold Store site will bring forward a comprehensive
Transport Strategy.
The aims of this strategy are as follows:
• To connect to and enhance the existing transport network to
achieve high levels of walking, cycling and public transport use.
• To link to the town centre and other local services.
• To mitigate the impact of the traffic generation of the site
with sustainable measures that will assist in tackling existing congestion
problems.
The Transport Strategy is intended to deliver benefit to both new
residents and the existing community.
The Transport Strategy includes environmental improvement schemes
on both Station Road / Rye Lane and on Pounsley Road. These schemes
aim to reduce vehicle speeds to provide a more pleasant and safer
environment for pedestrians and cyclists; to provide safe crossing
points for pedestrians on these main walking desire lines; and to
provide improved footways for pedestrians.
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The key features of the environmental improvement schemes are:
• Vehicular access points to the north of the site by reusing
two existing access points from Rye Lane, with informal areas leading
off them. There will be no vehicular access from Pounsley Road.
• A new roundabout at the junction between Station Road and London
Road to overcome existing safety problems and to offer increased junction
capacity.
• Moving the zebra crossing away from the above junction to make
it safer.
• The introduction of road narrowings on Station Road that would
be wide enough for two cars to pass each other but would slow vehicle
speeds and provide safe crossing points for pedestrians.
• Improving the quality of the footpaths along Station Road,
Rye Lane and Pounsley Road.
• The introduction of surface treatment at the Pounsley Road
underbridge to slow vehicle speeds and improve pedestrian safety on
this existing public footpath.
The environmental improvement schemes have been subject to: public
consultation through the community forums and the two previous public
exhibitions; stage 1 road safety audit; and discussions with the highway
authority. The schemes have evolved to take on board these processes.
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Bus service
A number of options for improving local buses to offer an enhanced
level of service for existing and new residents have been investigated
and discussed with Kent County Council and the bus operator, Arriva.
The proposed bus strategy will build upon the existing 452 bus service
that operates between Sevenoaks rail station, Chipstead and Riverhead
Tesco’s.
By
providing an additional bus for the 452 service, it will be possible
to extend the bus into the site and out to the town centre, as well
as increasing the hours of operation so that the bus service would
be able to operate during the day. The resulting bus service frequency
would be every 15 minutes at peak times (to connect with commuting
train services at Sevenoaks station) and every 30 minutes off-peak
(currently 1/2 hourly and only in the morning and evening peak periods).
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Traffic study
A Transport Assessment Report (TAR) has been prepared and will accompany
the outline planning application. The TAR identifies the compliance
of the development proposals with national and local transport policy
in terms of the opportunities for movement to be undertaken on foot,
by bicycle and using public transport. The assessment also takes into
account the potential impacts of the proposed extension to the Tesco
store at Riverhead.
In
terms of traffic impact, the development proposals will remove the
existing warehousing and distribution use on the site that currently
generates over 2,000 daily vehicle movements including some 660 movements
by large lorries. The development proposals will increase the number
of car movements (by approximately 3 vehicles per minute in the peak
hours) but will all but remove the lorries that the site generates
from the local highway network.
The impact of the development on the local highway network has been
assessed using robust traffic parameters that have been agreed with
Kent County Council and that have been validated using local traffic
surveys. The proposed mini-roundabout at the Station Road / London
Road junction will offer increased capacity and therefore, even with
the development traffic, there will be improved operation at that
location.
The
operation of the Riverhead roundabouts has also been carefully assessed
to determine the net impact of the development proposals at that sensitive
location. This assessment shows that the change in traffic flows at
Riverhead due to the development proposals will not result in a noticeable
impact.
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The
main reason for this is that the direction of the modest increase
in traffic flows due to the development proposals will be primarily
in the opposite direction to the majority of the existing peak period
traffic. For example, the predominantly residential development of
the site will generate mainly outbound trips in the morning peak hour,
whereas the tidality of traffic flow is primarily into Sevenoaks in
this period.
The
development proposals will therefore increase traffic flows on the
more lightly trafficked approaches of the Riverhead junctions rather
than overloading the congested approaches. In addition, the removal
of large lorries due to the closure of the Cold Store has a beneficial
effect, because lorries take up more road space and utilise more capacity
than cars.
The most congested approach to the Riverhead South roundabout in the
morning peak hour is Worships Hill. The development proposals are
expected to result in a net increase of circa 1 vehicle every 4 minutes
in the morning peak hour on Worships Hill.
The most congested approach to the Riverhead South roundabout in the
evening peak hour is Amherst Hill. The development proposals are expected
to increase traffic flows on this approach by less than 1 vehicle
every 2 minutes in the evening peak hour.
Such increases will not be perceptible and the ‘ARCADY’
assessments therefore demonstrate that there will be no noticeable
change in the operation of the Riverhead Roundabouts with the existing
Cold Store replaced by a residential and commercial redevelopment.
On this basis, the Riverhead Roundabouts can satisfactorily serve
the development proposals.
