No highways objection from council over 200 homes Shifnal plan

Council highways officials will not object to plans for another 200 homes in Shifnal, it has been confirmed.

Shropshire Council’s highways department made the comments in its official response to a planning application for new housing at New Park Farm to the north of Revells Rough.

The site would be next to the existing Taylor Wimpey development known as the Thomas Beddoes estate - and would be accessed through the site.

Responding to the plans local residents have raised concerns over the impact of the development on the town’s roads.

But in a 3,608 word response the council confirms that while residents will “inevitably” notice an increase in vehicles from the development - it would not consider the increase “unacceptable”.

The plan is for the new development to use Stone Drive and Owen Drive on the existing estate as an access to the A464 Wolverhampton Road.

The routes would also be used for construction traffic.

The lengthy response said there is there is a difference between what residents experience on the roads, and changes that were considered “unacceptable” in planning terms.

It states: “The Highway Authority has carefully considered the concerns raised both within the original consultation response and by local residents regarding the potential effect of routing development traffic through the existing estate.

“These concerns principally relate to increased vehicle movements, perceived changes in street character, on-street parking, pedestrian activity and the cumulative effect of additional traffic upon streets that are already established as residential in nature.

“Such concerns are understandable and represent matters that should properly be considered as part of the overall highway assessment.

“Nevertheless, the Highway Authority must distinguish between changes that are likely to be perceptible to existing residents and changes that would result in an unacceptable impact upon highway safety or the operation of the highway network.

“Residential streets are intended to accommodate a range of lawful highway users and, provided that the proposed increase in traffic does not fundamentally alter their operational function or give rise to unacceptable highway safety consequences, the fact that additional vehicle movements will be experienced does not, in itself, justify an objection on highway grounds.

“Having reviewed the additional evidence submitted by the applicant, including the observed traffic surveys, sensitivity testing and further explanation of the intended street hierarchy, the Highway Authority considers that the proposed access strategy is capable of operating within the existing residential street network.”

Despite the position the council’s highways officers accept that key junctions in the town - the A464/Bradford Street junction, and the five-ways roundabout, will get worse in coming years.

But, it says the new development would only have a ‘modest’ contribution on the issues.

It states: “The submitted modelling identifies that both the A464/Bradford Street priority junction and the A464/Shrewsbury Road/Innage Road/Haughton Lane five-arm roundabout experience operational constraints within future year baseline scenarios, with the applicant acknowledging that these junctions are already forecast to experience capacity pressures irrespective of the proposed development.

“The applicant argues that the additional traffic generated by the proposed development represents only a modest proportion of the total forecast traffic demand and does not materially alter the overall operational characteristics of these junctions.

“The highway authority broadly agrees with the applicant's assessment that the principal operational constraints identified within the modelling are not created by the proposed development itself but reflect existing highway characteristics together with forecast background traffic growth.”

It says that despite “increases in queueing and delays are forecast” the impact is ‘proportionate’.

It states: “The highway authority does not consider that the submitted modelling demonstrates that the additional traffic associated with the proposed development would fundamentally alter the operation of the wider highway network or give rise to severe residual cumulative impacts when considered against the future year baseline scenarios.

“Whilst some increases in queueing and delay are forecast at the more constrained junctions, these increases remain proportionate to the scale of development proposed and principally reflect the cumulative effect of existing traffic growth rather than impacts arising solely from the application site.”

The report concludes: “The evidence presently available does not demonstrate that the additional traffic generated by this proposal would materially alter the existing operation of the highway network to such an extent that the residual cumulative impacts could reasonably be regarded as severe.”

It adds: “Having reviewed the submitted information, the highway authority is satisfied that the proposal has not been demonstrated to give rise to an unacceptable impact upon highway safety.

“Whilst existing residents will inevitably experience an increase in vehicle movements associated with the development, the evidence presently available does not demonstrate that those additional movements would fundamentally alter the safety performance of the surrounding highway network or justify an objection on highway safety grounds.”

A decision on the application will be take at a later date.