West of Hook (Owen’s Farm) Planning Application
OBJECT NOW AT Hart Planning Application
Following the massive public response to this dreadful planning application, the developer has responded with revised documents, primarily on traffic, access and public transport matters.
Hart as the planning authority has decided that the updated information warrants a new right to comment from residents, ending on 16th April. Below is our advice on how everyone can respond this time. The application reference is unchanged, it is not a fresh planning application.
The information we provided about the original application can be found at http://hookdevaction.org.uk/westofhook-original-application/.
Summary
Last October Hart District Council invited public comment on planning application 17/02317/OUT for 700 dwellings, primary school, nursery, retail facility, community facility and Suitable Alternative Natural Greenspace at Owens Farm, West of Hook.
Over 830 people objected to this totally unacceptable application.
The developer has recently submitted further documentation trying to overcome these objections. The prime document is a 278 page Traffic Assessment Addendum. This document claims to resolve all the transport and traffic issues with respect to the application. We firmly believe that the issues are NOT resolved.
Because virtually every objection included traffic issues, Hart has decided to hold another consultation to help determine whether this addendum resolves the issues.
Whilst previously made objections on other grounds will still be considered, the traffic and transport objections need to be reiterated at this second consultation.
We urge people who responded to the first consultation to respond to this second one stating in your own words:
- That you responded previously and do not believe updated information has resolved issues raised and
- Highlight the traffic and transport issues you feel are important – there is no need to repeat other objections but of course you can.
If you did not comment previously please do so now pointing out not only the traffic issues but the many other reasons why this application is totally unacceptable.
We provide below the following to help you respond as appropriate:
- Section 2 – an overview of the new Traffic Assessment Addendum
- Section 3 – a list of traffic and transport issues
- Section 4 – other reasons to object
You can respond online at:
You can also email comments to planningadmin@hart.gov.uk or write to Hart Council quoting the application reference number 17/02317/OUT
The deadline for comments is 16th April 2018.
Remember every member of the household can submit comments.
Thank you in anticipation of your support.
Overview of new Transport Assessment Addendum
The current proposals appear very similar to those in the previous document. The majority of changes are simply tinkering with the detail. The proposals are summarised below with noticeable differences from the original Transport Assessment highlighted.
The only vehicular access to the 700 homes, school, nursery, shop and SANG is a new roundabout on Newnham Road
The following junctions will be modified:
- Newnham Road / A30 London Road
- A30 London Road / Griffin Road Roundabout
- A30 London Road / Station Road Roundabout
- Old School Road / A30 London Road
- Old School Road / Newnham Road and Kingsbridge railway bridge
The only really significant junction changes are at the Newnham Road/A30 London Road junction and at the Old School Road / Newnham Road junction..
Newnham Road will be considerably widened where it meets A30 London Road by reducing the size of the green.
There are currently 3 options under discussion for Old School Road /Newnham Road junction.
- Convert junction to a standard T junction
- As 1. and add a 1m footway across the bridge making it one way with traffic from A30 direction giving way
- Prioritise flow of traffic to/from Old School Road and the part of Newnham Rd with the proposed development, i.e. traffic from Newnham would give way at the junction. Add a 1m footway across the bridge again making one way but with traffic from A30 having right of way.
Both Old School Road and Newnham Road will be widened where possible and to achieve part of this widening, land will be acquired from the nature areas on Newnham Road either side of Carleton Close.
A pavement will be provided from Old School Lane to meet up with existing pavement at Seton Drive – in the previous submission the pavement only went to Owens Farm Lane
Two pinch points in Newnham Road will be retained with one moved – previously they were both to be completely removed because according to the developer with the extra traffic they would be dangerous for cyclists.
Decreasing over 5 years financial support will be provided for the extension of the Route 10 Basingstoke/Old Basing bus to Hook centre via Old School Lane and Newnham Road hourly
No significant cycle route improvements are proposed.
Issues
The following issues concern us:
Suitability of single roundabout access to site.
Suitability of even widened Old School Lane Road and Newnham Road for amount of traffic considering the limited scope to widen especially between Owens Farm Lane and Seton Drive where a pavement is being added. This applies equally to both construction traffic during the 7 year build and on-going traffic after completion.
As these roads are also expected to support a bus route they will become more dangerous and are likely to generate significant traffic delays.
Currently people frequently park on Old School Road just before the bend. The increased traffic will make this even more dangerous than it is now.
It is not intended to widen Newnham Road in front of Southview cottages. It is difficult to see how effective traffic flow will be achieved along this stretch of road if parking is continued to be allowed.
The Newnham Road widening requires tarmacking over parts of the nature areas by Carleton Close and the beautiful green at the end of the road (Jubilee Green). This reduction in size of environmental areas is a big disappointment If the development is approved and there are traffic issues as we expect along this part of Newnham Road then a solution will be a wider road further reducing these environmental areas..
Adequacy of the traffic analysis. It is based on the assumption that the development will generate the following amount of traffic during peak hours. The numbers in brackets are the numbers in the previous transport assessment.
| Peak Hours | Arrivals | Departures | Two way |
|---|---|---|---|
| 08.00-09.00 | 108 (91) | 266 (382) | 374 (473) |
| 17.00-18.00 | 239 (212) | 125 (112) | 364 (334) |
The massive drop in the morning is acknowledged in the document but not clearly explained. General opinion was that the original figures were too low – and now they are even lower!
It is not clear that the traffic analysis has fully taken into account:
- Traffic generated by other developments in Hook
- Newnham Road being used as a rat run to Old Basing, adjacent parts of Basingstoke and the A33 Reading Road
The traffic analysis assumes that a significant number of people will walk to the centre of Hook instead of using their cars. In light of peoples’ busy lives and the significant conversion of offices to homes thereby drastically reducing the number of people who work in Hook, we believe this to be extremely optimistic. The quoted 1.2Km distance to the village centre is from the entrance to the site. Many dwellings will be considerably further.
No measures are included to alleviate the dangers to cyclists at Newnham Road pinch points. These dangers were identified in the original documentation.
The document recognises lack of street lighting in parts of Newnham Road but does not clearly state that it will be implemented
Risk of new bus service ceasing when subsidy ceases. Stagecoach has clearly stated that the bus could be withdrawn if not adequately used when financial support ceases.
Risk to current Route 13 bus to Basingstoke. The addition of the new bus will double the service to and from Basingstoke. This could reduce usage of Route 13 to make it no longer viable.
The document identifies the Community Bus and states that bus services are available to The Meadows, Camberley, Hartley Wintney and Yateley. The former has ceased and the latter only provides a few buses a day and only on three days a week.
The document is not sufficiently definitive in many areas. A few examples are:
- Three options are under consideration for Old School Road / Newnham Road junction
- Land identified to widen roads has to be acquired and may not be available
- Owens Farm Lane is identified as a potential pedestrian route but this is a private road with no public right of way
- The M3 Junction 5 modelling has not been completed
Other Grounds to Object – For New Objectors
For people who did not respond to the original consultation, listed below are other significant objections to the development:
- Site not included for housing in the draft Local Plan
- Hart can build more than the required number of houses without using this greenfield site
- Contravenes Hart planning policy of not building on greenfield site
- Contravenes Hart planning policy of not building in Newnham / Hook gap
- Degrades recreational value of Hook / Newnham footpath
- Hook’s infrastructure cannot cope with this in addition to already approved North East Hook 550 dwellings, Reading Road 70, Brown Croft 60, Providence House 107 and the many office conversions currently being progressed
- Approval would undermine confidence in the democratic Local Plan process where the people of Hook and Hart have overwhelmingly expressed their opposition to urban extensions such as this in both Hart’s consultations on the Local Plan and the developer’s consultation on this.