APPENDIX 3

A3 Bus Priority Corridor - Section 3 Waterlooville Town Centre

SUSTAINABILITY

The A3 corridor project features as a leading highway construction scheme within Hampshire County Council's Corporate Strategy for Sustainable Development. The project is continually seeking to progressively develop each of the 12 themes.

i. Community cooperation - The local Access Group in Havant has been consulted on the principles of the project and the typical features being included in the main works. All bus stops will have high kerbs for level access to buses and audio version of the real time information will be available for the visually impaired. Standard highway improvements such as dropped kerb crossings, tactile edging, contrasting colours, new footway and road surfacing have been provided as a principle design requirement for the scheme.

A key aim of the project is access for all. As each stage of the project

develops the design team values the input of the Havant Access Group and ROVI. An area of particular interest for Section 3 is for the bus stops and central feature area.

ii. Water, air and soil - As with earlier sections of the project, both the design and contractor teams continue to developed methods of recycling existing materials insitu, waste reduction, stockpiling of surplus materials removed for future works rather than land filling as waste, recycling and sourcing materials in an environmentally sensitive manner.

The design and contractor teams have begun to separate materials for each section of the project into three categories 1)Materials on site for reuse; 2) Materials on site for disposal and 3) New materials.

The first two categories are used to assist the County Council to achieve its Public Service Agreement target with the Hampshire Natural Resources Initiative. The table below summaries those materials on site in 2004/05 for Sub Sections 3A, 3B & 3D that can reused or disposed to tip.

The paper grade used for the scheme newsletters was reduced by half thickness and the colour of ink changed from blue to black. This led to a saving in paper quantities and a cost of 1.27p per A4 double-sided newsletter.

iii. Shaping of surroundings - Section 3 incorporates the Local Plan proposal for the extension of the existing pedestrian zone into London Road south, albeit with bus access retained in a single lane width of the existing road. This will still radically improve London Road south and establish a single character for the whole of the town centre. The bus priority work has included and been guided by environmental design considerations for the area to create a traffic-free, bus accessible, pedestrian friendly shopping environment.

iv. Biodiversity - To improve the townscape and local environment of the town centre soft landscaping in the form of an avenue of trees is proposed in Section 3C. The trees will be reasonably mature on installation, between 6 and 8m tall and will be planted in specially prepared tree pits which due to the proximity of buried public utilities will be enclosed. A grey water irrigation system is proposed taking water from the road and pavement run off, treating it to remove salt and oil, before it is used by the trees.

Elsewhere in the storm water drainage system, the design of the drainage makes allowance to store the surface water run off in attenuation tanks or oversized pipes, which in turn balance the maximum rate of water that outfalls to watercourses.

v. Purchasing and procurement - When specifying materials for use on the project life cycle costs are an important factor in ensuring a product will resist vandalism and require minimum maintenance. In order to meet these requirements, the disadvantage is some suppliers are not local which has an impact on fuel use. The advantage is greater, if regular replacement is avoided, as the associated construction energy use would be higher.

The paper grade used for the scheme newsletters was reduced by half thickness and the colour of ink changed from blue to black. This led to a saving in paper quantities and a cost of 1.27p per A4 double sided newsletter.

vi. Improving health and social well-being - The A3 London Road forms part of Havant Borough Council primary strategic cycle route. Whilst a key destination, there also needs to be a continuation of the route though Waterlooville which caters for the majority of cyclists. To this end cyclists approaching from the south are directed via an off-road route and toucan crossing over Maurepas Way and into Swiss Road. The route switches to on-road along Swiss Road. Cyclist can chose to travel as far as Chapel Lane where there will be new cycle parking in London Road (South) near the cycle shop, or continue to the junction of Swiss Road and St George's Walk.

Due to the new bus zone in 3C traffic flows are cycle friendly, such that cyclists can turn left to continue on the route or cross and dismount to used the large cycle parking are near the central feature. Located under a CCTV camera the site provide good secure parking.

Cyclists who turned left at St George's Walk will continue until St George's church were they will cross St George's Walk to join an off-road route as far as the underpass. At this point cyclist currently dismount and joint the existing cycle route to Hambledon Road. Cycle parking is provided outside the church.

Continuation of the cycle route to the north forms part of the Section 4 works of this project.

Although lightly used the bus stops in 3A are essential for those attending the Forest End Surgery. As part of the works the north bound bus stop has been moved nearer and an uncontrolled crossing point proposed form installation between the two bus stop.

The new lighting columns for the Waterlooville meet current street lighting policy requirements to reduce levels of lighting pollution.

vii. Waste - By working closely with the contractor we are endeavouring to minimise the amount of wastage. The presence of a on site designer will help reduce abortive works.

The central clock feature and the tramway feature in Section 3C make use of variety of high quality materials. To ensure wastage is kept to minimum the design team is taking special care in designing the features so they can be constructed with ease, minimal cutting, lifting and time for installation. To achieve this some items will be pre-assembled off site, numbered and then delivered for sequential installation.

viii. Social inclusion - Although under the umbrella of the A3 Bus Priority project the proposals for Waterlooville seek to provide a balanced scheme for all highway users, residents, customers and traders. The ongoing involvement of County Councillor, Borough Councillors, the general public as described in Community Co-operation ensures that people have equal access the development of the project.

ix. Developing a sustainable local economy - As part of the works for the town centre the forecourts and frontages of most of the local shops and businesses are to be resurfaced and street furniture replaced to help it blend into the rest of the proposals.

Extending the bus-only zone creates an extension of the area used by the weekly market. The large footway has other applications for entertainment and food licences which are being considered by Havant Borough Council and the town centre manager.

Two new bus stops are provided south of the bus zone in London Road (south) to encourage passengers to exit the bus sooner and join the route later. This in turn gives more access to the shops in London Road.

As part of the 3C works Victoria Road is being adopted and the newly developed Les Smith site includes an adopted footway. Both provided pedestrian access from the Rockville Drive car park directly into the town centre.

Waterlooville is a key destination for the bus operators of First, Stagecoach and National Express. The project is working closely the operators, in particular First to improve bus frequency and vehicle reliability.

x. Travel and transport - Launched in October 2003 the main bus service from First has adopted the ZIP brand. To date the bus shelter in Section 1 and the buses on route 41 carry the livery. As the project is completed the livery will be added to bus stops along the corridor.

On completion of the Section 3 works First under the terms of the Quality Bus Partnership undertakes to increase the frequency of buses from four per hour to six per hour.

There are currently four teams involved in the design and construction of the Section 3 works, two are based in Winchester, one in Havant and the other on site. Although presence in person is necessary for some meetings, in excess of one and half hours is lost in travel time alone between Winchester and Havant/Site. Video Conferencing between the four teams has now been adopted. At a cost of £2.50 per hour per team in attendance, the equipment encourages more regular meetings.

In terms of developing electronic communication for the project team, all members now have access to a server based at the County in Winchester and an extranet site on the Atkins domain. The County server will eventually be the only location for drawings to avoid duplication and to ensure team members are working on the most up to date documents. The extranet site allows team members to access from any internet computer to common project information such as programmes, minutes of meetings and technical design guides.

xi. Crime and disorder - All street furniture is designed to resist vandalism.

The street lighting for this section of the A3 London Road is substandard and is being replaced to provide an even level of lighting

xii. Climate change and energy use - Bus Shelters for Section 3 are to be procured under a innovative design and build term contract for bus shelters on Sections 2 to 5. The components of the shelter are to be designed such that they minimise the use of energy during manufacture and final use. They are designed such that they can be retrofitted with photovoltaic panels in the future once Solar grants are more readily available.

All street lighting lanterns are fitted with flat glass lanterns that help minimise lighting pollution by directing light downwards.

LED and Fibre Optic lighting is being considered for amenity lighting due to the benefits of lifecycle and reduced energy consumption.

Under the terms of the Quality Bus Partnership First undertakes to provide the highest quality buses which in turn means they are modern and efficient.

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