Archived decisions

Contact: Hannah Baker, ext 6594 email: [email protected]

1. Summary

1.1 This report sets out the background to recommending the abandonment of the proposed Hythe Link Road.

2. Background

2.1 The New Forest Local Plan incorporates a policy which safeguards land for the construction of a Link Road in Hythe. The proposed Link Road (as shown on the attached location plan) would connect New Road with St John's Street, running through an existing car park known as the `St John's Street Car Park'. Safeguarding of land for the scheme is covered by Policy HD-7 in the New Forest District Local Plan (First Alteration 2005). A detailed plan showing the land currently safeguarded for the proposed scheme will be displayed at the meeting.

2.2 In March 2004 the former New Forest Highway and Transport Advisory Panel considered a report on the Hythe Link. The Panel supported the view that the Link Road was no longer required and should consequently be abandoned. The report indicated that officers would investigate alternative uses (as outlined in the report) for the developers' contributions. During discussion on the item, concerns were expressed about the potential effects that traffic from the residential developments at the Dreamlands site might have upon South Street.

2.3 The Link Road proposal was primarily aimed at accommodating the increased levels of traffic that were projected to arise from new development in the Shore Road area, the `Dreamlands' site. The Link Road would potentially have provided relief to St John's Street/The High Street/The Marsh and South Street. However, the projected level of traffic did not come about in practice, once the development had been completed.

2.4 The original proposal to abandon the Link Road was based on traffic monitoring, observations and officer and local Member discussions at the time. Subsequent traffic surveys have confirmed that there has been no significant increase in traffic and that the local network is operating satisfactorily.

2.5 Following the proposed abandonment, officers have been working to secure Deeds of Variation to two legal agreements. These are for contributions that were taken for provision of the Link Road. Having concluded these Deeds, it is now recommended that the Link Road proposal be formally abandoned.

2.6 There are consequential items arising from this decision, if approved. Currently the New Forest Local Plan contains a policy safeguarding land for the Link Road. Assuming abandonment is approved, exclusion of the safeguarding of land will need to be sought as part of the New Forest District Local Development Framework process. In the meantime, pending removal of the safeguarding from the plan, the decision to abandon the scheme will be a material consideration in highways advice on planning applications.

2.7 The formal abandonment of the Link Road will also release the developer contributions, currently held for its construction, for other purposes. Alternative uses for the funds have been the subject of discussions and are described below.

3. Alternative Use for the Funding

3.1 After consultation with the local Member and the District Council the best alternative use is considered to be in improving pedestrian access between the Dreamlands site and the centre of Hythe, via St John's Street. Improvements would also be focused on enhancing pedestrian facilities at the rear of The Marsh/High Street/St John's Street junction and consideration of reallocating road space on St John's Street to favour pedestrians. Approval for a package of measures is being sought through the standard Capital Programme approvals process.

3.2 To address local concerns about South Street, the junction of South Street/ Shore Road/St John's Street and South Street itself has been monitored. This junction is the nearest point on the road network from the Dreamlands development and would be first affected should traffic levels rise in the future. Monitoring has shown no specific impact, but will continue and any mitigation measures will be highlighted for investigation at the appropriate time, should a need emerge.

3.3 Any alternative proposals in this locality need to be considered in conjunction with a major maintenance/improvement scheme for the St John's Street Car Park. New Forest District Council has allocated £130,000 for this and programmed works in this financial year 2006/07. The scheme will require planning permission to alter the access arrangements. The granting of planning permission is dependent on there being no policy objection to the scheme, which would otherwise arise in relation to the Link Road if the scheme is not abandoned. The recommendation to remove safeguarding is also being brought forward now to enable planning consent to be granted in time to allow car park works to commence during the current year.

4. Local Member's Views

4.1 The local Member, Councillor Dash, has been briefed on the proposal to abandon the Link Road and on the alternative use for the funding. He is supportive of the abandonment and has been involved in the development of the alternative package of measures for the town centre.

5. Conclusion

5.1 The view was formed in 2004 that the Hythe Link Road was no longer necessary, given that the road network in the town operates efficiently with the new residential development. Since then officers have been working to secure Deeds of Variation to allow alternative use of contributions collected towards the scheme. The focus is now on improving the existing transport network using the financial contributions previously taken for the Link Road.

5.2 The decision on abandonment, and consequential removal of land safeguarding, is necessary to allow the granting of planning consent and, hence, the commencement of car park works.

6. Impact Assessments

6.1 Assessment of the Race Relations (Amendment) Act has been considered but the outcome of these recommendations do not have any detrimental impacts on equalities or race discrimination. The recommendation to remove the Link Road land safeguarding and policy and investigate an alternative scheme has encouraged participation from the general public as well as statutory bodies by way of consultation events and processes.

Recommendation

That Hampshire County Council abandons proposals for the construction of the Hythe Link Road.

729Rpt/HB