Archived decisions

HAMPSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL

EXECUTIVE MEMBER - ENVIRONMENT

EXECUTIVE MEMBER - POLICY AND RESOURCES

ITEM 4

PROJECT APPRAISAL

PROJECT:

SOUTH WINCHESTER PARK-AND-RIDE

COMMENCEMENT DATE:

SPRING 2009

COMPLETION DATE:

SUMMER 2010

PLANNED YEAR OF START IN ACCORDANCE WITH CAPITAL PROGRAMME: 2009/10

1.

FINANCE (Client Department, Director of Property, Business and Regulatory Services [Estates Practice] and County Treasurer)

Current

Capital

Estimate

Programme

(at 2007

(at 2007

prices)

prices)

Capital Expenditure

£'000

£'000

Land to be purchased

Nil

Nil

Construction

5,588

5,588

Fees

1,512

1,512

7,100

7,100

Less developers/

143

143

other contributions

6,957

6,957

Financial provision for total scheme

Total Cost

1.

From Capital Programme

(a) Integrated Transport programme

6,957

6,957

2.

From other resources

(a) Contributions

143

(b)

(c)

TOTAL

7,100

Value of land for this project in HCC ownership £

175

Variations from capital programme

Revenue implications

£'000

% variation

to Committee's

budget

Net current expenditure *

*39

0.0500

Capital charges

144

0.1090

TOTAL net expenditure

183

0.1590

2.

SUMMARY

2.1

2.2

2.3

Peak hour traffic in Winchester city centre is high due to the large amount of incoming commuter traffic. This contributes to poor air quality and traffic-related congestion problems. A process to provide park-and-ride facilities for commuters on the fringe of the city has already been established with reasonable success. It is proposed to expand the facilities by creating a new Park-and-Ride car park south of Winchester to intercept the highest source of commuter traffic. Traffic modelling has determined the traffic improvements that can be expected and an extensive site selection process has determined the best location of the new car park. These and the environmental impact of the proposal were extensively studied and scrutinised during the planning application process in summer 2007.

The planning application was approved in July 2007, financial provision has been made and it is proposed the project is approved so that construction of the new Park-and-Ride car park (including associated bus priority measures) can start in spring 2009. Prior to commencement of the construction there will need to be an agreement with Winchester City Council regarding the maintenance, management and operation of the site and bus services, which will include bus routeing.

The improvement of air quality and reduction of congestion while maintaining the economic vitality of the city centre contributes to both maximising well-being and enhancing the quality of place.

3.

3.1

3.2

Recommendations

That the Executive Member for Environment approves, under sections 65 and 66 of the Highways Act 1980, the conversion of the footway on the eastern side of Otterbourne Road (between the site pedestrian cycle access and the Bushfield Roundabout) to shared use for pedestrians and cyclists.

That the Executive Member for Policy and Resources approves the Project Appraisal to construct a Park-and-Ride car park and central amenities building on the Itchen Farm site (also known locally as the Tarmac site), at an estimated cost of £7.1 million; With the award the main construction for this project being contract subject to the satisfactory conclusion of consultations with Winchester City Council.

4.

STATEMENT OF NEED/JUSTIFICATION FOR PROJECT

(Client Department)

4.1

4.2

4.3

4.4

4.5

4.6

4.7

4.8

4.9

4.10

4.11

The urban area of Winchester experiences around 15,000 in-commuting work car trips per day. The early morning and evening peaks in traffic contribute to congestion, poor air quality and other traffic-related problems in the city centre. The park-and-ride sites at Bar End and St Catherine's have allowed reductions to be made in the number of free on-street parking spaces in the city centre. Additional edge of city park-and-ride facilities are now required to allow further reductions in city centre parking and thus greater improvements in congestion and air quality. This strategy allows sustainable parking management that protects and promotes the future economic vitality of Winchester.

The County Council's Local Transport Plan 2006-2011 identifies the key aims of the transport strategy for Winchester as:

(i) reduce the need to travel;

(ii) reduce the volume of traffic travelling into the central area;

(iii) improve the current air quality and localised congestion problems;

(iv) improve the environment and safety for pedestrians and cyclists; and

(v) increase the efficiency and attractiveness of public transport.

The improvement of air quality by the reduction of traffic congestion complements the Stern Review and ensuring economic vitality and commercial viability of Winchester is advocated by the Eddington Transport Study.

The development of the next park-and-ride site is an important building block in developing the package of measures needed to deliver the long-term Town Access Plan for the city of Winchester. This would be closely associated with other measures to assist bus movements and a car parking strategy that relocates parking, primarily for commuters, from the centre to park-and-ride sites.

This project would be the next step towards a less traffic-dominated city centre by providing parking spaces on the periphery of the city to facilitate the wider transport and parking strategies for Winchester, while maintaining the economic attractiveness of the city for business and retail purposes. The existing park-and-ride sites provide approximately 780 edge of city parking spaces. During recent years Winchester City Council has removed 660 free on-street parking spaces that were often used by commuters. Jewry Street car park has been reduced by approximately 40 spaces and Upper Brook Street car park will lose 52 places when it closes as part of the Silver Hill development. There is also the potential for Colebrook Street car park (77 spaces) to be closed as a result of further development. Winchester City Council policy for car park charges encourages long stay parking to use park-and-ride; this has been successful and now additional park-and-ride capacity is required for further improvements.

The high level of commuting into Winchester is dominated by the heavy influx (over 60%) from the south Hampshire area (around Southampton and south-east Hampshire), emphasising the potential to accommodate this concentrated movement through a further park-and-ride located in the south Winchester area in the vicinity of Junction 11 of the M3 motorway. The traffic survey and modelling details are located in the Traffic Assessment for South Winchester Park-and-Ride.

A site to the south offers many advantages as part of the wider park-and-ride strategy. The Bar End facility, located to the east with good access to Junction 10 of the M3 motorway, serves the city centre and destinations between The Broadway and the railway station. An additional site to the south could serve a complementary market and include the Romsey Road corridor. This would provide a wide customer base and meet a latent demand, including from the Royal Hampshire County Hospital, University and other major employers, that is not met by the Bar End facility. While it is expected that some parking will migrate from the existing car parks to the new one the different catchments served by each will limit this effect. Where this does happen it provides additional scope to cater for drivers from the east.

A generalised cost model was developed to forecast the number of users of a new park-and-ride site in the vicinity of Junction 11 of the M3 motorway. Opening year (2009) demand for the park-and-ride is forecast to be around 1,060 vehicles per day, which equates to the need for an approximate 864 space car park based on the observation of the turn over of the existing Park-and-Ride car parks.

The predicted reduction in traffic flows as a result of the project within peak hours is significant, and it is expected that there would be substantial alleviation of existing congestion. Providing an 864 space park-and-ride facility in the south Winchester area has the potential to reduce in-bound rush hour traffic flows on the Romsey Road and St Cross Road corridors by between 8% and 12% compared to 2005 flows. This is roughly comparable to the traffic reductions experienced during school holidays. The new Park-and-Ride site would create the ability to reduce both public off-street parking in the central area of the city and private non-residential parking associated with major employers in Romsey Road. Hampshire County Council is already committed to removing 250 spaces through the refurbishment of Ashburton Court. Similar discussions are being held with Winchester Hospital and the University which may release some current parking areas for redevelopment. The Winchester Town Access Plan will look at further possibilities for reduced on-street parking in association with the new park-and-ride site.

The principle of further park-and-ride facilities for Winchester has been well established in policy terms and accepted for many years. A strong partnership has been established with the City Council for the use of park-and-ride as part of the city centre parking management. The City Council has shared in the development process for the new site and how it will complement existing facilities. Analysis of travel patterns and traffic data has confirmed the south Winchester locality as the priority for implementation of the next park-and-ride, and detailed studies have identified the demand for an approximately 864 space facility in this area.

Targets and Outcomes

The primary target is to create a new park-and-ride car park. The outcome of this new facility is to allow a significant amount of existing city centre parking to migrate to the new car park, relieving peak hour congestion into the city centre and improving air quality.

5.

ROAD IMPROVEMENT PROPOSAL (Client Department)

National/County Network and Policies

5.1

5.2

5.3

5.4

5.5

5.6

5.7

5.8

5.9

5.10

5.11

5.12

Government guidance, including Planning Policy Guidance 13, supports park-and-ride development as one element of an integrated strategy that addresses transport problems in urban centres. The Local Transport Plan, Winchester District Local Plan and Air Quality Action Plan all strongly support the principle of a South Winchester Park-and-Ride as a crucial part of a wider transport strategy for Winchester.

The proposed site lies outside the Winchester-Compton Street local gap but is within an area to which local countryside policies apply; as such development represents a departure from the local plan.

In terms of meeting the national, regional and local transport policy requirements the project performs well. It has been developed following a thorough site selection process and careful consideration of design principles to either avoid or minimise any adverse effects on policy designations.

A full review of the planning policies relevant to the application for the Park-and-Ride scheme are discussed in detail in Chapter 5 (Policy and Planning) of the Environmental Statement.

Details of Scheme and Design Standards

The proposed Park-and-Ride scheme comprises an 864 space car park and central amenities building on the Itchen Farm site (also known locally as the Tarmac site) adjacent to Junction 11 of the M3 motorway. It incorporates high quality design and materials based on latest best practice, and builds on experience gained by operating the existing Winchester park-and-ride sites. The site selection process leading to the choice of this site is explained in Chapter 3 (Alternatives Considered) of the Environmental Statement.

The proposals provide a high degree of landscaping with planting and earth bunds to reduce the visual impact on the wider landscape. Planting has been carefully selected to complement the existing belt of mature beech trees to the west of the site bordering Otterbourne Road. A range of flowering plants and wildflowers would also be used to encourage insects and butterflies; with nesting, foraging and hibernation areas for other native wildlife.

The proposed amenity building incorporates quality facilities for users, including toilets, bus information and pleasant shelter and waiting areas. A `green' roof with low-level planting will help blend the building into the surrounding landscape. Closed circuit television (CCTV) coverage and lighting will enhance security, with lamps designed to reduce upward light.

The main vehicular access into the car park will be via a fourth arm off the Hockley Link roundabout. A `left turn - bus only' access into the site is also proposed off the Otterbourne Road. A dedicated footway and cycleway would also be provided through the site and along a section of Otterbourne Road, linking to improved crossing facilities at Bushfield Roundabout.

New direction signs will be erected to guide drivers to the most appropriate park-and-ride site and passenger waiting facilities will be provided at suitable points along the bus route.

In addition to the car park new bus priority measures have been studied to ensure that reliable services can be provided to and from the city centre. At peak times traffic congestion causes delays at the Bushfield Roundabout which would delay park-and-ride bus services. It is therefore proposed to widen some of the approaches and the roundabout itself to remove delays for these bus services and traffic generally. This will allow the car park to operate efficiently.

Feasibility studies have identified two park-and-ride bus routes; either in through St Cross and out through Romsey Road which provides a quicker route into the city, or in and return along Romsey Road which gives a more direct service to the Romsey Road employers. The most suitable route will be agreed with Winchester City Council and further bus priority features considered.

A location plan is attached and the design is illustrated on drawings 17/A3090/3/3001, 17/A3090/3/3112, P6544-P10C and P6544-P11C which will be displayed at the meeting.

Environmental Impact

5.13

5.14

5.15

5.16

A full Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) study was undertaken to support the planning application for the scheme.

In summary, construction of the project would have an overall slight to moderate adverse environmental effect during the construction phase with impacts upon the landscape and cultural heritage resources most significant.

Once open, the Park-and-Ride car park would have an initial slight to moderate adverse effect reducing to not significant in the medium to longer term, when mitigation planting matures to help enclose the facility and new ecological habitats become better established. The most significant initial effects would be the combined moderate adverse impacts upon both the landscape and cultural heritage resources and the moderate beneficial impact the project would have upon vehicle travellers. While the adverse landscape and visual impacts would gradually reduce, the effects upon the buried archaeology on-site would remain significant.

These impacts relate to the site itself and the land immediately adjacent and are relatively minor when considered in the context of the current effects of existing transport development to the south of Winchester, in particular those of the existing M3 corridor.

Land Requirements

5.17

The proposed site is part of the Compton Estate owned by the County Council and leased as part of Itchen Farm to a tenant farmer. A mitigation package is proposed to off-set the loss of approximately 11 hectares of agricultural land to the tenancy. This consists of 8.70 hectares of land from County Farm holdings in the vicinity against the loss of this land and the construction of a barn for over-wintering cattle and feed storage.

Statutory Procedures

5.18

5.19

5.20

5.21

5.22

Planning permission was granted by the County Council's Regulatory Committee on 25 July 2007.

Formal notices to vacate the site were served on the tenant farmer on 31 August 2007 and 26 October 2007, with the proposed possession dates of 1 September 2008 and 1 November 2008 respectively.

Approval is sought for the conversion of the footway on the eastern side of Otterbourne Road (between the site pedestrian cycle access and the Bushfield Roundabout) to a footway/cycleway, under sections 65 and 66 of the Highways Act 1980.

Due to the timescales involved, approval will be sought closer to the start of construction for the necessary Traffic Regulation Orders to restrict access to the site from Otterbourne Road to left turning buses only.

It is proposed that the County Council will enter into a legal agreement with Winchester City Council on the outline operational standards, lease and maintenance regime required for the facility. This would be similar to the agreements already in place for the current park-and-ride sites and will allow their complementary management as part of the parking strategy for the city of Winchester.

Public Consultation

5.23

5.24

The scheme has benefited from an extensive public consultation exercise to provide publicity and information on the proposal. As a result the project team has been able to draw upon specialist and local knowledge from interest groups and local people to promote a scheme better suited to people's aspirations and sensitive to their concerns.

As reported to the Executive Member for Environment on 14 November 2006 the outcome of previous public consultation had a direct bearing on the decision-making process for the preferred site selection. A heavy emphasis has been placed on keeping interested parties informed on the progress and development of the scheme.

Local Member's View

5.25

The local Member, Councillor Mrs Bailey, supports the scheme having been fully engaged in its development and public consultation process.

Impact Assessments

5.26

5.27

5.28

The scheme has been designed in accordance with the requirements of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995. Disabled, parent and toddler, and cycle parking facilities have been located close to the amenity building, which also contains a disabled toilet, help point and emergency assistance alarm. Throughout the car park, the gradients would be kept to a minimum with slopes generally at 3%. Flush kerbs would be provided at pedestrian crossing points together with colour contrasting paving across the roads to highlight the crossing area to drivers. Full details are in a Design and Access Statement provided in support of the planning application.

The new Park-and-Ride site will complement the Town Access Plan and the commercial and economic requirements of retailers and businesses.

Assessment of the Race Relations (Amendment) Act has been considered in the development of this scheme which is not expected to compromise equalities in terms of race and gender, but to improve access for all.

Maintenance Implications

5.29

5.30

The financial implications of maintaining the new infrastructure is shown on the financial summary. A breakdown of the various maintenance components annual costs is shown in the appendix

For the previous Park-and-Ride schemes costs associated with the bus service, car park operation and maintenance have by agreement been taken on by the City Council, along with the revenue from parking charges. This has allowed the City Council to run all the city centre parking efficiently and in support of the parking policies for Winchester. A similar arrangement is expected for the South Winchester Park-and-Ride to consolidate the management of city centre parking. In this way the overall cost of the project will be shared by the partner authorities, with the County Council providing the capital infrastructure and highway maintenance, and the City Council supporting the operation and maintenance of the car park.

Crime and Disorder Act 1998

5.31

The provisions of the Act have no direct impact on these proposals. The scheme incorporates lighting and full CCTV coverage and the scheme has been designed in consultation with the Hampshire Constabulary Crime Reduction and Architectural Liaison Officer in line with the "Park Mark" secure car park design recommendations.

Sustainability

5.32

5.33

A Sustainability Appraisal approach has been taken in developing the scheme, which involves identifying and prioritising economic, social and environmental concerns, and using these as criteria in the decision-making process.

To demonstrate the County Council's Aalborg Commitment to drive sustainable development, it is intended that the design and operation of the scheme will incorporate sustainable construction methods and features where possible. It is sustainable for commuter car drivers to switch to bus travel in the city centre, and air quality should improve with the reduction in traffic.

Safety Audit

5.34

The design proposals have passed the appropriate Safety Audits during their development and remaining audits of the completed project will be undertaken after construction.

6.

ROAD IMPROVEMENT - ALTERNATIVES CONSIDERED

(Client Department)

6.1

A number of alternative methods, seven sites and two main bus route options, were investigated and appraised to determine the preferred option recommended in this report, refer to Chapter 3 (Alternatives Considered) in the Environmental Statement.

LINK(S) TO CORPORATE STRATEGY

Yes

No

Hampshire safer and more secure for all

Maximising well-being

_

Enhancing our quality of place

_

Section 100 D - Local Government Act 1972 - background papers

The following documents disclose facts or matters on which this report, or an important part of it, is based and has been relied upon to a material extent in the preparation of this report.

NB the list excludes:

1.

Published works.

2.

Documents which disclose exempt or confidential information as defined in the Act.

TITLE

LOCATION

South Winchester Park-and-Ride scheme files

Environment Department Major Schemes Team, Highways and Transport Policy, Sheridan House

Item

Annual maintenance allowance

Highway maintenance

£2,135

Estimated car park maintenance

£26,939

Amenity building

£4,800

Car park landscaping

£972

General site landscaping

£3330

Additional Beech tree maintenance

£500

TOTAL

£38,676