The children were with my parents today, so I got quite a lot done ahead of going to the Grove Farm consultation this afternoon. I got my 30 minute walk in on the way there, taking a circuitous route to Ormskirk Rugby Club.
The consultation is ahead of the Taylor Wimpey application to build several hundred houses on the fields opposite our house. This has been bubbling away for a few years since the Council first started looking for land for extra housing in the area.
I’m all for extra housing, and didn’t object to the proposed change of use, nor the initial outlines of the development. There is a real housing problem in the area, not to the scale of some parts of the country, but we do need extra homes in the town. The NIMBYs and Tory councillors won’t allow housing to be built in Aughton, but I think that it’s their loss. I think some additional housing in this side of town would be a good thing, but it has to be done right. Unfortunately, that’s where I start to disagree with the development.
Our house is on the main road and is directly opposite where one of the two entrances to the development will be, and I’m concerned about the impact on the traffic outside the house. When I spoke to the traffic consultant today, he said that they had done a traffic survey and found that there was a lot of traffic exceeding the speed limit on the road (No shit, Sherlock!) That survey was probably not done in the last few weeks and so will not reflect the new roundabout that has been built at the Burscough end of the “long mile”.
The junction with Pippin Street used to cause a small tailback every time a lorry or large vehicle wanted to turn right towards the industrial estate. For those of us who live a mile down the road, it was a bit of a lifesaver, because it meant that there were regular breaks in the flow of traffic when it would be easier to pull out, knowing that there was a gap in the southbound traffic.
That’s no longer the case. The roundabout has done a brilliant job of keeping the traffic flowing and consequently there are fewer gaps in the stream of southbound traffic. Taking that along with the significant increase in the amount of traffic over the past 9 years, the road is quite tricky to pull out of. The development over the road is going to make this a lot worse.
The developers are proposing some hatching painted on the road to slow down the traffic, and putting a “right turn” island in the road, a few metres to the left of our drive and a few metres to the right of our neighbour’s exit. My feeling is that this will just make things much worse for those of us on this side of the road. I need to understand the impact of such road markings and junctions, but from some preliminary research it doesn’t look good.
The local highway authority is the County Council and so I might have to write to Niiki Hennessey, our County Councillor. But if the current proposals are those that go in the planning application next month, then I’ll reluctantly have to object. Reluctantly, because I think that it’s not a bad plan. There are lots of benefits, and I really like the linear park that would be built. There is no right to a pleasant view, and personally I don’t mind. However, I do feel sorry for those who will have this built behind their houses. They’ve enjoyed a wonderfully peaceful view, and that will be gone with this development.
As I said, my objections are merely the result of practical concerns about being able to leave our house and safely join the main road. Sadly, I’m no traffic engineer and I might have to quickly learn how these things work. I did complete and leave a feedback form, but I’ll send a fuller response by email over the next couple of days.
So given the work, the consultation and then sorting out dinner, it was close to 9pm when I finally got out for a run. I pottered through Scott estate, down towards the Fiveways then back, taking a detour down Yew Tree Road and finally up Burscough Road. 3.4km in 21 minutes. I blame my slowness on the fact that it was the end of the day and I really really didn’t feel like going out.