Highways officials raise concerns about risk of crashes at proposed development in Yaxley

Highways officials have shared concerns about the potential risk of collisions on a new access road for a proposed development of over 100 homes.

They raised issues with the current proposed design of the road and asked for improvements to be made to ensure it was safe.

Plans have been put forward to build 115 new homes on land currently used for stables off London Road, in Yaxley.

The developer, Abbey Properties Cambridgeshire Limited, said the new homes it was planning would “contribute meaningfully” to the housing need in the district, including offering 40 per cent affordable housing.

The proposals have come forward as an outline application, meaning if approved by Huntingdonshire District Council, further more detailed plans will still need to be submitted and approved before the homes could be built.

However, the developer has submitted detailed plans for the proposed access road to the development from London Road.

Council raises number of concerns

The developer said: “The existing site access road, which extends westward from London Road, is to be improved to provide a formal access junction for the development in keeping with standards for residential developments outlined in manual for streets.

“The proposed streets within the site establish an internal access loop and have a suitable width to enable on-street servicing and emergency services access at dwelling frontages.

“The lightly trafficked nature of the roads will not necessitate dedicated cycle lanes for this development and the roads will be appropriate for use by cyclists.”

People living in the village have raised concerns about the proposed development, including sharing safety worries about the proposed access road.

Cambridgeshire County Council, the highways authority, has now set out its initial thoughts on the plans for the access road submitted by the developer.

A report from a highways officer published by the district council raises a number of concerns the authority says it has at this stage.

The highways officer said the current visibility splay from the new access road onto the 40mph London Road was not considered enough.

They also raised specific concerns about how close the entrance to the existing homes in Tudor Place would be to the junction of the proposed access road onto London Road.

They highlighted that the county council guidance on the design of new roads states that side roads joining a classified road, distributor road, or bus road, should have no direct accesses within 20metres of the junction with the major road.

‘Risk of shunt type collisions’

The officer said: “Failure to provide sufficient visibility between vehicles exiting the driveway and vehicles entering the main junction risks side impact collisions.

“The risk will be further exacerbated should the private driveway be insufficiently wide to allow two-way movement which may result in vehicles stopping in the junction risking shunt type collisions.

“While the position of this access would be considered as part of the reserved matters application, the local planning authority must be satisfied that suitable safe access can be provided within land in the applicant’s control.

“I would recommend that the applicant be invited to identify what improvements could be made in this regard.”

The highways officer went on to say they did not think an adoptable road could be built within land currently under the applicant’s control.

If a road is not built to what the county council considers an adoptable standard, then it will not take responsibility for the maintenance of the road in the future.

They added that the current proposed layout of the internal roads, although indicative at this stage, would not be suitable for adoption by the county council either.

The highways officer also said that in developments of over 100 homes a second access would normally be required and advised that the emergency services should be consulted before a decision on the plans were made.

They asked for more information to be provided by the developer and requested the district council to update them if this came in, so that they could consider making alternative recommendations on any updated plans.

The consideration of the planning application remains in progress.