Why not?34 REASONS WHY THE WEYMOUTH RELIEF ROAD SHOULD NOT BE BUILT1. The amount of traffic on the stretch of road proposed to be bypassed is not exceptional. The average flow throughout the year is 23,000 vehicles per day. It has been estimated that over 1,000 communities in Great Britain suffer this level of traffic or more. Most of these communities are in urban areas, similar to Upwey and Broadwey, where a bypass has long been abandoned as a sustainable solution to traffic problems. 2. The scheme is designed to address the current average journey delay time during peak periods, estimated to be 3 minutes 35 seconds. Alternative measures are available, more sustainable than increasing road capacity, that would reduce journey delay times of this order to acceptable levels. 3. Dorset County Council’s policy not to implement integrated transport measures until after the bypass is built is unacceptable. Our consultant’s assessment is that if such measures were to be put in place there would be no need to increase road capacity. 4. The proposal contravenes Policies on development, transport, sustainability and protection of the Dorset AONB, Ancient Woodland in Two Mile Coppice, the Lorton SSSI, the Dorset Wildlife Trust Lorton Meadows Nature Reserve and the Southdown Ridge Local Landscape Area. These include: Government Polices PPS7, PPS9 and ‘Keepers of Time’ and Regional Polices SD1, SD2, SD3, SD4, ENV1, ENV2, ENV3, RE8, SR31 and TR10 in the Draft Regional Spatial Strategy for the South West. 5. The scheme is forecast to give rise to increased carbon dioxide emissions: 2,347 tonnes in the opening year alone. The County Council has declared this to be ‘insignificant’. However, it represents 48% of the Council’s target reduction of 4,851 tonnes for ‘carbon emissions under its direct influence’, for the same year. 6. The bypass would give rise to gashes through the Ridgeway (19 m deep) and Southdown Ridge (16 m deep) and a dominating embankment (22 m high) across the Bincombe Valley on top of which it is proposed to construct an intrusive limited access grade-separated junction. 7. Traffic noise would rise significantly, flooding the adjacent countryside. The current tranquillity of the Bincombe Valley, the Lorton Meadows Nature Reserve and Two Mile Coppice would be destroyed. 8. Residents of Monmouth Avenue, Saint Andrews Avenue, Greenway Road, Greenway Close, Clarendon Avenue, Littlemoor, Bincombe and streets west of the railway line from Chapel Lane to Lorton Lane, together with residents of unspecified areas and of more isolated properties, will be subject to, depending upon location, light pollution (unspecified number of properties), increased noise levels (2,901 properties) and air pollution (287 properties). 9. It is forecast to give rise to serious congestion on the A354 link between its junctions with the C54 (Broadmayne Road) and the A35(T) Dorchester Bypass (see (g), below). The £2 million proposed to be spent on reducing congestion at the junction of the A354 with the A35(T) will leave congestion on the link untouched. 10. It is forecast to cause significant increases in traffic on: (a) The road to Nottington from Chickerell near Harbour Bridge (+113%) (b) Nottington Lane east of Buckland Ripers (+107%) (c) Nottington Lane between Nottington village and its junction with the A354 (+103%) (d) Littlemoor Road 400 m east of its junction with the new bypass (+86%) (e) Littlemoor Road 1.2 km east of its junction with the new bypass (+82%) (f) The B3159 through Upwey village north and south of its junction with the road to Elwell (+52%) (g) The A354 South of Dorchester (Monkton Hill) (+43%) (h) The A354 Weymouth Way north of Chafey's Roundabout (+35%) (i) The B3159 south of Martinstown (+22%) (j) The B3157 Radipole Lane (+22%) (k) The A35(T) Dorchester Bypass east of its junction with the A354 Dorchester Road (+17%) 11. Public transport in the area is under utilised and there should be more sticks and carrots to encourage travellers to use it. Between 0700 and 0900 hours on a weekday, northbound buses and trains between Weymouth and Dorchester are running 83% empty. The corresponding figure for southbound buses and trains between 1600 and 1800 hours is 73%. 12. There are no bus lanes, no bus priority measures and no formal Bus Quality Partnerships. 13. Bus and train services remain uncoordinated. 14. Buses remain unable to deliver passengers to and pick up passengers from the forecourt of Weymouth Railway Station. 15. There is no plan to replace the Dorchester Road/Littlemoor Road T-junction with, for example, a roundabout to smooth flows and reduce delays. 16. Dorset County Council’s transport policies have failed to bring about significant increases in walking and cycling. The Council needs to introduce effective policies and provide the resources for their implementation. Two cycleways claimed by the Council to have been completed remain unfinished. The 2 km Weymouth Town Centre to Southill cycleway terminates at Chafey’s Roundabout, 0.8 km short of its destination. The ‘completed’ Weymouth Town Centre to Portland cycleway just reaches Portland at Ferry Bridge, beyond which the route requires the use of unsuitable existing roads. 17. To reduce delays and bring about a significant improvement in road safety, on-street parking on the Dorchester Road through Upwey and Broadwey should be banned except at times when traffic is light. Similar benefits could be achieved by reducing the opportunities for vehicles to make right-hand turns in order to leave or join the same stretch of road. 18. A significant proportion of journey delays during peak periods is caused by Dorset County Council employees travelling to and from work by car. It must have a comprehensive and enforced Workplace Travel Plan before it considers increasing road capacity to accommodate its employees. 19. Once it has put its own house in order, the Council must put more effort into persuading and helping all large and medium sized businesses and organisations in Dorchester and Weymouth to devise, implement and enforce Workplace Travel Plans. Employees of just four organisations: Dorset County Council, Dorset County Hospital, West Dorset District Council and Dorchester Prison, collectively make up between 37% and 47% of northbound morning or southbound afternoon peak traffic flows. The actual contribution depends upon where the traffic is counted, the peak period and the peak direction. 20. There is a significant contribution to traffic on the A354 during peak periods by cars on school trips to and from Wey Valley Secondary School, Saint Nicholas & Saint Laurence Primary School, Saint John's Primary School and Radipole Primary School. The contribution to traffic on the A354 between Manor Roundabout and Nottington Lane has been estimated to be between 15% and 17%, the actual contribution depending upon a number of assumptions and estimates. The School Travel Plans agreed between these schools and the Council are designed to bring about modal shift. The potential to achieve this is high for all schools. For example, in 2004/2005, 536 or 55% of the pupils attending the three primary schools travelled to school by car. The average for GB is 41%. 21. The introduction of safety measures to reduce casualties on the Dorchester Road through Upwey and Broadwey has been neglected. For example, the Council should have considered by now a reduction in the speed limit over the Ridgeway and round the hairpin bend from 60 to 40 or 50 mph. The Council waited until 6 September 2006 before it reduced the speed limit between Nottington Lane and Manor Roundabout from 40 to 30 mph. 22. Dorset County Council has failed to put forward any evidence to support its claim that peoples’ lives have been put in danger as a result of emergency services being delayed on the A354 through Upwey and Broadwey. As elsewhere in GB, drivers cooperate fully in such circumstances. They pull over and stop until the emergency vehicle has passed. 23. Disruption to traffic caused by maintenance, repairs or renewal of services laid under major roads is commonplace. It cannot justify the building of a bypass. The County Council has amply demonstrated over the years that, when necessary, it is capable of choosing and signing a satisfactory alternative route. 24. Since the economy of the area has been described by Weymouth & Portland Borough Council as ‘booming’ and by Dorset County Council as ‘successful’, any claim that the road is necessary for the economy of the area is not credible. The County Council’s more recent argument that it is needed to offset any future downturn in the economy has the ring of desperation. 25. Since unemployment is low (1.6% in the Dorchester Weymouth TTWA in 2006, compared with the UK’s 2.6%) it is similarly not credible for there to be claims that a Weymouth Relief Road is needed to generate or maintain employment. 26. The Indices of Deprivation 2004, together with unemployment data, provide the evidence that Dorset County Council no longer has any justification for promoting the Weymouth Relief Road on socio-economic grounds. The Indices show that 35% of English Districts have more overall deprivation than does Weymouth & Portland. Further, on the basis of the same evidence, Draft Regional Spatial Strategy for the South West does not include the area in a list of priorities for addressing deprivation and disadvantage. 27. Because the archaeology of the South Dorset Ridgeway is of great significance, the area is of national, if not international importance. It is clear that the setting of the Ridgeway’s barrows must be conserved. This is not possible if the road is built. 28. A Weymouth Relief Road is not needed for a successful Olympic Games. London 2012 convinced the International Olympic Committee that the 15,000 spectators (maximum) 12,600 (average) expected on each of the 14 days of sailing events to be held at Weymouth could be satisfactorily catered for by three measures: a temporary 1,000 car Park & Ride (costing $1 million), a reduction from 7,000 to 500 car parking spaces in urban Weymouth and Portland for the duration of the Games and expenditure of $496 million (to be spent between 2003 and 2006) to improve rail services between London Waterloo and Weymouth. These measures are consistent with London 2012’s plans for spectators to arrive at the Games by public transport, by cycle or on foot. 29. The Inspector’s Report on the West Dorset Local Plan Inquiry, published 27 January 2006, concluded that the proposed Weymouth Relief Road is not justified and recommended that Policy EA35, which safeguards the route of the scheme, be deleted from the Local Plan. The Inspector came to her conclusion after consideration of a comprehensive presentation for the road by Dorset County Council and against the road by Dorset Branch CPRE. 30. Responses to the planning application for the scheme indicate that objectors outnumber supporters by a ratio of more than 3 to 1 (5,831 compared with 1,743). 3,249 of the objectors are residents of Dorset. The scheme would be built within the DT3 Postcode area. 1,007 objectors and 984 supporters gave addresses with this Postcode. 31. The estimated cost of the bypass (currently £84.5 million) represents a very high proportion of the transport funds Dorset County Council can expect from the Government over the coming years. It follows that, if the bypass were to be built, the Council would be unlikely to have the funds to enable it to address the more pressing transport problems it faces throughout the county. 32. The bypass does nothing to solve the traffic problems of urban Weymouth and Portland. 33. The bypass does nothing to solve the transport problems suffered by residents of rural Dorset. 34. The proposed road is not a regional priority so that, because of limited funding, there is doubt that even if it attains Department for Transport Final Approval, it could be built within the South West Regional Funding Allocation period 2006-2016. 1 JULY 2007 |