Highways Agency

• Executive summary
• 1 introduction
• 2 route description
• 3 policy objectives
• 4 route functions
• 5 land use & development control statement
• 6 route issues and performance
• 7 route outcomes
• 8 strategy impact statement

5 land use & development control statement

5 Land Use & Development Control Statement

5.1 Introduction

5.1.1 This chapter considers the significance of new development in relation to the management of and any future change to the A49 route. The impact of both committed and likely proposed development needs to be assessed as part of the process of developing the strategy and the subsequent Plan for management of the route. Major developments could impact on traffic conditions along the corridor, and potentially influence the management of it and the scale and timing of any changes that may become necessary.

5.1.2 This chapter comprises a number of sections:

• Section 5.2 provides an overview of transport policy in terms of national, regional and local influences.
• Section 5.3 reviews regional government policies for development of the region.
• Section 5.4 considers the relationship between land-use planning and development control in terms of Highways Agency policy on trunk roads and motorways, and reviews guidance on this matter with particular reference to DTLR Circular 04/2001. This provides the background for
• the Development Control Strategy itself.
• Section 5.5 identifies land use development pressures by reviewing relevant local planning authority policies. Locations are given of those significant developments identified as likely to come on stream in the next ten years, whether as a consequence of the implementation of regional planning guidance, or local planning policies set out in the statutory plans produced by Local Authorities.
• Section 5.6 provides a Development Control Strategy setting out the Highways Agency response to development pressures.
• Section 5.7 summaries land use and development control considerations;
• Section 5.8 draws its conclusion in respect of Route Outcomes.

5.2 Existing Planning Context - Transport Policy

5.2.1 Transport policy is defined in a series of documents emanating from national,regional and local government bodies in this country. Reference is made to:

• National policy (including studies carried out for DfT and the Highways Agency);
• Regional policy documents (e.g. RPG11);
• Various County and Unitary Authority Plans (Structure Plans and Local Transport Plans at county level, and Local Plans at district level).

5.2.2 These documents define policy in their sphere of interest, and identify, to a varying degree, desirable geographical locations for development. It is the latter elementthat is important for this RMS, as the location of committed or planned major development will influence the route's performance in the short / medium term.

National Policy stems from two key documents:

• The Government's White Paper "A New Deal for Transport: Better for Everyone"
• The Roads Review report "A New Deal for Trunk Roads in England".

5.2.3 Following on from these 'Transport 2010 - The 10 Year Plan', published in July 2000 set out the Government's commitment to a high level of transport investment, including roads, for the next 10 years. The 10 Year Plan contains as a target, the reduction of road congestion on the inter-urban network and in large urban areas of England below current levels by 2010, with investment in infrastructure and capacity.

5.2.4 Regional Policy for the area covered by this RMS is being developed through Regional Planning Guidance for the West Midlands (RPG11). Key regional planning policies are identified in section 5.4.

5.2.5 Development Plans, in a variety of forms, describe land use policy and its relationship to transport provision at County and District level. Structure Plans set out strategic policies on development and transport. Local Plans operate under the umbrella of Structure Plans and provide more geographic detail at the District level, in terms of allocations and transport infrastructure. Unitary Development Plans combine the functions of Structure Plans and Local Plans as befits their status.

5.2.6 However, following the issue of the Planning Green Paper "Planning: Delivering a Fundamental Change" the government has proposed a number of changes to the planning system, written into a new Planning Bill, the aim being to shorten the time taken to examine development proposals. The Planning Bill proposes to replace existing RPG with Regional Spatial Strategies (RSS); abolish Structure Plans and replace them with a range of sub-regional strategies; and replace Local Plans and Unitary Development Plans with Local Development Frameworks (LDFs).

5.2.7 In the short term, however, existing development plans of all types will retain thestatus appropriate to the stage in their progress towards adoption by the local authority. They will remain the definitive source of information on local planning and transportation policies.

5.2.8 In accordance with DfT guidance, County Councils are also required to produce five-year Local Transport Plans and Annual Reviews that set out specific transport policies and programmes of work for the period. Amongst other things, these documents identify local transport proposals that could impact on the trunk road network. Key local planning policies are identified in section 5.5

5.3 Existing Planning Context - Regional Government Policy

5.3.1 Regional Planning Guidance for the West Midlands is set out in RPG11, although the emphasis is on the conurbation rather than the more rural parts of the region.

5.3.2 Current guidance recognises the importance of A49 and the parallel Newport /Crewe railway route. It aims to maintain the role of these routes, promote regeneration, and link areas of opportunity in accordance with general policy on rural regeneration RR2 (which states that most economic development should be concentrated in towns and other larger settlements accessible to their rural hinterlands).

5.3.3 Advantage West Midlands (the Regional Development Agency for the West Midlands) has designated the Marches as a Rural Regeneration Zone (RPG policy RR1), and particularly identified Leominster Enterprise Park as a regeneration site.

5.3.4 AWM's Market Towns Initiative promotes investment within towns along the A49, with Craven Arms being the immediate priority, and substantial investment also intended for Hereford and for Shrewsbury where the Shropshire Food Enterprise Park, on the former Battlefields site, is some 6ha allocated for food processin

5.3.5 Hereford and Shrewsbury are identified as sub-regional foci in the West Midlandsfor development outside the Major Urban Areas, and as being capable of long term balanced sustainable growth. It is recognised that Hereford is subject to increasing congestion, with implications for land use development and regeneration. Following the decision of HA not to proceed with the full A49 Hereford Bypass, transport studies have been commissioned to identify ways of releasing travel capacity to accommodate the required development andregeneration.

5.3.6 Many regional initiatives have yet to work their way through the statutory planningprocess. This is due in part to the status of current RPG, and the fact that a new generation of development plans under the new system being promoted in the Planning Bill have yet to be commenced.

5.3.7 Consequently regional policy initiatives involving major strategic development arenot yet fully implemented. Nevertheless, where key development areas are identified, the granting of planning approval will likely depend heavily upon provision of a sustainable transport infrastructure.

5.4 Existing Planning Context - Land Use Planning and Development Control

National Procedures and Policy

5.4.1 Planning Policy Guidance Note 13 (PPG13) sets out national planning policy in respect of transport. In accordance with Annex B of PPG13 the Highways Agency (HA) encourages local planning authorities to consider alternatives to the use of the private car in devising access to local developments. The HA will take these alternatives into account, providing they have been agreed and secured, when it assesses the scale of or need for relevant highways works.

5.4.2 Under the "plan led" system, county councils and local planning authorities produce Development Plans. In the West Midlands, these are set in the strategic context of Regional Planning Guidance 11 (RPG11).

5.4.3 In some cases strategic studies (for example Multi Modal Studies) provide a way ofidentifying planning and transport options within a corridor or area. Whilst no MMS have been commissioned in this area by the HA, the local authority has developed a local MMS for Hereford (Hereford Transport Review) that deals with longer-term issues related to the A49 in that city.

5.4.4 County Councils are responsible for Structure Plans, which set the strategic framework for development within each county. District Councils produce Local Plans that set out the locations in which particular types of development should take place; an indication of the overall density of that development; together with policies that govern spatial development within their area. Unitary Authorities may produce a combined Unitary Development Plan for their area. County Councils also produce Mineral Plans.

5.4.5 In addition, local highway authorities prepare Local Transport Plans (LTPs) that look specifically at transport issues and set out authorities' proposals in this field over a 5-year period.

5.4.6 The HA strongly encourages local authorities to consult it during the drawing upof Development Plans and LTPs with the object of ensuring that the Trunk Road network is properly integrated into the planning process.

5.4.7 DTLR Circular 4/2001 sets out national development control policy for the trunk road and motorway network. In order to maintain safety and free flow of traffic, policy in the past has been to discourage the formation of new accesses to trunk roads. For the future, and in keeping with the objectives of an integrated transport policy, the HA will adopt a graduated policy on the provision of new connections to trunk roads or the intensified use of existing ones.

5.4.8 Paragraph 6 of Circular 4/2001 states "Of particular importance is that trunk roadsshould not be regarded as a convenient means of dealing with local problems, for example by proposing additional junctions on them simply in order to relieve traffic pressures within the local area."

5.4.9 Circular 4/2001 also applies to developments near existing trunk road junctions where the effect of development would be material on the junction.

5.4.10 The HA is responsible to the Secretary of State for the implementation of his policies and the fulfilment of his duties in respect of the trunk road network. In this context the HA may exercise the Secretary of State's powers to direct local planning authorities in respect of planning applications.

5.4.11 The Town and Country Planning (General Development Procedure) Order 1995 requires county councils and local planning authorities to consult the HA about planning applications that may affect the operation of the Trunk Road network and/or that may result in a material increase in the volume of traffic entering or leaving the trunk road.

5.4.12 Paragraph 23 of PPG13 expects planning applications to be accompanied by a Transport Assessment, where the development will have significant transport implications. The HA will expect the developer to provide a Transport Assessment in such cases. The HA is likely to direct the local planning authority not to permit an application where the developer has not supplied an adequate Transport Assessment and the HA believes one is necessary to establish the effect of the development on the trunk road. The HA will withdraw this "holding direction" when the developer supplies adequate information and the HA has had the opportunity to assess it.

5.4.13 In some cases proposed development will only be acceptable if measures are required on the trunk road network to mitigate the impact of the proposed development. Circular 4/2001 gives guidance on the operational life required of these measures, how developers should agree them with the HA, how they will be conditioned into planning permissions and how developers should pay the HA for them.

5.4.14 Measures required to accommodate development, including measures on trunk roads, may be delivered more effectively if they are funded on a joint basis by a number of developers in an area. The HA encourages local planning authorities to draw up development briefs where appropriate to identify these measures. The HA will help local planning authorities to incorporate any measures on trunk roads into these briefs. The HA will also seek to facilitate mechanisms to collect and distribute payments for the measures needed. However the HA would not expect to be a "purse holder" and for legal reasons cannot be a party to agreements under Section 106 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990. A joint fund would have to reimburse the HA using Section 278 of the Highways Act 1980 for any measures on the trunk road.

5.4.15 The HA encourages developers to discuss development proposals with the HA at an early stage. This will help both parties to understand the full implications of the proposals and avoid unnecessary cost, delay and disappointment.

The Impact of Development on the A49

5.4.16 Junctions and accesses are a source of danger and a balance needs to be struckbetween providing access and maintaining safety.

5.4.17 The Government's ten-year plan for transport contains as a target the reduction ofroad congestion on the inter-urban network in England below 2001 levels by 2010 through investment in infrastructure to increase capacity. The A49 will be subject, at times, to high levels of traffic, particularly at peak times through Hereford, and on the southern approach to Shrewsbury. This could result in an increase in congestion unless measures are taken by the HA, county councils and local planning authorities to prevent this.

5.4.18 The HA is in discussions with local highway authorities and local planning authorities regarding Structure Plans, Unitary Development Plans and Local Plans. In revisions to Local Plans and LTPs, the HA encourages local planning and highway authorities, to include policies and/or measures that encourage sustainable forms of transport.

5.4.19 Guidance on the peak capacity of trunk roads and motorways is given in HA Standard TD22/92. For example Section 3.2 advises that the maximum lane capacity for All-Purpose Roads should be taken as 1600 vehicles per hour.

Control of Advertisements

5.4.20 Planning Policy Guidance Note 19 (PPG19) sets out national planning policy in respect of control of advertisements. Paragraph 15 deals with public safety issues including the potential for advertisements to distract drivers.

5.4.21 Further advice on assessing the public safety implications of the display of an advertisement is given in Appendix B to the Annex to DOE Circular 5/92. Appendix B also requires local planning authorities to take advice from the Secretary of State for Transport before granting consent to an application for an advertisement, where it appears to the local planning authority that this may affect the safety of trunk road users. The HA provides this advice on behalf of the Secretary of State.

5.5 Land Use Development Pressures

5.5.1 The impact of applications for new development is significant in terms of whetherthey comply with planning policy, their state of readiness, size and proximity to the route.

5.5.2 A number of Development Plans are going through the time-consuming process of deposit, review and public inquiry and have yet to reach the stage of formal adoption. This means that there is, to an extent, a policy vacuum as many existing Plans lack weight in policy terms, particularly those whose "plan period" has expired.

5.5.3 Furthermore it is likely that progress on these will be influenced by proposalscontained in the government's new Planning Bill. However, the government's current view suggests that there will still be a need for site-specific policies and a proposals map.

5.5.4 County and District planning and transport policy documents have been consultedin order to identifying policies and any specific development proposals that are considered significant in the formulation of the A49 RMS strategy, and these are listed in Table 5.1 with their locations illustrated on Figures 5.1 to 5.6

5.5.5 The sites identified all involve proposed development that is of sufficient scale togenerate additional traffic on the A49 and its junctions. The majority of these sites are concentrated in Hereford.

5.5.6 The potential additional traffic generated by concentration of development proposals along the A49, particularly in Hereford, is a matter of concern in terms of potential impact on journey reliability on this route. Suggestions for actions to help reduce the impact include the development of an Integrated Transport Study through the Local Transport Plan process. The HA is contributing to this initiative.

5.5.7 The Herefordshire Unitary Development Plan: Deposit Draft Sept 2002proposes a number of policies with regard to housing developments and employment growth, and a key transport policy relates to the safeguarding of land for the potential reopening of a rail station at Moreton-on-Lugg. Elsewhere large sections of the route pass through Areas of Landscape Character, where policy LA2 applies; as well as a number of Sites of Importance to Nature Conservation (policy NC4); both policies prohibiting new development. The Plan includes a number of specific development proposals relevant to the A49 which are listed inTable 5.1

5.5.8 The Herefordshire Local Transport Plan contains a number of short term and longer term strategy objectives which aim to reduce the growth in traffic by encouraging sustainable land use and transportation policies. In Hereford, the Integrated Transport Study places emphasis on encouraging walking, cycling and use of public transport, and reducing traffic growth. Local targets and objectives have been set. In particular, HT10 aims... "to reduce the need to travel, in the longer term, by the coordination of land use planning with transport".

5.5.9 The Hereford Transport Review (a Local Multi-Modal Study) has recommended a strategy in the longer term for the period to 2031, which will be developed further in the next LTP and UDP. The strategy includes provision of Park & Ride, and a possible western distributor road linking to A49 to the south and north of the city.

5.5.10 The Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin Structure Plan, 1996-2011, adopted November 2002 sets out strategic policies on housing and employment requirements in Shrewsbury and South Shropshire District, but without specifying locations. Shrewsbury is identified as a principal growth centre. The plan notes that the A49 passes through the Shropshire Hills AONB between Craven Arms and Church Stretton, where development is severely limited. The Plan does not include any specific development proposals relevant to the A49.

5.5.11 The Shropshire Local Transport Plan 2000 contains a number of proposals and accompanying budgets for expenditure to advance the County's policies on transport, which are broadly similar to those of the (then) Department of Transport. None of these proposals is expected to have a significant impact on the operation of the A49 south of Shrewsbury.

5.5.12 The South Shropshire Local Plan 1996 - 2011, Revised Deposit Draft Replacement Plan, March 2003 is currently awaiting the Inspectors Report following Public Inquiry in April 2004. A number of policies are relevant to development in the A49 corridor:

• Policy E1 (Landscape Conservation) protects the Shropshire Hills AONB, and E2 (Nature conservation) protects wildlife sites. Both apply to a large area of south Shropshire through which the A49 passes, between Craven Arms and Church Stretton, effectively confining development to these towns.
• Policy ED1 (Rural Development) states that the council will promote the economy by permitting proposals for new development for rural businesses on land in Craven Arms, Church Stretton, The Grove and Ludlow.
• Policy S2 (Settlement Strategy) states that most new development will take place within specific towns. Details of specific development proposals are listed in Table 5.1
• Policy S16 states: "...the Council will support the early provision of an A49 bypass for Craven Arms." The reasons given are to remove fast moving through-traffic (although the A49 is traffic-calmed) on the grounds that it is a danger to pedestrians, cyclists and local traffic and an inhibiting factor to the proposed growth of Craven Arms. The Local Plan
• notes that the HA is currently consulting on the A49 RMS.

5.5.13 The Shrewsbury and Atcham Borough Local Plan was adopted June 2001. Most of the A49 is subject to policy LNC3 which restricts development in open countryside. The northern limit of the RMS at the A49/A5 Shrewsbury Bypass junction (Bailey's roundabout) lies on the southern edge of the town, and is not directly influenced by major development proposals. This end of the route is close to the Meole Brace Retail Park and Park & Ride site. There are no significant housing proposals in the vicinity of the route likely to impact on A49, but one specific development proposal that is listed in Table 5.1

5.6 Development Control Strategy

5.6.1 The development control strategy summarises how the Highways Agency will respond to planning applications and revisions of local plans and local transport plans.

5.6.2 The majority of the HA's responses outlined in the strategy will apply to the wholeroute, although some relate to a specific section of the route having particular conditions, which require individual responses. The responses are given in the table 5.2 below.

5.7 Development Control Summary and Route Outcomes

5.7.1 This chapter has provided an overview of planning policies at national, regional and local level in relation to the A49 Route Management Strategy. Whilst briefly touching upon planning guidance at the strategic level, the focus is mainly on local planning policies as laid out in Local Plans, because they provide the detailed, spatial guidance on the acceptability of proposed development sites.

5.7.2 However, some development plans are under review, and therefore the status of the policies contained therein may need to be examined at public inquiry for more contentious planning applications. It is also important to acknowledge that the new Planning Bill introducing of Local Development Frameworks could have a noticeable impact on development decisions. For these reasons this chapter will benefit from review on a regular basis, as local policies are developed and reworked.

5.7.3 Circular 04/2001 examines the relationship between land-use planning and development control in respect of the Highways Agency's concerns about the impact of development adjacent to trunk roads. The key factors influencing the impact of such developments are the size of the development proposal, its proximity to the trunk road, and the levels of congestion already experienced on the adjacent trunk road network.

5.7.4 Much of the A49 passes through AONB and Areas of Landscape Character, for which policies are in place to protect land alongside the route from further development. However, development proposals exist for the two other major urban areas of Hereford and Shrewsbury as well as the market towns of Leominster, Ludlow, Craven Arms and Church Stretton which are likely to have some impact on the route of the A49.

5.7.5 Studies carried out in Hereford following the rejection of plans for the A49 Hereford Bypass show that a major effort is required to encourage sustainable forms of transport for local journeys to provide the capacity for longer-distance trunk road traffic. Even so it is likely that local road improvements, following in part the line of the Hereford Bypass will be required to cope with traffic generation from new developments.

5.7.6 In summary, a number of authorities and agencies are able to influence the scale and location of development through the implementation of policies at the national, regional and local level. The local highway authorities also have transport improvement programmes which aim to cater for new development whilst easing existing pressures on the highway network.

5.7.7 It is important that an integrated approach is taken to dealing with traffic generation and congestion. This requires a consistent approach in response to development pressures and a strategic approach to investment in proposals for the improvement of transport networks.

5.8 Route Outcomes

5.8.1 It is not considered that Land Use and Development Control considerations indicate a need for any interventions on the route such that a specific Route Outcome should be identified.