east stour village development briefeast · pdf filewith doors onto the street at no more than...

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Chapter 6 : Making the Connections

6 Making the ConnectionsThe Transport Assessment Report prepared by TheBellamy Roberts Partnership, which accompanies theplanning application provides details of the trafficgeneration characteristics of the scheme and theintegration of a package of new transport infrastructureand sustainability measures recommended by the South ofAshford Transport Study (SATS). The Borough Councilused the results of the Transport Study to formulateSupplementary Planning Guidance (SPG) as a means ofsecuring contributions from developments towards thehighway and transport infrastructure costs necessary toimplement the Local Plan allocations to the south ofAshford. The Church Commissioners are fully supportive ofthis approach.

6.1 Movement Framework

The access and transport proposals which form theMovement Framework presented overleaf are based onthe principles defined in “Places, Streets and Movement”,the companion guide to “Design Bulletin 32” and “TheUrban Design Compendium” prepared for EnglishPartnerships and The Housing Corporation.

The aim of the Movement Framework is to make it as easyand attractive to walk, cycle or take the bus in East StourVillage, as it is to travel by car. The street and footpathnetworks proposed have been designed to achieve thefollowing objectives, as defined in “The Urban DesignCompendium”.

A successful Movement Framework:

■ Provides the maximum choice for how people willmake their journeys;

■ Takes full account of the kinds of movement adevelopment will generate;

■ Makes clear connections to existing routes andfacilities.

Design for Ease of Walking

The location of shops, community facilities, workplaces,and the primary school have been designed for ease ofwalking, with the majority of facilities within a 5-10 minutewalk from home. The proposed walking distances fromhome to local facilities are shown in the diagram below.

Accessibility to Local Facilities

Figures in metres

EAST STOUR VILLAGE DEVELOPMENT BRIEFEAST STOUR VILLAGE DEVELOPMENT BRIEF

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Access to the Site

The principal access is to be taken from a new at-gradejunction on the Southern Orbital Road, with a roadcrossing the open land either side of the East Stour to thedevelopment area itself. A secondary access linking to theproposed development at Park Farm East across theRuckinge Dyke and thence onto the southern leg of theA2070 will also be created.

The Street Network

The configuration of streets either side of Captain’s Woodcreates an irregular block structure, reflecting the form oftraditional villages in Kent with the creation of focalpoints, such as greens and squares. There is a cleardistinction between public fronts and private backs, withprimary access from the street, the principal frontage.

Within the employment/mixed use area, the structure ismore formalised with a series of blocks radiating out fromthe central “oval”.

The design and arrangements of the network of streetsand routes which form the movement framework arebased on the following principles:

Street configuration:

■ Buildings should front onto the streets;

■ Streets will give priority to pedestrians;

■ Street spaces should be subject to natural surveillancewith doors onto the street at no more than 15mintervals.

Permeability:

■ All streets should lead to other streets;

■ Streets should encourage through movement;

■ There should be a variety of routes available;

■ The grain of streets should be finer around nodes ofactivity.

Traffic Calming:

■ The urban form and arrangement of buildings andstreets should be the principal means of ensuring lowtraffic speeds;

■ Physical traffic calming measures should besupplementary and integrated;

■ An average speed of 20 mph should be achievedwithin residential neighbourhoods in order to achieve“Home Zone” guidelines;

■ The use of surfacing material can be used to mark thetransition to shared surface streets and squares;

■ Sensitively located on-street parking can be used tofurther control vehicle speeds.

6.2 Public Transport

A fundamental aspect of SATS is the emphasis on the earlydelivery and implementation of priority bus routes linkingtogether the proposed major developments to the southof Ashford. A high quality bus-only route is thereforeproposed from the High Street with its communityfacilities in East Stour Village, across the open land eitherside of the Bilham and Ruckinge Dykes to the rail halt inPark Farm East, and then onto Ashford town centre. Thisroute will also be available for pedestrians and cyclists.

The internal road layout will allow for buses entering thesite from the principal access route to circulate throughthe High Street, en route to the road across to Park FarmEast, thereby giving direct access to the school and all ofthe community facilities. The layout will also allow forbuses to enter the development directly from WaterbrookPark (without returning to the Southern Orbital Road), viaa link across the East Stour River. This link will also berestricted to bus-only and be available for pedestrians andcyclists.

The Church Commissioners will liaise with EurotunnelDevelopments Limited with a view to creating the link upto the boundaries of their respective land either side of

the East Stour. As there is a presumption under case lawthat ownership of the bed of a non-tidal river belongs inequal halves to the owners of the land on either side, TheChurch Commissioners would enter into an agreementwith Eurotunnel Developments Limited for one of theparties to construct the bridge with the consent of theother. Such an agreement could be enshrined in the s106Agreements pertaining to both East Stour Village andWaterbrook.

In addition, the network of major access roads are 6mwide and form a series of loops linking the developmenteither side of Captain's Wood. This will facilitate thepossibility in the future of buses circulating through theresidential areas to further improve accessibility.

As all roads used as bus routes (local distributor roads andmajor access roads, as shown in Figure 6.1) will be adoptedby the Highway Authority, the provision of bus stops willbe made in accordance with KCC standards; this willensure consistency with those used elsewhere in Ashford.All shelters will be capable of accommodating thestandard display unit used for Real Time Information inKent.

The proposed rail halt at Park Farm East, on the Ashfordto Hastings line, will also serve the new community at EastStour Village. Linked bus and train timetables will bepromoted.

6.3 Footpaths, Cycleways and Bridleways

The overall layout of the development incorporates anumber of strategic cycleway and footpath routesdesigned to provide a high standard of permeabilitythrough the village as well as direct connections toneighbouring communities and employment areas. Therouteing of the main cycleways is based on the CyclewayNetwork Diagram which forms part of the Proposals Mapto the Local Plan.

Radiating out from the employment/mixed use area willbe a series of footpaths/cycleways providing links to:


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Chapter 6 : Making the ConnectionsEAST STOUR VILLAGE DEVELOPMENT BRIEFEAST STOUR VILLAGE DEVELOPMENT BRIEF

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■ Park Farm, via the existing crossings over the RuckingeDyke, the Hastings railway line and the A2070; or via anew bridge as discussed below;

■ Park Farm East, crossing the line of the Roman roadwhich forms the south western boundary of the site;

■ The proposed rail halt on the Hastings line, withinPark Farm East;

■ A proposed link for pedestrians and cyclists under theSouthern Orbital Road adjacent to the Hastingsrailway line, connecting to the existing networkserving Bushy Royds, Orbital Park and the towncentre; and

■ The green corridors alongside the course of the EastStour and the Ruckinge Dyke.

In order to cross the Hastings railway line, the link to ParkFarm could utilise an existing unmanned level crossing. Analternative proposal, which emerged out of one of thePlanning and Design workshops, is for a new pedestrian/cycle bridge over the Ruckinge Dyke and the railway lineat a point north of the unmanned crossing. At the samePlanning and Design workshop, a representative of KCCHighways suggested that such a bridge would be moreuseful than the link over the Southern Orbital Roadreferred to in the Ashford Borough Local Plan (page 38and para S13.15), as the latter could be provided underthe existing wide span bridge which carries the SouthernOrbital Road over the Hastings railway line. As there isconsiderable merit in this suggestion, the provision of anew foot/cycle bridge over the Southern Orbital Road isdeemed to be no longer necessary and furtherconsultation will take place with Network Rail and KCC,after the grant of outline planning permission, todetermine the precise location and design of a new bridgeover the Ruckinge Dyke and the Hastings railway line.

The Church Commissioners are committed to maintainingall existing public rights of way (including those in thevicinity of the proposed employment area) until such timeas they may be required to be diverted and/or improved.

Any diversions and improvements that may be necessaryto facilitate development will be undertaken inaccordance with a programme, relating to the phasing ofboth residential and employment land, to be agreed withAshford Borough Council and KCC. With respect to theproposed new bridge over the Ruckinge Dyke and theHastings railway line, the consultations with Network Railand KCC referred to above will be undertaken with a viewto providing the bridge at an early stage in the overalldevelopment programme: it is envisaged that the newbridge will be the subject of a s106 Agreement.

Within the development area, the links radiating out fromthe employment area all converge at the “oval” aroundwhich the inner mixed use area is grouped. This focalpoint lies at the head of the pedestrian/cycle route whichruns throughout the scheme, linking the High Street andnearby mixed use areas to the residential neighbourhoodseither side of Captain’s Wood. Connected by a network offootpaths and cycleways linking into this spine route, mostneighbourhoods are located within an easy walkingdistance of the facilities at the district centre.

In addition to being located alongside the pedestrian/cyclespine route, the primary school is served by the localdistributor road network, which (as illustrated on page 60)contains provision for off-carriageway pedestrian/cycleways.

Following the grant of outline planning permission,consultation will take place with KCC (and in the case ofbridleways with the British Horse Society) to determine thewidth, surfacing and landscaping requirements of thedifferent users of the public rights of way on and in thevicinity of the site.

All employment, shopping and leisure facilities, togetherwith buildings used by the general public, will be providedwith secure bicycle parking in accordance with thestandards set down in policy TP6 of the Local Plan. Thispolicy states that proposals for employment, shopping andleisure development and for any buildings used by thegeneral public should provide secure parking for aminimum of two bicycles for the first ten car parking

spaces provided and thereafter, one space for every tencar spaces. At local centres within major new housingareas, provision should be made for at least as many cyclespaces as car spaces needed. In addition to the above,provision will be made for secure cycle parking at all flatsand terraced residential properties, which wouldparticularly apply to the High Street.

6.4 Parking and Servicing

Parking Standards

Car parking for residential areas will be in accordance withPPG3 (para 62) with an average off-street provision of 1.5spaces per dwelling. In order to achieve this overallprovision, typically, one car parking space will be providedfor every 1, 2 or 3 bed dwelling and two car parkingspaces will be provided for larger dwellings. Special needshousing in or close to the High Street and public transportservices will be provided with less parking, such as onespace per every four units of sheltered accommodation forthe elderly. Based on the house size mix set out on page33, about 240 further spaces will be provided for casualvisitor’s parking, bringing the overall level of provision upto the average of 1.5 spaces per dwelling.

Opportunities for sharing/dual use of car parking facilitieswill be explored including, for example, the use byresidents of spaces allocated for commercial facilities.

One of the SATS recommendations was that employmentfloorspace should have restricted car parking provisionand that there should be a high quality bus service linkingthe various development sites south of Ashford with thetown centre. In support of this approach, car parking forthe employment area will be limited to a level of 80% ofthe calculated free demand (in accordance with the SATSRecommended Transport Plan) or not more than 80% ofKent Vehicle Parking Standards. Green Travel Plans willalso be required for all developments in the employmentarea. These travel plans will need to identify targets fortrip generation and modal split and will also need to setout procedures for monitoring, together with remedialaction if targets are not being met.


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Street Hierarchy

15.80mMinor access roadmixed use areas

Rear parking court

9.60mMinor access

roadresidential

areas

Rear parkingcourt

Rearparkingcourt

22.50mLocal distributor (withpedestrian/cycleway on

either side of carriageway)

Rear carparking court

14.40mMajor access roadresidential areas

GaragesGarages

19.00mMajor access roadmixed use areas

(with pedestrian/cycleway on either side of carriageway)


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The Location of Parking

The location of parking in relation to the house has afundamental effect on the quality of the environment.The preferred locations for car parking are in secure rearcourtyards, where these are well overlooked; alternativelywithin a car port or to the side of a building. Parkedvehicles should not be allowed to dominate the street andon-street parking should generally be limited to visitorparking. Parking can be incorporated within a widenedcarriageway that allows room for street trees and givespedestrians sufficient space to pass.

The visual impact of larger areas of car parking within thedistrict centre and employment/mixed use area will bealleviated by creating a strong landscape framework.Hedging and the canopies of trees will be used to screenvehicles and sub-divide parking into a series ofcompartments, connected by direct footways.

The foodstore in the High Street and buildings in theemployment area will require delivery and storage yards.These will be sited at the rear of buildings to ensure theyare not visible from the street, or the countryside edge ofthe development. The arrangement of buildings, wallsand planting can help enclose these invariably unsightlyspaces from view.

Garages Major access road residential areas Rear car parking court14.40m

Parking within theDistrict Centre

Location of Parking

Garages


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6.5 Utilities Infrastructure

Foul Water Drainage and Sewage Treatment

With respect to the previous proposed development atAshford Great Park, the National Rivers Authority (nowthe Environment Agency) indicated that it would beunlikely to grant consent for the discharge of treatedsewage effluent into the East Stour, as the additionaleffluent might cause deterioration in water quality. It isproposed, therefore, that sewage flows from thedevelopment will be treated by Southern Water at itsexisting Bybrook sewage treatment works some 3kmnorth of the site.

As with the surface water system, the foul seweragesystem (including the necessary pipes and pumpingstations) will be designed and built to the standards ofSouthern Water which are mainly set out in “Sewers forAdoption”. Southern Water has indicated that it willadopt the system as designed and built to those standards;the discharge into the Great Stour at Bybrook beinggoverned by the consent for the treatment works. Thecompany, however, has indicated that there is no sparecapacity within its existing system which could be used toallow the development to proceed in advance ofimplementation of an overall sewerage strategy which thecompany is developing for the South Ashford area.

Surface Water Drainage

Detention ponds will be provided on-site into which stormflows will be held prior to discharge to the East Stour andRuckinge drainage systems. These ponds enable surfacewater run-off to be controlled and treated as near to thesource as possible, using the natural processes ofsedimentation, filtration, adsorption and biologicaldegradation.

In addition to the ponds, other SuDS techniques will beadopted to reduce surface water run-off to the greenfieldrun-off site,from the new development and thus furtherreduce the risk of flooding in receiving watercourses. Asillustrated on this page, techniques that may beappropriate to the soils and geology of the site and the

nature of the urban form proposed include the collectionof roadside drainage to tree catch-pits (for examplealongside the circular road in the employment/mixed usearea); the use of permeable (porous) pavements(collecting into drains) as an alternative to conventionalpaving in car parking areas, driveways, footways andpossibly carriageways; and the use of filter swales on theedge of the built-up area.

The precise form of the techniques to be used on-site willbe determined at the detailed design stage in accordancewith current best practice as recommended by theEnvironment Agency and the Construction IndustryResearch and Information Association (CIRIA).

Any part of a traditional surface water system will bedesigned and built to the standards set out in “Sewers forAdoption” and other relevant standards produced bySouthern Water, who would wish to approve the designprior to adoption. The company has, however, stated thatwhilst it will adopt pipelines and free discharges andpumping stations, this does not extend to swales,balancing ponds or other SuDS. Arrangements foradoption of the SuDS to be used on-site will bedetermined after outline planning permission has beengranted, taking account of the advice given in PPG25(para 61).

Water Supply

Mid Kent Water has confirmed that it has sufficient waterresources available to supply the proposed development.The Company’s currentintention is that the waterwill be supplied fromPotters Corner Reservoir,situated about 3km northwest of Ashford. Arequisition order will besubmitted after the grantof outline planningpermission and the supplywill be provided jointlywith Park Farm East.

Cross-section through a filter drainSource: CIRIA

Permeable pavement used for storageSource: CIRIA

Road run-off passing through a filter strip and into a swaleSource: CIRIA


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