Highways

Congleton Link Road Volume 1: Non-Technical Summary for Environmental Statement

INTRODUCTION Cheshire East Council has applied for planning permission for a new single carriageway link road from the A534 Sandbach Road to the A536 Macclesfield Road. The road would extend round the north of Congleton, relieving the heavy congestion currently experienced on key routes through the town centre. The proposed road is known as the ‘Congleton Link Road’. As part of the planning process, an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) has been carried out to understand the potential effects that the new road would have on the environment. The results of the assessment are available in the Environmental Statement, and are summarised in this Non-Technical Summary.

WHY THE NEW ROAD IS NEEDED The new road is necessary as the town of Congleton currently experiences heavy congestion through the centre on key routes, particularly at peak times. The congestion has resulted in poor air quality and hindered town centre regeneration by reducing inward investment and making it difficult to retain existing businesses. Further to this issue, the local population in the area is forecast to increase, generating more traffic and putting further strain on the already congested existing local road network. Without transport infrastructure improvements, Congleton’s congestion problems will worsen, restricting the town’s potential for economic growth and reducing air quality further.

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Location of the proposed scheme

DESCRIPTION OF THE SCHEME The proposed Congleton Link Road would be nearly 6km in length and would consist of a two way single carriageway. A combined cycleway and footway would run alongside the road from the Back Lane to the A536 Macclesfield Road junction.

The main features of the scheme include:

• The road has been designed to follow modern highways standards, with clear overtaking and non-overtaking sections.

• The southern part of the route would connect to into Wallhill and the A534 Sandbach Road via a new roundabout junction.

• The northern part of the route connects to the A523 Macclesfield Road via a new roundabout junction.

• The new bypass would have a speed limit of 60mph for the sections from A534 Sandbach Road to Holmes Chapel Road junction and from Radnor Park Junction to A536 Macclesfield Road.

There will be a 50 mph section between Holmes Chapel Road junction and Radnor Park Junction.

• Street lighting would be present in the two proposed underpasses and solar studs would be used for the approaches to the roundabout junctions.

• There would be no lighting on the Link Road in order to ensure the road is in keeping with rural nature of the surroundings.

• The route follows existing ground levels where possible.

• Six roundabout junctions along the route to provide access to the existing road network.

• Two bridge structures over watercourses and two overbridges to carry roads over the proposed link road.

• Measures to mitigate environmental impacts of the scheme and improve the local environment.

2 Cross section of part of the proposed scheme

ENVIRONMENTAL MASTERPLAN

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The Environmental Masterplan is displayed on the following three pages. The Environmental Masterplan has been produced in order to show the mitigation proposals along the new Link Road. These mitigation proposals include landscape planting, fencing and vegetated bunds, to screen views of the road and mitigate noise impacts. The Environmental Masterplan also illustrates the extent of new habitat creation to mitigate and compensate for the habitat loss. This includes the creation of several areas of Great Crested Newt habitat, areas of species rich and marshy grassland, and replacement trees and hedgerows. Amphibian and badger tunnels will be constructed to provide connection between habitats on either side of the Link Road. To compensate for the loss of ancient woodland, extensive woodland habitat would be created adjacent to the Ancient Woodland in the River Dane valley. The Link Road would sever a number of Public Rights of Way (PRoWs). As a result, sections of existing PRoW would require ‘stopping up’ or diversions, and new PRoW facilities and crossing points would be provided. These facilities include the provision of a new section of bridleway and two underpasses to accommodate the safe passage of users from Moss Lane over the A34 and Link Road. The Link Road would also provide new sections of pedestrian and cyclist facilities, from Back Lane to Macclesfield Road, which would also tie into the existing PRoW network. The legend for the Environmental Masterplan is shown below.

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CONSIDERATION OF ALTERNATIVES As part of the environmental assessment, a detailed consideration of alternatives was carried out. Four options were considered and assessed for how well they achieved the following main objectives of the scheme:

• To assist the economic, physical and social regeneration of Congleton by creating an efficient transport system;

• To relieve existing town centre traffic congestion/HGVs

• To open up new development sites and improve access to Radnor Park Trading Estate and Congleton Business Park.

• To improve strategic transport linkages across the Borough facilitating wider economic and transport benefits;

• To reduce community severance along key town centre corridors; and

• To reduce traffic related pollutants within the town’s declared Air Quality Management Areas.

The options that were considered are:

• The blue route • The red route • The purple route • The green route

The route options were subject to an engineering, environmental, traffic and economic assessment of each option. The conclusion of the assessment of the four options was that a combination of the red option was the best option; however the route would be altered east of the River Dane to tie in with the purple option.

Following the route assessment, sections of the route have been assessed for alternative alignments to address concerns raised by the public, landowners and environmental statutory consultees.

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View of the scheme, including the River Dane Bridge crossing, from Dane Valley 15 years after opening,

APPROACH TO ASSESSMENT The Environmental Impact Assessment for the proposed Congleton Link Road has been carried out in line with the relevant legislation and has followed best practice guidance. This includes guidance in the Highways Agency’s Design Manual for Road and Bridges. More specialist guidance such as that published by the Landscape Institute and the Institute for Ecology and Environmental Management has also been used where appropriate.

The assessment considered the existing condition of the environment, the way this may change due to the new road, and how measures can be used to reduce the impact of these changes.

ENVIRONMENTAL TOPICS AIR QUALITY The scheme will result in beneficial impacts within the Air Quality Management Areas affected by the scheme.

Locally, the scheme would result in a significant beneficial effect on local air quality as a result of the reduced congestion within the town centre of Congleton.

NOISE AND VIBRATION

In addition to the Link Road, there are a number of developments to the West and North of Congleton, that will create additional traffic in the future. As a result, there would be adverse noise impacts in the long term both with and without the proposed scheme in place.

CULTURAL AND BUILT HERITAGE A total of 61 cultural heritage assets have been identified within the study area for the road, comprising 32 archaeological remains, 20 historic buildings and 9 Historic Landscape Types.

The link road would cause negative impacts on 16 undesignated archaeological remains, 18 historic buildings and 5 historic landscapes.

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Milestone to be removed during construction and restored once construction is complete

In the opening year, the number of properties experiencing a decrease in noise will outweigh the number experiencing an increase. In the long term, the number of properties experiencing an increase will be much lower with the scheme in place, compared to the situation without the scheme.

Some of the properties immediately adjacent to the structures, will experience some construction vibration, due to the nature of the works. The impacts would be minimized as a result of the short duration and through the use of mitigation measures agreed with Cheshire East Council.

These impacts of the new road would be reduced through landscape planting, earthwork surveys and recording of details through the use of photographs and mapping. A historic milestone would also be removed during construction and returned as close to its original location as possible once construction is complete. LANDSCAPE AND VISUAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT The link road would be built across mainly pastoral agricultural fields with occasional arable fields. As a result, the scheme has the potential to impact on the local landscape character. The impacts would be greatest during construction, mainly due to construction traffic, tree and hedgerow removal and the construction of new embankments and bridge structures.

The impacts would be reduced by mitigation landscape planting, especially concentrated round new junctions and roundabouts.

These impacts would be greatest for the properties closest to the scheme. However, the impacts would reduce once construction was complete.

. Ancient woodland present within the study area ECOLOGY The proposed link road crosses mostly arable and agriculturally improved fields with limited ecological value. However, there are a number of important/species rich hedgerows forming some of the field boundaries. The scheme would have a direct impact on two local wildlife sites and, as a result the impact on these sites would result in the permanent loss of ancient woodland. In order to compensate for this loss, a new area of woodland would be created. A high number of protected species were recorded in the survey area. These include Great Crested

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Great Crested Newt Example of the local landscape character

Newt (GCN), bats, otter, barn owl and other birds. The effects of habitat loss and direct mortality on these species would be mitigated by the creation of alternative habitat areas, barn owl and bat hop overs and installation of bat boxes. Nest boxes would be installed for other birds. The loss of Ancient Woodland would be compensated by the creation of large areas of woodland blocks next to the areas of existing Ancient Woodland.

The areas of habitat creation and enhancement would be subject to continued monitoring and management.

ROAD DRAINAGE AND WATER ENVIRONMENT The new road would cross or pass close to a number of watercourses and drainage ditches, including Loach Brook and the River Dane which are covered as part of the Water Framework Directive.

Assessment results show that the impacts of the scheme are likely to have no effect on the watercourses present in the area. There is the potential for biodiversity impacts to increase on the River Dane as the result of two new outfalls within this sensitive watercourse.

There will be no increased risk of flooding as the scheme has been designed to ensure surface-water will be released slowly into the local watercourses and at one location into surrounding greenfield land. The control of flow will stop spillages and silt entering the drainage system.

Loach Brook SOILS, GEOLOGY AND HYDROGEOLOLOGY Impacts on soils, geology and hydrogeology would be limited to the construction phase, especially the risk of reducing the agricultural soil quality through the construction process. There are also a few areas of localised soil contamination. However, the use of good site management and practices during construction would act as mitigation to remove any negative construction impacts. The system for collecting and treating surface water runoff from the road would also prevent any pollution of neighbouring soil or groundwater.

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TRAFFIC AND TRANSPORT

The roads through Congleton currently carry both local traffic and through traffic travelling to destinations further afield, resulting in a large amount of congestion, especially at peak times. In particular, significant delays are experienced during peak travel times at the junctions and roundabouts along the A54 and the A34 through the centre of Congleton. Without the construction of the Congleton Link Road, traffic is forecast to significantly grow on the existing highway network, increasing the existing congestion problems.

With the scheme in place, traffic flows would decrease at various locations on the existing highway network. There would be reductions in congestion on the A34 West Road, Clayton bypass and Rood Hill. Traffic levels are predicted to increase on the A34 Newcastle Road as result of the reduced congestion at the Waggon and Horses junction and the measures put in place to encourage vehicles to stay on appropriate roads. Mitigation measures will be implemented to reduce the impacts of increased traffic on these roads.

Congestion in Congleton town centre

In addition, complementary measures will be investigated to reallocate road space to pedestrians, cyclists and public transport where possible within the town centre of Congleton and the surrounding roads.

EFFECTS ON ALL TRAVELLERS

The proposed link road would affect 8 footpaths and 4 cycle routes. These routes would be diverted to new crossing points or new underpasses in order for users to continue their journeys. In addition, a joint foot path and cycleway would be provided alongside the proposed road between Back Lane and the A536, which would tie into existing facilities. These new facilities would improve connectivity and amenity in the area. The effect on travellers’ views from the proposed link road would generally be beneficial as travellers would be afforded with views from the surrounding countryside, with some longer views to the Peak District. Views from the connecting roads including the A54, A534, A34 and the A536 will be negative but unlikely to be significant as a result of vegetation planting as mitigation to screen views.

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Local footpath

PRIVATE AND COMMUNITY ASSETS The link road would result in the loss of agricultural land; however this would be kept to the minimum required by the scheme design. Measures would be implemented to mitigate the loss of access to farmland through the provision of new appropriate alternative access routes where required.

The scheme would have a beneficial impact on the communities within the study area. The link road would provide new improved access routes, thereby increasing the connectivity between Congleton and the surrounding communities. In addition, the residents of Congleton will benefit from reduced levels of congestion within the town centre.

The road would also result in beneficial impacts on all commercial properties within both Radnor Trading Estate and Congleton Business Park by improving access to both of these areas through a link from the new road. The scheme requires a small area of land from Lafarge Tarmac Ltd. This land take would be appropriately compensated and any necessary accesses would be provided.

HEALTH IMPACTS

The link road will have beneficial effects on health as the result of the following: • Improvement in the overall local air quality; • Relief of traffic congestion; • Improvement in journey times for through

traffic and traffic within Congleton; • Improvement of NMU access, active

transportation and physical activity; • Improvement of the reliability of buses; • Improvement of the connectivity and

access between the communities of Newbold Astbury, Brereton, Hulme Wakefield, Eaton and Congleton; and

• Encouragement of future business, future developments and growth in the area.

MANAGEMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS

The impacts of construction activities would be managed through the development and implementation of a Construction Environmental Management Plan. This would address working hours, traffic management, control of pollution, waste management, noise, dust and vibration.

The contractor would also provide a public liaison officer to keep the public informed throughout the construction period.

An environmental masterplan has been developed which includes proposals for landscaping, control of road runoff, noise bunds and fences, footpath diversions and new footpaths, wildlife habitat creation and other measures to reduce impacts on wildlife.

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Example of local farmland present in the area

Please contact:

If you require further information, or need this document in large print, alternative language or audio version then please contact:

Strategic Highways and Transportation

Cheshire East Council

Delamere House Delamere Street Crewe, Cheshire CW1 2JZ

Cheshire East Information Line 0300 123 5500 Website: www.cheshireeast.gov.uk

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