Planned traffic calming improvements in Henstridge thrown out
It's back to the drawing board for a housing developer - as they look to offset the impact of a new estate
Planned road improvements to offset a major housing developer in a small Somerset village have been thrown out by councillors.
Barratt David Wilson Homes secured detailed planning permission in May 2022 to deliver the Townsend Landings scheme on Woodhayes Way in Henstridge, comprising 130 homes a stone’s throw from the Somerset-Dorset border.
To offset the impact of the new homes, the developer put forward proposals to improve the A357 High Street to make it safer for pedestrians and ensure a safe flow of traffic from the estate.
But Somerset Council has now sent the developer back to the drawing board, arguing the proposals will not ease congestion and will inconvenience existing residents and delivery drivers.
The A357 forms a north-south spine of the village, connecting it to Stalbridge and other communities in north Dorset as well as the crucial A30 running between Sherborne and Shaftesbury.
The road is extremely narrow in place, with limited pavements, and there are few alternative routes through the village for pedestrians and cyclists.
As part of the planning conditions agreed when the Planning Inspectorate granted outline permission back in November 2018, no construction within the site can begin until road improvements have been signed off by planning officers.
The improvements put forward by the developer concern the section north of the Townsend Landings site, between the junction with Blackmoor Lane and the crossroads linking it with Furge Lane and Marsh Lane.
The developer originally committed to providing the following elements in this area:
- Dropped kerbs and tactile paving at five junctions heading off Woodhayes Way and one on Furge lane
- Road safery signs warning motorists of pedestrians at the junctions of the A357 with Church Street and Furge Lane
- Traffic lights in a “signal-controlled priority arrangement” on the A357 at the crossroads with Furge Lane and Marsh Lane
While the developer has stated it can fulfil the first two of these obligations, it has argued that traffic lights at the Marsh Lane crossroads could not be safely installed due to the layout of the junction.
Instead, it has put forward smaller-scale improvements for this site, including the narrowing of the road to single carriageway and creating two lengthy box junctions to prevent congestion.
Priority signs will also be put in place, giving priority to drivers heading north, and a 20mph speed limit will be put in place.
These proposals were lambasted by Henstridge residents when they came before the council’s planning committee south in Yeovil on Tuesday afternoon (October 24).
Ashley Shirlin, who lives on High Street, said: “At present, I park in front of my house to drop off shopping; delivery vans stop to deliver to my house and those around me.
“The proposed scheme would prevent me and others from having convenient access. People parking on the edge of the box will make matters worse, not better.
“I cannot see how the placement of the yellow boxes will make the High Street safer.”
Adrian Gaymer, a retired GP, concurred: “The consequences of this have not been properly assessed, just as in 2018.
“The new footway does not offer proper safety for pedestrians – especially mothers with pushchairs, the elderly and people in wheelchairs.
“We could have HGVs coming from the north and the south, meeting in their respective yellow boxes and creating gridlock.”
Keith Waterhouse, a HGV and coach driver, added: “If you have a lorry that’s 50 or 60 feet long, you won’t be able to leave one yellow box without entering the other one.
“A lot of the lorries are driven by agency drivers, who are Polish, Lithuanian, Romanian or so forth, and their vehicles have left-hand.
“A pedestrian access is desperately needed – I myself have been squashed against those walls when the lorries come through. We’ve already got a yellow box in Henstridge and it’s ignored.”
Councillor Sue Osborne (who represents Ilminster and the surrounding villages) said there was no guarantee that the scheme would work in the desired way.
She said: “Vehicles having to pass and weight will lead to increased noise from vehicles’ revving and idling engines, and that will impact on air quality.
“It doesn’t seem as though the impact on residents living there has been considered. We are being left to mop up the mess made by the planning inspector.”
Councillor Martin Wale (Chard North) agreed: “I don’t see how this scheme does anything towards highway safety, particularly pedestrian safety. Yellow boxes are not meant for village streets.”
The committee voted in favour of refusing the plans by a margin of nine votes to three.
A decision is still pending on plans for a further 52 homes on the opposite side of the A357, put forward by Macra.