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Draft Local Plan - Supplementary Consultation

Representation ID: 8283

Received: 14/03/2019

Respondent: Mr Colin Redmond-Lyon

Representation Summary:

School traffic congestion is a problem. A new parking area is needed in walking distance of the school. Paths, pavements and cycle paths need enhancement and widening with crossings where appropriate giving an easy, attractive option for out of area parents to park and walk to the school. Walking/cycling routes need to be improved to enable all residents to walk safely down attractive corridors from home to school, shops, pubs etc.
Transport for non-drivers also needs improvement with cycleways/walkways to Earlswood and Dorridge train stations. Also need to plan autonomous taxi rank areas to be ready for this technology.

Full text:

Infrastructure Requirements:
School parking problem
I agree that the issue of school parking needs to be addressed. As additional houses are built this problem can only can worse and the addition of extra double yellow lines just causes some people to ignore them. Solutions are needed that provide options for people to do the right thing rather than forcing them to do the wrong thing. The school is successful at attracting pupils from outside the area and these people will arrive by car and so they do need to park somewhere. They will search for a parking place on the local housing estates which is as close to the school as possible.
Congestion Solution: Adding new infrastructure to enable "park and walk" around the village
If the receipts from CIL could be used to create a car park on land that is as close as possible to the school and the centre of the village with a network of new attractive paths, walkways and crossings to enable people to walk safely to and from the school, the park, the shops, existing and proposed housing and pubs an alternative model is created for local people to walk around the village and out of area car drivers to park and walk. This may need to be accompanied by residents only parking schemes on residential roads. This has the potential to reduce congestion at school pick up / drop off and also incentivises walking around the village i.e. encouraging an active lifestyle.
Inadequate Local Transport is also a problem
Non-drivers, particularly the young and the elderly, have a very poor service for accessing local towns for retail and other services and transport hubs for longer distance travel. Large budget solutions are not financially feasible for a small village and so solutions need to focus on how small changes to the village infrastructure can help.
Transport Solution: Enhance and expand the network of paths and cycle routes
Walking and cycling need to have a much higher priority to enable people to get around the village and to other local areas. Beyond the network of paths, walkways and crossings for walking and cycling around the village there needs to be longer distance walking and cycling routes to Dorridge (by upgrading current rights of way to paths and cycle routes) and to Earlswood and Lapworth (by upgrading the towpath on the canal to all weather walking and cycling routes). These walking and cycling routes provide access to the rail network in these areas and again support an active lifestyle.

Future Transport Solution for non-drivers: facilities for autonomous vehicles
Autonomous taxis will provide a new class of transport that should be economical and convenient for non-drivers. These vehicles will need to park near where they need to be used so that they can quickly be called when a resident needs transport. It is important that these vehicles do not take up all the existing parking spots in the village as this will exacerbate school congestion and will block parking for local shops and services. A new car park or autonomous-taxi rank needs to be found for these vehicles so that they can benefit residents transport needs but not block up street parking. If this technology works well it may become popular to use these services instead of owning a car in which case volumes of these autonomous taxis could be huge. Again, the solution is to create a new parking area near the village and implement resident only parking and short duration parking for shops and other services that have temporary parking. The council can work with providers of these vehicles or even provide some itself to meet the local needs. These vehicles would return to the designated parking area after being used and then when called would drive to pick up the passenger from their home or other location. They would also drop off at home or other location and then return to their designated parking area. The technology for this solution is not yet available but it will come and the village infrastructure needs to be ready to embrace it.