Development Planning and Transport Assessment - Report Example

Number Development Planning and Transport Assessment Introduction This paper entails a transport assessment for a potential development site. The site being considered in this case is the Edinburgh area, which is a familiar area that is perfect for the development planning and transport assessment activity. The site is definitely not earmarked for development or re-development at present. However, it is perfectly large enough to meet the requirements of all the necessary architectural activities that have to be initiated. The development planning and assessment would open grounds for full development after holding a discussion with respective county council. Transport Assessment/Existing Conditions The transport conditions in the Edinburgh area really need development. Four passenger railway lines pass through the area. Some local roads supplement the railway lines. This local transport network has been focused on radial routes to Edinburgh area. The north links are relatively poor. The western side faces many transport issues, which are transformed to the entire region. Besides, it has been considered difficult to construct new roads for private car usage. This also comes with ever increasing road users. Description of the Existing Site The Edinburgh area is a site whose dimensions are characterized by eleven thousand four hundred (11,400) square meters of vacant brownfield land shown in the picture below. Its boundaries are Fountain Bridge on the north, Edinburgh Quay on the east, the Union Canal on the south and a vacant brownfield site on the west. Pedestrian and vehicular access is from Fountain Bridge and from the recently formed access road to Edinburgh Quay, which is on the east side of the site. The site was previously part of the old Fountain Brewery. The information in the site is provided to us to help us carry the coursework effectively. Figure 1: Site Map of the Edinburgh area Proposed Development and Site Layout The Local Development Plan (LDP) will replace the two local plans after it is fully adopted. The first proposed plan took place approved in March 2013. The site development will provide unique opportunities for the area regeneration. New connections will be generated by providing better linkage to the area’s surroundings. Having a long industrial history, the development of transport will enhance its productivity. The key developments will include offices, residential, hotels for tourism enhancement, leisure and recreation centres, food retails, and commercial/retail units. Figure 2 below shows some of major development structures related to tourism development. Figure 2: Tourism map of the area Edinburghs contribution to meeting the overall strategic housing land requirement is estimated at 26,900 houses within the period between 2009 and 2024. This means that about 1793 additional homes should be built each year and 8,965 homes over five years. Scottish Planning Policy indicates that LDPs should ensure there is enough housing land to provide a minimum five-year effective supply at all times. Edinburghs supply of housing land will be monitored through the annual housing audit and will comprise LDP housing proposals, sites already under construction and sites with planning permission. The plan aims to ensure that housing development on the sites emerges during the planning period, provides for quite a number of needs of housing, meets climate change and sustainable development objectives and is of a high quality in terms of site layout and design. It also includes policies to ensure development doesnt detract from the appearance of or cause nuisance or disturbance in existing housing areas Description of current public transport, cycling and walking access Getting around Edinburgh is easy. Its a compact city that can be explored in an easy way on foot along the various streets as well as along the dean paths using a bicycle. The same can also be done using the local bus network found on some of the roads such as A902, A720, A1, A90 and many more. The Belford roads also cover most parts of the city. An individual is also able to explore the wider Lothian region using good train and bus services based on the existing transport network. Travelling to Edinburgh and the Lothian is convenient and quick among all users due to the extensive road, rail and flight links. There has also been a development on the corridors and the greenways of the bus. The major greenways include the following: A8 Lasgow Road – Maybury road to Princes Street, A900 Leith Walk – Leith road to Princes Street, A702 Lothian Road – Leven Street road to Princes Street, A70 Slateford Road –Inglis Green Road to Haymarket, A71 Calder Road – City Bypass road to Ardmillan. Access arrangements, for different modes of transport Edinburgh has an international airport (Turnhouse). The airport is located on an A8 trunk road, 8 miles to the western side of the center of the city, the airport serves as the principal international gateway to the city, and its also the busiest airport in Scotland. Connecting the city center and the airport is possible through the use of several bus links that operate beginning from the terminals main building all through to the Waverley Bridge and a tram link, new from the airport to the Centre of the city. The Waverley Bridge was opened in May 2014 to open up the accessibility. Lothian buses are the major two buses which are considered as the main bus service provider in the entire city. It is also the First in Edinburgh - Part of the First Group. The main means of public transport in the area that has several networks is the bus transport service. The buses mainly operate on the major roads like the A902, A720, A1, and A90 among others. Generally, people are encouraged to use sustainable modes of transport according to the national and the local planning policy. Car parking provision (based on local car parking standards) Overview The number of the persons in dire need of the parking spaces in the Edinburgh area is very limited and hence it may not be very possible to accommodate all of them who wish to park at the area. There were the national parking standards in England that were published in March 2001. This was done in accordance with the planning policy guidance that normally considers a number of listed uses. Making comparison, it had no difference with the Scottish standards proposed. It, therefore, gives maximum standards for those ranges that are broad and brings about the major developments in travel. Parking Provisions With regard to the standards provided in PPG 13, it is a requirement for the regional transport strategies to put forth approaches that are consistent in parking. This will help in doing away with unsustainable competition between areas in terms of either parking supply or cost. In the same line, local authorities are encouraged to set out their maximum parking standards within their development plans. Local Car Parking Standards Discussions with English local authorities revealed that, several parking guidelines on maxima and not minima have been drawn by a number of county councils in South East England. This happened even after the District Council had a meeting that revealed that such similar guidance was not much applied, but when it was applied, it was applied on the basis of strict maxima and flexibility at a given degree. Table 1 below shows the parking levels that were used in PPG 13. These figures evidently depict how broadly similarities between the Scottish standard and those of England are. Table 1: PPG 13 Standards compared to Proposed Scottish Standards Category PPG 13 Standards Proposed Scottish Levels Retail (Food) 1:14m2 1:15m2 Retail (non-food) 1:20m2 1:20m2 Business 1:30m2 1:30m2 Cinema / Conference 1.5seats 1:5 seats Stadia 1.15 seats 1:15 seats Leisure 1:22m2 1:22m2 Higher Education / Further education 1:2 staff plus 1:15 Students 1:2 staff plus 1:15 students Application of the Standards There are instances of increased County Councils that have got into the development of the maximum parking standards within South East England. These developments are implemented by the relevant planning authority. For one to avoid inconveniences involved in looking for spaces to park in, it is very advisable to use the public means of transport. This would be appropriate since the parking area might not be enough. Cash will be charged for those willing to park their personal cars that will go to the concerned authorities. The charging rates will be made public through each persons phone number of the car parker who showed interest. After obtaining the car parking permit, it can be renewed after some time as required by then authorities. Once the necessary payments get processed, an opportunity to park anywhere will be given to the person. The parking rates also vary from place to place and also for the different duration for parking the car or any other automobile. Trip Generation One will need to use trip generation and modal split in a case where they did not have any measures that will influence and change the way people travel to their work places. With these programs, measures to influence how people travel or move to work, aimed at reducing reliance on the private car and the number of car trips, will be generated. Using TRICS (Trip Rate Information Computer System), and values from 8.8 for those houses that are privately owned, and 7.2 for houses that are rented, respectively, will be determined. Since this aspect still requires definitive determination that goes through the planning and application process, it will still be very difficult to differentiate houses from flats. Again, peak hour trip rates based on TRICS will be determined. The rates will be presented in a table as shown below. Table 2: Trip Rates per 100m2 AM Peak Hour PM Peak Hour Arrival Departure Arrival Departure Typically, the arrival and departure profiles would be used to estimate parking accumulation within the site. The estimation would lead to the calculation/determination of the site’s maximum demand for parking. The trip rates, with consideration to 25% affordable housing, need to be applied to particular LDP housing sites. This will be done in the same line with the database of TRICS that currently has more than 6,300 surveys of transport. This is considered at a wider range of development types across all the regions of Ireland and the UK. This is considered to be the national standard system of trip generation and analysis as it is done in the UK and Ireland Demand Estimate - Modal Splits It will be required to assign the trips by mode just after some number of estimated trips has been generated for a particular development. This process is specifically accomplished through the use of modal splits. In this case, the modal splits are used on the basis of estimated modal share. The table below shows the average census splits beginning 2001 and specific modal splits that are adjusted and were used to analyze the baseline scenario. Table 3: Average Census Split from 2011 Base Modal Splits A uniform split is applied to all the developments following the above table, as far as the baseline scenarios are concerned. This is done in order to show a more realistic scenario of the future transport system. However, there is a need to apply different modal splits. This is a commitment of the LDP transport interventions. The following scenario is what is affected by the demand forecasting, aimed at showing the demand level through medium and long-term periods: - projected residential build‐out of LDP sites by 2019/20, and the full residential build‐out of LDP sites. The completion year is projected to be in 2024/25. Modal split targets and the achieving method: In the inland modes of transport in Edinburgh, roads are considered to take the biggest share. It, therefore, claims a greater percentage of roads. In this project, the modal split considers the transport performance. The modal split outlined in this project is based on the total inland freight transport performance expressed in tonne-kilometres. In order to comply with the legal acts of Edinburgh, the accepted principles will be used to report the data on the inland waterways and the roads. The road transport data in Edinburgh, for them to show a reflection on the area where the transport took place, were adjusted accordingly. The reported modes of transport that are sustainable include the trips taken when walking, using public transport, cycling, and using a motorcycle. In this group, the use of taxis is not included due to their frequency. Hence, they are put in the same category with personal vehicle usage. Approximation of likely distribution of trips to/from the development on the local network The approximation in this case requires the obtaining of census data in order to work out populations in different zones. The data was downloaded from the National Statistics website. In such regard, the trip distribution in the area is tabulated bellow. Table 4: Illustrative trip table Origin \ Destination 1 2 3 Z 1 T11 T12 T13 T1Z 2 T21 3 T31 Z TZ1 TZZ Where: T ij = trips from origin i to destination j. Work trip distribution is then generated the way that travel demand models understand how people take jobs using the below mathematical formula. Where: = Trips between origin i and destination j = Trips originating at i = Trips destined for j = travel cost between i and j = balancing factors solved iteratively. = distance decay factor, as in the accessibility model It is clearly shown the way it is doubly constrained in such a way that, for each i, the number of trips will be predicted by the model. It is equated to the actual trip numbers that are achieved from i. Still looking at it the other way, the number of trips associated to j as predicted by the model, will always be equal to the actual number of trips to j for each j. Traffic Impact Assessment (Junctions) This aspect includes junctions "in scope" of the development and the congestion levels at the junctions. The description of junctions is the main focus in this case. The most noticed critical movement at the junction and long queue lengths should not be there. Edinburgh Junction is a roundabout linking the DJ motorway with the FH road and the benefits attached to this include cutting the congestion. Currently all of the DJ traffic and the FH traffic using this junction have to negotiate the Edinburgh roundabout, causing queues on both of the strategic routes. The improvements are expected to improve segregation on the DJ across the traffic, hence lessening the traffic volume experienced at the roundabout. The improvements will also support wider journey time benefits on the BE roads including the surrounding road network The Edinburgh junction improvements will improve journey times by 15 to 20 minutes and improve the reliability of journeys on the both DJ and the FH roads which are considered to be of much economic benefits to the road users. These road improvements will also tackle the risk of congestion experienced from the major developments along BE and DJ corridors. The operations of the existing business in this area will also be improved with the road improvement works. The new junction is, therefore, intended to come up with opportunities of development that can be singled out around the area BE and DJ corridors. Any proposed improvements to local transport infrastructure and services. All the traffic rules must be adhered to, and the passengers must always alight at the right places. Important Aspects to Note For perfect operations, it is important to note that passengers are only allowed to alight from the buses at the bus parking area, unless prior arrangements have been made with the available car parks in the area. This enhances safety and convenience. The buses will also be required to leave the site after the passengers have alighted allow for more spaces. Details of a preliminary Travel Plan including measures to be adopted The travel plan for the Edinburgh area is the realignment of the BE and the FH roads over long lengths to accommodate all the traffics. The modifications to the DJ slip roads and ensuring the roundabout is in good condition. New private access roads should be created through the various car Parks and the provision of a sustainable urban drainage system and flood water storage areas. The Environmental mitigation and enhancement works will also have to be practiced for better development of the area. Read More