The city council would appreciate your views on plans for a new development of 98 homes between Raddlebarn Road and Linden Road. These involves two cul-de-sacs around a central cricket pitch and pavilion, with permeability for walking through the development. The consultation plans can be viewed here, and you can voice your opinion on the survey link on that page.

Consultation runs to 9 March 2015.

Push Bikes' response:

It is good to see that the plans proposed do not provide through-routes for motor traffic on this development, while providing through access for pedestrians (filtered permeability for pedestrians). However, we are concerned that current plans suggest that people on cycles will be expected to dismount and use the short pedestrian links. In particular, the link onto Linden Road, where there is a pedestrian crossing to connect to Oak Tree Lane and the residential area beyond, appears to only provide space for walking.

In order to provide filtered permeability for people on cycles, two things need to be done:

1. There should be a cycle path provided across the green space between the two cul-de-sacs, so as to provide a legitimate route for people on cycles. The best solution would be to provide separate cycle paths to link up the cul-de-sacs. Any shared-use pavements should be a minimum of 3 meters wide.
2. At the access onto Linden Road, planning gain should be used to upgrade the crossing to a Toucan crossing, and there should be a cycle track alongside the pedestrian link. With the bus stops and pedestrian crossing at this location, there may be a lot of pedestrians, so it is better for the cycle route to be separate from the pedestrian route. The cycle route should be connected with Oak Tree Road, so that there is an easy link between that residential area and the new development.

In addition to the filtered permeability measures, we recommend that the junctions and carriageways in the development be designed so as to discourage fast driving, in particular when turning into the development from Raddle Barn Road and Willow Road.