Council blocks New College’s road plans (From Swindon Advertiser)

Council blocks New College’s road plans

7:00pm Wednesday 15th February 2012 in Local By Matthew Edwards

THE council has blocked plans for a new access road into Swindon’s New College site.

The college applied for the retention and alteration of a temporary construction access to form a permanent access road from Queens Drive.

Work has just been completed on the construction of a new car park layout, approved as part of the new annexe, and the college was hoping it could connect the car park to the main road.

However, residents and councillors raised concerns about the plans ahead of the council’s planning meeting on Tuesday night, saying that the proposal could cause a number of issues on Queens Drive. They said that the current access to the site was suitable and adding this new road would cause traffic flow problems on Queens Drive.

Councillors Mark Demp-sey (Lab, Parks) and Fay Howard (Lab, Parks) both raised concerns.

Coun Dempsey said: “We were concerned about the increase in traffic congestion and the risk of accidents from cars crossing lanes.

“We were also concerned about the risk to pedestrians walking across Queens Drive to use the new access.”

The proposal was refused by the planning committee who said it would be likely to result in an additional hazard on an already busy road.

Coun Dale Heenan, chairman of the planning committee, said: “The original app- lication was for construction access to the site to allow the building of the extension on a temporary basis.

“What was discussed last night was another planning application for a permanent vehicle access.

“The committee decided it was inappropriate as the requirements for it to be permanent would be entirely different. Another issue was with safety with it located so close to a junction; a study has shown that 80 per cent of accidents in Queens Drive are at junctions.”

The college was unable to comment due to it being half term but in their proposal they said: “The new road would provide greater accessibility for both pedestrians and drivers to and from the college. It would have provided greater efficiency both within the college and for students or staff entering and leaving the campus.

“We considered that the Road Safety Audit confirms that the new access would have provided a safe and efficient access arrangement, thereby providing safe and greater accessibility for students and staff.”