Earlier this month, I blogged about the two planning applications recently re-submitted by Reading University for the redevelopment of Whiteknights and Childs Hall. The plans had originally been withdrawn following serious objections about lack of detail from UoR in relation to transport issues I had identified.
While I support in principle the aims behind this project I am concerned about the impact that substantially upping the number of beds on campus will have on the amenity of local residents. Any increase in numbers of students on campus must be backed up with clear policies on green travel and parking.
I welcome the inclusion by the University of a travel plan with this application. We are told that this document sets out the University’s aspirations for sustainable travel. It is my sincere hope that this aspiration will deliver concrete outcomes both in terms of a declining impact on the local road network and a reduction in the University’s overall carbon footprint – only time will tell.
The University has included in it’s transport assessment details of ‘good range of bus routes’ available to students. However, a campaign by Reading University Lib Dems and recently adopted by Reading University Students Union for cheaper student bus fares has highlighted the fact that cost is still a significant deterrent for students to use buses regularly to get to and from town from the campus and surrounding area.
The University should investigate in conjunction with Reading Buses the possibility of subsidising bus travel for its students to reduce their reliance on the private car.
I would like to see planning approval for this project granted subject to the following being included in the University’s travel plan and as part of any Section 106 agreement:
- Incentives to encourage the use of public transport – specifically subsidised bus travel for students
- The promotion of walking and cycling – to include improving edge of campus cycle routes and improving cycle links between the campus and town centre
- The creation and promotion of a car share scheme and car clubs, including reserved spaces in the Halls car parks for car club vehicles
- Restrictions on students in Halls of Residences bringing cars to Reading to include a management plan for car parking on campus
Now for my comments on the applications in detail...
Parking
The appearance of a parking policy is a very welcome development but my concern is that nowhere in this new policy is outlined exactly how this regulation will be enforced. How will cars belonging to students be identified off-campus? Who will be responsible for enforcing this policy? There is no discussion of how this policy will work in practice.
Another concern I have is that as it is currently worded parking by staff and visitors to the campus in local roads will not be covered by this policy. As a ward councillor who receives a large number of complaints about commuter parking I would like to see this policy extending to cover staff and those visiting the campus on a regular basis.
Commuter parking at it’s current level is highly detrimental to the amenity of local residents and needs to be addressed by the University. This would need to be addressed by enforcement activity of the University’s new parking policy to tackle off-street parking and alongside better promotion of alternative ‘green’ modes of travel i.e. as part of a travel plan.
Any burden on RBC as the local highway authority should be appropriately compensated for by Reading University. As such, I would like to see the adoption of this policy and more details about how it will be enforced incorporated into the University’s Travel Plan and written into the Section 106.
The survey of parking in local roads carried out by the University is welcome but can only provides a snapshot of the problem of overspill parking faced by residents in a large number of roads within a mile of the University. I would argue that the survey only gives Members and officers a limited understanding of what is a much larger problem than the University would probably care to admit.
Overspill parking connected to the University goes beyond the radius identified in the survey in the transport assessment and includes a number of roads off London Road including Blenheim Road, De Beauvoir Road, Donnington Road, Eldon Street. There are also a large number of roads affected by overspill from the University in Park ward - as Green party campaigner Rob White has observed on .
I am pleased that as a result of being forced to carry out this survey the University for the first time acknowledges that it may be responsible for around 60 cars parked in local roads around the University in Redlands ward (as noted above this is likely to include staff and visitors to the University). As the survey indicates roads affected by overspill parking range from Avebury Square to Hatherley Road and a number of roads in between.
However, residents who I have spoken to who have looked at this survey have remarked that the true figure is likely to be far higher if a more in depth survey had been carried out. This survey would to my mind have had more credibility if it had been carried out over a wider area and for a longer period of time.
Road safety and traffic
On 2.7 of the transport assessment submitted by the University alongside this application there is a basic error:
"Personal injury accident statistics have been obtained from Wokingham Borough
Council for the 36 month period 1 October 2005 to 30 September 2008. The area
studied was Upper Redlands Road between Elmhurst Rod and Whiteknights Road,including any accidents at these two junctions."
The highway authority for this area is Reading Borough Council not Wokingham Borough Council. It is notable that of the three accidents referred to (to the east of the halls access) one involved a parked car and one occurred close to the junction of Whiteknights Hall.
This is evidence if it were needed of the fact that the road safety of pedestrians and other road users is increasingly being jeopardised by the increase in University-related traffic and parking on the already highly-congested local road network.
I have concerns about the impact of increased traffic flows on road safety at the Elmhurst Road/Upper Redlands Road junction, Upper Redlands Road/Redlands Road junction and the Elmhurst Road/Shinfield Road/Redlands Road junction.
Pedestrian safety on Elmhurst Road, Shinfield Road, Christchurch Road and Redlands Road is already a major concern to local residents, many of whom have contacted me over the past two years about increasingly high levels of traffic in these areas and difficulty for pedestrians getting out from between parked cars.
These concerns and concerns about cycle safety congestion were also picked up as part of the public consultation around the A327-Shinfield Road Area Corridor Study carried out by Reading Borough Council earlier this year.
According to 7.9 of the TA:
'It can be seen from the results that the 4-5 additional vehicles that the halls
developments could generate at the junction in the peak hours would not have a
material impact, the additional queuing on Elmhurst Road, Shinfield Road and
Christchurch Road being seen to increase by a maximum of 2 vehicles. This
predicted marginal worsening of the operation of the junction is thought to be
significantly less than the day-to-day variation in the operation of the junction.'
I would dispute this assessment. At peak hours, traffic on Elmhurst Road, Shinfield Road and Christchurch Road is regularly at a standstill. In addition, the traffic study recently undertaken by RBC officers as part of the A327 Corridor Study found that this junction was already at 100% capacity.
An increase in the number of vehicles using this junction, however slight, will have a material impact on the speed at which vehicles queuing get through the traffic lights, especially at peak hours in the term time. This will have a negative impact on local residents wishing to access their properties during these times.
The appearance of more cars on these particular roads will only make local residents’ lives worse.
In recognition of these issues I would like to see an appropriate financial contribution by Reading University towards improving road safety in the vicinity of the Whiteknight’s Campus be part of the conditions attached to any future approval of this application by Members of the Planning Applications Committee.
Local residents have until 24 December to comment on the proposals. Comments should be emailed to kelly.seekup@reading.gov.uk
Comments