Traffic is the heavyweight issue
This week Ashbourne Neighbourhood Plan group member ALBERT GOLDING explains how the town’s traffic issues are at the heart of the document
OVER the many public consultation programmes that have been carried out in the last few years in preparing the Ashbourne Neighbourhood Plan, traffic impact has been identified as the community’s highest priority to be resolved to improve our town.
In the preparatory consultation for the Neighbourhood Plan in 2014, out of over 3,000 responses to the question “What is bad about Ashbourne?” by far the largest proportion identified the excessive volume of traffic, and HGVS in particular.
In the final Section 14 consultation in 2018, traffic and HGV volume was again the dominant issue.
Out of all the comments about traffic, 93% strongly favoured the urgent construction of a bypass. This is not surprising given the traffic volumes that flow through the heart of our town centre, with one HGV passing through every 70 seconds on average.
In addition there are major issues with many of the town’s junctions, most notably the infamous Derby Road/sturston junction.
Trying to tackle the traffic problems in Ashbourne over the years has been a major concern for the highway authority, Derbyshire County Council, as well as a major planning issue for Derbyshire Dales District Council.
Excessive through-traffic has a major impact on pedestrian safety and the attractiveness of the town centre and effectively splits the town centre into two parts, with St John Street being a particularly difficult street for pedestrians to cross safely.
Is it a coincidence that most of our empty shops are clustered along St John Street where local residents face a nightmare of a challenge to walk along the pavement and shop in comfort?
The highway authority’s solution to removing heavy traffic from Ashbourne is the Ashbourne bypass.
This long awaited aspiration has now, after four years, reached the position where a proposed western route has now been agreed by Derbyshire County Council.
However the route is still not identified in the District Council’s Local Plan and there is currently no funding to build it.
At best, if the significant funding required to build the scheme can be found, we will be waiting years for it to be constructed and relieve the traffic problem that plagues Ashbourne.
Ashbourne needs action now to tackle its traffic problems immediately if the town is to improve.
We cannot wait for the promised bypass to start improving our town centre. Traffic mitigation measures that improve pedestrian safety, reduce pollution and improve the environment are required immediately.
The Ashbourne Neighbourhood Plan provides a new initiative for real change to occur quickly.
The Neighbourhood Plan has clear planning policies for new development in Ashbourne, namely priority for pedestrians and cyclists in the design and layout of development, including for people of all levels of mobility.
This is an absolute necessity for Ashbourne to ensure that good design of new development promotes safe and attractive linkages across our town whether you are taking children to school, going to work, shopping or visiting to enjoy the town’s special historic and architectural heritage.
We need to make our temporary traffic management measures safer and more visually attractive. In addition these new traffic mitigation measures need to be part of a general environmental upgrading of the town centre, as mentioned in my News Telegraph article last week.
We can have a new revamped town centre, which is safe and attractive, and brings out the quality in Ashbourne to revive it economically as one of the best Derbyshire market towns. If you want this to happen, vote for the Ashbourne Neighbourhood Plan on May 6.
The Neighbourhood Plan is the foundation for the Strategic Plan for Ashbourne which will include a Traffic Management Plan for Ashbourne.
This new Ashbourne Traffic Management Plan will included a range of traffic management mitigation measures to tackle traffic problems in Ashbourne in advance of any construction of an Ashbourne bypass.
Most important is to ensure that the temporary traffic management measures introduced by the County Council in 2020 as part of its Covid 19 measures are made permanent.
These need to be designed properly using best practice by other local authorities across the UK to be both safe and attractive, enhancing the town centre as a quality market town centre to visit, shop in and enjoy.
The Ashbourne Traffic Management Plan also needs to incorporate the Action Plan that will now need to be prepared following Derbyshire Dales District Council’s recent declaration of an Air Quality Management Area for part of the town centre.
This Action Plan will need to reduce pollution levels from traffic movement through the town centre to nationally acceptable levels. This will make Ashbourne, along with the traffic mitigation measures, a much more pleasant place to live, work and visit, enhancing the health and well-being of residents and boosting the local economy.
The hard work that the Ashbourne community has invested in producing the Ashbourne Neighbourhood Plan therefore will produce immediate benefits that could change and improve the town quickly.
To do this, action needs to follow quickly from the adoption of the Neighbourhood Plan if the local community votes for it on May 6.
Take the opportunity to shape the future of Ashbourne for the better.
This is the chance for the Ashbourne community to start taking control of its own future.
This is an opportunity to get more involved in local planning and ensure the council does the right thing.