M6 Heysham Link Road Objection submitted by Lancaster

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M6 Heysham Link RoadObjection submitted by
Lancaster Morecambe CollegePresentation to
the Development Control Committee on 31 October
2006
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The College

• A regional College attracting students from
  Lancaster, Morecambe, South Cumbria and North
  Yorkshire.
• Well maintained with significant investment on a
  greenfield site.
• 20 million budget serving 5000 full and part
  time students.
• Employing 900 staff

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Community Resource
Providing a Range of Services
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Impact on LMC (1)

• The construction phase will present a visual
  blight and damage recruitment.
• The road will bisect and dominate the college
  campus exposing the colleges least developed
  aspect.
• The loss of 180 car parking spaces will seriously
  affect staff and student access.
• The loss of an important sports pitch will
  undermine the Sports Academy and local sports
  clubs.
• Students learning in adjacent buildings will be
  disrupted by the excessive noise generated from
  the traffic.
• Future development of the campus would be
  severely restricted by the roads boundary.

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Impact on LMC (2)

• Projected losses of 2 million would lead to
  financial instability and bankruptcy.
• As a major employer staff redundancies circa 65
  staff would seriously undermine the local
  economy.
• Significant reduction in resources and the
  provision of education to the community and
  business would reduce local responsiveness and
  choice.

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Movie Clip Locations
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Localised Site Physical Impacts

• Movie clips show localised physical site impacts
  -
• Significant land take arising from the road
• Significant opportunity costs arising from
  constraints imposed upon future site development
• Significant loss of existing car parking
• Significant reduction in utility and size of
  sports pitches
• Significant visual impact of the road and
  relative proximity of the road and associated
  traffic to the College buildings
• Creation of significant severance of the College
  site
• Reduction in maintenance and access space created
  by the road relative to buildings on the College
  site

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Transport Impact Concerns(1)

• Insufficient consideration of local traffic and
  transport impacts at the College to enable the
  College and third parties to understand the
  impacts
• Potential safety impacts created by traffic
  accessing the new road
• Severance of the College restricting internal
  site operations and accessibility
• No consideration presented in the application of
  local operational conditions at the local road
  network adjacent to the site traffic queues and
  delays.
• No localised or strategic alternatives considered
  in the application re route alignment or design
  standard considered with D2AP being the assumed
  and justified design standard.

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Transport Impact Concerns(2)

• No consideration given to whether alternative
  traffic and demand management measures would
  produce better or equivalent benefits that
  could be better aligned to Government policy
  regarding sustainable transport
• No detail presented regarding localised
  mitigation of impacts on the local highway
  network
• No evidence or detail is presented regarding the
  ability or proof that complimentary measures will
  deliver complimentary public transport /
  alternative travel mode benefits.

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Noise Impact Concerns Our Assessment Shows -

• College significantly detrimentally affected by
  noise impact arising from the road will render
  key buildings on the site not fit for (teaching)
  purpose.
• Forecast noise levels at buildings adjacent to
  the road exceed the levels recommended by
  Building Bulletin 93 Acoustic Design of Schools
  A Design Guide
• Proposed noise barrier does not reduce noise
  levels sufficiently below the recommended
  LAeq(30mins) 60 dB level.
• With barrier at base of nearest building
  noise level is forecast to be 67 LAeq(30mins) dB
  level in 2010 rising to 69 LAeq(30mins) dB
  level in 2025 assuming 2.5m noise barrier.
• Detrimental noise effects are exacerbated if
  lower noise fence height and higher receptor
  point at the building elevation are assumed
  potentially rising to circa 71 LAeq(30mins) dB
  level in 2025 (with 5m receptor height and 2.5 m
  barrier at the road).

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Construction Impact Concerns

• No specific construction mitigation presented in
  the application
• No specific forecasts of construction traffic,
  construction access routes and mix of vehicle
  types presented
• Considerable disruption to the operation and
  business of the College will be created during
  construction
• Even if contained to a limited time period during
  the construction programme will not avoid
  impact upon the College due to all year round
  teaching and activity at the College
• Third party therefore cannot make informed
  judgement as to the potential construction impact
  (at the College)

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Planning Procedure Concerns

• Planning application is generally strategic in
  nature not presenting or considering the detail
  of localised impacts created at the College
  vicinity
• Minimal consultation undertaken with the College
  prior to the application being considered
• No recognition of the potential operational and
  business impacts upon the College
• Submitted planning documents are not sufficiently
  self contained presenting the full range of
  information necessary for an informed judgement
  to be made by third parties
• No specific construction, operational and
  localised mitigation measures are presented in
  the planning documents

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Conclusions

• Each individual element of great concern
• Cumulative impact could lead to the closure of
  the College
• Potential for the road to lead to the closure of
  the College is an important material
  consideration which has been totally ignored by
  the applicant and in the Committee report
• Committee has insufficient information to
  properly assess the proposal no option other
  than to refuse consent