Highways Agency

Safe roads, Reliable journeys, Informed travellers

Non technical summary

Non Technical Summary

Introduction

In June 2002, the Minister for Transport announced that the A1 between the A64 Bramham Crossroads Junction and Wetherby would be upgraded to motorway standard. The decision followed a roads based safety study between Bramham and Barton.

In October 2003 a Preferred Route Announcement was made. The proposals included the upgrading of the existing A1 to dual 3 lane motorway, closure of Tenter Hill, Wetherby Grange and Walton Road junctions with the A1, and construction of an all-purpose access road for local and non-motorway traffic.

Since the Preferred Route Announcement, a preliminary design for the scheme has been developed in consultation with local councils, action groups and parish councils. The scheme has now progressed to Draft Order Publication and this leaflet contains a summary of the Environmental Statement.

Need for the Scheme

This section of the A1 forms part of the strategic route between London and Edinburgh as well as providing an important link to principal towns. Traffic flows on the A1 in the Wetherby area are currently in the order of 83,000 vehicles per day (2004). This number is expected to rise to approximately 134,000 vehicles per day in around 20 years time. This is likely to lead to unacceptable levels of congestion on this section of the A1, particularly along the existing dual two lane section.

Congestion disrupts the flow of vehicles and encourages drivers toavoid the route, bringing pollution and noise into local towns and villages and making residential roads more dangerous. Without theproposed improvements, the growth in traffic will make driving conditions worse on the A1 and the situation in the local communities will deteriorate.

The Highways Agency's studies indicate that the financial benefits from savings in fuel, journey timesand reduced accidents will be substantially more than the estimated cost of the upgrading proposals.

The Published Scheme

Non Technical Summary

The Published Scheme

The A1

The published scheme will upgradethe A1 between the A64 BramhamCrossroads Junction and KirkDeighton New Junction to dual 3 lanemotorway standard. This will beachieved by upgrading the existing 3lane all-purpose road between theA1/A64 Bramham Junction andWetherby Grange, including theimprovement of signs andcommunications equipment, andupgrading the existing dual 2-lane all -purpose road to dual three-lanemotorway between Wetherby Grangeand Kirk Deighton New Junction bycarriageway widening.

The existing bridges over the A1 atWetherby Grange and Walton Roadwill be replaced and the WetherbySubway lengthened to accommodatethe wider carriageway. The twoexisting bridges presently carrying theA1 over the River Wharfe will bealtered to carry the proposed widenednorthbound carriageway and a newbridge will be constructed alongsideto carry the new A1 southboundcarriageway.

The junctions at Tenter Hill(Bramham), Wetherby Grange(Wetherby) and Walton Road(Wetherby) will be closed in order toimprove safety on the motorway.Access to the motorway will berestricted to the existing A64Bramham Crossroads and GrangeMoor Junctions and the new junctionat Kirk Deighton.

Local Access Road

A new Local Access Road (LAR) will be constructed as part of the proposals between the A64Bramham Crossroad Junction and Sandbeck Lane to carry non-motorway and local traffic. It will runon the east side of the A1 between the A64 and Bramham and on the west side of the A1 betweenBramham and Sandbeck Lane. The carriageway will generally follow the existing topography.However, in some locations it will be in shallow cutting or on low embankment.

New roundabouts will be provided at the intersection between the LAR and the A659 at Wattle Syke,and at the intersection between the LAR and the connector road leading to York Road. Existingroundabouts on the route of the LAR at Wetherby Grange, Walton Road and Sandbeck Lane will beimproved or enlarged. The existing junction between York Road and the connector road will beretained with some improvements.

Planning and Policies

The scheme is of national importance. It is also recognised in the Regional Planning Framework asbeing of strategic regional importance and is supported by policies in the Leeds Unitary DevelopmentPlan and the Selby District Local Plan. The provision of a local access road and non-motorised users'route will reduce community severance and provide more opportunities for informal leisure activities.

Measures to Avoid and Reduce Environmental Impacts

Non Technical Summary

Measures to Avoid and Reduce Environmental Impacts

Extensive environmental surveys and assessments of the likely effects have been carried out by theHighways Agency during the preliminary design process. The results of these studies have beentaken into account during the scheme design in order to avoid or minimise impacts where possible. Inparticular, potential effects on cultural heritage at Wattle Syke have been avoided by amending theproposed route away from the most significant areas of interest. Where there will be residual impacts,the survey results have been used to design appropriate mitigation measures. As a result, the overallimpact of the scheme on the environment is not likely to be significant.

Effects on the environment will be mitigated by:

• Partial visual screening of properties and rights of way from the road by landscape planting of trees, shrubs and hedges.
• A landscape design that integrates the road into the existing landscape character by tree, hedge and shrub planting but whilst retaining open aspects where appropriate.
• Low noise surfacing and noise screening with fences and mounding where appropriate.
• Creation of four ecological ponds to replace two that will be lost to the scheme.
• Creation of conservation grassland along new verges.
• Excavation and recording of areas of archaeological importance.
• Provision of footpaths and bridleways for non-motorised users.
• Provision of new farm access gates to avoid impacts of severance on agricultural operations.

An Environmental Statement describing the assessment and mitigation of impacts has been publishedat the same time as the Orders.

Landscape

The proposed landscape design aims to integrate the proposals sympathetically into the existinglandscape character and the nearby settlements. In some areas planting of trees, shrubs and hedgeswill be undertaken to integrate the scheme into the existing landscape pattern, provide mitigation forthe visual impacts and replace lost habitats. In other areas the existing landscape has an opencharacter, and the landscape proposals reflect this, by minimising the amount and density of planting.Mitigation measures include a diverse mixture of grassland, hedges and tree and woodland planting toreplace lost habitats and help integrate the proposed LAR and junction improvements into the widerlandscape.

There will be some residual adverse impacts on the landscape of the Wharfe corridor and WetherbyGrange Park, due to the permanent loss of land, loss of mature trees and effects on public amenity.The landscape design mitigates the visual effects of this loss of land as much as possible.

Visual effects will mainly affect properties in Bramham, Wetherby, Boston Spa and Clifford. Theproposed planting scheme mitigates, where possible, adverse visual effects on these properties. After15 years, when planting undertaken as part of the scheme will have become established and grown toapprox 6 - 8 m high, it is expected that views from 154 properties will have improved compared to thecurrent situation. Properties that will experience such benefits are mainly along the west, north andsouth edges of Bramham and along the west edges of Clifford and Boston Spa. Some houses inWetherby, in Linton, some of the isolated properties along the road and the industrial properties atWetherby will not experience any change in views or the change in view will be negligible. After 15years, slight adverse visual effects will still be experienced by some properties on the east fringe ofWetherby. One property, Park Hill Lodge, located near Wetherby, will experience a moderate adversevisual impact. However, this property is currently owned by the Highways Agency and is unoccupied.

Users of public rights of way willexperience some visual benefits as aresult of hedge and tree planting betweenthe A1 and the proposed new footpathsand bridleways. In particular, benefitsshould be noticeable between Tenter Hilland Clifford Moor, and through BeilbyWood and Grange Moor, where the newplanting will afford a degree of physicaland visual separation from fast movingtraffic.

Night-time effects of new road lighting will be limited to views from properties on the east edge ofWetherby and those in Boston Spa that will have views of the Grange Moor and Wattle Sykeroundabouts.

Land Use

The scheme lies within a predominantly rural corridor. Other than agriculture, the land within the studyarea is used for residential, industrial/commercial, leisure and community facilities, transport corridorsand forestry. Much of the area to the south of the River Wharfe is defined as statutory Green Belt.The predominant land type affected by the scheme is agricultural.

The scheme has been developed to minimise,as far as possible, the area of land that will betaken permanently. However, a total of 40hectares of agricultural land will be lost, ofwhich about two thirds would be classified asbest and most versatile land. Nineteenagricultural holdings will be affected by loss ofland as some agricultural land will be requiredto construct the scheme but this will bemitigated by reducing severance and theprovision of alternative farm and field accessarrangements where necessary.

The scheme will affect Wetherby Racecourse, requiring the course to be realigned at its western endin order to accommodate the widened carriageway. Negotiations are being undertaken in order tominimise the affects on the operation of the racecourse.

Biodiversity and Nature Conservation

The scheme will have no significant effects on legally protected species or sites designated for theirnational conservation value. The River Wharfe corridor is designated in the local plan as a site of localnature conservation value. There will be some loss of bankside vegetation due to the construction ofthe new bridge, but this is not considered to be significant in the long-term.

Most of the scheme will pass through an openlandscape, typically characterised by arablefarmland consisting of large fields bounded bymanaged hedgerows or grassland strips. Thescheme has been designed to minimise the amountof habitat that will be lost and provide replacementof hedges and grassland where necessary. Therewill be some loss of habitat, including two pondsand hedges, but this will be offset by the creation ofreplacement habitats. In addition, conservationgrassland will be created on new verges, aroundponds and along the banks of the River Wharfe.

Measures will be taken to reduce the effects of construction of the scheme on ecology. In particular,surveys will be undertaken immediately prior to construction in order to take account of any changes inthe activity of legally protected species. Areas of recently disturbed ground will be checked for thelegally protected thistle broomrape and, if found, soil will be relocated to new verges.

Cultural Heritage

In the immediate vicinity of the proposed works, there are several sites of buried archaeologicalremains. Most notably, this includes the regionally important site of Wattle Syke Iron Age andRomano-British settlement (occupied in around 100BC to AD300), located to the west of the A1 at theA659 Grange Moor junction. Extensive archaeological investigations including geophysical surveys,programmes of field walking and trial trenching have enabled an understanding of the buriedarchaeological resource to be developed and a robust assessment of the impacts of the scheme to bemade. This understanding has ensured that the alignment of the LAR will avoid the majority of the twomain areas of archaeological importance within Wattle Syke. Archaeological excavations andrecording will be undertaken at key areas within the footprint of the scheme in advance of theconstruction phase to mitigate any unavoidable impacts.

Noise and Vibration

Using predicted traffic flows, noise modelling has been undertaken for the proposed A1 and LAR.Modelling has also taken account of changes in traffic flows on the existing local road network andallows the topography of the area to be taken into account.

Low noise surfacing will be used for areas of new road construction to reduce the effects of noise onnearby settlements. In addition, noise fences and bunds will be provided in key locations such asBramham and Wetherby to further reduce the effects of noise.

At Bramham, the following mitigation is proposed: a 3m high, 300m long noise bund/barrier on thecurrent southbound off-slip (which will be closed); a 50m extension to the 2m barrier to the south ofTenter Hill; a 2m high, 65m barrier to the west of the alignment to the north of Bowcliffe Hall; and a200m long bund on the current southbound on-slip to the south of Bowcliffe Hall. The bund will be 3mhigh and planted with shrubs.

As a result of this mitigation, a large number of properties to the north of Bramham will experience asignificant reduction in noise. Properties in most other areas will not experience any change in noise.

At Wetherby, 3m high barriers are proposed as mitigation at the following locations: a 500m longbarrier along the LAR to the north of Sandbeck Lane; a 100m long extension to the north of theexisting noise fence near to York Road; and a 500m noise fence to the south of the existing noisefence extending down to the Walton roundabout. In addition, a 2m high, 750m long noise fencebetween the LAR and the A1 to the east of Wetherby will be provided. A 3m high, 200m long bund isproposed between the A58 and A1 to the south of Wetherby, which will be planted with shrubs.

Within Wetherby, decreases in noise are predicted for the majority of properties overlooking the A1and the LAR. However, small increases in noise are predicted along the LAR to the north of Wetherbywhere increased traffic flows are anticipated.

Air Quality

There will be no significant adverse effects on air quality as a result of the scheme. As a result ofimproving vehicle design, emissions of pollutants and particles from road traffic will declinesignificantly over the next few years. The scheme will alleviate local congestion with a subsequentreduction in emissions.

Water Quality and Drainage

Between the A64 and Bramham village, the proposed scheme passes through two groundwaterSource Protection Zones. As a result, direct and indirect discharges to groundwater of substancesincluding hydrocarbons and other residues found in road run-off are to be avoided. The upgraded A1will be drained by utilising the existing drainage system. Road drainage for the LAR along this sectionwill be a closed drainage system comprising pipes and gullies, which will drain to a balancing pondnorth of Paradise Farm, prior to discharge into Openrakes Beck, via a pollution interceptor.

To the north of Bramham, the A1 will drain to itsexisting drainage system. For the LAR, a swalesoakaway system has been proposed. The detaileddesign of this drainage system will meet nationalstandards and complement the existing waterenvironment.

Surface water run-off will be drained into swales,soakaways and infiltration ponds, designed toremove pollutants from road run-off. It is consideredthat the risk of a spillage along this road is very lowand that the proposed drainage will mitigate anypollution.

Two balancing ponds will be provided, one on each bank of the river, to restrict the rate of runoff intothe River Wharfe. This will ensure that flood levels in the river are not exacerbated. The balancingponds will also provide some storage in the event of any spillage incident. New oil interceptors arealso proposed for these discharge points. No impacts on fisheries in the river are predicted.

Strict adherence to the Environment Agency's Pollution Prevention Guidance notes will ensure thatrisk of accidental pollution during construction will be significantly reduced.

Non-Motorised Users (Pedestrians, Cyclists & Equestrians)

The scheme will enhance the existing nonmotoriseduser provision in the area of the A1by providing a new facility, next to butseparated from the A1, linking Bramham andWetherby and improving the east-west linkageof public rights of way. This facility will beavailable for pedestrians, cyclists and horseriders and will connect with the existing publicrights of way in the area of the scheme.

The landscape design will provide some visualbenefits for users of the public rights of way,by providing a visual screen between trafficand path.

Vehicular Travellers

The new motorway and LAR will provide safer journeys with significantly less delay and disruption.Travellers will enjoy a significantly enhanced service and benefit from greater reliability and less stressthan they do at present.

There will be a range of new views for travellers using the LAR and landscape proposals will improveviews from road and help create a sense of place.

Construction

Construction of the scheme will take approximately 28 months. During this time there will be somedisruption to local residents, road users and wildlife.

A Contractor's Environmental Management Plan (CEMP) will be implemented to control constructionactivities, protect sensitive areas and restrict disturbance to reasonable levels. The CEMP will beagreed with the local Environmental Health Officers and will place stringent controls to limit noise anddust, protect groundwater quality, avoid pollution spills, protect flora and fauna, manage waste andcreate a safe and healthy working environment. Extensive auditing will be undertaken throughout theconstruction period to ensure the effectiveness of the controls.

To minimise the impact of the scheme on the travelling public, the CEMP will require that two lanes oftraffic in each direction will be maintained at all times on the A1 (except occasional night-timeclosures) and that access on other local roads will be maintained at all times.

During the works, arrangements will be made to keep local residents informed of events and progressbeing made.