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5. Environmental Assessment -18
5. Environmental Assessment (continued)
5.18 Potential Impacts and Mitigation
ROUTE OPTIONS
The majority of the routes run offline between Ellington and up to where they mergewith the existing A14 at Fenstanton.
The assessment will also assess Limited Junction Options (Blue and OrangeRoutes).
GENERAL COMMENTS
All options for the A14 Improvement Scheme would meet regional transportobjectives to maintain good transportation links within the region and with the restof the UK. Both the Regional Planning Guidance for East Anglia 2000 and the DraftRegional Planning Guidance for the East of England 2004 refer to improvements tothe A14.
In order to demonstrate compliance at a local level, the scheme must fulfil thefollowing objectives:
- Foster development which encourages walking, cycling, and public transport use;
- Benefit economic activity and enhance the environment;
- Be located sensitively
- Conserve wildlife and natural features;
- Integrate planning and transport to promote more sustainable choices.
Mitigation principles are set out in each specialist chapter. However the followinglist summarises the basic principles which road design should seek to adhere to:
- Biodiversity: avoid key sites, such as badger setts; help create new habitats through careful use of trees, hedgerows and ground cover;
- Land use: avoid high grade agricultural land, where possible.
- Noise: use design to avoid noise at sensitive locations, e.g. careful choice of horizontal and vertical alignment; use of low noise surfaces. If problems persist, consider the use of noise fences or bunds, and as a last resort use double glazing to cut down noise levels inside dwellings.
- Water and flooding: in order to avoid rapid discharge of rainwater into watercourses, the use of balancing ponds is proposed. This, and other forms of sustainable urban drainage systems (SUDS) could benefit water quality, and in turn foster improvements to biodiversity quality.
- Landscape: use of planting and topography to 'hide' development from public view.
- Pedestrians, cyclists, equestrians and community effects: use design to ensure that the local network fosters walking, horse-riding and cycling. This can involve the physical separation of roads, footpaths and cycle routes; noise and visual buffers between the motorway and local access routes on amenity grounds; avoidance where possible of bridges for non-car users, since these are unpopular and costly; give proper consideration to the needs of buses, e.g. lay-bys for bus-stops, and the avoidance of 'unfriendly' road geometry.
DETAILED COMMENTS
Both the parallel and online improvement between Bar Hill and Fen Ditton wouldconflict with policies aimed at protecting the Cambridge Sub-Region Greenbeltbecause they impinge on the Green Belt. Furthermore all options between Bar Hilland Ellington would conflict with policies to protect the open countryside, trees andhedgerows and other environmental resources. Development in such cases refersto 'inappropriate development'
Blue Option
Section 1: Ellington to Godmanchester
This option would run in a southerly direction from the A14 east of Ellington,traversing land protected as 'Area of Best Landscape' west of the A1 andnorth/northwest of Brampton Wood. It would run in an easterly direction betweenthe village settlement of Brampton and Buckden Landfill site and would not impactdirectly on land designated for future development. It would traverse the RiverGreat Ouse, the East Coast Mainline Railway and open countryside prior tomerging with the A1198, south east of Godmanchester. This option would traverseBuckden Flood Meadows, adversely impacting on landscape and biodiversity. Thisoption would traverse open countryside prior to merging with the A1198, south ofGodmanchester. It would not directly impact any village settlements.
Section 2 Godmanchester to Bar Hill
This section would leave the A1198, north of Wood Green Animal Shelter and runin an easterly direction, traversing the B1040 and open countryside, prior tomerging with the existing A14, west of Trinity Foot junction and north east ofConington. It would run between the settlements of Fenstanton to the north andboth Hilton and Conington to the south. It would not directly impact either of thesesettlements or any land use allocations. From this point, this section wouldcomprise on-line improvements, going off-line north of Bar Hill. No land usedesignations would be impacted. The slip roads which form part of theGodmanchester junction run in close proximity to Woodgreen Animal Shelter.There would be no direct adverse impact on this facility.
A1 Alternative Blue Option
This option traverses an Area of Best Landscape, located west of the A1 and wouldtherefore have an adverse affect on landscape. It does not impact on land allocatedfor future development.
Orange Option
Section 1: Ellington to Godmanchester
This option diverges from the A14 east of Ellington, running in southerly direction,traversing the A1 between the settlement of Buckden to the south and BuckdenLandfill Site to the north. It would traverse an Area of Best Landscape north ofBrampton Wood. It would continue to run in an easterly direction south of BuckdenLandfill Sites. It would traverse the River Great Ouse and floodplains and EastCoast Mainline Railway prior to merging with the A1198 south of Wood GreenAnimal Shelter. This section would neither impact land designated for futuredevelopment or local settlements. However, it would traverse Buckden Gravel Pitsand River Great Ouse and floodplains, thereby conflicting with local plan policiesaimed at facilitating environmental conservation. The slip roads which form part ofthe Godmanchester junction run in close proximity to Beaconsfield EquestrianCentre. There would be no direct adverse impact on this facility.
Section 2: Godmanchester to Bar Hill
This option runs in an easterly direction over open countryside, traversing theB1040 north of Hilton. It runs between the village settlements of Fenstanton to thenorth and Hilton to the south, prior to merging with the A14 northeast of Conington.This option remains online, through the Trinity Foot Junction, diverging offline toserve the Bar Hill Junction. This section would not impact any local plandesignations. However, it would conflict with polices aimed at conservingenvironmental resources.
A1 Alternative Orange Option
The A1 Alternative Orange Option diverges from the A14, and runs in a southerlydirection adjacent to the A1, rejoining the main Orange Option to the south ofBuckden Landfill site. It traverses an Area of Best Landscape west of the A1,conflicting with policies aimed at protecting such areas from development. It doesnot impact any allocated development land.
Purple Option
Section 1: Ellington to Godmanchester
The alignment of this option is the same as that for the blue option and socorresponding impacts apply.
Section 2: Godmanchester to Bar Hill
This section commences at the A1198, north west of Wood Green Animal Shelter.It runs in an easterly direction, crossing open countryside before moving northeastto rejoin the A14 west of Hemingford Grey. It runs online serving Fenstanton,terminating at Bar Hill. West of Fenstanton, this option is widened to the north,which would impact on an Area of Best Landscape. It would require the demolitionof four houses in the vicinity of Fenstanton subway and a filling station on the southside of the existing A14 at Gallery Hill. However, it would not impact on anydesignated land located within Fenstanton. Further east, this route would notimpact any designated land located between Fenstanton and Bar Hill.
The local access road would run in close proximity to the conservation areaboundary located within the village of Fenstanton.
Blue/Purple Dashed Option
This option diverges from the orange route north east of Offord Cluny and runsthrough Offord Hill ridge. It would not impact on any land use designations or Areasof Best Landscape. However, it would conflict with development plan policiesaimed at protecting environmental resources.
Red Option
Bar Hill to M11Junction 14
This option connects the off-line Bar Hill junction with the M11 Junction 14. It wouldnot impact on any designated areas of land, but would run through the designatedCambridge Green Belt, located to the west of Cambridge.
The Local Access Road which runs in a westerly direction from the M11 Junction14 would serve Cambridge crematorium and the shopping centre at Bar Hill. Itwould traverse the designated Cambridge Green Belt.
M11 Junction 14
The M11 Junction 14 remains online and would not impact on any areas of zoneddevelopment land. This junction is located within the designated Cambridge GreenBelt.
M11 Junction 14 to Fen Ditton
This option would follow the alignment of the Cambridge Northern Bypass, runningto the north of the administrative area of Cambridge City Council. This optionprovides a fourth lane between Milton junction and Histon junction. There would bethree lanes through both junctions. This route would traverse the CambridgeGreenbelt but would not impact on zoned development land. On the eastern side ofthe Milton junction the option would run in close proximity to a County Wildlife Sitelocated to the south of Milton village.
This route requires land take to the north and south of the existing A14 toaccommodate two additional lanes. The expansion to the south of the existing A14would impact on a large area of land designated for mixed-use development,known locally as Arbury Camp.
North of the A14, it would run in close proximity to the southern boundary of Miltonsettlement and would extend into the southern boundary of Milton Country Park.
Further east, the route traverses a floodplain and the Fen River Way. At this point itwould conflict with policies aimed at protecting environmental resources.
Limited Junction Options
Neither the blue and orange routes would cause any additional adverse impacts tothose which have been highlighted above.
5.18.1 Summary
All options requiring off-line improvement between Ellington and Bar Hill wouldtraverse Areas of Best Landscape as designated in the Huntingdonshire LocalPlan. However, none of the options would impact on zoned development land.
The purple option would require the demolition of four houses in the vicinity ofFentanton subway and a filling station on the south side of the existing A14.Scheme widening to the north would impact on Areas of Best Landscape in thevicinity of Hemingford Grey.
The M11 Junction 14 comprises online improvement and is located within theCambridge Greenbelt Area. There would be no additional impacts to that which iscurrently experienced in this area.
Online improvement between M11 Junction 14 and Fen Ditton requires a third lanethroughout, with a fourth lane between junctions. This could impact on landdesignated for mixed use development at a site known locally as 'Arbury Camp'.This is located south of the A14 and is zoned as per the South CambridgeshireLocal Plan 2004. An additional Action Area Plan site is located west of the railwayline, a small section of which is located both north and south of the existing A14.The additional lanes would traverse this area, adversely impacting on its setting.
All options facilitate transport policies in the Stucture Plan, Huntingdonshire LocalPlan and South Cambridgeshire Local Plan which refer to improvements to theA14.
The difference between the options relates to detailed differences in environmentalimpacts. Greater adverse environmental impacts result in greater conflict withplanning policy objectives. If the scheme is built to a high standard, then, using thethree point scale to determine the overall assessment score, all options areassessed as beneficial in terms of impact on land use policy.
