Copy of formal reply sent 3rd December to Yarmouth council and all councillors
Dear Planning department please see the parish Council’s comments on the aforementioned planning application as consultee
Planning application Caister South/Ormesby St Margaret
Application No 06/19/06766/0
Outline Planning Application Nova Scotia Farm Land at Jack Chase Way (West of) West Caister
Having thoroughly read and considered the full proposals the council wishes to make the following observation with regards to application Design and Access Statement and Section 15 Jack Chase Way.
Jack Chase Way is shown on all maps as the “Caister by Pass”
Prior to the construction of the bypass in the 1990’s during the spring/summer months (April to September) the main road into Caister was a permanent traffic jam, traffic would que through the length of Caister village out to the Old Coast Road and as far back as Thoroughfare Lane Scratby.
Journey time to Yarmouth were usually in excess of one hour and often more. This was not an occasional occurrence it was a daily occurrence.
The building of the bypass relieved Caister and the surrounding parishes of the misery of trying to drive into Great Yarmouth. Since that time there has been considerable development within Caister at Tessera Park and Pointers East in Scratby and more importantly developments in Hemsby that increase traffic flow.
The design and access statement discusses the proposed new junction at Princes of Wales Road and the new roundabout at length but careful examination of drawing no E19824-TLP_PA02 Rev A and the document no 15 (Jack Chase Way) clearly indicate that including the current two roundabouts, one junction and one crossing on Jack Chase way giving a total of 4 that this proposal will increase to 10 junctions /crossings and roundabouts on the bypass, also a reduction in the speed limit to 40mph will further slow traffic.
Local people will not wish to queue on Jack Chase Way will find routes via Ormesby St Margaret (or use the old Yarmouth Road taking high volumes of traffic into Caister village.)
We also believe that this proposal might seriously damage our holiday industry. Visitors to the northern parishes will have to queue for a considerable time to get into Great Yarmouth.
The issue is further complicated in that at the Tessera Park roundabout traffic heading towards Great Yarmouth has to give way to considerable numbers of vehicles coming from the A149 and the Norwich Road.
We believe as councillors and residents of this parish that this development will cause significant traffic issues within Ormesby in particular with Yarmouth Road. Station Road and Hemsby road becoming rat runs for vehicles wishing to proceed either to Norwich via Acle or North to the Broadland Way (NDR)
Local people knowing the situation will not wait and queue the length of Jack Chase Way
The document states that the design statement was prepared following a traffic survey may we enquire as to when the survey was undertaken? What were the outcomes in traffic flows and were any of the historical issues with traffic delays taken into consideration?
Have the developers considered any form of traffic calming measures on the roads mentioned above?
We also note that in the event that the school and or doctor’s surgery is not built that the developers reserve the right to build further properties on the site, this will add additional traffic.
In summary the council considers that this development has the potential to seriously affect the majority of the northern parishes (in particular Caister and Ormesby) in a negative way. Jack Chase Way will no longer act as a bypass for Caister and request that there should be consultations with this parish council who represent the local parishioner before this application is approved. We would further state that we consider the effect on the environment with the removal of hedgerows along Jack Chase way should not be understated the loss of wildlife habitat cannot be underestimated we have seen nothing which proposes to deal with this loss effectively or minimise its effect.