Letter: New Traffic Report Says Cathedral Development ‘Should Be Refused’

Published on: 18 Apr, 2022
Updated on: 18 Apr, 2022

From Esther Parry

on behalf of the Friends Of Stag Hill (FOSH)

FOSH (Friends of Stag Hill) have felt the need to ask Motion, a Guildford based company, to look closely at the highways and transports aspects of the cathedral’s planning application.

Plan of the proposed 124 dwelling development south and east of Guildford Cathedral.

Steve Giles, director of Motion and a Chartered Transport Planner, an Incorporated Civil Engineer and a fully qualified Road Safety Auditor, has brought his 35 years of experience in transport analysis, highway design, road safety engineering and auditing and traffic management to assess the application’s details.

Motion has highlighted significant issues which include the following:

Parking provision has been incorrectly assessed against town centre parking standards. When assessed against standards for out of town centre locations, the proposed Vivid Homes Development has a significant shortfall in car parking.

The Transport Assessment has misinterpreted the results of the parking survey on the streets local to the site and significantly overestimated appropriate parking opportunities on local streets.

The gradient of the access to the site from Ridgemount does not provide an appropriate access route to the site for all users.

The provision of vehicle access from Alresford Road and Ridgemount is inconsistent with the principles of the Guildford Sustainable Movement corridor.

Vehicle access to the proposed development would be more appropriate from the Cathedral Roundabout.

Motion goes on to conclude that the proposed development should be refused on highways and transport grounds.

As close neighbours to the cathedral, we are now questioning which other reports submitted as part of the planning application need to be looked at more closely by an expert.

The Dragon has asked the cathedral’s developer, VIVID, for their reaction to the report.