A65 Kirkstall Road Traffic Assessments

One item that will have to be considered for any planning application is the effects of traffic generated by any development and the capacity of the road network to accomodate that traffic.

In the last couple of years the Council have conducted at least two studies of traffic flows on the A65: the A65 Transport Assessment May 2005 and A65 A660 Traffic Flows Feb 2007.

The 2005 study
This comes to some pretty daming conclusions about the ability of the A65 to take more traffic, the additional demand on the road in this study DOES NOT include: The Kirkstall Forge Development; the BHS/Alders development; the Kirkstall District Centre or the Waste Transfer Site (the previous site had burnt down before the study):

5.0 Conclusion

• the A65 is at capacity, 1950 vehicles per hour at the cordon, 1000 elsewhere 

• there is evidence of peak spreading with more trips travelling outside the peak periods 

• public transport opportunities have been studied and are considered unlikely to result in a significant mode shift to either buses or trains. Potentially 590 trips have been identified 

• future growth at the Airport has been assessed and will worsen conditions on the A65 and surrounding network. An additional 1260 car trips per day have been identified. 

• developer generated trips have been assessed and these will worsen conditions on the A65 and surrounding network. 3310 additional 2 way peak hour trips have been identified from developments with traffic generations available 

• few opportunities to improve highway capacity have been identified. The possible improvements to the Outer Ring Road were not available to this study. There are plans for a quality bus corridor. One junction at Menston has been identified as providing additional capacity. 

• the A65 does not have the capacity to carry all the identified additional trips in the peak periods

 The 2007 study 
This shows week day 'peak spreading' with the hours between 07:00 to 10:00 and 16:00 to 19:00 now almost reaching the capacity of the road.  The weekend figures show significantly fewer traffic movements , however anyone that lives near or uses the A65 Kirkstall Road at a weekend knows that it is often at the point of gridlock, so not alot will move!


So where does this leave the Waste Transfer Site?
Any developer would have to demonstrate how their plans comply with Planning Policy Statement 10: Planning for Sustainable Waste Management (PPS10), including:

21. In deciding which sites and areas to identify for waste management facilities, waste planning authorities should:
    (i) assess their suitability for development against each of the following criteria:

• the extent to which they support the policies in this PPS; 

• the physical and environmental constraints on development, including existing and proposed neighbouring land uses (see Annex E); 

• the cumulative effect of previous waste disposal facilities on the well-being of the local community, including any significant adverse impacts on environmental quality, social cohesion and inclusion or economic potential; 

• the capacity of existing and potential transport infrastructure to support the sustainable movement of waste, and products arising from resource recovery, seeking when practicable and beneficial to use modes other than road transport.
  

We feel the last two are going to be a pretty tall order.

Kids' Waste Plant Fears

On Friday 27th November pupils at Kirkstall Valley Primary School held a demonstration against the proposed Waste Transfer Site at Evanston Avenue and made the front page of Saturdays YEP - Well Done!

The councils comments in the article are the predictable dismissal that the concerns are unfounded with Councillor Monaghan referring to his beloved reference site near Shrewsbury located well away from houses and schools. The people of Battlefield, Shrewsbury aren't so happy with what the council is doing there, see SafeWasteShrewsbury.

Read the full YEP story here.

Every picture is worth a 1000 words

The Leeds City Council "Education" pack includes the photograph shown below of a modern Waste Transfer Station at Battlefield, Shropshire.

Battlefield WTS, Shorpshire

 52°44'35.28"N,   2°43'41.25"W

The site of this Waste Transfer Station appears to have been carefully chosen:

• Located at the edge of an industrial park
• Close to Battlefield bypass, no traffic movements needed through residential areas
• Number of residential properties within 400 - Zero
• Number of Primary Schools within 400 meters - Zero
• Approximate population within 400 meters - Zero
• Nearest River - 1.8 km (although there is a beck running past the site)
  
• Nearest Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) - 1.7 km
  

Leeds City Councils 'preferred' site at Evanston Avenue:

• Located between food and leisure facilities and Kirkstall Valley Park
  
• Only access via one of the most congested roads in Leeds
• Nearest residential property - 44 meters
• Number of residential properties within 400 meters ~ 1,000
  
• Number of Primary Schools Schools with 400 meters - 2
• Approximate population within 400 meters ~ 2,000
• Nearest River - 40 meters
  
• Nearest Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) - 300 meters (if the site were within 200 meters of an SSSI it would not be straight forward to obtain an Environmental Permit for <25,000 tonnes per year, let alone >75,000 tonnes)
  

Unearthed: The 2004 plan to close Evanston Avenue as a Waste Transfer Station

An email has been unearthed from a Senior Council Officer in February 2004 to local Elected Member(s) outlining the plans to relocate the Waste Transfer / Transfer Loading Station (TLS) from Evanston Avenue to a newly identified site.

The text of the email, shown below, implies the plans were near completion with the new site and funding for the project  identified, including the redevelopment of the Evanston Avenue site as a smaller Household Waste Sort Site (HWSS).

So what happened to these plans? We are awaiting a response from Leeds City Council. 

The present position is developing in line with our previous discussions:

The Site at Evanston Avenue continues to be used as a Household Waste Site and a Waste Transfer Station for the citywide green Sort bin material ( Dry Recyclables only). We need to continue to use it for these purposes until alternatives / replacements are available.

With regard to the Sort Waste Transfer Station we will be developing the replacement TLS at the rear of 155 Kirkstall Rd. Funding via prudential borrowing has now been identified for this scheme as part of the MRF and SGP development. We are currently going through the tendering process to appoint the MRF/SGP partners. Once in place (March/April 2004) we can start to draw up the development plans for that site with a view to removing the activity from Evanston Avenue.

The Evanston Avenue site will be reshaped to offer a brand new Household Waste Sort Site and then remainder of the site released surplus to requirements. Colleagues in Development Department ( Asset Management ) will be involved in dealing with the site disposal arrangements. I expect to be submitting the development plans for the new HWSS early in the summer. Funding for the scheme has now been identified in the 2004/05 capital programme.