More Cars, Even More Congestion

Bushfield is located at the southern edge of Winchester, in between Badger Farm Road to the south-west and St Cross Road to the east. Vehicle access will be from Badger Farm Road, just north-west of the St Cross roundabout. The developers estimate that the site will create about 4,500 car journeys per day. Considering that this is an estimate by the developers, the actual number might well be higher, especially considering the poor provision for alternative forms of transport.  This will significantly increase the pressure on an area that is already heavily congested. School buses and ambulances arrive via the roundabout, going up Badger Farm Road from the M3 and surrounding villages, such as Compton, Shawford, Otterbourne and Twyford.

• Includes provision of 1,055 car parking spaces
• Estimates about 4,500 vehicle trips per day 
• Aims to increase employment by over 3,000 employees, relying on additional workers coming from outside Winchester
• Includes plans for a “…minimum of 3kW chargers for at least a quarter of total car parking spaces, with an aspiration to provide 100% EV charging capacity in the future.” Parking for 8 hours on site would only charge the average EV by less than half of its battery capacity. By 2030 each parking space should have EV charging facility (not just 25%).

• The estimated additional 4500 car journeys per day do not appear to be  consistent  with the 1050 parking spaces, indicating that the final number of car parking spaces will be much higher.
• If the site generates 3000 new employees, the car parking capacity would mean that only one out of three employees will arrive by car. It is unclear how the others will arrive, considering the limited available alternatives.

• National Policy Planning Framework September 2023 Para 104: Transport issues should be considered from the earliest stages of plan-making and development proposals, so that …(d) the environmental impacts of traffic and transport infrastructure can be identified, assessed, and taken into account – including appropriate opportunities for avoiding and mitigating any adverse effects, and for net environmental gains.
• Hampshire County Council’s commitment in their Local Transport Plan 4 (LTP4): “Vision A: Reduce transport-related carbon emissions to net zero (neutrality) by 2050 - Very significant changes in travel behaviour are required. A 10% reduction (approx.) in car use (vehicle-kilometres) in Hampshire is required between 2019 and 2030 if we are to remain on-track to deliver our climate change targets.”  You an 
• Winchester City Council’s commitment in their Carbon Neutrality Action Plan (CNAP) to achieve net zero emissions by 2030. 

• Compared with 2022, the modelling suggests traffic volumes will increase by between 17% to 37% on roads around the development by 2039 (especially a significant increase in the numbers of vehicles using the B3335 through Twyford and the Otterbourne Road coming from Compton and Shawford is expected).
• School buses going to Kings’ School and Peter Symonds College will be significantly delayed due to the additional traffic.
• The developers propose a travel plan in order to reduce the number of car trips. It is so vague and unambitious, however, that it is unlikely to have any effect.
• The application includes hardly any cycle paths outside the developer’s site. Emphasis must be to provide safe cycling paths to and from the site and not within the site. For example, there is no safe cycle or walking path along Badger Farm Road to connect the site with the Sainsbury’s at Badger Farm. Cycling along Badger Farm Road is already dangerous and with the increase in traffic, it will only get worse. 
• Although there are proposals for a private shuttle bus, it fails to provide details on how this is linked to other bus routes, what frequency there is planned throughout day and night and how it links to the P&R parking, supermarkets, train stations in Winchester and Shawford, schools etc. 
• The design of the bus stops is poor with little or no shelter. Routes to current bus stops are difficult to reach via long and unpleasant routes, i.e. requiring crossing a busy roundabout to reach Otterbourne Road for the Blue Star bus.