Representation by Holme Valley Vision Network (Holme Valley Vision Network)
- Date submitted
- 8 September 2021
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
We object to the scheme for the following reasons: 1 The scheme would increase traffic on the wider network and specifically on the A6024 Holme Moss Road by 14% and on the A628T by 7% (ES Appendix 2.1 page 5). This would increase car dependency, and undermine modal shift to walking, cycling and public transport. This is contrary to national policy. The scheme could also undemine the efforts being made by Kirklees Council to reduce the congestion in the centre of Holmfirth and improve traffic flow. 2 Traffic issues in Longdendale are always seen in the context of movement along the A628T corridor between Manchester and Sheffield. The north-south movements are never taken into account. Access from Huddersfield, the Holme and Colne Valleys to Longdendale is particularly problematic due to the traffic on the A6024 Holme Moss road and its junction with the A628T. Traffic also uses the A635 as a way of accessing the M60. Heavy, and in some cases fast, traffic makes the A6024 and B6105 junctions with the A628T dangerous - both roads join the A628T at acute/oblique angles with limited visibility. HGVs also an adverse impact on the centre of Holmfirth and reduces the town centre attractiveness as well as affecting the quality of life of town centre residents. 3 Increases in traffic are caused in part by vehicles diverting off the M62 (Transport Assessment Report 7.2.13). Diversion of traffic off a motorway onto rural roads is unsustainable, leads to increased accidents and should not be allowed. What routes through West Yorkshire are the diverted vehicles using? Expecting them to divert to the M62 is unrealistic becasue of the additional time and cost taking this long journey would incur. Economics forces HGV onto the rural roads. 4 With increased traffic, as Highways England states, there would be more road accidents (102 extra collisions over 60 years) across the network. Transport Assessment Report Figure 7.8 Spatial Distribution of Safety Impacts shows the highest rate of increase in collisions occurs on the A628T but the A6024 to Holmfirth and the A616 to Huddersfield also have increases. Any increase in collisions is unacceptable. We should be aiming for zero road deaths. Kirklees MBC 2025 Transport Vision is for continuing road casualty reduction. Concern about the risks at the junctions at the Soverign, New Mill and the bottom of Dunford Road in Holmfirth have been expressed for many years but no solutions have yet been found. 5 Over 60 years of operation the scheme would add an extra 399,867 tonnes of carbon dioxide. Over a lifetime of 100 years, one tree absorbs around 1 tonne of carbon dioxide but we cannot wait for nearly 400,000 trees to grow for a hundred years. Carbon emissions must be tested against international and national legislation and guidance including the Paris Agreement, the 2008 Climate Change Act’s legally binding target of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, the UK Sixth Carbon Budget, science-based carbon budgets from the Tyndall Centre, and the National Planning Policy Framework which requires ‘radical reductions of greenhouse gas emissions’. 6 Although there is no road building in the Peak District National Park, the 7% increase in traffic on the A628 through Longdendale would impair amenity for people using trails or exploring open access land. Tranquillity is already eroded. Highways England uses the existing impacts to argue the area is already degraded and to dismiss the impact of increased traffic. Instead it should be seeking to conserve and enhance the National Park.