Representation by councillors against dualling (councillors against dualling)
- Date submitted
- 14 July 2024
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
We are five local councillors who are against the dualling of the A46. We all live in Newark. We are writing as an informal group of individuals. We see the proposed dualling scheme as being too costly, with serious problems caused by construction and ongoing negative impacts on Newark. It is also likely to increase traffic long-term (and associated pollution) rather than addressing public transport and planning around affordable housing near work and education, which would reduce demands on the road and the environment long term. We hold a number of concerns relating to the scheme which we would ask that the examiner carefully considers. We have detailed our concerns below and would ask the examination process seeks to ensure that all reasonable and relevant steps will be taken to address concerns. Southern Link Road. Road South of Newark linking A46 to A1 This road is under construction but no plan appears to be publicly available for the new roundabout to join the new road South of Newark to the A46. No public consultation appears to have been held by the National Highways Authority (NHA) on creating a new roundabout rather than joining the Southern link road to the existing roundabout. The impact of this construction and post construction on the A46 is not known. If it creates huge congestion on the approach and between the two roundabouts it may negate the need for the A46 dualling by impeding any time savings currently suggested if the A46 is widened past Newark. It is unclear what impact the new second roundabout South of Newark will have on traffic queues on the A46 in both directions. It is understood that the work on the dualling will not start until the new roundabout is complete so that the new road South of Newark can relieve some of the traffic congestion caused by the planned years of road works to complete the new scheme. It would seem to make sense to give the new road and new roundabout time to bed in for up to two years before starting the work on the road past Newark. 1) We request that the NHA waits until the new Southern Link Road roundabout on the A46 South of Newark has been operational for 2 years before deciding whether to go ahead with the dualling work past Newark. Acute Problem Not Chronic Problem Some of the day on some days of the year there is traffic congestion on the A46 Bypass next to Newark. This happens for obvious reasons: A) Road Traffic Accidents (RTA) B) rush hours C) holiday times when people travelling to the East Coast D) When large events are being held at the show ground. Apart from RTA most of these are predictable. When there are RTA on the current A1 (which is dualled past Newark) there are long queues on the A1 and traffic often diverts through the Town. Dualling of the A46 would not prevent delays and congestion caused by accidents and some of these would still occur. The rush hours would still have queues of traffic. Would people be happy if they had to queue for half the time they queue now? Would it be worth all the years of road works and the additional delays they will cause, for dualling to make no difference at all to people who travel outside rush hours (when there is rarely congestion) and only an insignificant difference to those who choose to travel during them? We make similar points for C and D. There will still be queues of traffic on the bypass at the busiest times. 2) We request that, as the traffic surveys are now out of date by years, they should be repeated before deciding whether or not to go ahead with the dualling of the A46 past Newark. We request that surveys are completed throughout 24/7 to evidence how many minutes per day conditions are congested and how many hours per day traffic flow is unhindered on the current system. Since the pandemic and the rise of the use of new technology, many more people are working from home so demands upon our roads are less. 3) What can be done to encourage road users to travel at times when the roads are less busy? To use times for travel both earlier or later than the current rush hours? Could NHA advertise using Apps like Google Maps or AA Route Planner to find out when roads are expected to be quieter? 4) We suggest NHA could look for alternative options to the dualling scheme which would have less impact on the town and the environment, and be more cost effective e.g. resurface the current bypass to make the road quieter for local residents in the Bridge ward; put traffic lights on current roundabouts, which could operate at times of day when there is congestion associated with rush hour etc. Traffic Congestion in the town and on surrounding roads Evidence from the NHA suggests that traffic issues in Newark and the surrounding areas would become permanently worse if the bypass was built. The entrances to and exits from the proposed bypass would increase, rather than alleviate, the issues for drivers trying to leave the town Newark already suffers with regular periods of significant traffic congestion through the town centre and beyond. Arterial roads linking to the A46 regularly see long queues of stationary traffic. There can be particular difficulty during the frequent closure of the level crossing on the Great North Road at Newark Castle Station. It is essential that if the dualling work goes ahead the construction phase in the area around the Cattle Market Roundabout does nothing to add to the congestion challenges already created by the level crossing. Lincoln Road in Newark on its approach to the Brownhills roundabout also suffers heavily with serious congestion caused by difficulty for cars heading out of Newark to get onto the roundabout due to traffic already on the A46 navigating the roundabout. Traffic control measures during any construction to regulate the flow of traffic and ensure a regular movement of traffic from Lincoln Road onto the A46 will be critical to avoid a complete standstill of traffic on Lincoln Road. As we have been told that the construction phase could last for up to 8 years and that the long term impact on traffic in Newark and on surrounding roads will be to make the traffic permanently worse we have grave concerns that this scheme, although widely supported in the town, is supported without understanding or awareness that it will not solve the problems most people face. If construction goes ahead we are concerned about permanently worse traffic in Newark and on local roads in the area. The scheme seems likely to make it permanently harder to get out of Newark and onto the A46 and A1. Our understanding of the research carried out by the NHA is that it evidences this. Impacts on the Town Newark Castle is an important historic building that is at least 1,000 years old. It is waiting for a big project funded by a variety of bodies and managed by the district council. It will be very sad for this to be overshadowed by the grade difference at Newark Cattle Market Roundabout and for people visiting to be constantly plagued by the noise of passing lorries, high up on the bridge above the Cattle market Roundabout. The widening of the A46 will incur the loss of the Lorry Park at Newark Cattle market. Currently there is insufficient money available to the district council to fund a land purchase for a new lorry park in the area. It is valuable to businesses in the town to have customers from the lorry park using their services in the evenings. 5) We ask that before work can begin on the widening of the A46 at the Cattle Market location the money to fund relocating the lorry park needs to be found. Is it possible that a location near the new Southern relief road could be found for the lorry park or would that be too likely to cause flooding? Local Economy There is a genuine fear that the any construction process will, despite mitigation efforts, result in many people being deterred from visiting Newark due to the potential difficulties navigating eight years of construction phase roadworks. Several years ago Severn Trent work on the sewage system in Newark had a big impact on businesses in Newark including the market. Alongside other strains on local businesses it is feared that if the bypass work goes ahead it could cause the permanent closure of many of the remaining independent businesses and shops. Newark is an economic centre that serves a wide rural hinterland of villages and settlements. Residents of those settlements may opt to use neighbouring towns and cities for the provision of goods and services if there are actual or perceived challenges travelling into Newark (as occurred during the work on the sewers a few years ago). This could have a devastating impact on the town’s many independent businesses. 6) During what is already an incredibly difficult fiscal environment for those businesses we hope that meaningful compensation schemes are available for businesses that suffer a clear loss as a consequence of the construction process. Compensation schemes should be fair, easy for businesses to access, and with payments made in a way that ensures that businesses are not forced to wait long periods for payments to be made. Cashflow challenges for businesses are such that any delays in payment could mean the business being unable to survive until receipt of payment. Biodiversity, Environment and Ecology Surely it is time to start putting the environment and the local population first? The loss of hedgerows, verges and some agricultural land would be unavoidable in delivering the scheme. We do not support this loss as the benefits of the scheme are marginal and the harms are apparent including in this area. 7) If NRT go ahead with the work we would wish to see that the scheme can demonstrate a clear biodiversity net gain by way of a range of on and off-site mitigation measures being employed within the Newark area. It would be essential that works to remove and destroy existing habitat is done in such a way that existing wildlife is professionally relocated with assistance where necessary or given chance to do so by itself. There is a large colony of birds that lives on the A46 roundabout North of the Show Ground that links the A1133 and Drove lane with the A46 that will be demolished if the works go ahead. New trees planted should be locally sourced native species that require little support to become established. Flooding Locally the harms of climate change are all too apparent, with the worst flooding happening far too often. Newark has seen significant and unprecedented flooding events in the last 12 months. The route of the A46 is in the very heart of areas that have been devastatingly impacted by flooding. We are concerned that the planned road works near the Cattle Market Roundabout will make matters worse for the homes in Old Kelham Road and other areas near Newark Castle Station. 8) We ask that, if construction goes ahead, consideration is given to making use of the construction phase to incorporate additional or enhanced flooding mitigation infrastructure in the construction area. We are not experts in highway construction, hydrology or flood mitigation, however if the scheme can be considered not only for highway purposes but how its design and integration into the landscape can help with flood mitigation it would seem sensible to take the opportunity to incorporate appropriate flood mitigation works during the construction phase to avoid further disruption at a later date. Costs The cost of the scheme is prohibitive for a scheme which will not benefit local people, in fact it will disadvantage them. Nationally, regionally and locally there are a number of alternative options for the likely £1 billion or more the scheme will cost by the time it is built. We have been told that NSDC staff and politicians and members of the Towns Fund Board are aware of other projects that need money and investment in the area which would have clearer and greater benefits for the town. For instance £1 billion is needed to create a safe and efficient bridge crossing for the two train lines that pass through Newark (the East Coast Mainline through Newark Northgate and the East Midlands Nottingham to Lincoln Line through Newark Castle). This would be a much better use of the money in terms of improving national transport infrastructure because currently many delays and cancellations of trains are caused by the issues with the current crossing of the train tracks. For another example The Canals and Rivers Trust which has lost a lot of funding under the last government has a project to create a new dry dock and leisure area by the river. The river could be a good way for many goods to travel from the Humber estuary along the Trent and Severn rivers. The last government cancelled the HS2 new train line after many years of work, property and land purchases, and cutting down ancient trees, so how can the British people afford such an expensive road widening scheme without clear benefits and with clear harms at this time when so much of Britain’s infrastructure is broken and in desperate need of renewal? The pot holes in our town and district and county are terrible. Notts County Council is responsible for filling the pot holes and has a contract which is awful. The contractors throw a heap of stuff in a hole and disappear. They do not take time to properly squash the filler or make sure it adheres to the hole and they rarely properly fill around the hole and seal the edges. The holes in Newark which have been well filled have been filled by Severn Trent after the sewage works. If the government intends to carry out its pledge to fill a million pot holes a year then these need to be well filled and sealed which will cost more and money will be needed for this and other scheme to improve the driving experience in the UK including Notts. Investment could be made in more and better public transport. We would benefit from more buses and trains. There is no Sunday bus service in Newark for instance so when there are events in the centre of town on a Sunday many local people are unable to attend. Investment could be made in more routes and support for cyclists. Cyclists Country lanes are very narrow and many motorists drive on them very fast because the national speed limit applies. It cannot be right for such a modern scheme to be executed without properly considering the needs of cyclists attempting to carry out local and long distance journeys safely. 9) Cycle maps with safe cycle routes need to be made available on line and on paper to encourage safe use of this form of transport in a flat rural area where it should be pleasant to cycle.It is very dangerous for cyclists to use most roads in the Newark area. It is almost impossible to get to Mansfield or Ollerton safely by bicycle from Newark. There is no safe way to cycle to Lincoln along the current A46 because at various key points the cycle path disappears, this is worst around the current double roundabout near the A17 and A46. There are paths and bridges to get from Newark to the large businesses near the roundabouts but then there’s no easy way to get to Winthorpe, Lincoln or Coddington from that roundabout. The cycle route that goes under the bypass is not clearly sign posted at that point. Pedestrians Clear thinking about how to prioritise pedestrians and walkers needs to be made at all junctions. The current long distance Newark to Mansfield footpath route which goes out along the old Kelham Road and across the current bypass would be lost if the dualling scheme went ahead as there is no proposal to retain this. Pedestrians would have to walk along the B6326 Great North Road and A617 to join it at the Rugby ground. This and other routes would benefit from clear sign posts and publicity online and on paper. Local Suppliers We do not want this scheme to go ahead but any schemes that do go ahead e.g. resurfacing should, to the fullest extent possible, ensure that the project employs the services of local businesses within the project supply chain and provides local employment opportunities within the project workforce. Noise and Light Pollution There are many residential properties that are located close to the A46. Whilst we appreciate that noise and light pollution especially during overnight construction work is unavoidable, we wish to be assured that every reasonable measure is being taken to minimise the negative impact on nearby properties. The scale of the project is such that construction will continue for at least three years and therefore it is essential that residents are not forced to unreasonably suffer over such long periods. Dust and Air Pollution The construction process will likely generate significant amounts of construction dust and debris. It is essential that all reasonable steps are taken to mitigate the impact of this on the nearby community.