Content

(i)         Details
of petition
 
“We the undersigned petition Surrey
County Council to Redesign the Ottershaw Roundabout to provide a
solution to the current flawed design. AND to have a full and
meaningful public engagement on a revised design presented in a new
planning application.
 
Justification:
 
Surrey County Council (SCC) approved the
planning application for the roundabout in July 2022. This had many
serious flaws pertaining to veteran trees and hedgerows amongst
other issues which made it a very bad solution for our village. In
October 2022 the Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO) amendments and
Side Road Orders (SRO) were published which materially affect the
approved scheme to a significant degree.
 
The scheme has been affected to such a degree
since approval was granted, it now needs further re-engagement with
the public for consultation and a new planning application
submitted.
 
The so-called public engagement through SCC
Commonplace is not fit for purpose and is trying to elicit public
opinion on landscaping details before a design is established .
Most people are unaware of the process and the options are just
‘tick boxes’ which DO NOT constitute meaningful
engagement with the community. We believe this to be a deliberate
and cynical attempt by SCC to bypass the democratic process by
using a technical loophole to achieve the least line of resistance
to their plans.
 
Despite strenuous efforts by the Ottershaw
residents groups, SCC have not fully engaged with the community,
and in fact have repeatedly ignored our pleas for information. They
have also chosen to ignore alternative suggestions of design which
would work best for the community and residents. We believe SCC has
no intention of listening to the community or changing the scheme
as it currently stands.
 
The issues which need to be urgently addressed
through redesign and re-approval include.
 
Veteran Trees and hedgerows will be lost
 
Local traffic congestion will not be
resolved
 
Cycling and pedestrian routes drastically
reduced
 
No A320 crossing north of the roundabout
 
Drainage ponds close to the village centre to
become stagnant muddy eyesores.”
 
Submitted by: Gemma Pickett
Signatures: 387
 

Cabinet Member Response:
 
This
petition sets out concerns predominantly regarding the design of
the scheme and a lack of engagement, but also raises a number of
individual issues to be addressed.

Design
For the
reasons set out below, the County Council do not consider that the
design for the Ottershaw Roundabout element of the A320 scheme is
flawed; and as such will be preparing to construct the scheme, as
approved through the planning process, in accordance with the
Decision Notice issued on 27 January 2023.

i] The scheme as presented and awarded planning was
fully developed through Feasibility and Preliminary design stages,
with numerous options and iterations being sequentially created,
reviewed and tested in order to arrive at the current, final
Detailed [Works] design now being prepared for
construction.

[ii] As with elsewhere within the A320 scheme, the
Ottershaw proposals meet the principal purpose of the HIF scheme
i.e., to improve the capacity of the Highway network in order to
cater for the anticipated increases in traffic resultant from the
2030 RBC local plan Housing developments. The proposed Ottershaw
junction design meets the future peak time [worst] case traffic
capacity needs in line with requirements of the 2030 Local Plan
development. The junction has been tested in Paramics and LinSig.
bringing substantial peak flow improvements to circulatory traffic
capacity, approach stacking and movements through the junction.
With regard to the main circulatory, numerous preceding development
iterations led to a reduction in circulatory size bringing the
Ottershaw scheme footprint to a minimum whilst also moving the
roundabout northwards as far as practicable away from local
housing, yet still delivering necessary capacity. This enabled
Surrey to create the much-required northbound entry stacking space
south of the new roundabout, not possible until now given the
narrowness and constricting nature of the A320 Guildford Road /
A319 Chobham Roads at this point.

[iii] The solution as presented and awarded planning
is a compliant, effective design, engineered with safety in mind
including: -
                       
 - a 30mph proposed speed
limit

    
                    
 - additional, wider, pedestrian
footways

    
                    
 - additional crossing points for
pedestrians

   
                     
  - local widening and improvements
to the existing [national] cycle route

     
                   
- improvements for Buses and users of public transport

    
                    
 - an enlarged public village car park
with electrical charging points

   
                     
 -  improved,
safer emergency exit facilities at the Ambulance Station

    
                    
 - a design compliant with relevant UK
Highway Design standards
The alternative design
suggestions were dealt with as part of the planning application
process and reasons were given to the County Planning Officer as to
why they weren’t suitable. The proposed scheme has not been
affected in any way since the award of planning; Surrey County
Council are thus correctly preparing to construct the accepted
scheme.
It should
be noted that the Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO) process and
planning are two distinctly separate processes and are not linked.
CPO has no effect on the planning outcome and vice-versa. Further,
the CPO for this scheme does not in any way change the planned
highway alignment for the scheme as presented to planning;
moreover, it is there to effect its future construction by making
necessary land available.
 

Engagement
The
County Council has engaged with residents throughout the scheme
design and planning process. This has included, but is not limited
to:
-      
a survey seeking information on road use in early
2021;
-      
a subsequent survey in 2021 on indicative designs
for the scheme advertised through newspapers, leaflet drops and our
website;
-      
a dedicated website where views and feedback are
actively encouraged to be provided to the project
team;
-      
and a specific campaign on the Ottershaw
roundabout to inform interested stakeholders about the planning
application process and how to have their say.
Consultation and publicity in respect of applications for
planning permission is undertaken in accordance with the County
Council’s Statement of Community Involvement

Statement of
Community Involvement 2019
(surreycc.gov.uk).
330 residential addresses were notified of the planning application
for the Ottershaw roundabout, and a number of representations were
made by community groups which would illustrate that the planning
application consultation was sufficiently wide and
robust.
The current consultation invites residents to share their views
and opinions on the shaping of the proposed landscaping scheme. The
provision of a Landscaping Scheme is a planning condition but it
does not require the Council to consult on the scheme, this was the
Council’s own decision as we are
keen to engage with the public and invite their views and gain
opinion as to how they would wish to see the village from a
landscaping perspective once the highway works are
complete.
We have
extended the engagement period and are also dropping a letter to
all residents with a link to the website to invite their
participation. Commonplace is an important platform that allows
residents to share their views. This allows us to more easily to
view and correlate a large number of responses. The intention is to
use this feedback to help shape a Landscaping plan that will be
presented back to residents in a virtual meeting later this year.
The virtual meetings will provide an opportunity for residents to
ask any final questions about the landscaping proposals, prior to
submitting it to the County Planning Authority.
 
In
response to the individual issues outlined:
 
 
 
Veteran Trees and hedgerows will be
lost.
Response:
Throughout the design process, a key objective has been to minimise
impact on the trees and the current design has similarly sought to
achieve this.
-      
The scheme provides additional compensatory
planting at strategic locations to retain the local
character.
-      
The trees were assessed under BS5837:2012
framework and no veteran trees were identified.
-      
The loss of hedges and their replacement are
clearly discussed within paragraphs 6.2.19 to 6.2.24 in the EcIA.
In addition to hedgerow replacement, woodland planting is specified
with the aim of replacing lost habitat and maintaining connectivity
as far as possible.
-      
The current landscape design includes significant
new tree and hedgerow planting. The new hedgerow and woodland
planting will be planted as small stock however it is proposed that
the individual trees are planted as extra heavy standards which
would have an immediate impact. As part of the scheme the Council
are proposing extensive (160m) new linear hedgerow
planting.
 
Local traffic congestion will not be
resolved.
Response:
The proposed Ottershaw junction design meets the future peak
time [worst] case traffic capacity needs in line with requirements
of the 2030 Local Plan development. The junction has been tested in
Paramics and LinSig. bringing substantial peak flow improvements to
circulatory traffic capacity, approach stacking and movements
through the junction. With regard to the main circulatory, numerous
preceding development iterations led to a reduction in circulatory
size bringing the Ottershaw scheme footprint to a minimum whilst
also moving it northwards as far as practicable away from local
housing, yet still delivering necessary capacity. This enabled
Surrey to create the much-required northbound entry stacking space
south of the new roundabout, not possible until now given the
narrowness and constricting nature of the A320 Guildford Road /
A319 Chobham Roads at this point.
Cycling and pedestrian routes drastically
reduced.

Response:  Cycling and pedestrian routes will be
improved by the implementation of the scheme. A proposed Toucan
crossing immediately south of the proposed roundabout will help
provide a safe connection across Guildford Road. A further toucan
crossing has been proposed across A319 Chobham Road which provides
a safe connection from Fox Hills Road / Chobham Road towards the
Village Hall and the parade of shops (for non-motorised users
moving in an east-west direction). Based on accident records, there
have been various conflicts between vehicular traffic and
pedestrians and cyclists at the current junction. Through the
provision of a series of controlled crossing points at suitable
locations, a safe means of access will instead be provided
east-west across the route for all pedestrians. In addition to the
above the scheme is looking to provide a shared 4m footway/cycleway
from the northeast corner of Trident cars northwards through the
Junction, which is an improvement on the existing facilities
incorporating the national cycle route.
No A320 crossing north of the
roundabout.

Response:  There is no
pedestrian/cycle crossing proposed North of the roundabout as it is
not expected that there would be a significant pedestrian/cyclist
demand at this location. The current proposed crossing location to
the north of the existing roundabout encourages unsafe movements
across the carriageway increasing risk of conflict points with
vehicles. It is not possible to introduce a signal-controlled
crossing to the north of the roundabout as it will cause a negative
effect and exacerbate future peak congestion and therefore signal
controlled crossings have been provided south of the junction to
allow east/west movements.
Drainage ponds close to the village centre to
become stagnant muddy eyesores.
Response: Sustainable Drainage
Systems (SuDS) provide multiple benefits including environmental
and biodiversity and water quality improvements while managing
surface water flows and reducing the risk of flooding. They aid
highway drainage flows, encourage early infiltration /attenuation
and filtration back into the immediate local soil. By drawing storm
water immediately from the highway, they help prevent highway
flooding and associated hazards, improve water quality, and help
enhance the local environment by reducing flow rates, increasing
water storage capacity and reduce the transport of pollution to the
water environment. As a highways asset they will be maintained
appropriately.