Project Description

CLIENT
Hinton Properties

SECTORS
Retail
Employment
Nursery

LOCATION
Cheltenham

PLANNING AUTHORITY
Cheltenham Borough Council

HIGHWAY AUTHORITY
Gloucestershire County Council

PROJECT TEAM
Ridge and Partners
DDP Architects

PROJECT MANAGER
Andrew Snowden

PROJECT DIRECTOR
James Darrall

PROJECT
We were instructed by Hinton Properties to provide transport planning services in support of a hybrid planning application for a mixed use development comprising an Aldi foodstore, Costa Coffee drive-thru, Happy Days day nursery, and 128,000sqft of B1 office space.

APPROACH

We prepared a Transport assessment and Framework Travel Plan to support the planning application. There were a number of previously consented developments at the site, and as such it was necessary to undertake a detailed analysis of the trip attraction potential of the proposals in comparison to those, in order to determine the true impact of the proposals. This also included an assessment of linked and pass-by trips associated with the proposed foodstore, to avoid double-counting of trips already on the highway network.

The Transport Assessment also included an assessment of the impact during the Saturday peak period at the nearby Arle Court Roundabout. The Arle Court Roundabout is a large signalised roundabout that lies on the A40 and allows access towards the M5. We prepared a LINSIG assessment of the roundabout and demonstrated that even with the addition of the proposed development, the roundabout would still be forecast to operate well within capacity.

OUTCOME

Following extensive discussions with the highway authority, Gloucestershire County Council, it was confirmed that there were no objections to the scheme on highways and transportation grounds.

The development proposals were approved at Appeal in December 2019.