Response from Mr and Mrs Hodgins (Individual)
1. Mr and Mrs Hodgins (Individual) : 13 Apr 2011 14:23:00
Settlement
Kendal
Map Number
1 (4 of 6) Kendal South West
Site reference number (e.g. R62) - If your comment is about a specific site you must indicate the correct site reference.
E33, E34, E35, R129M
Housing
Oppose
Employment
Oppose
Retail
Oppose
Community uses
No view
Please explain your reasons
These sites are most unsuitable for development, unless the developer is prepared to invest in, and the planning committee to allow, considerable widening and upgrading of the road from the sites down into town (Greenside, Beast Banks and Allhallows Lane). You will remember that some years ago, CCC embarked on an ill-thought out scheme to provide park and ride facilities in much the same area. There were considerable reservations at the time both from the council and the residents. The reservations were about traffic coming off the by-pass (part of the plan) and then coming down into town instead of using the car park. It was recognised that the road could just not sustain the increased traffic load. Undertakings were given that the scheme would be devised in such a way that it would be impossible to come off the by-pass and then into town. Of course the scheme was abortive because CCC had omitted to find out if the owners of the land was prepared to sell it (they were not).
New housing and more employment opportunities on the sites I have mentioned will inevitably lead to a large increase in traffic coming down into town. The traffic situation in Kendal is fragile enough at the moment. More traffic trying to get past the traffic lights outside the Town Hall, particularly in the morning, will cause serious problems to the whole of town. You have only to remember the effect recently of roadworks on Sandylands. They caused problems all over town. But they were only temporary.
Presumably, the planning committee could not specify that vehicles coming from houses built on R129M could not use the road into town.
Although the site (R129M) is only about a kilometer from the town centre, because of the steepness of the hill on Beast Banks, most shoppers would choose not to walk in. They would use their cars in large numbers. I am sure someone cleverer than me could work out the environmental cost. I can just suggest that it would be great. It could only be reduced by abolishing the hill.
Tim Hodgins
