It has not been demonstrated that the traffic impacts of the SDA can be satisfactorily mitigated. The access strategy is based on upgrading Keyham Lane West which falls entirely within the City of Leicester. Significant frontage development has taken place recently along this route which has also been traffic calmed and a 20mph speed limit has been imposed along part of the road. There are 2 schools along the road and sections are quite narrow. If Keyham Lane West cannot be widened and improved to fulfil the function of a primary access route serving the SDA, traffic will find alternative routes through residential areas in particular, the one way system through Scraptoft village.
Notwithstanding the ability of Keyham Lane West to cope with the traffic volumes from the SDA, experience tells us that significant levels of traffic from the site will wish to travel south to Oadby, the southern district distributor road and Fosse Park / M1. This traffic will take a route along Station Lane and A47 and then through Thurnby and Stoughton. The Station Road / A47 junction is already overloaded - recent traffic surveys show delays of 6 /7 minutes to get out of Station Road during the morning peak period. In my opinion this constitutes "severe" and even without the SDA the situation will deteriorate further given existing permissions and commitments for 600 houses in Thurnby and Scraptoft. The majority of the additional traffic from these developments will come through this junction. If the SDA goes ahead, by the time it comes on stream this junction will be seriously over capacity and the plan fails to address how the additional traffic will be accommodated.
Various traffic studies have sought to assess the impact of the proposals in the local plan. By their own admission these are high level and only provide a strategic overview. However the reports do contain several statements which support my concerns. First, the Jacobs report dated Nov 2016 at Table 5-1 refers to an increase in delay at A47/Station Road junction in Thurnby and some evidence of increased rat-running through Stoughton. It follows from this that traffic from the SDA will use, the Scraptoft Lane / Covert Lane / Station Lane junction and the Grange Lane / Main Street / Court Road junction in Thurnby. In the conclusions section the report makes reference to more noticeable impacts on the road network in Leicester but goes onto to say that the impact "Generally amounts to minor increases at already congested junctions." I would argue that it is not sustainable or sound to make an already existing situation worse by adding to some very long delays at junctions close to the SDA within the City. This simply gives rise to traffic finding unsuitable routes through residential areas and surrounding villages with medieval street patterns.
The Edwards and Edwards report goes further in highlighting the impact of significant development in this area. Para 4.3.2 refers to the poor connectivity of the eastern side of Leicester to the north, west and south. "The road network near a possible development is primarily single lane suburban roads which have a lower capacity." They also make the point that access to the strategic road network is not as good as to the south. "Developments to the south of Leicester are able to make use of higher quality orbital and radial routes to access opportunities to the west of the City and beyond. Outside of the City, the A6 to the south and outer ring road are predominantly two lanes and more able to cope with higher volumes of traffic. Finally at 4.3.1 the report states that "Many of the movements are occurring on residential or rural highways which may be of concern to the Highway Authority." I agree with this conclusion and do not consider the plan as proposed satisfactorily addresses these concerns.