****INFORMATION NOTICE****

THERE ARE PLANS TO DEVELOP DAWS HILL BASE + ABBEY BARN NORTH & SOUTH SITES

W.D.C. DID NOT TELL US !!!!

See what you think the impact on Flackwell Heath and nearby villages will be

www.wycombe.gov.uk –Select - Planning and Building then below Select Planning event. Scroll down centre of page for the list 20th Oct-Daws Hill Presentation Questions. Click to open as PDF files. Link to WDC web site outlining plan

make your comments known to your parish or district councillors and the w.d.c planning office

** Note **
at present unless representations are listened or more complain made, there are no immediate plans for any more meetings !!

ask for some  - (yes--nobody told us either!!)

Brief but specific comments on the proposals- input now for consideration –

Planned development includes the following (Daws Hill Base & Abbey Barn sites only):-

1. There is proposed up to 1500 houses = 2000 cars = up to 10000 trips per day if each house has a school run co-efficient inserted.

2. PLUS 3500 people in offices =minimum of 7000 car trips per day. More if visitors and deliveries plus staff trips.

Note:. To illustrate the size of an open space area as equal to 16 football pitches,I hope does not indicate a future thought for use. If so and they were all, in use at the same time = 400 PEOPLE minimum =400 car journeys –more with spectators. A large addition probably in the evenings or at weekends as well.

THE TRAFFIC FIGURES :- increases quoted –up to 58% Abbey Barn Lane , 38% +/- Winchbottom Lane and Sheepridge lane and somehow reduced to 14% for Treadaway,

It will be  much worse as does any body think that access to an of the new sites will be along the M40/London Road and Abbey Barn Road / Of course not  - it will be via Woburn Green   and Loudwater up into Flackwell Heath and along Heath End Road !!

ACCESS/EGRESS

Given the current appalling fitness of these roads for traffic it would need a lot more than the indicated improvements (minor manipulations) to move even a small percentage  of  any increase in traffic. The specific junction improvements are limited and if traffic lights are involved the Flackwell Heath will be a log jam! This will significantly reduce the quality of village life for Flackwell and to a lesser degree Loudwater. The scope for improved road access is very limited.

The proposed additional access/egress off Daws Hill to the NEW Sports Centre area does not look very promising but in the wings are the other parts of the rubic cube-(yes it is worse than a jig saw) - the shuffle games going on around The Cressex and Leisure Centre areas.

Cressex/Leisure Centre

For Cressex  - it was pointed out the limitations on traffic increase amid the requirement for prestige offices –lucky local residents. But for the redevelopment of the Leisure Centre Area –does a coach station out of town really seem common sense (and a bus station and park and ride?) Top draw business facility and an rebuilt and positioned Leisure Centre –the traffic flow and parking facilities required would be hard pushed to fit in on this site (At present the Park and Ride and Leisure Centre have a total of around 8oo car parking spaces!) .An misguided and far from crowning glory, is the proposal to put a giant windmill right on the edge of an AONB as well!

How fortunate that Daws Hill keeps its trees and has virtually no traffic increase.!!!

Environmental Items
.
The large effort made on pushing the green benefits of cycle routes/footpaths and nature area – this is basically a very hilly area an the take up will be minimal and cannot be used to piggy back controversial plans through. One suspects these will bring in government money!

MORE WIDESPREAD CONSULTATION FOR FLACKWELL HEATH & LOUDWATER RESIDENTS. PLEASE.

GENERAL COMMENT

The timing seems selectively unfortunate, if the objective was to get the maximum significant comment, as the request for comment falls during the run up to the Christmas period ! This is known to be the time when people collect an intensive workload -be it school plays, shopping or at the place of employment and therefore have little time or opportunity to assess the scheme let alone reply in detail. In addition even before a visit to the presentation it would have been handy to refer to a copy of the presentation or proposals in the Flackwell Heath Library! Perhaps something on a CD Rom would have been cheaper, perhaps, even to copy thereafter.  Still very useful to provide this facility.

DEVELOPMENT OF PRESENT TRAFFIC PROBLEMS

Traffic started to use Flackwell Heath as a Rat run when the A40 was detrunked some years ago and the associated increased allowing of parking on the road slowed traffic and heavily reduced the flow on the main route from the East/North East  and the South South East , particularly but not only westbound  towards High Wycombe .

Problems were further exacerbated with

 i) The development of the Kingsmead Business Park (adjacent to which was Biffa skip and refuse collection lorry base). This required a set of traffic lights to improve access to  and from the A40 but which seem mainly set to further slow traffic on the main artery into the town ,particularly as it is within 100 metres of  a Panda crossing on the A40 !

ii) The allowing of a Tesco supermarket on the entry to the M40 Eastbound at Junction 3 which is where all the traffic from Beaconsfield (A40),plus M40 traffic exiting junction 3 Westbound and the existing main route to industrial estates at Woburn Green / Bourne End/Maidenhead meet.

iii) Other projects that further compounded the development of the Flackwell Heath village as an alternate route/ rat run were the siting of yet another industrial /superstore complex at Knaves Beech and an adjacent office development within 400metres of the motorway entry /exit , and a housing development which included a Travel Lodge -though the improvement of Treadaway Hill and its entry and exit to Boundary Road and Straight Bit/Heath End Road inadvertently contributed to the problem by encouraging an easier access and exit to/from  the village.

iv) In Introduction of a little used bus lane and its suitability, times of usage and inconsistent and dangerous associated road markings.

v) The development of retail parks at busy junctions where the road Lanes are reduced AT traffic lights, and other out of town and duplicated stores like Currys / Homebase

vi) The perceived possibility of delays and congestion at the Handy Cross Roundabout complex, may be caused as much by the complex traffic light / lane systems as anything. Linked to the Handy Cross scenario the avoidance of Marlow Hill, particularly in association with routing via the A40 to the East,  is also as a  result  of the possibility of traffic congestion at the complex roundabout  system at the bottom of Marlow Hill .

RESULTANT TRAFFIC JAMS

The aforementioned problems have already resulted in regular traffic jams in the village due to :-

a) traffic entering the village via Daws Hill Lane and White Pit Lane and meeting the traffic trying to transit Flackwell Heath via Treadaway Hill and Sheepridge Lane - being mostly transit traffic attempting to avoid in particular the routes M40 Junc 3-A40 Bottom of Marlow Hill or the avoidance of the Handy Cross junction by traffic routing to and from Marlow/Maidenhead/Reading and M40 Junc 3 /Beaconsfield areas.

These traffic jams occur on  at least two occasions per day , each lasting up to 90 minutes. Even throughout the rest of the day at any time the volume of traffic is unacceptably high and moreover contains an increased percentage of heavy goods vehicles.

Even during the latter periods there have been occasions when traffic has been unable to exit Chapel Road due to the volume of traffic proceeding westbound along Straight Bit towards Heath End Road or traffic travelling up Treadaway Hill to the Mini roundabout at the Community Centre and turning right toward Daws Hill Lane or Sheepridge. Similarly it has not been possible for very long periods, to turn right from The Common into Straight Bit due to traffic from Whitepit Lane or Daws Hill Lane .

AVOIDANCE OF UNINTENDED IMPACT OF IMPROVEMENTS

 Since it is possible that the improvement of Treadaway Hill inadvertently contributed to the Flackwell Heath traffic problem I would NOT like to see  :-

a) any improvement to the road width  in Sheepridge Lane but in fact would prefer implementation of a 3O MPH limit and a weight limit(2.5 tonnes -except for access) .

b) any improvement to the road width  at the western end of Daws Hill Lane where improved exiting onto Marlow Hill encouraged the rat run . It is understood that the Council has already purchased or has plans to compulsorily purchase some of the frontage of properties on the South side of Daws Hill Lane in order to widen it at some stage though this does not seem to be mentioned in this plan Did this proceed

c) any plans  for re-activation of proposals , at present in abeyance to divert the existing M40 to the South  from The Abbey Barn Road area to route South of the Handy Cross roundabout. Probably not now possible due recent changes to Handy Cross.

Any improvements provided by. b) and c) above would encourage the through flow of traffic in Flackwell Heath , whilst c) would additionally ,with the prevailing South Westerly winds , greatly increase the noise in Flackwell Heath . Policing of the Wycombe Wye Valley area  and parking problem spots neds to be addressed to improve traffic flow.

It seemed that a start was to be made to reduce rat run traffic when requests were made in recent years by the local council for suggestions for traffic calming in Flackwell Heath,  but nothing has appeared yet .

IMPACT OF PROPOSED DEVELOPMENT AT DAWS HILL BASE, ABBEYBARN NORTH & SOUTH

These proposals to build at Daws Hill Base, Abbey Barn North and  South plus office /industrial complex/hotel at Abbey Barn South bodes ill for the residents of Flackwell Heath and those at the Daws  Hill Lane let alone the impact on other adjacent areas .! See comment later on.

The main concerns and problems are -

Poor location of site for development
Increased traffic and congestion
Misuse of prime agricultural land
Visual environmental damage by intrusion onto the landscape 
Threat of ribbon development joining Daws Hill Lane/Wycombe to Flackwell Heath

From a traffic point of view the housing could generate thousands of extra journeys per day to work and school and approaching with the same numbers being generated from the proposed business and hotel development - an increase of over thousands movements ,most of which will impact on Flackwell Heath.

The proposed improving of roads from Abbey Barn Road through to the A40 will be of no significant benefit as the traffic problems highlighted earlier in this letter will still be in play i.e the reasons for traffic avoiding the A40. Further more any impact will be certainly be lost if Abbey Barn Road is improved  ,as this will only serve to encourage traffic from the new developments to consolidate the current tendency to route via Flackwell Heath .

Any proposal to siphon off some of the traffic at Daws Hill Lane surely cannot be viewed seriously from an environmental or safety aspect!

There is great concern about an urban sprawl developing from a poorly located sit and misplaced development where visual pollution of the landscape will be very evident with intrusion onto the very fringes of prime agricultural land and adjacent Green Belt.

The Abbey Barn Developments to the North of the M40, and the inherent threat of ribbon development on the prime agricultural land leased to Wycombe Council between the south side of the M40 and Heath End Road, will surely result in the strangling and killing of any remaining village atmosphere in Flackwell Heath.

Increased noise and pollution in Flackwell Heath as a result of the widening of the M40, despite the initial quiet surface, and the intrusion into a rural landscape has resulted in the destruction of a rural view by gantries and lighting poles. On the noise front one must be fearful of any resurrection of the plan to widen and re route the M40 west of junction 3 and south of Handy Cross, if still possible.

In addition there is the noise pollution from Heathrow Departures routing to the North and the threat of an horrendous imminent increase in the number of movements over the route changes as a result of changing Luton procedures. Even worse will be the fivefold increase in noise at Flackwell Heath and to the North IF the Third runway is built at Heathrow .This will add the noisy late afternoon and evening long haul traffic to Asia and Australia.

Does the village and the area need or deserve more? NO IT DOES NOT!

POSSIBLE AREAS OF IMPROVEMENT
These are hard for an individual to quantify because of limited time for research and understanding of requirements and applicable restrictions but must surely include consideration of :

i), Major improvement to restore the traffic flow along the A40 as it is the main route into High Wycombe - including another look at the asinine bus lane usage and its suitability, times of usage and associated road markings.

ii) Improvements linking i) above with Marlow Hill to give priorities to through traffic such that it avoids Flackwell Heath when enroute to Marlow/Maidenhead and Reading.

iii) -Consideration of a one way system under the existing development or which could also be applied If the future development for Abbey Barn succeeds of ;

a) in/out via the A40 -or in via Heath End Road to Abbey Barn Lane from Wycombe only -NO access from Abbey Barn Lane to Heath End Road towards High Wycombe(or Flackwell Heath?) and NO right turn off Heath End Road from Flackwell Heath

b) Development of the existing Boundary Road A4094 ,with appropriate sign posting via Woburn Green/Bourne End for traffic to Maidenhead VIA Cookham or Bourne End toward the A404 for Marlow /Maidenhead/Reading/Henley(NO access via Flackwell Heath ).

Flackwell Heath Resident