Area of search for park and ride - #5.59.3.
I wish to support the view of the Old Milverton and Blackdown Parish Council, that the potential Park and Ride locations in our Parish would not offer an attractive alternative to commuters driving into Leamington.
The Parish Council has set out its reasons, with which I agree, and to which I would like to add these further observations: -
The majority of people who want to park in Leamington are there for shopping, or because they work there. In my own shopping trips into the town I can always park not too far from where I want to go; should that become much more difficult and we had the option of park and ride, this household would - for just the reasons given by our Parish Council - do its shopping in Kenilworth; if that also becomes difficult, it would increasingly divert us towards supermarkets with car parks and to buying things on the web.
As to people who work in Leamington: - I have over the past many months noticed a slowly growing number of cars parked during the day on the meter-free streets round the town centre. I don't know, but I am guessing that quite a few of those belong to people who leave their car there for the day and walk to their work in the metered town centre. The extra walk allows them to keep the independence of getting into their own car and driving off when they want to. I suspect that many would not give this up lightly in favour of using park and ride. I have not found anything in the Local Plan about expected growth of parking requirements or about intended parking restrictions that might make park and ride more attractive.
In that context: - much residential accommodation in Leamington is taken up by students of the University of Warwick. Is there any prospect of re-locating them to within walking or cycling distance of the University, and so allow student residences in Leamington to be re-converted for people who work in the town?
Reverting to Park and Ride, the comments below relate only to areas identified on the map as potential park and ride locations in Blackdown and which are adjacent to Sandy Lane.
Access from the A452 Kenilworth Road to Sandy Lane was closed only a little over a dozen years ago. Our (Old Milverton and Blackdown) Parish Council on which I then served were given to understand that this was to reduce the traffic on Sandy Lane, because of the accidents experienced on its crossing with Stoneleigh road.
A park and ride off Sandy Lane - if it did prove successful would have many cars turn across the adjoining main roads on their way in or out at peak times.
The original intention was for Sandy Lane to be wholly closed against the A452. However, Sandy Lane drops away from the Stoneleigh Road on a fairly steep hill and this section freezes over in cold winters. It was after we had drawn attention to this danger that the one-way exit on to the A452 towards Leamington was allowed.
One can envisage new road layouts (roundabouts, restricted access, one-way traffic) to avoid the dangers inherent in this location; but they would involve additional cost or make the scheme even less attractive to users and it seems to make this a wholly inappropriate area to consider for park and ride under any circumstances.
Finally, 5.59.3 says that the Strategic Transport Assessment Phase 3 (May 2013) identified the potential for a park and ride facility to the south of Warwick and Leamington. There is no indication that such a facility is required to the north of Leamington, especially in the Green Belt, and the proposed area of search should be removed from the Plan.