£80m Lymington development scheme faces public inquiry (From Bournemouth Echo)

£80m Lymington development scheme faces public inquiry

9:00am Thursday 4th March 2010 in

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A PUBLIC inquiry will examine part of an £80m scheme to transform a waterfront site in the New Forest.

Redrow Homes has already gained planning permission to build 300 homes and an 87-bed care home on the former Webbs chicken factory site in Bridge Road, Lymington.

However, the company is also seeking consent to construct a mini-roundabout at the entrance to the new estate.

Redrow was originally given permission to install traffic lights on Bridge Road but the site is close to a level crossing and Network Rail said it would cost more than £1m to link the two sets of traffic signals.

The company submitted plans to build a roundabout instead and lodged an appeal after New Forest District Council failed to determine the application.

Now the government has ordered a public inquiry, which will be held at Lymington Town Hall on March 23.

Planning documents submitted by the council claim that a mini roundabout would interfere with the safety and convenience of road users. However, Redrow’s design and access statement says the scheme would be safer than traffic lights.

“While a mini-roundabout would potentially increase the risk of shunt collisions, statistically this risk is markedly reduced compared to traffic signals,” it says.

The seven-acre site overlooking the Lymington River is next to the Lymington to Brockenhurst railway line.

Redrow’s statement adds: “Three-arm mini junctions are the safest available, with the potential for accidents substantially reduced. Assessments confirm that the risk of (traffic) blocking the level crossing is small.”

The site has been vacant since the Webbs factory closed with the loss of 500 jobs in 2001.