Local Plan 2011-2031 Proposed Submission Draft

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Baldock, Inadequate traffic planning

The problem

The local plan being proposed, will increase number of houses in Baldock by 80% without providing a road system that will allow the town to operate.
Baldock is unusual, it has little industry or opportunities for employment within the town, therefore the majority of workers travel south to Letchworth, Hitchin, Stevenage and London. The present road system becomes clogged at rush hour but no worse than many other areas. Most people travel south because, in this area, property is cheaper the further north one lives. Therefore people tend to live north and commute south.
The railway runs east and west, to the north of the town and effectively forms the northern perimeter. Very little of the existing commuter traffic has to cross the railway.
But, the local plan requires 2,200 houses to be built north of the railway line, this suggests that there could be over 1,000 additional cars trying to cross the railway in order to get south, between 8 am and 9 am. The majority will try and use the A507. This road joins Whitehorse Street by means of traffic lights controlling a staggered crossroads. Because of the stagger, and the pedestrian crossings at the junction, there is a long delay before the lights turn green again. Four hundred cars per hour are possibly the best that can be achieved and currently the delay at peak times can exceed fifteen minutes. This junction cannot cope with even modest extra traffic and will be difficult to modify because the buildings at this junction are close to the road and have preservation orders. There is no hope of trying to get an additional 1,000 vehicles through these crossroads, during rush hour.
The additional railway crossing, shown in the Local Plan will not work because it routes more cars on to the old A505 and that brings them down to this same Junction.
I have been unable to find any results of Traffic modeling, the plan says, that as Baldock is on the edge of the current area covered by the model, the existing model cannot be used.
Beyond the Whitehorse Street junction, the southerly traffic has to negotiate Hitchin Street. This is so narrow that two HGV's or busses cannot pass and vehicles have to wait so single file traffic can be established. There are then two sets of uncoordinated traffic lights, which create further delays. The plan does not mention how these problems are to be overcome.

Possible solutions
1.Provide roads that will route the traffic round the existing pinch points. Possibly a dual carriageway between the new A505 and the A1(M). Possibly a new bridge over the A1(M) to connect the new properties to the road between Stotfold and Letchworth.
2.Introduce, a one way system round Baldock, so through traffic, which is the vast majority, does not have to come into the town.
3.Provide a bridge over the railway, for cars, cyclists and pedestrians, near to the railway station so travellers do not have to join the queues on the A507 in order to catch a train.
4.Establish a sizable industrial area north of the Railway to soak up a proportion of the new population.

Summary
The proposed plan will not work. The problems must be resolvable. However the council has limited itself to using land it already owns, rather than looking for the best solution. I request that the planners be asked to revisit these proposals and if necessary purchase land for highways.