~Workshops – Alphington Village Forum

This page relates to the workshops to be held between the Forum and the City Council regarding the proposed “500” house development. These workshops are referred to in a document issued by Exeter City Council Planning department – development_brief. (click to view)

Representatives of the residents from the streets most affected by the proposed development will attend workshops with the City Council planners, landowners and developers.

There will be four workshops based on different themes – movement, green infrastructure, density and design, social infrastructure/utilities.

Residents should get together with their street representatives well before any workshop to put forward their views.

WORKSHOP DATES

Date	Time	Location	Type	Open to	Confirmed
11 Oct	5pm	Village Hall	General intro. and green infrastructure/open space/landscape	Street reps.	Completed
8 Nov	5pm	Village Hall	Highways/transport/movement(1)	Street reps.	Completed
5 Dec (Wed)	5pm	Village Hall	Highways/transport/movement(2)	Street reps.	Completed
29 Jan 2013	5pm	Village Hall	Social infrastructure	Street reps.	Completed
13 Mar 2013	5pm	Community Centre	Density and design	Street reps.	YES

Details of Workshops: (click on a tab to expand)

[tabbed_box tab1=”Green Infrastructure” tab2=”Movement” tab3=”Social Infrastructure” tab4=”Density and Design”]

[tab1_content] Click to see the Workshop 1 agenda for this workshop.

The “Green Infrastructure” workshop should consider safe play areas for children that are close to their homes, and also attempt to create a wildlife corridor from Exe valley towards Haldon.

Trees are important in softening the outline of housing, and local species should be used in preference to ornamental trees, with a mix of coniferous and deciduous. The trees should be planted in public spaces and on property boundaries.

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[tab2_content]The “Movement” workshop will look at movement within and around the new development and will consider car and pedestrian routes, junctions with main roads. One of the major issues will be culs-de-sac which are common in Alphington and we would like to be included in new development.

The workshop was held on Thursday 8th November. A brief precis follows:

Richard Short, Assistant Director City Development, gave a brief introduction and described the purpose of the workshop. This was followed by a presentation of highways, transport and access issues given by Jamie Hulland (Transportation Studies Manager for Devon County Council) and Ross Hussey (Projects and Business Manager for Exeter City Council, dealing with cycling and walking studies)

There was only time available to deal with issues relating to the development within Alphington, rather than the wider issues posed by the proposed Teignbridge development at Matford, which would take place over a much longer time scale.

The concerns of the forum were put to Ross and Jamie, and included calming of Chudleigh Road, new bus routes, and school access problems on Ide Lane.

After the presentation, and questions, the meeting split into three workgroups to discuss the issues in greater detail. After about an hour, each workgroup gave a summary of the issues discussed. These included traffic calming, air pollution, bus routes and frequency.

The meeting agreed that there had been insufficient time for the discussion, and that a further transportation workshop will be arranged for early December.

The meeting was closed by the new chairman of the Forum, Juliet Meadowcroft.

There seems to be a consensus within the community that there should be no more traffic on Chudleigh Road and that positive measures should be taken to reduce speeds, and reduce through traffic. Suggestions that have come up include:

1. Closure of Chudleigh Road south of Markham Lane.

2. One way out of Alphington on Chudleigh Road between Waybrook Lane and A379. This would be possible as it is DCC’s intention to have signals at the Chudleigh Road/A379 junction to make right turns safer from Chudleigh Road.

3. In combination with 2. Dawlish Road would be one way towards Alphington.

4. Make Chudleigh road less attractive to through traffic by re routing through new housing to Shillingford Road.

5. Make Chudleigh road less attractive to through traffic by introducing give-way chicanes.

6. Any new development to be split into 4 plots, one with access to Dawlish Road, one with access on the east of Chudleigh Road, one with staggered access on the west of Chudleigh Road and one with access to Shillingford Road. It is suggested that a bus only connection would be permitted between adjacent plots. This would reduce Chudleigh Road traffic.

7. The A bus route would be split into A1 and A2, with a greater frequency on the common route sections of 7 to 8 minutes. One route would use Cowick lane, the other may do, or may use Tin/Water lane or Alphington Road

8. For local roads in the new development most people would like to see a similar layout to the existing.

9. Parking is a difficult issue. In many areas of Alphington there are parking courts. If these are well designed they keep cars off roads and avoid the unsightly paving over of front gardens which can occur over time.

10. Existing roads should not be converted from culs-de-sac to through routes. This reduces existing play space and would destroy the character of existing areas.

IN PRAISE OF CULS-DE-SAC (contributed by Ray Spiller)

Culs-de-sac give the residents of such areas a sense of community and neighbourhood and they are much more likely to know their neighbours.

It is essential that such areas are constructed with space for enough off street parking to avoid houses opposite each other blocking their neighbours egress. This also allows the turning areas to remain free of parked vehicles and thus another area of possible conflict.
If thoughtfully constructed the houses will not be precisely opposite each other and thus enhance the sense of privacy which such areas naturally invoke.

Although not the only possibility, a cul-de-sac is also an obvious candidate for a play street designation as the children will be within sight of the parents or their near neighbours.
Culs-de-sac also give a sense of security and boundary to local neighbourhoods

The spine road in the new development should not be straight but should have bends introduced to give a more local, compact feel.

There is a possiblity that Dawlish Road may be closed at least to two way traffic at some time in the future, and any new development may need a link between Dawlish and Chudleigh Roads.

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[tab3_content]”Social infrastructure /Utilities” workshop. The addition of a substantial amount of new housing will put pressure on local facilities as well as city facilities. Flood risk is a concern of many residents. At what stage of the proposed development will a flood risk assessment be carried out to ascertain any risk of flooding to surrounding areas of Alphington. Will any assessment be carried out before the workshops are held?

GP surgery Already overloaded. The council will not make extra provision. It will be up to the GP practice to expand.

Primary school.

The school is full in most year groups. Pupils moving into Alphington are directed to St Thomas schools. The school morning run currently results in traffic chaos particularly on a rainy day as the school has over 400 pupils. Traffic + children = danger. There are traffic wardens present from time to time and complaints from residents on a regular basis about heavy traffic, drive blocking etc according to the newsletter.

Any further development of the school would have to be in blocks of 30 pupils, one class a year, to be economically viable. This would lead to a maximum of 630 pupils – a huge amount to get in each day. A new school would take several years to build, so the current one would be increased on a temporary basis and then reduced – very inefficient.

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[tab4_content] Design/Density. House styles are also important to preserve the village feel of Alphington. Hipped roofs, chamfered roofs, dormers, mix of brick and rendered housing are all helpful. Detail in front and rear elevations is important and long avenues are inappropriate for the area.

The density of housing proposed for Alphington in the Core Strategy is 50 dwellings per hectare (dph). A glance at the 50 dph in Newcourt shows clearly that this is unsuitable for Alphington. Existing densities range from less than 25 dph up to 35 dph. Adjacent to the fields it is approximately 25 dph.

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RESIDENTS’ PREFERENCES

What we want most of all:

field — Field barrier between Alphington and Teignbridge

What we would could live with – lower density

CIMG6154 — Hipped roof, allows tree background to be seen. Light render increases feeling of space

What we could live with – higher density

CIMG6137_steeple02 — Hipped roofs, light upper render – spacious feel

CIMG6141 — Chamfered roof, light render, plenty of detail

What we do not like