Village Parking
Village Parking has been problematic for years and getting worse. Issues with parking in Bawdrip, the main problems being at school start and end times and when events, such as sports day, etc, are held at the school and parents park (or abandon) their cars randomly around the village, on verges, at junctions, etc. This slows and stops farm traffic, bin lorries and the school bus, gridding the village to a standstill twice a day.
Traffic is already heavy in the local area and Highways England said it will not support any new developments until the Dunball roundabout has been upgraded.
Traffic Safety
We live in a small village that was never designed for cars, lorries or large farm vehicle's there is a real danger to safety, especially to pedestrians - including school children who walk the narrow lanes every day.
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With a village hall and houses outside of the village and the Hall's car park used for school runs then this would encourage a hazardous pedestrian access, Walkers, elderly people, families, horse riders and cyclists use the narrow lanes and drove daily.
Children attending school and public events at the Hall would be extremely vulnerable due to poor sight lines and no railings or pavements.
The village will have a increases of traffic as this would be a car only estate, with no facilities or buses within the village all movements would be done by car, this would fail to meet any of the planners polices on promoting sustainable transport or supporting genuine choice of transport modes.
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As we where told at the original planning meeting any over flow parking would have to be on Stone Drove or Bradley lane, they said that they would suggest to the local authority that double yellow lines though the village may be needed and speed restrictions within the village to slow the additional traffic, but this would just push cars away from the middle of the village out to other areas, it would mean residents could no longer park near there own properties but outside someone else's.
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The occupants of the new houses or over spill from the hall would have little alternative parking provision nearby and any parking on or near the bend, even if for shorter periods associated with school runs, would itself result in harm to highway safety given the road layout of blind bends, 3 way junctions, and very narrow lanes, this would be harmful to highway safety, as visibility of any pedestrians/children would be constrained.
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All new developments must show how and why they are sustainable, and how they will prevent the use of the car and encourage public transport, but this makes car travel essential. No local amenities within miles of the proposed out of village site that makes the site an completely unsustainable and a car only estate.
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The Department of Transport showed UK vehicles Drove 356.5 billion miles in 2019, up 36 per cent since the mid-90's. If this is to be reduced then homes need to be built in the right places, not in the middle of a farmers field next to a village with no employment or amenities. It would just be creating unsustainable communities, simply tarmacking of farmland & destroy to character of this small community. Any new developments should integrate well with the existing settlement, with amenities being within walking distance. This does not.
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The same development site could not meet SDC requirements in 2014 as a sustainable development and should not be able to meet them again now "The proposed development, located within the open countryside and within flood zone 3b (functional flood plain) is an unsustainable form of development increasing reliance on the car contrary to policies S1, S3, D1 and P6 of the Sedgemoor District Core Strategy and Guidance in the National Planning Policy Framework, paragraphs 14, 100 and 101)." Somerset.gov
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