A DECISION to approve the building of 79 homes in Evesham this week has been met with concerns about the increasing pressure on the town’s congested road network.
The delegated decision by the principal planning officer at Wychavon District Council on Wednesday (September 24) saw plans to build on 3.18 hectares of vacant land south of Corn Mill Road greenlit.
The development, within Bloor Homes’ existing Evesham Gate site, just west of Cheltenham Road will feature 40 per cent affordable homes, through social rent and shared ownership schemes.
However, the Vale of Evesham Civic Society (VECS) and residents have shared concerns that existing roads are not coping with traffic already using them.
Gill Pawson, chair of VECS which objected to the proposal said members were very concerned about the additional traffic the development would bring to an ‘already busy primary route’ into and out of the town.
She pointed out the application was being submitted at the same time as one by Living Spaces for 62 houses, bringing another 141 homes reliant on Cheltenham Road.
She called for a full transport impact assessment to be undertaken before granting further permissions for housing with access onto Cheltenham Road to assess the cumulative impact.
“The developer needs to go back to the drawing board to come up with a revised scheme for pedestrian and cycle routes into the scheme,” Gill said.
“Local observation has seen instances where pedestrians and cyclists are forced to the side to allow vehicles past. This is unsafe and will not encourage greater use of active travel from the new residents of this part of town.”
A nearby resident called James said: “Existing roads are not coping with traffic already using them. Adding another 76 houses to use this entrance will make our street even more busy and unsafe for children and animals.”
The entire site is allocated for residential development in the South Worcestershire Development Plan.
The application includes, parking, open space landscaping with tree and shrub planting, drainage and other associated works.
On hearing about the approval which received no objections from county highways, Gill told the Observer. “
“We are very disappointed that yet another housing scheme has been approved without any significant highway improvements to alleviate the problems on Cheltenham Road and in the town centre.”
Some of the reaction expressed on community Facebook groups included Jon Jones, who said: “I don’t know how many more houses Evesham can take without a major upgrade to infrastructure,” whilst Les Halford said: “Another 160 for Evesham ‘car park’, the biggest in England.”
The developers have said that there is an opportunity to improve the connection between Evesham Gate and Cornmill Road and the public right-of-way network and reinforce the existing green spaces.
The proposal was also supported by Evesham Town Council.
