DCC's Reg22 request continues:
It has been suggested that the reduction in available farmland on the Straitgate side of the B3174 means that there will have to be cattle movement across the road to land on the south for grazing and milking. As the applicant is the landlord for the Agricultural Tenancy then the MPA would request a joint statement of the likely impact and number of such agricultural movements on the safety of the public highway. If it is the case that this will happen as a result of the proposal then the impacts should be factored into the safety assessments and traffic calculations.
What has Aggregate Industries come back with? The meagre reply on this important issue is telling:
The new route would include a proposed cattle crossing on the B3174 Exeter Road. The number of daily movements over the proposed cattle crossing at times when the dairy herd is grazing the land south of Exeter Road would be twice in each direction. 1.5
The issues raised over signage will be dealt with under the detailed design and the Stage 2 Road Safety Audit that would be necessary following any grant of permission. 1.8
And that’s it??
Where's the revised Transport Assessment? Because there's no mention of 150 cows crossing the main road into and out of Ottery St Mary four times a day in AI's previous reports, here or here.
What about the impact on traffic? the functioning of the B3174 during rush hour? queue lengths? waiting times? vehicles backing up towards the blind brow? etc? etc? What's the impact of all that, with AI's 44-tonne HGVs thundering up and down the Exeter Road as frequently as one every 3 minutes?
A Stage 1 Road Safety Audit has been performed, which recognises that cattle crossing:
but you don’t need to be a rocket scientist to work that out.
