The Highways Agency and DfT appear to have cleared the way for a plethora of new service stations on the motorway network.
Previous guidance specifically said there should be a minimum of 12 miles between service areas but the new guidance allows more leeway and essentially devolves responsibility for the siting of such facilities to the local planning system:
“The network of service areas on the strategic road network has been developed on the premise that opportunities to stop are provided at intervals of approximately half an hour,” it says. “However, the timing is not prescriptive as at peak hours, on congested parts of the network, travel between service areas may take longer. The Highways Agency therefore recommends that the maximum distance between motorway service areas should be no more than 28 miles.
“In determining applications for new or improved sites, local planning authorities should not need to consider the merits of the spacing of sites beyond conformity with the maximum and minimum spacing criteria established for safety reasons. Nor should they seek to prevent competition between operators; rather they should determine applications on their specific planning merits.”
It remains to be seen, of course, whether the private sector decides that there is any significant demand for more motorway service areas than there already are, now that it has effectively been given permission to build them closer together if it wants to.
The amended guidance also makes it more likely that large-scale developments adjacent to England’s motorways and major ‘A’ roads will be granted permission to go ahead. The new guidance, ‘The Strategic Road Network and the Delivery of Sustainable Development’, places greater emphasis on the Highways Agency’s role to promote economic growth and enable development, the Agency says. The Highways Agency is a statutory consultee on planning applications near the strategic road network, local planning and on large infrastructure projects.
The new guidance replaces two current policy circulars – ‘Circular 02/2007 Planning and the Strategic Road Network’ – which is jointly published by the DfT and DCLG, and ‘DfT Circular 01/2008 Policy on Service Areas and other Roadside Facilities on Motorways and All-purpose Trunk Roads in England’.
The key parts of the updated guidance include:
- Easing restrictions on new access roads and junctions on motorways, to assist local authorities and developers to deliver strategic growth by unlocking access to large sites near motorways and major A-roads;
- Removing the need for developers to pay for mitigation measures unless the impacts of their proposals are severe; and reducing the scale of any work that may be required as a consequence;
- Supporting the delivery of developments that have been approved in a Local Plan, to give certainty to local authorities and developers that their proposals can be realised.
- Simplifying the mandatory requirements that must be provided at every service area and roadside facility. Sites will still be required to play their role in the essential safety and comfort of motorists – such as the availability of fuel, toilets, drinks and two hours free parking – but other issues will now to be decided by local planning and market forces.
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