Boxley Parish Council Highway Issues Briefing Note M2 junction 3 A229 Local Traffic Infrastructure

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1 Boxley Parish Council Chairman: Bob Hinder Clerk: Pauline Bowdery Assistant Clerk: Melanie Fooks 28 November 2017 Boxley Parish Council Highway Issues Briefing Note M2 junction 3 A229 Local Traffic Infrastructure Produced for Helen Whately MP Tracey Crouch MP Helen Grant MP and Tom Tugendhat MP Boxley Parish Council, Beechen Hall, Wildfell Close, Walderslade, Chatham, Kent ME5 9RU. Tel Clerk@boxleyparishcouncil.org.uk

2 Appendix. 1 KCC letter dated 20 January Capacity of junction is beyond design capabilities. 2 KCC Strategic Plans for improving M2 junction 3 and local highway network. 3 Lower Thames Crossing Consultation. Boxley Parish Council agenda briefing report and response. 4 Impact of Lower Thames Crossing on M2 junction 3 and local highway network. Boxley Parish Council conclusions. 5 Crash data summary.

3 Quick review of current situation. M2 Junction 3 these junctions have greatly exceeded their design capacity and handle volumes of traffic for which they and the surrounding road network, were never intended 1. KCC Strategic Plans for improvements to junction 3 of the M2 and the A229 are still not fully identified and not funded. Appendix 2. M2 junction 3, the A229 and local traffic network, especially Walderslade Woods Road are immediately and adversely impacted upon by any congestion on the roundabouts and A % predicted increase in traffic by , the Lower Thames Crossing will attract 22,000-24,000 traffic movements. The M2 will therefore see a predicted increase in traffic by 2023 of 27.62%-28.04%. 3 Approved and potential additional development in the three Local Authorities (Maidstone Borough Council, Medway Council and Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council). Medway Draft Local Plan has identified the Capstone gap for mixed development for thousands of houses. Rochester Airport is also considered for development. Approved development: 450 dwellings (Gibraltar Farm, Medway), approved at Appeal; 89 dwellings (Gleamingwood Drive, Maidstone) approved at Appeal. The traffic statements accompanying these applications clearly show that it is expected that the local highway infrastructure will connect the developments to junction 3 of the M2, the A229 and junction 6 of the M20. Submitted and awaiting an Environmental Impact Assessment. Proposal for up to 500 dwellings (Darland Farm, Medway). Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council Local Plan. Sites for development identified at Aylesford. The shortest route between the M2 and the M20 is the A229. Accidents or congestion on the M2 or M20 results in a recognisable increase in traffic movements. In the 5 year period up to 30 June 2017 there were 192 reported crashes on the Lord Lees/Taddington Wood roundabouts their associated slip roads and the A229. Boxley Parish Council Statement The parish council considers that improvements to junction 3 of the M2, the local highway infrastructure and the A229 are not only long overdue but urgently required. The current motorway and local highway infrastructure is grossly inadequate and there appears to be little or no local or national impetus to improve matters. It is totally disgraceful that this area has been ignored whilst Government policies and initiatives increase traffic through huge scale local development and national projects, the Lower Thames Crossing. Whilst recognising that there is often a National need for change Boxley Parish Council requires that this should not be at the total expense of local communities and it therefore requests: Government support for improvements to M2 junction 3, A229 and the surrounding local highway infrastructure. An immediate investigation to identify actions and improvements to mitigate current and future traffic issues. The production of a comprehensive and funded Strategic Plan of improvements. Partnership working between all the relevant agencies and organisations to ensure improvements are quickly put in place. Identification of a clear timetable to complete improvements. 1 KCC letter appendix 1 2 Table Post Consultation Scheme Assessment Report Volume 5: Traffic and Economic Appraisal, 3 Table 4.2,

4 Appendix 1. KCC letter dated 20 January Capacity of junction is beyond design capabilities.

5 Appendix 2. KCC Strategic Plans for improving M2 junction 3 and local highway network. 28/11/17 Update from Andrew Westwood, Traffic Management. KCC Strategic Planning A possible scheme for the top of Bluebell Hill is currently on hold. While there is an identified need to improve the junction the funding stream available unfortunately was insufficient to deliver the scheme. The council is now looking at what other funding sources are available to develop a major scheme that could deliver an improvement. It is hoped that the recent government announcements will help with identifying a suitable fund. I should mention that KCC did raise the issues of increased demand at junction 3 in the consultation process to Highways England and in principle support the option c variant that would have resulted in an improved link between the M2 and M20. 6/7/17 from Andrew Westwood, Traffic Management. KCC Strategic Planning. KCC are currently assessing if there are any opportunities to bring about improvements to the junctions and in particular assessing if it would be possible to introduce a free flow on slip onto the M2 London bound and if this would improve capacity of the roundabout. It is not currently clear if this would help or what would the extent of funding required to achieve such a scheme. I am hopeful that there should be clarity by the Autumn and a decision then taken based on any identified benefits. I can fully appreciate the concerns that you raise regarding the potential effects of new development on the local highway network. We are working closely with both Medway Council and Tonbridge & Malling Borough Council on their respective emerging Local Plans to ensure that planned housing and employment growth is accompanied by the transport infrastructure necessary to support it. We remain mindful that improvements to M2 J3 are likely to be required as part of any mitigation package and are due to have further discussions with Medway Council on this subject later this month.

6 Appendix 3. Lower Thames Crossing Consultation. Boxley Parish Council agenda briefing report and response. Environment Committee 14 March 2016 Agenda Briefing report Clerk s note: The Lord Lees and Taddington Wood roundabouts are unable to cope, at peak times, with existing traffic. Delays at the roundabouts cause queues on the M2, A229, Maidstone Road and Walderslade Woods road (A2045). An informal study of the local road network shows that a single lorry parking over the yellow hatched box at Taddington Wood roundabout or vehicles not using the inner coast bound slip lane (which is often empty when there could be six cars or two HGVs) results in vehicles having to sit, with little movement, through a traffic light cycle (approx. 3 minutes). The impact then escalates around the two roundabouts (which have seven traffic lights and a single yellow hatched box) so that in a fairly short time vehicle movements through traffic light cycles are significantly down on what is normally experienced. Current peak time situation Time Result 0 minutes Yellow Limited amount of traffic can move across the box. The yellow hatched box hatch box is in this position to allow traffic going towards blocked/dedicated Chatham/Walderslade to empty off of the roundabout. Coast inner slip lane unused. bound vehicles do not have sight of the dedicated coast bound inner lane so also sit at the lights. 3 minutes (roughly one traffic light cycle) 6 minutes (approximately). 8 to 10 minutes (approximately). Traffic starts to queue back beyond the previous junction (M2 coast bound ramp). Interference with traffic from Walderslade/Chatham wishing to go onto the M2 London bound and traffic wishing to exit M2 starts. Traffic queue now on two of the three lanes coming from Lord Lees roundabout. Interference with traffic coming from A229 (both directions), creating queues, starts. Traffic movement around Lords Lees slows considerably creating delays for traffic trying to get to the A229 (Maidstone bound). Traffic movements around the remainder of Taddington Wood roundabout affected. Queues on M2 access and egress ramps starting to grow. Interference with traffic coming from M2 wishing to go to the A229. Interference with traffic coming from Walderslade Woods Road (A2045 Chatham/Walderslade) wishing to go to the M2 (coast and London bound) and the A229. Queues are now almost back to the start point of the problem. Vehicles now queuing on the M2, 500 metres or more. A229 now has seriously queues or very slow moving traffic of 1 kilometre or more. 10 to 12 minutes. The queues on the Walderslade Woods road (A2045) now affects the local road network and communities.

7 The failure to plan for the additional traffic impact on junction 3 will now just shift the congestion problem from the Dartford Crossing to local areas with no guarantee that future works to improve the conditions will receive funding. Lower Thames Crossing Route Consultation 2016 Boxley Parish Council response to consultation It is anticipated that a significant percentage of the vehicles using the proposed crossing will use junction 3 of the M2 to access the M20 via the A229 and this will have an adverse and severe impact on the highway infrastructure but more importantly on the local communities which will suffer from additional noise and air pollution. Junction 3 of the M2 is already overloaded at peak times and it is unacceptable that this consultation has ignored this issue and in fact absolves itself from making a decision on Blue Bell Hill. An informal study of the congestion problem at the M2 junction road network is attached for your information. For the Lower Thames Crossing to work effectively and for all the improvement aims to be reached the adjacent supporting infrastructure needs to be updated at the same time. With additional traffic at junction 3 the situation will surely worsen so why defer the inevitable? Boxley Parish Council recognises that there is a need for a lower Thames crossing however whilst the congested Dartford Crossing issue will be addressed congestion is being created further down the infrastructure e.g. Blue Bell Hill. Safety may be improved at locations close to the current crossing but the issues experienced there will be transported to this area. Additional traffic movements and queues at junction 3 and on the A2045 and A229 will have an adverse impact on local community health and the local environment.

8 Appendix 4. Environment Committee 13 November. Agenda report. Response to query on impact of Lower Thames Crossing. At the Environment Committee meeting in September and whilst responding to the M2 Junction 5 Improvements (Sittingbourne Junction) consultation members asked whether the A249 was intended to be the primary route for the Lower Thames Crossing. The following response has been received from M2 Junction 5 Improvements Scheme Regional Investment Programme (South East) The Lower Thames Crossing will join the A2 to the east of Gravesend. This is to the west of Junction 1 of the M2. The A249 intersects the M2 at Junction 5, which is some distance from, and outside the scope of, the Lower Thames Crossing project. We do not anticipate that the Lower Thames Crossing will significantly affect the traffic on the A249. You can read the schemes full traffic assessment in our Post Consultation Scheme Assessment Report Volume 5: Traffic and Economic Appraisal, available on the scheme website ( Clerk s report The consultation on the Lower Thames Crossing acknowledged that there would be impact on local networks, including junction 3 of the M2 and the A229 but mitigation for this impact was not included in the Lower Thames Crossing Project and the consultation document stated that it would be up to other authorities/organisations to deal with this. The Lower Thames Crossing Post-Consultation Scheme Assessment Report Volume 5: Traffic and Economics Appraisal does not include any specific reference to the impact or mitigation needed for the additional traffic outside of the immediate crossing area. It does however state that the main users [route 3 Lower Thames Crossing] will be people travelling between Kent/Channel Ports and the M25/East Anglia. More traffic will be attracted to M2/Chatham with 22,000-24,000 daily additional traffic movements in The report also notes that there will be a reduction in the traffic that uses the A228. Environment Committee agenda report (draft) Lower Thames Crossing. Members requested a percentage figure for the traffic that would be using the M2 if the Lower Thames Crossing was built. Clerk s note. Unfortunately, with forecasts in The Post Consultation Scheme Assessment Report Volume 5: Traffic and Economic Appraisal focusing on growth, the benefits of and the impact of not having an additional crossing it is difficult to extract certain details. A copy of the report can be supplied to members on request however the following information has been extracted from the multiple statements and tables. The report predicts a 23% increase in traffic movements by In 2025 the Lower Thames Crossing (LTC) route will reduce the traffic volumes on the existing crossing by 9% (with HGV volume reduced by 29%) 5. The Dartford Crossing (DC) has capacity for 12,600 vehicles per hour. The LTC has 74% more capacity with 21,920 vehicles per hour. 4 Table Post Consultation Scheme Assessment Report Volume 5: Traffic and Economic Appraisal, 5 Table 4.5.5

9 In 2025 the expected split between the LTC and DC, based on an estimate of 476,000 vehicular movements is: LTC 36.13% and DC 63.60% of traffic. 6 As stated in the November meeting report an additional 22,000-24,000 7 vehicle movements are predicted along the M2 if the LTC is completed; this will therefore be 4.62% % in additional to the expected 23% growth. 6 Table Table 4.4

10 Appendix 5. Crash data summary. Title: A229, J6 M20 to J3 M2, Maidstone Accident Date BETWEEN '01-Jul-2012' AND '30-Jun-2017' AND Trunk Road = No Requested output:d - Print Crash Report Date: 29-November-2017 There were 192 reported crashes resulting in injury Note. The crash reports have been analysed (by the Clerk) as follows, there is an element of human error (the summary adds up to 191) and methods of reporting crash locations are sometimes vague so personal judgement on possible location has been used. The following summary is therefore for guidance only and its accuracy cannot be guaranteed. The actual print out is electronically available on request to the Parish Clerk. Location Slight Serious Fatal Lord Lees & 37 3 Taddington Wood Roundabouts and slips roads leading up to and from A2045 traffic light 4 junction A Running Horse and Cobtree roundabouts 43 5 Ref Highways&Byways/Traffic North/MP Briefing note traffic North Ward