Policy DM30 Access and highway safety
Development must seek opportunities to remove unnecessary access points onto the principal or main distributor routes (as defined in the NATS route hierarchy). New vehicular accesses onto these routes will only be permitted where there is no practical alternative from a more minor route and (where adjacent to an existing or proposed bus rapid transit corridor) they would not prevent or restrict the implementation of necessary highway or junction improvement works associated with the corridor. Any new access point must allow for access and egress in a forward gear.
In other locations, accesses (including private driveways) will be acceptable where:
a) those onto local access routes can provide for access and egress in a forward gear;
b) they are not close to an existing junction, the inside bend of a road, within the limits of a pedestrian crossing or the brow of a hill;
c) they would not result in the loss of street trees, a significant area of verge, or other landscape features;
d) there is sufficient space available within the curtilage of the site to accommodate the size of vehicle likely to be used by an existing or future occupier;
e) in areas with existing on street car parking pressure, the gain in terms of off-street parking would significantly outweigh the loss of any existing on-street parking;
f) the quality of the street scene is maintained; and
g) appropriate adjustments which are a direct consequence of the development proposed are made to existing on-street waiting arrangements, at the developer’s expense.
Development within, over or adjacent to spaces or streets that form part of the public realm will ensure that adequate clearance either below or around the structure is available to allow the safe passage of pedestrians, cyclists and, where appropriate, vehicles.
Supplementary text
30.1 Despite the overriding aims of national, strategic and local transport policy to promote travel by alternative means, the private car is likely to remain an important mode of transport in the Norwich area for the foreseeable future. The Norwich area transport strategy seeks to minimise the intrusion of vehicular traffic into most of the city by concentrating the major parts of journeys on roads with sufficient capacity. The primary function of roads within the Norwich area is set out in NATS policy 47 and the purpose of this policy is thus to ensure that new development does not introduce additional hazards or delays on strategically important parts of the road network, whilst ensuring appropriate levels of safety elsewhere. This is particularly important in relation to the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) corridors, whose implementation should not be compromised by inappropriate access works particularly in the vicinity of junctions where widening or other improvement may be required. The BRT network is defined in NATS and shown indicatively in the JCS key diagram, but BRT corridors are not shown on the Policies map to allow for the eventuality of new or amended routes emerging over the lifetime of this plan.
30.2 The Manual for streets (MfS), together with its companion guide Manual for streets 2 – application of the wider principles, provide significant advice on the nature and design of the streets within the built environment, and full account should be taken of this advice. There are, however, a number of areas on which MfS does not provide advice, and which can have significant impact on the form and acceptability of development, and may even render it impossible to implement if appropriate agreements under other legislation cannot subsequently be obtained.
30.3 Traffic Regulation Orders are required where on street parking controls need to be changed or included in a new development. This is likely to be a requirement for most developments within Controlled Parking Zones (CPZs) where new vehicular accesses or new streets are created. This is because every part of the adopted highway within a controlled parking zone must be covered by some form of parking control, and existing arrangements are unlikely to be suited to, or to cover, a new development.
References
- NPPF, CLG 2012: Section 4: Promoting sustainable transport.
- JCS policy 2: Promoting good design.
- Norwich area transportation strategy (NATS).
- Manual for streets, CLG/Department for Transport/Welsh Assembly, 2007.
- Manual for streets 2 – application of the wider principles, Chartered Institute of Highways and Transportation, 2010.
- Transport topic paper, Norwich City Council, April 2013.
