Notcutts Garden Centre, Nuneham Courtenay

Paul Basham Associates were appointed by DHA Planning on behalf of Notcutts Limited to put their local knowledge and transport planning skills to good use to support the redevelopment of the existing garden centre at Nuneham Courtenay and subsequently assist in securing planning permission.

The Brief

Paul Basham Associates were required to produce a Transport Statement and Travel Plan to support the planning application for the redevelopment of the existing garden centre from 7821sqm GFA to 6130sqm GFA.

Our Approach

In our initial stages of work we undertook a site visit to gain insight into the site and its surroundings. At a similar time, a 7-day speed and volume survey was commissioned providing actual speeds on Oxford Road adjacent to the site access, the results of which were used as the basis for a visibility splay assessment at the access.  In addition a highways review of the layout was undertaken in order to highlight any concerns at an early stage.

A Transport Statement and Travel Plan were then prepared to accompany the planning application. A first principles approach was used to demonstrate that the trips generated by the proposed development would be minimal and outside of peak hours arguing against the need for a modelling assessment to be undertaken. However following submission of the planning application, Oxfordshire County Council (OCC) highways requested additional information in order to satisfy this argument given the existing capacity issues on the surrounding road network within South Oxfordshire including Culham Bridge and the Golden Balls roundabout. Following the submission of a Technical Note, a meeting was held with the project team and local highway authority with a final response prepared which detailed sales data for another Notcutts Garden Centre that has recently undergone redevelopment. OCC confirmed the data was sufficient to determine that the development will have no impact on the operation of the local road network during the network peak hours and therefore removed their objection.

The Result

The project team were delighted to see all the hard work pay off when the scheme was granted permission.