Paul Basham Associates' Eastern Region worked to support a planning application for the development of a second primary school as part of the extensive new district of Beaulieu Park located in the North East of Chelmsford.
The Brief
Paul Basham Associates were instructed to complete Transport and Highways works associated with the development of a two-form entry primary school with a capacity of up to 420 pupils including SEND accommodation located in a central position of the newly developing Beaulieu Park district of Chelmsford. This required our Eastern Team to provide direct input into the project, beginning with a Pre-Application Scoping Note liaising with Essex Highways Authority and progressing to the submission of a Transport Assessment and School Travel Plan.
Our Approach
The site was reviewed within the team and based on our previous experience working in Essex, helped to guide our approach when entering into discussions with Essex County Council highways officers, where we were able to confirm the scope of the Transport Assessment and Travel Plan requirements moving forward. This allowed us to establish from an early stage several key elements of the future site, including confirmation of access arrangements by all modes of travel, on-site
parking provision, servicing and delivery strategy and the scope of any future junction modelling and highway impact assessments required.
Building upon the highways related matters confirmed with Essex County Council summarised as part of pre-application discussions, we began work on our Transport Assessment which provided a review of the existing accessibility of the site as well as the details regarding the development proposals. This included a trip generation assessment which set out the proposed impact on the surrounding highway network, set out the proposed access arrangements for all site users and evaluated the pick-up and drop-off scenarios for pedestrians, private vehicles and buses. The Transport Assessment also demonstrated Swept Path Analysis assessment which set out the delivery and servicing requirements of the proposed development and verified emergency vehicle access was achievable.
This was accompanied by a School Travel Plan which provided the foundations for a long-term travel strategy to be implemented alongside the opening of the school to encourage the use of sustainable travel to and from the site. This strategy was based on an in-depth review of TRICS multi-Modal trip analysis which allowed us to produce a travel modal share and from this determine an effective strategy for implementation, management and monitoring of the School Travel Plan across its intended lifetime.
Our input to the project continued with input into the master planning design process through regular project team meetings up to the submission of the application.
The Result
We were happy to confirm the school application gained approval in May 2023 and our Eastern Region are excited to see the development built out.