LAND SECURITIES REDEVELOPMENT OF NEWNHAM COURT SHOPPING VILLAGE, MAIDSTONE Land at Environmental Statement: Non-Technical Summary
Introduction Land Securities plc is applying to Maidstone Borough Council for full planning permission for the redevelopment of Newnham Court Shopping Village, Maidstone, Kent. An Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) has been carried out as part of the planning process to identify the potential environmental effects of the scheme. The results of this assessment are reported in the Environmental Statement and are summarised in this Non-Technical Summary. The EIA has been undertaken following consultation with Maidstone Borough Council and organisations including Kent County Council and the Environment Agency. It follows a scope agreed with Maidstone Borough Council. What issues have been assessed? The following issues have been assessed within the Environmental Statement and have been summarised within this document: Socio-Economics Transport Noise and Vibration Air Quality Landscape & Visual Effects Water Resources & Flood Risk Ecology Archaeology & Cultural Heritage Cumulative Effects For each issue the assessors have considered the likely positive and negative environmental effects of the proposed development, during the construction process and once the development is operational. Map showing the general location of the Newnham Court Shopping Village Where effects have been identified, mitigation measures have been proposed to avoid, limit or offset any negative impacts. DHA Environment on behalf of Land Securities, November 2013 page 2
The Proposal Site Much of the Site is currently occupied by the existing Newnham Court Shopping Village, to the south-east of M20 Junction 7 on the northern edge of Maidstone. It is immediately to the south-west of the Kent Institute of Medicine and Surgery (KIMS) which is currently being built and is due to open in 2014, and to the west of the recently proposed Maidstone Medical Campus. This section describes the site in further detail. The Site The Site includes a mix of previously developed ( brownfield ) and greenfield land. It includes the existing Newnham Court Shopping Village, a retailled mixed use development which includes a garden centre, shops, restaurants and café, offices, public house, hairdressers, day nursery and veterinary clinic. The Site surrounds the Newnham Court Inn, a Grade II listed former farmhouse with 15th-century origins, now in use as a public house and restaurant. It also includes an historic former oast house building, now occupied as commercial offices. The Shopping Village is dominated by a large garden centre area, within a series of glasshouses and open sales areas. Modern structures accommodate further shop outlets and other commercial operations. Plan showing the site and surrounding area A strip of land along the western edge of the Site is partly covered by light, rough gravel hardstanding, and partly covered in grass. These areas are used periodically for the sale and displays of goods. There is a car park to the south of the garden centre, west of the current site access, a road within a tree-lined cutting that enters the site from Bearsted Road to the south. There is a smaller car park serving the Newnham Court Inn. The eastern part of the Site is open grassland, sloping downwards from north-west to southeast. This area is bound to the east by the newly constructed access road to KIMS. An aerial view of the Site and surrounding area DHA Environment on behalf of Land Securities, November 2013 page 3
What is the character of the surrounding area? The Site is on the northern edge of Maidstone, with the area to the north of the motorway having a rural character. The area to the west and south is more urban, including a business park (Eclipse Park) and the Grove Green and Vinters Park residential areas, although the area immediately south of the site is a nature reserve. To the north-east of the Site is the Kent Institute for Medicine and Surgery (KIMS), a new hospital due to open in 2014. To the east is open grassland, on which the Council have resolved to grant planning permission for the Maidstone Medical Campus. How will the Site be accessed? The Site will be accessed from a widened version of the recently built KIMS access road. This in turn is accessed from Bearsted Road, using an enlarged roundabout at the junction with New Cut Road. DHA Environment on behalf of Land Securities, November 2013 page 4
The Proposed Scheme Planning permission is being applied for the demolition of the existing Newnham Court Shopping Village (except for the Newnham Court Inn, oast houses and buildings falling outside the site boundary such as the vets practice) and the redevelopment of the Site to provide a range of shops and restaurants, alterations to the road layout, parking and landscaping. Purpose of the Scheme The Scheme has been designed to replace existing buildings which have reached the end of their practical lives with more modern buildings and to provide an increased range of retail and leisure facilities. Key Proposals The Scheme includes: a Waitrose supermarket; a Debenhams department store; a replacement Notcutts Garden Centre; creation of 17 additional shop units (some of which are to replace existing shops); conversion of existing oast houses to restaurant / cafe uses; no changes are proposed to the Newnham Court Inn; 901 car parking spaces; new and amended access roads and footpaths; changes to the local road network including junction improvements and a dual carriageway along Bearsted Road. In total the scheme will include just over 45,000 m 2 of internal and external retail floorspace, an increase of nearly 23,000 m 2 compared with the situation today. NOTCUTTS WAITROSE CAFES SHOPS DEBENHAMS SHOPS The Proposed Development DHA Environment on behalf of Land Securities, November 2013 page 5
Artist s impression of the proposed Notcutts store Landscaping The landscaping scheme is based around 3 main character areas: Woodland Edge - wooded banks along the west, south and east boundaries, separating the development from neighbouring roads. These will have native tree planting, shrub planting zones and a local wildflower grass mix. Rural Core - Within the Site, car parks will use robust materials that complement the warm colour palette used in pedestrian areas. Trees and shrubs will be included within car parks, including a central pedestrian walkway linking the central hub and Newnham Court Inn to a pedestrian access from the A249. Green roofs are proposed on selected buildings. Contemporary Hub - Within the central leisure hub, a more formal, structured landscape is proposed to complement the proposed mix of historical and new buildings. This will adopt a contemporary and modern character, using crisp materials and clean lines. Planting in the central spaces will be ornamental, mixing native and non- native species to provide colour and interest. DHA Environment on behalf of Land Securities, November 2013 page 6
Artist s impression of the proposed Waitrose and Debenhams stores from the A249 Access The existing access opposite the Crematorium will be closed. The new access will be from an upgraded KIMS access road and the New Cut Roundabout which would also be upgraded. The car park will provide 901 spaces, around 500 more than the existing main car park. Parking will be charged using a pay and display mechanism.. Servicing will be from the rear of the retail units, accessed from two points: Via a new service road running along the rear of the Notcutts and retail terrace buildings; and to the north of the supermarket. Off-site highways improvements The development will require changes to certain local junctions: Enlargement and widening of the New Cut Roundabout; Signalisation and enlargement of the Bearsted Road roundabout; Dualling of Bearsted Road between the A249 and New Cut; and Part-signalisation and modifications to M20 junction 7. DHA Environment on behalf of Land Securities, November 2013 page 7
Artist s impression of the Scheme from the New Cut Roundabout Sustainable Transport Improvements to bus services would be made in the form of new or extended services. This is likely to involve extending the 506 Sittingbourne Road Park and Ride service to the site. Improvements are also proposed for pedestrians and cyclists, including: Widening of the footway on the north side of Bearsted Road, between New Cut roundabout and Bearsted Road roundabout, to create a combined foot/cycleway; Footway improvements south of the Bearsted Road roundabout; Signal-controlled crossings on Bearsted Road; A foot/cycle way through Junction 7, heading in a north south direction. Construction and Phasing The development is expected to be phased over two periods; the first comprising the relocation of the existing retail to new buildings to the east, the second phase comprising the food store, anchor store and retail terrace. The former is due for completion and operation by the end of 2015 and the latter operation by the end of 2016. DHA Environment on behalf of Land Securities, November 2013 page 8
Impacts Assessed The EIA has assessed a range of potential environmental effects. The findings of the assessment are summarised below. Further information on any of these topics can be found in the Environmental Statement: Main Report submitted with the planning application. Socio-Economic At present the site is a large employment provider, with the full time equivalent of 258 people currently working on site. The development will result in a number of economic benefits including: Local jobs will be created during the construction phase; Approximately up to 1,815 jobs will be created in total from the finished development; The development will not adversely affect town centres within the catchment area and will attract expenditure to Maidstone. Socio-economic impacts are considered to be overwhelmingly positive. Ecology The Site itself has very little conservation interest at present. There are no international, national or local conservation designations within the Site boundary. The nearest designation is the Vinters Valley Park Local Nature Reserve, to the south of the Site on the opposite side of Bearsted Road. No protected species or major habitats have been found on Site. There are trees within the Site that have the potential for bat roosting, although there is no evidence of roosting having taken place. Slow Worms have been recorded within Vinters Valley Park but there is no evidence of the species being located on the site. Mitigation measures will be in place during the construction and final development phases to limit ecological impacts. Overall, the assessment found that the scheme would have a negligible impact on bats and no other significant ecological impacts. Transport At present there is a traditional pattern of congestion following the commuting patterns. Specifically in the morning peak hours there is congestion coming into Maidstone from the M20 and along A249. In the evening peak hours these traffic flows are reversed with congestion leaving Maidstone via the M20 or Bearsted Road. Outside of peak hours the Bearsted Road roundabout is congested. The Proposed Development would increase current traffic levels. The increase is likely to be both during the construction phase and after completion of development. This would be the result of construction traffic and customer traffic. Several measures are proposed to mitigate the transport impacts of the finalised development. These include signalising junction 7 of the M20 and the Bearsted Road roundabout, dualling of the Bearsted Road from the Bearsted Road roundabout and the New Cut Road roundabout, a new bus link to the site and the provision of a new access to the site via the Maidstone Medical Campus development north of the proposed development area. These improvements will increase highway capacity and reduce congestion compared with existing levels, representing a significant benefit. Noise and Vibration The construction and demolition phase of the development will inevitably create noise. This will be managed through construction site management and the use of offsite fabrication. The worst case scenario assessment shows that the noise impact on the nearby residential properties will be minor to insignificant. Noise levels would also be increased by greater traffic flows brought about during the construction phase. These levels would be minimal due to the location of the development near to the M20 motorway which will mask a lot of the additional noise. DHA Environment on behalf of Land Securities, November 2013 page 9
The completed development would create increased traffic flows to and from the site, increasing noise levels. The noise levels have been assessed and there would be a significant increase in volume created along the Bearsted Road to M20 New Cut Link. There are no noise sensitive receptors close to this point making the increased noise levels insignificant. Drainage & Flood Risk There are no major watercourses or flooding risks on the site. There are no historic records of the site flooding. During the construction phase there is a greater risk of the site flooding. As part of the construction will be on a green field site there could be an impact on water quality. These impacts would be mitigated by good site management and regulated by the relevant bodies. The final development will lead to an increase in surface runoff and sewerage from the site due to the increased impermeable areas and site usage. It has been confirmed by the drainage body that the current drainage system can be amended to link into the site and that there is capacity for the additional flows from the site. All parts of the development will be designed to meet modern standards and regulations, minimising the impact on the water quality and flood risk to the area. With mitigation in place, there will be no significant impacts on water quality, flooding or drainage. Air Quality Construction works have the potential to generate dust emissions, but this can be controlled by good site management. The impact of dust and particle emissions at the nearest houses would be minor adverse, but not significant with respect to potential effects on health and amenity. The impact of traffic on air quality has also been assessed. This will not have any significant effect on particle emissions. There would be negligible to minor adverse increases in nitrogen dioxide concentrations, which will remain below objective values, except close to the Chiltern Hundreds roundabout where levels are expected to exceed the objective in any event. Overall air quality effects are considered not to be significant. The Proposed Development is unlikely to contravene Maidstone Borough Council local planning policy for air quality. Landscape & Visual Effects The site is a boundary between the urban area of Maidstone and important landscapes of the Kent Downs AONB, although the Site itself is not in the AONB. Visually, the Site is currently well screened by perimeter planting along the boundary of the development. There are breaks in the planting, particularly along the east and west and the quality of the existing trees on the site varies. These breaks in the vegetation would be increased in the winter months with the loss of cover. The proposed development layout falling around the edge of the site could therefore easily be seen from outside of the site. Several measures are proposed to minimise the development impact including: screen planting on the site boundary, green roofing on the buildings, limiting the buildings to two storeys and appropriate building colouring. There are a few significant landscapes located near to the site; the most prominent among these being the Kent Downs AONB. The impacts on the Kent Downs AONB would be limited due the distance of the AONB to the development being large enough to minimise them. The completed development would not create a negative view DHA Environment on behalf of Land Securities, November 2013 page 10
when considering the surrounding landscape context. The surrounding landscape is broken up by some relatively large developments nearby; including: the M20 Motorway and HS1 Railway Line and the present site contains a range of retail uses. Archaeology & Cultural Heritage The site contains one significant cultural asset: the grade II listed Newnham Court Farmhouse (now a public house). There are no other historic landscape designations within the site; the Grove Green Conservation Area does lie 400m to the South of the site. The construction phase is likely to cause a limited impact on the heritage and archaeology of the site. The site preparation may disturb some archaeological remains, however this cannot be defined as there is no record of any significant archaeology on site at present. The impact on the setting of Newham Court Farmhouse by the construction phase were found to be low. The completed development will have no effects on any buried archaeological assets. The impact to Newnham Court Farmhouse has been assessed as being moderatemajor in magnitude. These impacts can be mitigated by an agreed programme of archaeology with the Local Planning Authority and an architectural design that is sympathetic the heritage of Newnham Court Farmhouse. Cumulative Impacts Cumulative impacts are where more than one individual impact may lead to a more significant impact when considered in combination. Two types of cumulative impact have been considered: 1. 2. Intra-project effects - the effects arising from more than one environmental topic upon the same sensitive receptor; and Inter-project effects - the effects arising from more than one development. In terms of intra-project effects, at the construction phase, there is a possibility of short-term and occasional adverse air quality andnoise impacts, particularly where construction work is taking place on parts of the Site closest to the nearest residential properties. Overall there would be at most a minor adverse cumulative effect on residents of nearby properties at the construction stage. In visual and landscape terms, there is expected to be a minor negative impact at the construction stage. Given the current built up nature of the site there would be a mix of minor and moderate negative and minor positive impacts at the completed development stage, with an overall minor negative impact when all viewpoints are considered. Other relevant developments were identified so that interproject effects could be assessed. Many of these developments would also have beneficial effects on the local economy at both the construction and completed development stages, magnifying the beneficial effects of the Proposed Development. The cumulative transport effects of the Maidstone Medical Campus have been considered. Mitigation has been considered taking into account the possibility of both developments coming forward together, which would ensure the same beneficial effects would be realised in combination as if the Proposed Development were to come forward alone. There would be a minor adverse cumulative effect on Newnham Court Farmhouse as a result of the KIMS, MMC and proposed development schemes. No other cumulative inter-project effects were identified. Any cumulative impacts arising during the construction phase should work be undertaken on the Proposed Development during the same period DHA Environment on behalf of Land Securities, November 2013 page 11
as the Maidstone Medical Campus and KIMs will be mitigated through the use of measures employed for each of the specific projects. Further Information Electronic copies of this Non- Technical Summary, the Environmental Statement Main Report and other planning application documents can be viewed free of charge on the authority s website: http://www.maidstone.gov.uk If you require further copies of this document, or if you would like to purchase copies of the Environmental Statement, please contact: DHA Environment Eclipse House Eclipse Park Sittingbourne Road Maidstone Kent ME14 3EN or send an email to: info@dhaenvironment.co.uk DHA Environment on behalf of Land Securities, November 2013 page 12