Land at Chidswell, Dewsbury
- Location: West Yorkshire
- Client: Confidential
- Architect: Enjoy Design
- Partners: Deloitte; Savills; Bentley
- Year: Ongoing
- Sector: Land Development |
- Specialisms: Civil Engineering | Highways Engineering | Transport Planning |
Pell Frischmann has provided transport, highway engineering and infrastructure consultancy services in connection with, and has helped to secure resolution to grant outline planning consent for, proposals to deliver a strategic masterplan development at Chidswell, Dewsbury, West Yorkshire. The site is allocated for mixed-use development in the Kirklees Council Local Plan; it will deliver 1,535 new homes, of which 20% will be affordable in line with local planning policy, and 122,500 square metres (1.2 million square feet) of B1-B8 employment floorspace (across 35 hectares), alongside a new primary school, local centre and community facilities, extensive areas of public open space, and new walking and cycling routes.
Two outline planning applications for the development of the site were submitted – one for a development of 181 new homes at the north of the site, which will be an initial first phase; and the other for the remainder of the development proposals. Kirklees Council’s Strategic Planning Committee resolved to grant consent to both outline planning applications.
Members of the Pell Frischmann project team have been involved in the project for over 10 years and, to support the two outline planning applications for the site, prepared a comprehensive Transport Assessment and Framework Travel Plan, and undertook detailed modelling for numerous off-site junctions, including the M1 Junction 40 (Flushdyke Interchange) and the M62 Junction 28 (Tingley Interchange) on National Highways’ Strategic Road Network. We have engaged regularly and throughout with officers from Kirklees Council, the Local Highway Authority for the site, as well as officers from and consultants representing National Highways, Leeds City Council and Wakefield Council, due to the site’s proximity to these areas. As a result of Pell Frischmann’s transport and highways expertise, the development proposals at the site will be supported by a comprehensive package of transport and highways measures, including:
- Five new site access junctions, including two new signal-controlled junctions on the A653 Leeds Road dual-carriageway;
- Improvements to off-site junctions, to deliver additional highway capacity and to provide pedestrian, cyclist, and road safety improvements;
- Measures to discourage/prevent rat-running on Chidswell Lane to the south of the site;
- Contributions towards future public transport services and local bus stop improvements; and
- The delivery of a Travel Plan, to promote and encourage sustainable travel across the site.
Due to the uncertainties surrounding whether background traffic levels will increase in line with historical predictions between the present time and the point at which the development will be substantially built-out (as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and longer term trends relating to decreased car use), Pell Frischmann successfully negotiated and agreed with National Highways and the three local highway authorities that delivery of improvements at the M1 Junction 40 and the M62 Junction 28, to provide additional highway capacity, could be subject to the outcomes of monitoring strategies. These strategies will monitor traffic levels at both the site and the two junctions and will establish whether there is a need in the future to deliver the junction improvements and, if so, when.
Pell Frischmann has also undertaken the detailed highway design for a proposed new spine road that will connect the various development parcels within the overall site, both to inform how the masterplan is taken forward and to inform project viability calculations.
Pell Frischmann has been involved in the significant programme of stakeholder consultation that has involved meeting with local residents, businesses and interest groups. Colleagues from the Pell Frischmann team attended public exhibitions of the development proposals to engage with and answer questions from residents. We have also worked closely with the client and their team of other professional consultants, including the project masterplanners, to inform the proposed site layout, access and circulation strategy.
