Northampton Station consultation

April 2024: amended planning application

The original application was heavily criticised for it’s attitude to active travel, forcing the applicant to make changes. However, it’s notable that Active Travel England (a government body) is still scathing in it’s criticism of the plan.

Original plan:
Amended plan:

The changes are blue on this diagram – get a better view in the pdf. We think these changes don’t go nearly far enough. Active Travel England agree with us and are heavily critical.

You can amplify this criticism by simply emailing planning@westnorthants.gov.uk – feel free to copy any or all of our comments below.

St Andrews Road access

Active Travel England sums it up well:  “The current design is a far from satisfactory or inclusive outcome for non-motorised users.”

  • There’s still no pedestrian and cyclist crossing on St Andrew Road near the station entrance. This is already badly needed, but the increased traffic this scheme will create makes it absolutely essential.
  • The cycleway coming out of the station needs to be fully segregated from pedestrians and needs to have a safe exit onto St Andrew Road.
  • A cycle lane needs to be created along St Andrews Road – the right turn lane into Scarlettwell St can be removed to create additional space.
  • The above improvements should be a condition of this development and paid for by the developer.
  • Cyclists coming into the site would be required to make an abrupt right turn to leave the proposed shared-use path and join the segregated cycle path. As Active Travel England points out, this does not comply with guidance.
  • It’s essential that there’s easy active travel access to the new residential apartments. The Technical Notes states there will be secure cycle parking at the apartments, but gives no detail on location. How will cycles get between the apartment bike storage and St Andrews Road? Any one-way sections need to allow cycling in both directions, and if bikes have to share the same road space as cars, there needs to be easy access to the cycle lane at the St Andrews Road junction.
Access from Black Lion Hill

The ramp down to the rear of the station is used by wheelchairs, buggies, mobility scooters, cycles, scooters and pedestrians. It is already too narrow and so it needs rethinking now that additional demands are being put on it.

  • There needs to be an adjustment to the boundary wall with the hotel to avoid conflict between cyclists, pedestrians, scooter riders, mobility scooters, wheelchairs and buggies
  •  The applicant is once again reminded of the Northampton Local Plan (NLP, March 2023) which identifies this site (LAA0288) and its neighbouring site to the north (LAA0333) to deliver “improved and safe connectivity, including direct pedestrian routes, with the Spring Boroughs area, and improve the relationship between the site and the town centre”. At present the application fails on both these counts.
  • The ramp fails to meet the requirements of Inclusive Mobility, given that there are long sections with a 1:12 gradient and with limited resting ‘plateaux’ within a width of 1800mm accompanied by railings on each side and with right-angled turns.
  • How will cycles get between Black Lion Hill and the cycle parking for the residential apartments? There needs to be easy access in both directions if cycling is really going to be encouraged. This will mean that cycles must be able to ride in both directions in one-way sections, and must have easy access to the cycle lanes.
Cycle Parking

We agree with everything Active Travel England says on this point:

“Given the investment being made to attract motorised users to the site, the quality of provision for cyclists should be at least equal, if not better in line with government planning policies to promote and prioritise active modes of travel and chapter 11 of LTN1/20.” They go on to say:

  • There needs to be a proper cycle hub along the lines of the one installed at Kettering station, so that cyclists are protected from the elements while parking and locking bikes
  • The current design only caters for standard cycles.  It needs to accommodate adapted bikes, trikes and cargo bikes.
  •  There needs to be electrical outlets for charging electric bikes.
  •  “The provision of semi-covered spaces will most likely result in this facility being underused, which would merely justify continued underinvestment in active travel.”
  • The plan does not represent best practice or modern standards.
Crossings within the site

These need to be humped to slow down motor vehicles.

Want to read more detail?

The West Northants portal contains all the documents (ignore the 11 April consultation deadline – we have a letter stating it is 29 April) – but to save you wading through dozens of documents, we’ve pulled out the main ones here:

West Northants Highways response

Active Travel England first response

The amended plan (diagram is on last page)

Active Travel England’s response to the amended plan

January 2023: the original planning application, and our response

A new car park, hotel and flats are being proposed for the station site, with no plans to improve the surrounding walking and cycling infrastructure. This just builds in more car dependency.

View the detailed pdf.

Here’s a close-up of the plan for the St Andrew’s Road entrance.

The Department for Transport states that walking and cycling must be at the heart of transport policy, not an afterthought. We must make it more convenient to arrive at the station on foot or by bike than it is to drive. That’s what most cities are doing, and it’s what we should be doing in Northampton.

Here’s what we propose for this entrance:

Walking infrastructure
What the application says:

“The majority of roads surrounding the site have good quality footways on both sides of the carriageway which are at least two metres wide…footways are present on both sides of the A5095 St Andrews Road carriageway. These are generally at least two-metres wide and are well maintained.”

Quote from the application’s travel plan, page 8.
The reality:

Much of the footway along St Andrews Rd is in fact narrow, poorly surfaced, and not up to a sufficient standard – here’s a shot from the station entrance:

Cycling Infrastructure
What the application says:

“There is well-established cycle infrastructure surrounding the site…it is considered that the range of safe and convenient routes for cyclists will encourage residents, customers and visitors to engage in active modes of transport to and from the site.”

Application travel plan, page 10.
The reality

Here’s the St Andrews Rd entrance to the station – where is the “well-established cycle infrastructure” here? And where is it at the nearby major junction with Spencer Bridge Rd?

In reality there is no cycling infrastructure on this side of the station. There’s no safe route to the station from from Kettering Rd, Wellingborough Rd, or Kingsthorpe.

Most people wouldn’t dream of cycling to the station, and this proposal would create more traffic and make walking and cycling even more difficult.

If this site is to be “developed”, let’s make it an opportunity to do something positive for the town by building some modern active travel infrastructure that will change how people travel to the station.

Have your say

You can view all the documents and add your comments here. Don’t be put off by all the documents – we’ve put the most relevant documents here:

Our response

Here’s what we submitted as our response.

TRAVEL PLAN

West Northants Council has declared a climate emergency, and also recognizes that the town has illegal levels of air pollution.  The council also has a policy of encouraging people to walk or cycle instead of drive. 

This planning application should therefore be rejected because it will create more traffic driving to the station site, increasing levels CO2 emissions and air pollution.  The infrastructure in the area for walking and cycling is extremely poor, which is why most arrivals at the station are already by car.

The Travel Plan document in this application falsely states that “there is well-established cycle infrastructure surrounding the site” and that “safe and convenient routes for cyclists will encourage residents, customers and visitors to engage in active modes of transport to and from the site.”

In reality, there is no satisfactory cycle infrastructure to get to the site.  There is very poor provision on shared-use pavements on Black Lion Hill, and from the St Andrews Road direction there is nothing at all.  The Travel Plan notes the existence of long distance “National Cycle Routes” (NCNs) nearby, but this is not relevant – these routes do not comply with modern cycling infrastructure standards, and do not encourage local walking or cycling.

There are no safe routes for residents to cycle to the station, especially from the north, eg Kettering Rd, Wellingborough Rd, or Kingsthorpe. 

In addition, many of the pavements approaching the station from the St Andrews Road side are narrow, heavily polluted because of excessive traffic, and poorly maintained.

We consider that no development should take place at the station until proper infrastructure has been added to enable residents from all parts of the town arrive there by sustainable transport.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS

ENTRANCE FROM BLACK LION HILL

Access from Black Lion Hill is congested – more width is needed to accommodate people on foot and people cycling.  The proposed scooter parking marked at point 9 already exists – this exacerbates the congestion problem.

ENTRANCE FROM ST ANDREWS RD

  • It is important to note that the cycle path won’t be used if it’s not the easiest route into and out of the station
  • The proposed cycle path coming from the cycle parking area to St Andrew’s Road ends just before it is needed most, ie at the approach to the junction. The segregated path needs to continue alongside the station entrance road all the way to the junction.
  • People arriving on foot or by bike at the St Andrews Road entrance will be coming from the west. It is essential therefore that a crossing is provided from the west side of the entrance across to the north side of St Andrews Road. For cycles, this should join directly with the cycle path into the cycle parking area, with no curbs. The cycle crossing and pedestrian crossing should be separated, and angled along the desire line across the road, in a similar way to the crossing in Farringdon Road, London, north of Blackfriars Bridge.
  • It is unclear what the walking route is from St Andrews Road to the station building. This should be clearly marked for pedestrians, who should be given priority at all crossing points within the station. The crossing points should be raised so that people using the pavements do not have to change heights – this is important for people using a wheelchair, pushing a buggy, or pulling a suitcase.

CYCLE PARKING

  • The cycle parking should be covered, including the mount/dismount area.
  • The cycle parking should include spaces for non-standard and adapted bikes, eg trikes and cargo bikes.
  • Cycle parking should have video surveillance.
  • See the LTN1/20 standards

CONCLUSION

To underline our first comments – allowing this development to go ahead would be a complete contradiction to the council’s commitments to net zero, its stated desire to reduce air pollution, and its policy to encourage more people to walk or cycle instead of drive.