Transport
Existing Highway Connections
The existing site access road connects to B1206 Scawby Road at an off-set cross-roads layout, the other side road access arm to the junction being Brigg Road, which provides local access to the village of Scawby. This cross-roads junction is of a ghost island layout design to allow for the storage of right turn vehicles 'off-line' from main through movements on the B1206, thereby assisting in managing both highway capacity and safety. Visibility at the junction is good, which is reflected by its excellent highway safety record, which has seen no accident incidents at the site access over the past 5 year period.
The B1206 Scawby Road acts as the main local distributor route for the Scawby Brook area and would accommodate all traffic movements to/from the Brigg REP proposal site. B1026 Scawby Road to the north serves the immediate local settlement of Scawby Brook and onward connections to the town of Brigg and the A18/M180. Connections to the south and west are not considered to provide practical opportunities for regular HGV movements to/from the site, particularly the local route corridor through the village of Scawby via Brigg Road.
The B1026 to the north of the site terminates at a mini-roundabout junction with the A18. This junction has been designed to incorporate larger HGV service vehicles and includes for significant hatching and narrowing of approach lanes to the junction to promote safe operation. To the east of this junction the A18 provides local connections to Brigg town centre. To the north/west the A18 route provides district distributor road connections to the A15 main roundabout connection some 3.3km to the west. The A15 provides immediate connections to M180 junction 4 and onward southern links to Lincoln and surrounding settlements. The A18 continues westwards to provide connections to the town of Scunthorpe.
Local Highway Conditions
Traffic numbers through the village of Scawby Brook are generally low. Normal levels are of the order of just 350-500 vehicles per hour (2-way), rising to just over 600 during peak times.
Local traffic is generally free flowing, even during the traditional morning and evening peak periods. Some localised queuing has, however, been observed during peak background demand periods on approaches to the B1206/A18 mini roundabout at Scawby Brook.
Personal Injury Accident data for the local network to the Brigg REP proposal site shows that no recorded accidents took place at the proposed site access connection. Only 8 accidents were recorded over the full survey area, with none involving operational HGV movements. Three accidents were recorded at the B1206/A18 mini-roundabout junction, however, two of these incidents took place on the A18 Brigg Town approach, which would be unaffected by proposed development traffic movements.
Site Operating Parameters
The site will operate for 50 weeks of the year (94% - 95% availability during this period) with a 2 week shutdown / maintenance period during the summer. The plant requires an hourly throughput of the order of 30 tonnes per hour of straw, with a further 0.2tph of lime reagent.
The combustion process at the Brigg REP facility would operate on a 24 hour, 7 days a week basis. Deliveries of straw and exports of ash waste would be restricted to Monday - Friday, over a 12 hour delivery window (07:00-19:00) and a six hour delivery period on a Saturday (08:00-14:00). No deliveries will take place on Sundays or on public holidays.
Traffic Routeing
Operational HGV movements to/from the site will be subject to a routeing agreement, restricting traffic to agreed route corridors. This route corridor approach would restrict traffic to roads suitable to accommodate regular HGV movements and would avoid operational traffic impact on the villages of Scawby and Brigg town centre.
Virtually all REP operational straw delivery traffic would access the site via the key strategic routes of M180/A15, with the only exceptions being those limited trips from any straw that originates from within the immediate locality. HGV delivery movements would therefore access the site from Scawby Road to the north, with operational movements utilising the B1206/A18 corridor to access the A15/M180 junction.
A routeing agreement would be rigorously enforced by the site operator who would have direct control over nearly all HGV movements to/from the site. All vehicles used to deliver straw would be obliged to carry route tracking equipment that would be used to demonstrate compliance with the routeing agreement.
Development Traffic
The average weekly operating capacity will be of the order of 4800t of input material. Assuming a typical 5.5 day weekly delivery/export window, the maximum site input demand will be of the order of 867 tonnes per full working day of straw input and 92 tonnes per day ash waste production for export (inc char and moisture content).
Day to day operation of the Brigg REP facility can therefore be anticipated to generate the following total number of daily vehicle movements (in + out):
- HGV operational movements: 100 trips per day
- Staff (private car) movements: 36 trips per day
A sensitivity test has also been carried out to assess the impact of the development in extreme circumstances. In the sensitivity case, delivery numbers were calculated on the basis of the maximum ability of the plant to unload fuel, rather than its ability to store and use it. This approach suggests a theoretical maximum site input HGV demand of 96 vehicles per day (assuming 12hr operation at 8 vehicles per hour) or 204 movements (in + out) including ash export. Such operating levels are considered highly unlikely to occur in practice and could never be sustained for long periods because the straw barns would soon become full.
Assessment of Traffic - Link Flow Impact
Typical day-to-day flows on the main B1206 and A18 local route corridor would not exceed 8 HGV movements per hour during off peak periods and a maximum of 18 vehicle movements (in + out) during the traditional rush hour periods (including for both operational HGV movements and staff car traffic).
This flow is less than 4.5% of the normal flows over the 12hr core weekday delivery period (despite the generally low level of base flow) - even including for the 'absolute worst case' development scenario. Link flow impact on the busier A18 corridor between M180 junction 4 and Brigg Town is even lower, at 1-2% of background flow demand. On this basis, the development would not produce a material change in operating conditions over the local highway network.
Assessment of Traffic - Junction Capacity Assessment
Eco2 has modelled the impact of the proposals at three junctions:
- B1206 Scawby Road/Site Access Junction/Brigg Road
- B1206 Scawby Road/A18 mini roundabout
- B1208/A18 ghost island junction
None of the modelling suggests that the junctions would be affected significantly by the proposals. The mini-roundabout does already suffer from some queuing at peak times but this is caused by baseline traffic movements and not traffic associated with the development.
Traffic Related Environmental Impact
It has been shown that the development traffic represents, in the worst case, only 4.5% of general background traffic levels on the lightly trafficked B1206 corridor and less than 2.5% on the busier A18 corridor between Brigg and the M180. Such levels are substantially below IEA 30% guideline threshold levels at which traffic related environmental impacts could be a concern. Nevertheless, the relative increase in HGV movements is more significant and warranted further consideration.
Accordingly, noise, vibration and air quality have been considered in detail. The conclusions of these detailed assessments are as follows:
- Houses off the B1206 would be the most sensitive receptors to any direct traffic flow noise increases along the B1206 and the A18 roads. Noise at these properties would increase by +0.1dB(A) to +1.4dB(A), rising to +1.7dB(A) in the worst case sensitivity case. These changes are much lower than the 3dB(A) threshold that is regarded as significant.
- The general movement of HGV's on relatively smooth access roads (even at close distance) does not typically give rise to excessive ground borne vibration. No material vibration effects are predicted as a consequence of the Brigg REP scheme.
- Predicted development traffic emissions are not expected to lead to any breaches of air quality standard thresholds.
- No material impact associated with dust is predicted.
Construction Traffic
Traffic associated with the construction of the Brigg REP project would be managed by a Construction Traffic Management Plan, agreed following consultation with local planning and highway authority officers and the Highways Agency. This would cover a range of issues such as the operational hours of construction, the anticipated levels of staffing and parking provision and the management of construction materials delivery vehicles.
Traffic associated with construction would vary through the construction period, but would seldom exceed the traffic demand associated with the typical day to day operation of the REP site.
Frequently Asked Questions
- How would fuel be delivered?
- How much extra traffic is created by the plant?
- What exact transport routes will plant traffic be taking, and why?
- How would straw lorries be kept away from minor roads?
- Have any traffic surveys been carried out on local roads?
- Can the bales fall off the lorries?
- How do Eco2 propose to deal with the straw littering issue?
- What size are the lorries that will be transporting straw to the plant site?
- What happens if the agreed delivery route is blocked?
- How will Eco2 monitor and police the designated transport routes
- How will Eco2 manage its impact on congestion in the local area?
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