The douzaine called a public meeting this week to inform its response to the outline planning application to develop major roads within the proposed housing area for Saltpans Vinery.
The road would have three exit points on the site – a purpose-built junction on Route Militaire, that has remained unused for more than a decade, and an exit through the two roads joining the Saltpans to the south.
The small douzaine room was overflowing with people, many of them angry, wanting to express their views about traffic dangers and the impracticalities of moving two-way traffic through the Saltpans to Route Militaire and Nocq Road to the Bridge.
In a statement after the meeting the douzaine admitted that emotions were ‘running high’.
‘Many residents were rightly concerned about the level of proposed development in the area and how the proposed new road might integrate into Saltpans Road, both in order to serve Franc Fief and at the eastern-most end,’ it said.
‘There was, however, a general acceptance that a new road, in some form, is an essential prerequisite if large volumes of housing are to be built in this area without negatively impacting neighbouring roads.’
More than one parishioner called for a road network to be developed across three identified housing sites between Route Militaire and the Bridge and not carried out piecemeal.
‘The urgency for some new housing is not disputed, but there needs to be greater consideration of the impacts on existing residents arising from such significant levels of development in St Sampson’s and whether densities can be reduced in some areas,’ the douzaine said.
The douzaine has carried out its own traffic assessment of the flow through to Vale Road at peak commuter time, which at least in part reinforced consultants’ figures that traffic volumes might be declining, at least in part attributed to the States’ enthusiasm for active travel and its Better Transport Plan.
But many junctions were overburdened with traffic at peak times, it said.
Residents were not just concerned about traffic and although there was some acceptance that there would be new housing created in the parish, not everyone was willing to accept the proportion and density suggested.
‘There was considerable frustration among attendees at the reluctance of the States through the approved policies of the Island Development Plan to share the burden more equally with other much less developed and trafficked parts of the island,’ the douzaine said.
‘Accordingly, we will continue to argue in the strongest possible terms for existing and future housing allocations within the Island Development Plan to be more fairly distributed across the island.’
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