Rob Batiste: A transport mess in the making

Arup International Projects Ltd lives on the second floor of 111, Victoria Street in Bristol.

I’m sure that they are a fine bunch of men and women who know their business.

But what I, and at least several dozen other St Sampson’s residents will say, is that they don’t appear to know just how the road systems and traffic flows of our parish work, and having ploughed through the monstrously long and remarkably detailed transport plan and drawings for the projected Saltpans Park, Arup has riled me and, I expect, hundreds more (should they ever read it), no end.

As a four-decade St Sampson’s parishioner with a home among the narrow, twisting lanes on the Bridge perimeter, along with many other northern residents, I am fed up of being treated as a numpty who will quietly follow the experts’ words and expectations on what is good for us.

I feel that this report expects me to be just that. Otherwise why would it contrive to hint that Nocq Road is some sort of A-road and the entire road scheme will enable the free-flowing of cars associated with the development of Saltpans Park – that’s if it ever happens of course, after all Guernsey’s Bob the Builder is busy at the moment.

Planning Application OP/25/1028 is a must-read for anyone interested in what the States has in line for what not so many years ago was outlined as a data park.

‘Having ploughed through the monstrously long and remarkably detailed transport plan and drawings for the projected Saltpans Park, Arup has riled me and, I expect, hundreds more (should they ever read it), no end.’

Arup is not the only contributor. It covers the aspects of transport, movement and access, while Savills’ Urban Design Studio is responsible for the ‘placemaking and master planning’, Savills Earth the ‘sustainable placemaking’, the company expedition (with a lower case e) has the sustainable water management base covered, and the team at local law firm Collas Crill is looking after the planning.

Sitting above them are our Policy & Resources Committee and the Guernsey Housing Association, combining to solve the island’s dire housing issues at the expense of those living in the north.

The fact is that the planned data park never arrived, but there is plenty of data in this application.

As a read, it’s a bit of a War And Peace offering, only in this online tome there are plenty of pretty, detailed pictures and plans to support the read. Also, it may yet prove to be, like Tolstoy’s classic, a piece of fiction, as there are simply so many elements to it that I, for one, can’t believe will happen.

More of that detail later, but as I would dearly love for those pictures and plans to become reality, I want to concentrate on the other bit that I and most of my neighbours near and far believe definitely won’t work – the transport plan.

In a nutshell, the projection is for one spine road to run through much of the site from Route Militaire at one end, while two exits into the Saltpans provide a way out.

For those unacquainted with the Saltpans it is a narrow winding section of road that in the west exits onto Route Militaire and, on the eastern end takes you into either more narrow lanes, or onto the Bridge via Nocq Road.

They are roads fit for bicycles and not much more.

To suggest that the Saltpans can cater for cars associated with the projected 349 extra homes for Saltpans Park, is not only laughable, it is insulting to us parishioners who know the truth, through living it on a daily basis.

And, of course, Saltpans Park is not the only planned major building development immediately west of the Bridge.

Parc Le Lacheur (another 180 homes) will be separated from Saltpans Park by a hop, skip and jump and while also looking good on the architects’ plans, will churn out even more cars.

Then, of course, the other side of Lowlands Road there may yet be a revived Leale’s Yard development (circa a further 314 houses).

I could throw in to the development mix Cleveleys off the Braye Road (35-40), Pointues Rocques (68) and Franc Fief (an initial 50, building up to 203 longer term), but that would be me just causing trouble.

To this background, what level of homework has been done in piecing together a plainly ridiculous traffic impact assessment appears to be questionable.

Has anyone involved in the report actually walked these roads? Have they stopped and looked at what already exists? Because if they have they will know, like the couple of dozen speakers letting off steam in a charged parish meeting last month on this issue, that already Nocq Road is woefully inadequate to cater for traffic emerging onto the Bridge, not least for its narrowness, but also its pinch point on the corner of the Mariners’ pub.

To believe it can take a single car more is a nonsense.

But who is guiding these conclusions?

It must be coming from within, including from a group of politicians who would have us all pedalling around on push bikes if they could in a bid to solve the island’s housing crisis.

The Saltpans Park plans are clearly aimed at driving people to abandon the car and either walk or catch a bus. That is an arrogant, utopian viewpoint which, frankly, is an insult to all those who will have to put up with the consequences.

I am not a Nimby. While I would dearly love to see the south-western parishes bearing some of the need for greater housing, I look at the ugly brown fields of this reclaimed stretch tucked between Route Militaire and the Bridge and I do agree, it is ideal for new housing.

But to suggest that it can or should realise a total of 878 new dwellings is ridiculous, especially when we all know just how much additional traffic chaos this is going to create.

And that figure is before any Franc Fief lane additions are included – there could be 253 houses there and only one exit onto the Saltpans.

There is only one way out of this mess in the making.

It is to somehow extend this projected major spine road in Saltpans Park and continue it through Parc Le Lacheur and into Leale’s Yard and onto the north end of the Bridge where, already, a major exit/entry point has been earmarked.

Of course the only enabler to this is to allow cross-traffic through Lowlands, an already highly busy one-way road and as each side of this stretch carries housing or light-industry business, some compulsory purchasing may be needed.

I could go on about one-way systems, route des habitants and traffic flows, all of which to my mind are questionable.

Don’t be fooled by any figures Traffic & Highways come forward with, nor by the fancy phrasing such as ‘active travel opportunities’, and pretty images of tree-lined roads, a central football pitch and dreamlike clean-living you will find in the Saltpans Park plans.

These estates – because that is exactly what they are – may regress to being the biggest eyesore Guernsey has ever seen.

As someone who witnessed first-hand the gradual degradation of Les Genats from neat, tidy and purposeful homes in 1969 to a run-down mess by the early 1980s, I can easily visualise something similar occurring down this way.

Remember, we seem to be unable to keep the roads clear of weeds now, so the prospect of the Saltpans cycleways, rain gardens, garden promenade, linear parkland, central green and community orchard – all of them part of the grandiose drawings – being maintained does not leave me with much confidence.

Do the buildings if you have to, but really look and learn about this area, get the road systems and infrastructure right, and let’s stop the political patronising too.