Improvements to key roads and roundabouts proposed
Sandleford developer says changes will mitigate impact of additional traffic from 2,000 home development
THE full impact of the single biggest housing development in West Berkshire’s history can been revealed for the first time.
Plans to build up to 2,000 new homes and two new primary schools on land at Sandleford Park, off Monks Lane, southern Newbury, will be submitted at the end of this month.
Four access roads into the development are now being proposed – two from Monks Lane, one from the A339 and one from Warren Road, while another ‘emergency’ access is being proposed from Kendrick Road.
Access from the western end of Monks Lane, near Newbury Rugby Club, will be via a new roundabout, while access from the eastern end of Monks Lane, near to Newbury College, will be via a T-junction.
Concerned residents and opposition councillors have long said that the two accesses originally proposed from Monks Lane were inadequate.
At last Thursday’s public exhibition, details of the new access roads were unveiled, just weeks before a planning application is due to be submitted.
The first road from the A339 will be located north of the turning into the Newtown Road Recycling Centre turn-off. Traffic lights are being proposed at the entrance which will stop traffic travelling along the A339 and allow traffic leaving the development to turn left or right.
One of the two proposed primary schools is to be built near Newbury Rugby Club, with the other opposite Park House School. Land has also been set aside for the expansion of Park House School and developers have said that money from Sandleford could be used to partially fund the proposed expansion of Falkland Surgery.
Developer Bloor Homes Southern this week said that putting extra lanes and widening approaches on many of Newbury’s busiest roads will be enough to cope with extra traffic created.
Additional lanes are proposed to be built on all three of the main approaches to the Burger King roundabout, while changes are also planned at the A339 Pinchington Lane roundabout and the A339/Bear Lane roundabout near Sainsbury’s.
