The Solution

Helping everyone to see the pieces of the picture they were missing.

At the very beginning of the project, we met the Local Highway Authority on site and, using the government’s document on design principles (Manual for Streets), were able to demonstrate that widening Forstal Lane to the 6-metres originally suggested wouldn’t solve the problem if the road it connected onto (Stockett Lane) was narrower.

And because Forstal Lane was straight, widening it would likely result in higher traffic speeds, potentially impacting the safety of pedestrians and cyclists.

Once the Local Highway Authority was on board, we were able to take a more balanced, place-led approach. We provided plans for a 4.8-metre-wide carriageway that would accommodate a car passing a heavy goods vehicle. This not only gave our clients complete control of its delivery, but also provided significant cost savings at a very early stage of the project.

Our work provided significant cost savings at a very early stage of the project. Vitally, it considered the safety of pedestrians and cyclists too.

We designed the site access onto Forstal Lane to be left-turn only, using a shaped central island and highway narrowing to prevent vehicles turning right onto a narrow back lane into Maidstone. We also created a pedestrian-only exit to the south where our accessibility models showed the nearest bus stop within 400 metres.

Through public consultation events, residents raised their concerns about development traffic ‘rat running’ through adjacent estates in order to avoid peak hour congestion at Stockett Lane. But we realised that, rather than being a potential negative, the opportunity to route traffic through an adjoining estate would help minimise the impact at the more sensitive Stocket Lane junction.

We therefore carried out journey-time surveys and gravity modelling to calculate the proportion of traffic that would use each available route. Quantifying the use of the road in this way reassured the Council that, while some drivers would use the housing estate, the numbers wouldn’t cause a negative impact on existing residents. The modelling justified the entire proposal, and our transport assessment flew through.

Our modelling justified the entire proposal, and our transport assessment flew over the line.

Adding value (and saving the development) through flood-risk assessment. Through our focus on ‘place’ we immediately identified that an existing watercourse, running through the central area of the site, would potentially wash out a significant chunk of the development. After a cost balancing cut-and-fill assessment, our flood risk modelling sought to maximise the net developable area of the site by realigning the watercourse and reprofiling it. This not only unlocked additional development land but, through the reprofiling of the embankments, we were able to integrate the works within the public open space calculation to create further value in the scheme.