Asda developers to meet Cheltenham residents
Developers behind plans for a new Asda in Cheltenham will meet with residents to discuss how to prevent traffic problems.
Cheltenham Office Park, which co-owns the proposed site for the supermarket in Hatherley Lane, says it wants to organise a summit with Up Hatherley Parish Council to iron out any worries.
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The move comes after councillors raised concerns over the amount of extra traffic the store could bring to the area, and making the road a cul-de-sac was suggested.
A spokesman for Cheltenham Office Park said: "We are aware that there are concerns about traffic and we welcome all suggestions.
"We will be discussing these and other proposed road improvements with the county council's highways department over the next few weeks.
"We have also offered parish councillors their own briefing on the Hatherley Lane regeneration if they feel they'd like more information.
"As we try to bring this site back into economic use, their feedback is important to us."
Cheltenham Office Park and its partner Robert Hitchins Ltd have signed a deal with Asda to jointly build the supermarket and an 80,000sq ft office park.
The new proposal, which will have to be approved by Cheltenham Borough Council's planning committee, could create up to 1,000 jobs.
But it has already caused concern among some residents, who say it will inevitably result in congestion and danger on Up Hatherley's suburban roads.
The worries led David Reynolds, chairman of the parish council's highways group, to propose blocking Hatherley Lane where it meets the supermarket site to stop shoppers using the road as a route to the store.
Complaints have been made in the past about commuters using Hatherley Lane to avoid morning tailbacks outside GCHQ and along the A40 as it enters the town centre.
Other suggested options to keep traffic down include pinch points and speed bumps.
Mr Reynolds said: "We are going to meet up with them to discuss what could be done.
"It is a bit early to say whether they will consider any of our suggestions. But it is good they want to talk.
"They want to get the application into the sort of shape where it is likely to be approved.
"That means sorting out this sort of thing beforehand.
"There are 6,000 cars which use Hatherley Lane every day, and you can see that doubling or tripling with the supermarket, so it needs addressing."
A Gloucestershire Highways spokesman previously confirmed a traffic survey is being conducted in Hatherley Lane at the moment.
He said nothing would be decided until all the options had been assessed.
16 Comments
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by Jeff, Cheltenham
Monday, February 01 2010, 5:44PM
“Chris - I would beg to differ unless you have read a more recent site environmental report that I have.
The ground has been used for over 50 years for heavy industry there is contamination from heavy metal and fuel oils (kerosene, AvGas etc) associated with aircraft fuel system manufacture and test. The site sits in a clay clay bowl with contaminated ground water on top. Over time this is gradually leaching out into the brook at the rear of the site hence the regular inspections by the environment agency and the large number of core samples taken over the years.
The land would requre being cleared to a depth of over 20 feet over the entire bowl area to get down to it being clean enough for housing and that would require the removal of the hospital and some of the B&Q site next door.
The clearance work done as part of the demolition removed the sunken oil pits and a lot of the general contamination but not enough for domestic housing. Use of the land for trade purposes will tolerate greater level of contaminate.
Housing use would make the land worth a vast deal more but the cost of clean up would wipe out any profit that could be made, hense the proposal.”
by Cheltonian, Cheltenham
Monday, February 01 2010, 12:14PM
“A survey of traffic in the Hatherley/Reddings area was carried out by Gloucestershire Highways Transport Monitoring Team in Summer 2009. If you are interested it might be worth contacting them for a copy of the results, which shows traffic figures are much higher than 6000 cars a day in parts of this area.”
by Hatherley Resident, Cheltenham
Sunday, January 31 2010, 5:27PM
“I have no problem with having an Asda store nearby, but as a regular user of Hatherley Lane I can see what a nightmare extra traffic will cause as there is already a build up during the rush hours. It might make more sense if access to the site can be made from Grovefield Way as the road is better prepared for traffic. and hopefully heading in the opposite direction from the rush hour flow.”
by Chris, Gloucester
Sunday, January 31 2010, 3:18PM
“Jeff, Cheltenham,
"the ground is too contaminated for housing".
What utter tosh.
That land was previously light industrial and any contamination would be minimal.
Any clean up would admittedly add to development cost but so what?
The same clean up would I expect be required for a food outlet.
Remove the potential traffic problem, build houses there”
by John, Cheltenham
Sunday, January 31 2010, 12:34PM
“Having read some of the comments posted, it falls into certain areas, those that do and those that don't. It would have been better for an IKEA store to be allowed in, although maybe Tewksbury may take that up. ANother area that is open to abuse is parking, due to the nearness of GCHQ, it could become another offspill carpark for those that currently park in the available roads around the site. It seems odd that ASDA picked this site and not the site on Tewksbury road that currently has Dunhelm, and Homebase, but at that time the planners said that traffic was a problem etc. but they have allowed the new ASDA site which has even a smaller access to it. On average a store of this type could expect 1,100 on a weekday, steady trade with increases to 2,500 cars at peak (anyone tried getting into Glos ASDA at peak times, big problem) and that store is on a main route, in comparison. As a trade off with allowing ASDA to build what about other facilities, talk to Sure Start (they had some excellent ideas), a new bowling alley, the old Dowty Social club could prove a good site; there is always room to compromise but knowing Cheltenham they'll go for the money. Another thing is that maybe a discount for the residents in that area against their poll tax (now wouldn't that cause an uproar).”
by Jeff, Cheltenham
Sunday, January 31 2010, 11:05AM
“Chris - Sorry, the ground is too contaminated for domestic use.
Fed Up - Sorry, drivers need to be educated and trained. Speed cameras enforce a single offence at a single location. Education and training works where ever the drive happens to be.”
by belinda, cheltenham
Sunday, January 31 2010, 9:10AM
“i would love to see an asda in cheltenham as it can be cheaper than tesco sometimes they should put it by Sainsburys on tewkesbury food i hope they do bring an asda to cheltenham i will be going there and i expect my friends will aswel BRING IT TO CHELTENHAM”
by Fed up, Hatherley
Sunday, January 31 2010, 8:34AM
“What abourt Alma Road?
Its already used as a race track by inconsiderate drivers.
Alma Road needs a speed camera. NOW.
Put in working speed cameras and speed limits thats how you control drivers.”
by Patty, Cheltenham
Sunday, January 31 2010, 8:20AM
“I'm not concerned about the traffic, I'm just concerned that we are having a commoners shop in Cheltenham. This type of place needs to stay in Gloucester with the chavs.”
by Ian, Cheltenham
Saturday, January 30 2010, 10:46PM
“There are already plenty of choice of decent supermarkets for the size of the town.
As for the races, it seems like everyone moans about the traffic gridlock this causes and is glad when it is over.
Have to agree with debzo, something like bowling, ice skating etc could be a much better use of this land especially, with the existing bowling alley closing down and no doubt less traffic.”