PJA provided evidence at Public Inquiry in 2016 for the demolition of a public house to facilitate the construction of 62 dwellings and an Arts Centre at The Ham and Blackbird, in Farnborough.
The site is in a very sustainable location; approximately 400 metres from Farnborough town centre and approximately 150m from Farnborough railway station.
However, the site is also highly constrained due to its location in the centre of a heavily-trafficked gyratory, with queuing back through adjacent junctions predicted as a result of the submitted scheme. The application was therefore refused at committee due to the adverse impact that Hampshire County Council considered the submitted scheme would have on the safety and free flow of traffic on the gyratory.
During the Appeal, PJA successfully argued for a revised scheme, with changes proposed to the existing gyratory complementing revised access strategy plans.
Using VISSIM microsimulation and LINSIG modelling software, PJA demonstrated how forecast development traffic would result in much reduced queue lengths on sensitive road links, with no queuing back through adjacent junctions.
The Inspector subsequently concluded that the revised scheme would not have a severe impact on the safety and free flow of traffic on the gyratory. The Appeal was allowed, and full planning permission was granted.
