News

Centros to look at further improvements to Canal Corridor North scheme

In response to consultation feedback following the submission of its outline planning application for the Canal Corridor North site in Lancaster city centre, Centros is looking at further ways to improve the proposals. This work will result in possible highways improvements and other design changes following helpful comments from statutory bodies.

One of the main proposed changes has been suggested by Lancashire County Council and involves an alternative layout for the Caton Road gyratory system. This alternative proposal would allow city-bound traffic from the north to continue straight through along Parliament Street into the city. City-bound traffic from Morecambe would also be able to turn right from Skerton Bridge along Parliament Street, benefiting from a more direct route into the city centre and reducing the attractiveness of the local rat-runs.

Morecambe-bound traffic from the north would continue to use Caton Road, which will benefit from reduced traffic. Traffic heading for the new Canal Corridor car park would also use Caton Road and access the development via a new link road onto St Leonard Gate.

David Lewis, associate director of Centros, said: “We’re delighted with this very positive suggestion by the County Council, an idea that was also raised by numerous members of the public during the exhibition, and we think that this change may further reduce rat running through Freehold beyond our original proposals. However, it will take time to make these changes to the new computerised highways model and test them thoroughly. We also expect the updated base for the model to be verified by the County Council very soon, and once that happens everyone can have confidence that the proposed amendments will be reliably tested.

“Additionally, the County Council has asked us to look more closely at how St Leonard Gate is treated. So we will use the model to test a traffic priority system for St Leonard Gate plus the removal of the roundabout that is currently part of our proposals to see if this improves the system.

“Also, the Luneside West development has been given the go-ahead at appeal since we submitted our planning application, so in response to a request by both the City and County Councils, we have agreed to incorporate the proposed traffic generated by that development into the model to ensure that we are assessing the ‘worst case’ scenario.”

Questions have also been raised by the City Council’s retail advisors, White Young Green, about the level of shopping that is appropriate for Lancaster and Centros’s planning consultants, Montagu Evans are discussing these directly with White Young Green.

David Lewis explained: “Competing and similar size towns within the region have or are extending their shopping offers – namely Preston, Blackpool, Carlisle, Blackburn and Burnley. If Lancaster fails to respond to additional competition, it will decline and fall behind its neighbours. We firmly believe that the proposed scheme is the right scale to ensure that Lancaster thrives in the future.

“We are also pleased to be properly engaged now with English Heritage, who, while they support the principle of development of the site, have expressed particular concerns about the scheme – the main one being the need for a pedestrian bridge over Stonewell.

“It is important to remember that we are building for the long term and so we must take the right amount of time to ensure that everything has been thoroughly checked.”

Lancaster City Council’s Director of Regeneration, John Donnellon, added: “The City Council remains committed to the canal corridor development subject to a number of important tests being passed. We understand and support the additional work being done to deal with queries raised about traffic, retail demand and heritage issues and expect the planning application to be dealt with towards the end of the year after the additional consultation that will be needed for any additional information has been concluded.”

31st July 2007