Opponents of plans to build 3,000 homes on the edge of Aylesbury have been boosted by an independent traffic report which flags up fears of the development’s ‘severe impact’.
Hampden Fields Action Group commissioned the report by independent group Transport Planning Practice.
It indicates several key junctions close to the development between Bedgrove and Weston Turville are already overloaded which is ‘likely to lead to significant congestion and delay on the road network’.
Group chairman Phil Yerby said: “It just proves what we said all along. Aylesbury is over capacity.
“Does this not demonstrate that this application has been rushed through as Aylesbury does not yet have a local plan and without properly considering the transport and traffic issues?
“Hampden Fields is going to overload it even more.”
The predicted overloaded junctions include Walton Gyratory, Wendover Way and King Edward Avenue.
Mr Yerby said this will cause further congestion particularly around schools such as Aylesbury High School, Aylesbury Grammar School and The Grange School.
Much of the report produced by Geoffrey Taylor is in response to Hampden Field Consortium’s own independent study by WSP Development and Transportation.
That study concludes that a new link road between the A41 and A413 will ease the traffic issues.
But in Mr Taylor’s report he writes that the south eastern link road ‘would not fulfil the role of a strategic link in the road network and will not, therefore, bring about the claimed strategic benefits’.
Another point highlighted is that the developers and Bucks County Council are yet to agree a position on the transport issues and with the appeal hearing beginning on Tuesday they are unlikely to do so.
Mr Yerby acknowledged this is just one independent study but said he is ‘cautiously optimistic’ of success ahead of the inquiry.
He said: “If there’s no agreed position on the transport issues I’m hopeful.
“With the overloaded junctions, the lack of benefit for the link road, the sheer weight of numbers of people who have objected to this case around the area, I would hope they would look on our case sympathetically.”