Location and access

The proposed facility will be located on part of the disused New England quarry, at Lee Mill, near Ivybridge to the east of Plymouth.

Half of the proposed feedstock for the Resource Recovery Centre arises in Plymouth, therefore Viridor believes that this is the best location taking into account the strategic road network.

Key features of this site are:

• It covers an area of approximately 20 hectares and is allocated for waste use in the Devon Waste Plan
• The site has a history of development having previously been a quarry supporting the local aggregates industry
• Currently an inert waste disposal occupies the stockyard to the north of the quarry pit, otherwise the site is non-operational

Viridor thoroughly investigated access routes and modeled traffic flows to ensure that the most appropriate solutions were put forward to minimise the impact of the Resource Recovery Centre on local transport infrastructure.

We looked at nine different options for managing traffic coming to site but were unable to secure the land needed to deliver them, so are proposing to use the existing road with modifications.

Modeling of the potential effects of development traffic on the operation of Western Road concluded that the facility would result in an increase in eastbound HGV traffic levels on Western Road of around 16% and an increase in total traffic volumes of around 2%.

Capacity assessments at the roundabout at the eastern end of the A38 exit slip road and at the junction of Western Road with the C194 (underpass of the A30) show that whilst the junctions are clearly busy, they operate within capacity and would not be adversely affected by the introduction of traffic accessing the proposed site.

Notwithstanding this, Viridor propose mitigation works to Western Road to minimise the impact of additional traffic where possible. These proposed improvements include:

• Provision of a ‘Watchman’ speed activated camera on both sides of the road, to alternate signs ‘30mph’ and ‘SLOW DOWN’
• Provision of a 1.8 metre wide footway on the southern side of Western Road
• Enhancement of existing road signage and road markings where required

The Highways Agency and Devon County Council have advised that whilst they would not object to developer funded slip road improvement options (provided that they were compliant with their standards), they consider the existing road arrangement to be acceptable.

Furthermore, they consider that the additional traffic generated by the New England development would not materially change this.

Downloads

Site Map