Issue details

The Statement of Community Consultation (SoCC) explains how the formal consultation on the A428’s preferred route (expected later this year) will be completed. The council is a statutory consultee because the preferred route will affect parts of South Cambridgeshire.

 

Purpose

 

The purpose of the decision is to agree the Council’s response to Highways England on the consultation on the A428 Statement of Community Consultation (SoCC). The consultation deadline is 10 April 2019.

 

Background

 

The Council has previously supported the A428 Black Cat to Caxton Gibbet Improvement Scheme.

 

The A428 between St Neots and Caxton Gibbet is the only stretch of single carriageway along the route between Milton Keynes and Cambridge.

 

Motorists experience regular delays and congestion in this and the surrounding area, particularly at the Black Cat and Caxton Gibbet roundabouts. Journey times are often inconsistent and there are also a high number of incidents, especially at junctions along the route. With few available diversion routes, accidents can result in disruption over a wide area. Rat running on local roads through villages is also a problem as drivers seek alternative routes to avoid the heavily congested A428.

 

The A428 is an important route in an area of the country where there is the potential for considerable growth in housing and employment. It provides a vital link between the M1 and the M11, connecting the communities of Bedford, St Neots, Cambridge and Cambourne. With the new A14, it will form part of a key route to the ports of Felixstowe and Harwich.

 

In February 2019, Highways England announced their preferred route, more details of which can be found here on their website https://highwaysengland.co.uk/projects/a428-black-cat-to-caxton-gibbet/.  Highways England are now progressing the A428 Development Consent Order (DCO) application (to obtain planning permission to build the new road). The next stage of the DCO process is to consult on the alinement and design of the preferred route which is expected in summer 2019. Ahead of this, Highways England is consulting on their methods of consultation. This is documented in the A428 Statement of Community Consultation (SoCC) document. As the preferred route will pass through South Cambridgeshire District Council, the council is a statutory consultee.

 

The SoCC explains the purpose of the consultation. It will:

·      Enable members of the public to influence details of the Scheme

·      Provide the opportunity to give feedback on the Scheme

·      Encourage the community to help shape the Scheme to maximise local benefits and minimise any downsides

·      Help local people understand the potential nature and local impact of the Scheme

·      Enable potential mitigation measures to be considered and, if appropriate, built into the Scheme before our DCO application is submitted

·      Identify ways in which the Scheme supports wider strategic or local objectives

 

It is anticipated the consultation will run for 6 weeks in the summer.  During the consultation period, Highways England will provide information about and seek feedback on various features of the Scheme including:

 

·      Environmental assessments, potential environmental impacts and proposed mitigation measures

·      Provisions for walkers, cyclists and horse-riders.

 

The SoCC contains details of all the proposed consultation events. These are summarised below with specific reference to events applicable to South Cambridgeshire:

 

1.   Consultation events: A number of consultation events will be held at different local venues including Eltisley and Cambourne within South Cambridgeshire, where members of the team will be available to answer questions about the Scheme. A number of pop-up style events will also be held. Visitors to the consultation events will be able to submit their consultation responses at the events if they choose to.

 

Consultation events (including the dates and times of the pop-up style events) will be publicised in the local media, on social media and through posters in local venues. Details of consultation events will also be available on the Scheme website.

 

2.   Scheme website: A full summary of the Scheme, the SoCC, the consultation brochure, the consultation response form, the Preliminary Environmental Information Report (PEIR), Non-Technical Summary of the PEIR, and a plan showing the extent of the Scheme (Order limits) will be available at Highways England’s Scheme website highwaysengland.co.uk/a428 during the consultation period.

 

In order to establish the Highways England Scheme website as the key source of information about the Scheme, Highways England will send letters and emails to the local authorities and parish councils they consult on the Scheme, encouraging them to display a link on their website directing people to the Highways England Scheme website.  This will reduce the risk of key messages being misreported on other sites, integrate the website more widely and offer the potential for faster and more reliable information distribution going forward. The consultation will also be referenced on the Planning Inspectorate’s website.  The consultation website will also be accessible via the Planning Inspectorate’s website.

 

3.   Consultation booklet and letters: The consultation brochure will contain details of the Scheme and consultation events (including pop-up style events). It will be available online on the Scheme website, at events and at the deposit locations, and will be sent to those directly affected by the Scheme (i.e. those properties within the red line boundary, Appendix A of the SoCC). This includes the SCDC affected wards (listed above).

 

4.   Council and community / area forum briefings: Where possible and when invited, Highways England will speak to local council forums and community / area forums, including parish councils, affected by or in the vicinity of the Scheme.

 

5.   Stakeholder briefings: Where possible and when invited, Highways England will brief local stakeholders affected by the Scheme.

 

6.   Statutory notices: These will publicise the proposed DCO application and the SoCC will be published as follows:

-     Proposed DCO application publicity notice (Section 48 Notice) – once in a national newspaper and the London Gazette and twice in local circulating newspapers;

-     The SoCC notice (Section 47(6)(a)) Notice) – once in local circulating newspapers.

 

7.   Media adverts, press releases and posters: The public consultation will be advertised by placing media adverts in locally circulating newspapers. These adverts will promote the consultation and will include details of consultation events. Press releases detailing the consultation period and how the community and road users can get involved will be issued.

 

Posters publicising the consultation will also be sent to the parish councils Highways England consult.  Highways England will ask them to issue the posters through their established networks (including notice boards, newsletters, meetings and websites).

 

8.   Social media: The public consultation will be advertised on Highways England’s Twitter feed (@HighwaysEngland), which will be used to announce the start of the consultation, publicise the exhibitions and encourage responses to the consultation.

 

9.   Hard to reach groups: Highways England has identified a range of community organisations with a potential interest in the Scheme, including representatives of local ‘hard to reach’ groups. To ensure these ‘hard to reach’ groups are encouraged to get involved in the consultation, the materials will be prepared to be accessible and clear. Additionally, Highways England will ensure:

-     That the contact telephone number and email address for the Scheme are prominent on all published material, enabling individuals to contact the team with questions and requests;

-     That the consultation brochure and feedback form can be made available in alternative forms on request including large print and languages other than English;

-     Information about the consultation is sent directly to addresses within the primary consultation zone;

-     Representatives of ‘hard to reach groups’ will be sent details about the consultation.

 

Where possible Highways England will aim to hold events at venues that are accessible and can be reached by public as well as private transport.

 

10.   Deposit locations: To help inform consultation responses, the below items will be made available to view free of charge at a number of deposit locations during the consultation period:

·      The SoCC

·      Public consultation brochure and response form

·      Scheme/route map showing the full extent of the Scheme and the land needed to construct it on a plan

·      PEIR & Non-Technical Summary

·      Section 48 Notice, which will publicise our pre-application statutory consultation for the Scheme

·      Previous public consultation reports and/or public consultation summary documents.

 

The information to be made available (listed above) will be held at local deposit locations along the route, including in South Cambridgeshire, Papworth Library, Cambourne Library and at South Cambridgeshire Hall

 

 

Comparison between the SoCC and South Cambridgeshire’s draft Statement of Community Involvement (2019).

 

In February and March of this year, the Council (jointly with Cambridge City Council) prepared a revised Statement of Community Involvement (SCI) which has the purpose of setting out how South Cambridgeshire District Council and Cambridge City Council will engage the public in the planning process. The SCI describes how the public, businesses and interest groups within the local authority areas can get involved in the creation of local planning policy and the planning application process aiming at shaping were we live, work and trade. This is essential to help improve understanding and openness of the planning process.

 

While not yet adopted, it has been subject to public consultation (February – March 2019). It is anticipated the results of the consultation will be reported to Members and the SCI adopted in the summer (with possible amendments subject to responses to the public consultation). It is therefore the latest version of South Cambridgeshire’s SCI (referred from here on as the SCI) and has been used to assess whether Highways England’s proposed A428 SoCC’s methods of consultation are satisfactory (i.e. as if the document to be consulted upon was a Local Plan document).

 

The SCI requires the councils, when consulting on Local Plan documents to give those with an interest in development in the area the opportunity to have their say on planning policy. The councils will aim to provide a flexible, proportionate and effective approach to consultation, customised and guided by the nature of the document being prepared. The councils are also committed to meeting the requirements of the Equality Act 2010, which aims to promote equality, eliminate discrimination and encourage good relations between different groups associated with age, disability, gender/gender reassignment, race, religion and other protected characteristics.

 

In terms of the specific consultation methods employed for a Local Plan document, the following consultation methods are used (with their numbered comparative method in the Highways England’s SoCC):

·      Inviting representations through a notice on the councils’ website, and advertising through other methods such as social media, news releases, Council publications or press adverts: SoCC Consultation method:2, 6, 7, 8 & 9;

·      Written / email consultations with ‘specific consultation bodies’ and appropriate ‘general consultation bodies’ and other relevant stakeholders: SoCC Consultation method:2, 3 & 9;

·      Consultation documents will be available to view on the councils’ websites, and at council offices: SoCC Consultation method: 2, 3 & 10;

·      Public consultation events if appropriate to the nature of the consultation. These may include public exhibitions and open day events: SoCC Consultation method: 1 & 5.

 

In addition to the above, the primary consultation zone set out at appendix A of the SoCC includes South Cambridgeshire parishes through which the route travels, and those adjacent to a parish directly affected. This approach is supported.

 

Holding consultation events at Eltisley and Cambourne is considered reasonable, given that the route runs close to Eltisley village and that Cambourne is the largest centre of population in the local area. Given that the route runs through Papworth Everard parish and given that Papworth Everard village is a minor rural centre itself, it is considered that it might be beneficial to hold a further consultation event there.

 

Following analysis of the SoCC, all of the SCI’s required methods of consultation will be used (see consultation methods listed above) during the public consultation on the alignment and design of the preferred route. It is therefore recommended to support the consultation approach provided in the A428 Statement of Community Consultation (SoCC), including:

•           The proposed consultation zone

•           The proposed consultation techniques and materials

•           The proposed event locations and dates. However, we would also ask that in addition consideration is given to holding an event in Papworth Everard.

•           The proposal to send letters and emails to parish councils in particular.