55 Gaddum Road, Bowdon, WA14 3PH

55 Gaddum Road, Bowdon, WA14 3PH — Trafford Metropolitan Borough Council — Appeal Decision Site visit made on 28 July 2024 by Sarah Manchester BSc MSc PhD MIEnvSc an Inspector appointed by the Secretary of State Decision date: 22 August 2024 Appeal Ref: APP/Q4245/W/24/3336588 55 Gaddum Road, Bowdon, Trafford WA14 3PH • The appeal is made under section 78 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 (as amended) against a failure to give notice within the prescribed period of a decision on an application for planning permission. • The appeal is made by Mrs Anderson against Trafford Metropolitan Borough Council. • The application Ref is 111000/HHA/23. • The development proposed is addition of new vehicular access into the site from the highway with associated dropped kerb. Decision 1. The appeal is dismissed. Preliminary Matters 2. The appeal is against the Council’s failure to determine the planning application within the prescribed time limits. In its evidence to the appeal, the Council states that if it had been in a position to determine the application, it would have refused it on grounds relating to impacts on highway safety. 3. On 21 March 2024, the Council adopted The Places for Everyone Joint Development Plan (the PfE). This supersedes parts of the Trafford Core Strategy Adopted January 2012 (the CS).

55 Gaddum Road, Bowdon, WA14 3PH — Trafford Metropolitan Borough Council — Appeal Decision However, the relevant parts of CS Policy L7 are not superseded. The parties have been provided with the opportunity to comment on the implications of the PfE to their cases through the appeal process. I am therefore satisfied that the interests of the parties would not be prejudiced by my determination of the appeal on this basis. 4. Planning permission (Ref 105789/HHA/21) was granted in April 2023 for erection of new linked garage with ancillary accommodation above, rear extension to accommodate leisure suite with associated internal alterations. The appeal proposal originally formed part of that planning application, but it was removed from the scheme prior to determination following concerns raised by the Highway Authority. Main Issue 5. Therefore, the main issue in the appeal is the effect of the proposal on the safe operation of the highway. Reasons 6. No 55 is a substantial 2-storey detached dwelling in a large plot at the junction of Gaddum Road and Bow Lane. It is set back behind a long, hardstanding frontage. Highway boundaries are formed from low walls with railings and https://www.gov.uk/planning-inspectorate

55 Gaddum Road, Bowdon, WA14 3PH — Trafford Metropolitan Borough Council — Appeal Decision Appeal Decision APP/Q4245/W/24/3336588 dense hedgerow and close-boarded timber fencing. The property is served by a single highway access located close to the boundary of No 53 Gaddum Road. It is in a densely developed residential area characterised by generally large, detached dwellings with off street parking. Bowden is roughly to the north of the junction of the A56, A556 and M56. 7. The proposed vehicular access would be sited at the opposite end of the frontage to the existing access. It would have a sliding gate around 4m wide. The dropped kerb would be around 10m from the northbound Bow Lane carriageway and even closer to the southbound carriageway. Therefore, it would be in close proximity to the Bow Lane junction. 8. There are no other private driveways close to the junction on the same side of the road as the appeal property. However, Sirrah, on the opposite side of the road, has 2 highway access points with one being next to the dense boundary hedge that extends around the acute bend of Gaddum Road and Bow Lane and that encloses Fornells. The access to Fornells is also sited close to the bend where Bow Lane meets Gaddum Road. 9. There are footways to both sides of Gaddum Road.

55 Gaddum Road, Bowdon, WA14 3PH — Trafford Metropolitan Borough Council — Appeal Decision However, Bow Lane is served by a footway to one side only. Pedestrians accessing Bow Lane to the south of the junction, including those accessing the footpath to the rear of the appeal property, will therefore be likely to either walk directly past the proposal on Gaddum Road or cross Gaddum Road close to the junction. 10. The SCP Technical Note includes the results of automated traffic counts along Bow Lane from October 2022. During the week, traffic exiting the Bow Lane junction in a northbound direction peaked at around 0800 to 0900, with lower vehicle flows at other times. On the basis of the flows, SCP consider that vehicles exiting the junction would be unlikely to conflict with vehicles exiting the proposal. Be that as it may, the traffic counts provide only a partial picture of highway user activity in and around the junction. In this regard, there is little before me in relation to vehicle flows passing the junction, the use of the other residential access points close to the junction or the use of the highway network by vulnerable road users including cyclists and pedestrians. 11.

55 Gaddum Road, Bowdon, WA14 3PH — Trafford Metropolitan Borough Council — Appeal Decision The Supplementary Planning Document SPD3: Parking Standards and Design Adopted February 2012 (the SPD3) cautions that vehicle crossings compromise highway safety by creating turning movements on the carriageway and by permitting vehicles to travel over the footway, which is otherwise restricted to pedestrians only. Consequently, the number of crossings should ideally be limited to one crossing per site unless there would be valid highway safety benefits in having more than one. Moreover, crossings should not be located within or close to highway junctions if possible. 12. The appellant considers that there would be highway safety benefits as the proposal would allow vehicles to enter and exit the site in forward gear, in contrast to the current situation where vehicles reverse along the driveway and onto the road. However, SCP report only one ‘slight’ accident on Bow Lane in the period 1999 to 2022 and no personal injury accidents within 100m of the junction between 2015 and 2021. The existing access arrangement appears to have been acceptable in relation to the recently permitted garage.

55 Gaddum Road, Bowdon, WA14 3PH — Trafford Metropolitan Borough Council — Appeal Decision In this regard, the Highway Consultee considers that it is possible to achieve a single point of vehicle access while retaining 4 driveway parking spaces together with sufficient area to accommodate vehicle turning manoeuvres. There is little https://www.gov.uk/planning-inspectorate 2

55 Gaddum Road, Bowdon, WA14 3PH — Trafford Metropolitan Borough Council — Appeal Decision In this regard, the Highway Consultee considers that it is possible to achieve a single point of vehicle access while retaining 4 driveway parking spaces together with sufficient area to accommodate vehicle turning manoeuvres. There is little https://www.gov.uk/planning-inspectorate 2

55 Gaddum Road, Bowdon, WA14 3PH — Trafford Metropolitan Borough Council — Appeal Decision Appeal Decision APP/Q4245/W/24/3336588 compelling evidence to the contrary or to demonstrate that the existing arrangement is inherently unsafe. 13. Irrespective, the submitted plans illustrate 2 car parking spaces next to both the existing and the proposed access points. This arrangement would not allow for the operation of an in/out system as there would be no unobstructed driveway between the 2 access points. There would in any case be nothing to prevent drivers from using either access to enter and exit the property. The additional dropped kerb could also displace roadside parking by visitors closer towards the Bow Lane junction or restrict visibility around the new access. 14. Particularly as the solid and dense boundary treatments obstruct views in and out of the site, the operation of 2 accesses would result in greater confusion, additional manoeuvring on the footway and in the carriageway and thereby potential conflict. As such, it would not improve the existing situation, which in any case is not demonstrably harmful to highway safety. For the above reasons, I find there is little compelling evidence that the proposal would result in any valid highway safety benefits.

55 Gaddum Road, Bowdon, WA14 3PH — Trafford Metropolitan Borough Council — Appeal Decision Conversely, it would significantly increase the scope for conflicts between pedestrians, cyclists and vehicles. 15. Therefore, I conclude that the proposal would result in unacceptable harm to highway safety. It would conflict with CS Policies L7 and SPD3. These require, among other things, that vehicular access and egress should be satisfactorily located having regard to highway safety. It would also conflict with the aims of the National Planning Policy Framework in relation to minimising the scope for highway user conflict and ensuring that development functions well. Other Matters 16. Several other properties in the local area do have 2 driveway access points. Notwithstanding that the highway may have been operating safely, those properties do not provide a justification for a new access close to a highway junction. There is in any case little before me in relation to the circumstances or planning histories of driveways elsewhere. Conclusion 17. For the reasons set out above, I conclude that the proposal would conflict with the development plan and there are no material considerations that would outweigh that conflict. 18. Therefore, I conclude that the appeal should be dismissed.

55 Gaddum Road, Bowdon, WA14 3PH — Trafford Metropolitan Borough Council — Sarah Manchester INSPECTOR https://www.gov.uk/planning-inspectorate 3