8.61

To be sound, paragraph 8.61 needs to be reinforced, to state clearly that no site allocations in the Barnhorn Road area can be made without full, detailed study and projections of the congestion and road safety implications for the A259.

Paragraph 8.61 states that an assessment of Core Strategy allocations on the capacity of the A259 will be undertaken as part of the Site Allocations DPD. We understand that the broad impact of development has already been assessed as part of the Bexhill Hastings Link Road (BHLR) assessment in 2008 and that this supported policy development within the Core Strategy. In order to demonstrate that the Core Strategy is deliverable in transport terms this assessment needs to be included within the Core Strategy evidence base.

The BHLR Model assessed the impact of various Core Strategy allocation scenarios assuming that the link road would be constructed. Scenario 4 considered the impact of 2,150 dwellings and 45,000m2 employment at Bexhill which is comparable to the Core Strategy allocation. Although we recognise that the scenarios assessed within the BHLR modelling do not mirror exactly the allocations detailed in the Core Strategy we are content that the overall assessment is satisfactory at this stage. It is important that this work is included as it provides the supporting evidence for the sale of development considered within the Core Strategy particularly at Bexhill. If such an assessment is not included there is a risk that the Core Strategy could be found unsound on transport grounds. Further work assessing the impact on the SRN at Site Allocations stage will however be necessary as noted in Paragraph 8.61.