New River Lark bridge granted planning permission as major 1,250-home Bury St Edmunds housing estate, off Rougham Hill, progresses
Plans for a bridge which forms part of a major new Bury St Edmunds housing development have been given the green light.
Hopkins Homes and Denbury Homes submitted a reserved matters application to West Suffolk Council for access, appearance, landscaping, layout and scale for a bridge over the River Lark, providing two-way vehicular access with shared cycle and pedestrian ways on land south of Rougham Hill.
The bridge would connect the housing development’s northern and southern neighbourhoods – which together will see around 1,250 homes built between Rougham Hill and Sicklesmere Road – and slot in to a new relief through the estate, starting at the Rougham Hill roundabout and then linking to the A134 Sicklesmere Road.
A planning officer’s report said: “At peak times the corridor from junction 44 of the A14 to Southgate Green roundabout suffers from congestion. The relief road that would serve this residential allocation has been identified as a method of helping to reduce or at least manage congestion along this corridor.
“Currently, 40 per cent of the traffic travelling to Southgate Green roundabout from the A14 heads towards Sudbury down the A134. Currently the traffic traveling from junction 44 to the Southgate Green roundabout has to go from two lanes to one and that bottle neck has been identified as a major factor in traffic backing up to the A14 junction and queuing onto Bedingfeld Way.
“The relief road has been identified as another route for traffic to use when traveling to Sudbury and it is hoped that it will have a positive impact on managing congestion in the area.”
The impact on hibernating batts, otters and reptiles was considered by planners – there will be no street lighting on the bridge to ‘maintain a darker corridor’ and help to minimise disturbance to otters and bats.
Meanwhile, it was considered that although air quality in the area could worsen while the development is built, in the long term it should improve as traffic volumes and queuing should reduce when the relief road is operational.
The highway authority had no objection to the plan and the town council recommended approval.