9.1 Development is concentrated in the villages of Yetminster and Ryme Intrinseca. In Yetminster post-war housing development adjoins the historic core but all development feeds onto the old roads which are narrow, often winding, have limited pavements and parking, and are not suitable for rapid through traffic or for lorries. The current traffic volumes and increasing size of vehicles therefore cause safety concerns, reflected in responses to the Neighbourhood Plan questionnaire.
9.2 There are two principal through roads in the area (excluding the small length of the A37 in the south-west part):
9.3 These roads are used as through routes by non-resident commuters and parents on school runs, as well as by local residents, creating a significant road safety problem with speeding. Replies to the questionnaire showed that 84% of respondents felt that speed limits should be reviewed and 88% that road signage, including restrictions, need updating.
9.4 There are several roads in the villages without pavements on either side for some or all of their length and sections considered by residents to be dangerous are included on map 8 and, more particularly, are identified in Project P8.
9.5 89% of respondents to the Neighbourhood Plan questionnaire felt that there should be physical pavements where practicable. However, such improvements are largely outside the remit of Neighbourhood Plans.
9.6 In the Neighbourhood Plan area there was a 12.6% increase in car ownership in the 10 years from 2001 to 2011, with an average of 1.5 motor vehicles per household in 2011. One in seven households have at least 3 cars or vans and many residents’ and visitors’ vehicles have to be parked on the roadside. This means that, by 2011, the 2026 car ownership levels assumed in the Bournemouth, Poole and Dorset Residential Parking Study had already been exceeded. Although parked cars can incidentally act as a traffic and speed constraint, in some places this can create safety issues, and cause damage to pavements and verges. A particular problem, but not the only example, is that due to a lack of adequate parking at the Spar shop in Yetminster, delivery lorries, agricultural vehicles and cars park on Thornford Road or High Street, the larger vehicles blocking sight lines, or they park on, and damage, the wide grass area on the opposite side of Thornford Road. There are no obvious locations to provide further off-street car parking.
9.7 The Bournemouth, Poole and Dorset Residential Car Parking Study (2011) includes guidance to calculate car parking requirements for residential development Table 1). Separate guidance is provided for sites of five dwellings or fewer, and six dwellings or more. Where a developer wishes to provide a different level of parking, supporting evidence must be agreed with the highways and planning authorities. Developers may also be requested to deviate from the published guidance where this is justified by local circumstances.
Table 5: Residential Parking Standards
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9.8 The under provision of parking can lead to congestion and clutter on the roads and related access problems, and as such congestion exists in places on the roads in Yetminster, where justified in a specific case, the car parking standards may be exceeded.
9.9 The Parking Study notes that garages are commonly used for storage rather than parking, as modern homes are built with less storage space. Because of this, extra unallocated parking will be needed for each garage (but not car ports / car barns) at a rate of 0.5 spaces per garage. The tendency for parking provision to be provided as in-line spaces (i.e. end to end in a line, often in front of a garage) appears to be a more recent phenomenon that was not envisaged in the examples given in the 2011 study, but has a similar impact in that these spaces are less used (due to the need to manoeuvre vehicles to get any blocked cars out). It is therefore suggested that any in-line provision of more than 2 spaces (i.e. three spaces end to end in a line or two spaces in front of a garage) should only count as a maximum of 2 spaces.
Parking in Yetminster High Street halving the road width
9.10 The need to ensure adequate provision of spaces for electric / hybrid vehicle charging is not considered in the general parking standards, but it is clear that this factor should now be taken into consideration and that the necessary infrastructure should be shown on the proposed plans of new buildings. Retrofitting charging points to existing buildings is also encouraged, but will need careful consideration in the case of historic buildings. Provision of car charging points may well become mandatory through Building Regulations29 .
9.11 Despite their importance to residents without cars, particularly schoolchildren and the elderly, regular bus services (except for school buses) were terminated from July 2017 due to a withdrawal of public funding.
9.12 Other bus options are limited. However, the Parish Council makes a financial contribution to the running costs of NORDCAT (a community transport scheme) and encourages the use of Dorset Council’s car sharing initiative and voluntary transport schemes that run locally, for example, ‘Helping Hands’, which enables those without cars to get to hospital appointments etc.
NORDCAT Community Transport Bus
9.13 Yetminster is fortunate to have a local rail service connecting to the nearest towns of Yeovil and Dorchester. However, there are significant gaps in the timetable for the Bristol-Weymouth line, which has a well-used station in Yetminster, and the trains are regularly overcrowded, particularly in the summer months.
Traffic, Road Safety and Transport Objective 1 To make the roads and pavements safer. |
Traffic, Road Safety and Transport Objective 2 To ensure the provision and maintenance of adequate public transport. |
Policy T1: Highway Safety Where new development would give rise to increased traffic that would adversely impact on the safe use of the highway, contributions may be sought towards pavements (in relation to Yetminster) and the implementation of traffic calming and other measures (including the initiatives identified under Projects P8 and P9) as necessary to avoid an unacceptable impact on highway safety, or to ensure that any residual cumulative impacts on the road network would not be severe. Any highway schemes should adhere to the Rural Roads Protocol as adopted by the Highway Authority, to preserve and enhance the historic character of the area. |
Policy T2: Vehicle Parking Development should be designed to meet or, where justified, exceed the number of car parking spaces set out in the adopted car parking standards.30 Unallocated on-street parking as part of this provision will only be supported where there are safe crossing points and traffic flows would not be impeded. |
Policy T3: Electric Vehicle Charging Points Proposals for new buildings should include appropriate provision for electric vehicle charging points. Provision of such charging points for existing development will be encouraged, having regard to the need to minimise any adverse impacts on the character of the area including heritage assets. |
29 This was consulted on in late 2019.
30 Residential car parking provision: local guidance for Dorset (2011) and Non-residential parking guidance for Dorset (undated).
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