Site Master Plan
Site Assessment
The Dunmow Road site is in the ownership of Birchwood High School Academy Trust and lies in the district of East Hertfordshire. The site is currently mown and used as grassed playing pitches. The field is used for football on weekend mornings during the football season, some sport and PE and a weekly school Cycling Club. Following pre-application advice the School will shortly be assessing whether the site has any particular archaeological significance.
As part of the planning application package the implications of increased use of the site has been examined by transport consultants and a detailed transport submission will be made with the full planning application.
The school has, however, recognized that a number of issues are presented including:
- The pedestrian footway along Dunmow Road at the South end of the project site could be improved by widening
- It would be sensible to have a ‘left hand turn’ only enforcement for the vehicle entrance/exit
- The opening times of the site needs to be sensitive to peak traffic times and avoid entrance and egress at school start and finish times
- Parking needs to be high profile, balancing existing parking on the current School site with parking on the proposed site
- Should hire of the facility be undertaken by large groups such as Bishop’s Stortford Football club, clear transparent plans to be in place to cater for the spectators and spectator parking
Particular regard will be noted as to traffic counts and parking surveys in Dunmow Road and the vicinity to ascertain the existing local highway conditions during the peak am / pm and school pick up / drop off times.
A tree survey has confirmed that the trees along the site boundaries (particularly along the southern and eastern boundaries) are of high quality and should be retained where possible) – the majority of southern boundary trees along Raynham Road are protected by a TPO (Tree Preservation Order).
An Ecology assessment has shown that because the majority of the site is mown, grassland habitats are limited to the vegetation in the site boundaries and there are no important protected species on the site.
Following Pre-application advice we will be undertaking Archaeological investigations.
An acoustic assessment examined the levels of noise predicted from the proposed uses, and suggested a number of noise reduction measures as part of the application.
An assessment of planning policy shows the site to be designated as existing playing fields in the adopted local plan.
The detailed planning application (to be submitted to Hertfordshire County Planning Authority) proposes the construction of a Mountain bike cycling track, pump track, Running path, Trim Trail, Floodlit Artificial Football Pitch and Spectator surrounds, Pavilion with Multi-gym, Leisure spaces, Bar/Café area, car parking, access and associated development at the Dunmow Road detached playing fields.
The Pitch, Pavilion, Track and Path will provide facilities to deliver the PE curriculum during the school day and community into the evenings, weekend and school holiday periods.
