Draft Canterbury District

Local Plan to 2045

TRANSPORT
TOPIC PAPER
(OCTOBER 2022)
Canterbury District : Transport Topic Paper

Background

It is acknowledged nationally and across the district that congestion and pollution will
continue to rise to exacerbate the climate crisis without radical steps to come up with an
alternative solution. Some motor vehicle journeys are essential, but many people have
expressed the view that they would choose active travel or public transport if these options
were more widely available.

To be sustainable, our transport system must balance the need for movement of people and
goods with the impact on people, neighbourhoods and the environment. In this Local Plan
period 2022 - 2045 the key transport objectives to meet our overarching health and climate
change goals are:
● reducing the total amount of vehicular movement of people and goods
● a step change increase in the proportion of active travel in the District’s urban and
suburban areas
● rapid electrification of road vehicles to reduce emissions

The strategy to achieve these objectives involves working quickly to be able to put in place a
Circulation Plan that prioritises healthy and safe walking and cycling, provides the necessary
access whilst restricting unnecessary road vehicles in centres and neighbourhoods. This will
be achieved by policies and plans that provide:
● significant improvement to the active travel routes within the urban areas of
Whitstable, Herne Bay and Canterbury and regional routes,
● better connected and available public transport and opportunities for mobility as a
service,
● the development of strategic movement corridors around the congested and
constrained road network in Canterbury,
● Delivery of the infrastructure necessary to support the maximum rate of change to
electric vehicles from hydrocarbon powered vehicles

The Circulation Plan is a radical solution to meet the current and future transport challenges
and to provide a vision to 2045. The implementation would have to be carried out in carefully
designed phases to ensure the vehicular network continues to function and the city of
Canterbury remains attractive for visitors, businesses and visitors.

Baseline situation
Traffic flow analysis undertaken by transport consultants Jacobs in 2019 in preparation for
the option testing model runs show that traffic flows in Canterbury are generally lower than
when traffic counts were undertaken in 2008 for the previous model. This is a similar picture
to the traffic counts undertaken annually by the Department for Transport (DfT) for the
national database. [Canterbury Stage 2 Base Model Update Technical Note] [Road traffic
statistics]

Despite this reduction in overall traffic flow, journey times are unstable and incidents create
severe congestion. There is public dissatisfaction with the level of congestion which impacts
daily life. (Issues consultation July 2020)

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High numbers of short trips are taken by car, and many residents and respondents to the
Local Plan consultation have indicated that they do not feel safe cycling or walking because
they feel that the facilities are inadequate. (Issues consultation July 2020)

Road transport is responsible for generating around 40% of the carbon emissions from
energy at a district level. Despite improvements in vehicle efficiency, the increase in number
of vehicles and average distance travelled per year has resulted in carbon emissions from
road transport staying static for over 10 years.

The existing Local Plan and Transport Strategy

The current local plan (2017 - 2031) planned for growth and housing targets as set by the
government at that time. Growth is focused at Herne Bay, Sturry and south Canterbury with
complementary infrastructure projects to remove pinch points. Larger developments have
more capacity to make positive changes that can influence people’s choice of transport
modes.

Significant transport infrastructure projects were proposed, associated with major

developments. These include a repositioned and improved A2 junction at south Canterbury;
Sturry relief road; Herne relief road; improvements to A299 junction at Heart in Hand Road; a
realignment of A28 eastbound at Wincheap; and expansion of all 3 Park and Ride car parks
around the city. Improvements to the bus network and cycling and walking networks were
also proposed. Housing delivery associated with the existing local plan has not advanced as
expected and, as a result, none of the committed transport infrastructure projects have yet
been completed.

There is limited evidence so far of modal shift. The accompanying transport strategy set out
a number of sustainable transportation schemes, some of which would be provided directly
by developers and others to add to the infrastructure delivery plan. The transport strategy
also set out mode switch targets which would not increase traffic levels. Developers were
expected to match or better these mode switch targets in their travel plans. Traffic counts
undertaken annually by DfT for the national database show a reduction in traffic on the A
roads in the city. However, although car trips are decreasing, HGV and LGV deliveries are
increasing and there is little evidence of anything other than a very modest uptake of
sustainable transport. Public transport patronage which was increasing, naturally suffered
significant losses of confidence during the pandemic and has not yet recovered.

Carbon emissions projections from road transport are uncertain: whilst electrification of road
transport has started and is growing rapidly, vehicle ownership is continuing to increase and
the lack of progress on modal shift means that carbon reduction targets for road transport
are not being met.

The “Do nothing” approach

It is clear from the public responses to the issues consultation (July 2020) that the current
traffic congestion is a constraint to additional development, both in this district and across
the south east of the country. The transportation challenges that additional development

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brings exacerbate this problem. However, the rationale of a local plan is to set out suitable
sites for development that have been analysed, consulted upon and examined in public.
Without a local plan, developers would be free to propose development unfettered, which
could be granted on appeal by the planning inspectorate. A local plan gives the opportunity
to plan for all the infrastructure that will be required, and apportion to developers how this will
be funded.

Option Testing

Option testing was undertaken on 5 potential transportation and growth scenarios. [Stage 3
Canterbury LP Forecast Report April 2021]

The 5 options tested and compared to a projected baseline were:

1. Continuation of the existing Local Plan strategy

2. A focus of development at the coast with additional improvements to public transport
3. A focus of development in the city with significant removal of road space for private
cars and reallocation to sustainable transport
4. As option 3 but including additional road building at the outskirts of the city to
reprovide the capacity
5. A neighbourhood approach where additional road capacity is provided by a new
movement corridor at the outskirts of the city, road space is reallocated to active
travel and neighbourhood zones are created with modal filters at key points to
remove all through traffic from the neighbourhood zones. This option is described as
the Canterbury circulation plan. Under this option development is focused in the city
and with pockets of development at Whitstable and Adisham.

Transportation modelling was commissioned to forecast the effects of the development

strategy on the highway network. The options modelling demonstrated that without additional
transport interventions, congestion on the ring road will continue to increase with a resultant
worsening in air quality and quality of life. This is described as the Do Nothing option

Additional development in the District has the potential to exacerbate pollutant

concentrations within the Air Quality Management Areas (AQMA). All 5 options have the
potential to have an adverse impact on air quality at sensitive receptors within the
Canterbury AQMA. Options 4 and 5 give the most air quality improvements within the
Canterbury AQMA due to the additional traffic being rerouted to the new movement corridor
on the outskirts of the city, and other traffic schemes that discourage inbound city centre
traffic flows.

The option testing demonstrated that all options have strengths and weaknesses. Option 5 -
the neighbourhood approach gives the highest opportunity to contribute positively to net zero
carbon, to encouraging a sense of place, and to mode switch to sustainable modes of travel.

Further modelling to inform the draft Local Plan

Option 5, the neighbourhood approach was subsequently modelled with specific proposed
housing allocations and highway interventions and an extended horizon year of 2045. This

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option was labelled Option 5V2. It highlighted an issue to the north of the city with
considerable congestion around junctions at Hackington Road to the north of the University
of Kent and significant increases in traffic flow on Whitstable Road and Tyler Hill Road. For
this reason development at University is not currently being pursued within this Local Plan.

Further modelling [Preferred Strategic Growth Local Plan Option 5V3] was therefore
undertaken with updated development allocations and a refined list of transport interventions
including rerouting the eastern movement corridor further east to avoid the SSSI at the Old
Park. A full list of proposed development allocation sites and proposed transportation
interventions is set out in the modelling report (Option 5V3)

A cycle propensity study and technical note have also been prepared as part of the
modelling work to provide an analysis of the potential modeshift to cycling due to proposed
Local Plan interventions.

The model has been used to predict journey times on key routes at the end of the local Plan
period in 2045. The routes are illustrated below with the outcomes of journey times and
average speed set out in the table below. (extracted from Jacobs report Preferred Strategic
Growth Local Plan Option 5V3)

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 Comparison 2019 Base vs
2019 Base Year 2045 OPT5V3 OPT5V3
AM PM AM PM AM PM
Avg. Avg.
Spee Spee
d Avg. Avg. Avg. Avg. d
(km/ Speed Speed Speed Speed (km/
JT h) JT (km/h) JT (km/h) JT (km/h) JT (km/h) JT h)
Route 1
A28
Wincheap 10:54 14.7 09:29 16.9 09:19 17.9 09:29 24.0 -01:35 3.2 00:00 7.1
Route 2
A2050
Rheims Way 03:43 37.2 02:56 47.2 03:53 35.6 02:49 49.1 00:10 -1.6 -00:07 1.9
Route 3
St Stephen’s
Hill 04:32 22.3 03:41 27.4 09:53 11.0 09:11 11.0 05:21 -11.3 05:30 -16.4
Route 4
A28 Sturry
Road 04:15 21.5 03:28 26.3 02:37 34.9 02:25 37.7 -01:38 13.4 -01:03 11.4
Route 5
A257 04:27 24.6 02:59 36.7 06:48 16.2 03:38 31.0 02:21 -8.4 00:39 -5.7
Route 6
New Dover
Road 04:24 24.3 03:39 29.3 12:20 10.0 03:18 32.8 07:56 -14.3 -00:21 3.6
Route 7
Old Dover
Road 05:57 19.0 04:51 23.3 13:58 7.9 07:01 15.6 08:01 -11.1 02:10 -7.6
Route 8
St Dunstans 04:44 28.6 04:18 31.5 05:01 27.0 03:48 35.6 00:17 -1.6 -00:30 4.1
Route 9
See below 25:24 16.7 18:00 24.0
Route 9a
See below 46:00 25.0 33:57 23.0
2045 Option 5V3 Modelled Total Travel Time

Route 9 is a route around the city using the eastern movement corridor from Sturry Road to New
Dover Road, and Route 9a is a comparison using the same start and finish points but travelling via
Military Road.

The modelling predicts that journey times will be shorter or similar on all demonstration routes with the
exception of Old Dover Road and New Dover Road which will be 8 minutes longer in the morning
peak with predicted congestion at the St George’s traffic signals. This will be ameliorated by the
provision of the fast bus service from south Canterbury to be provided by the Mountfield development.

The model has been used to compare journey times along the eastern movement corridor with those
on the current ring road if the circulation plan were not to be implemented.

The principles of the Circulation Plan

The transport strategy is based on the following principles of circulation planning that have
been demonstrated as successful in other european cities and in other authority areas1:
● Improve the quality of life for residents and visitors in the urban centres and
neighbourhoods
● Guarantee accessibility for pedestrians, cyclists, buses and those that need vehicular
access to a centre and neighbourhood destination
● Unnecessary vehicle journeys through centres and neighbourhoods will generally be
removed.

1
UK examples include Birmingham and Oxford. European examples include Groningen and Ghent

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The Circulation Plan principles are illustrated in this diagram:

At the heart of the Circulation Plan is the improvement of quality of life in the urban core and
residential areas around the core. Better walking and cycling infrastructure makes everyday
journeys safer and healthier, and journeys by vehicle though the centre and peripheral zones
are reduced.

Canterbury
In Canterbury the Circulation Plan goals will be achieved by the provision of a new
movement corridor to the east of the city, and improvements to Rough Common Road to the
north west of the city which together with the A2 will create an outer ring road or Canterbury
bypass. An all movement junction will be required on the A2 at Harbledown as part of this.
These routes around the city are a necessary component of the Circulation Plan and will
provide a way for movement of people and goods that does not involve travelling into the
city.

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The outer ring road will then provide capacity for motor vehicles and allow the current ring
road to be downgraded to enable space to be created for buses and cycles. This strategy
was modelled by Jacobs and demonstrates the best outcomes when considering congestion
and journey time together with improvements to sustainable transport and local air quality.

Neighbourhood areas
Neighbourhood areas are designed as discrete zones of the city with no motor vehicle
access into adjacent zones except for buses and essential vehicles. This will significantly
reduce the volume of traffic in each neighbourhood area and create an environment to
encourage active travel. Motor vehicle travel between zones will only be possible via the
outer ring road. Each zone has a main approach road which will be used for access into and
out of that neighbourhood.

This approach has been put into practice in northern european cities and has made a vast
difference by significantly increasing active travel and improving both the air quality and the
traffic congestion in residential neighbourhoods, and making the neighbourhood zones.much
more pleasant streets.

Five areas of the city have been considered as neighbourhood zones, although these are
subject to detailed consultation:

1. The Wincheap zone: using A28 as the radial route and Wincheap roundabout as the
U turn. Unauthorised traffic would not be permitted beyond the roundabout and will
be controlled with traffic signals and ANPR cameras. Access to St Dunstans, for

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 example, will be via A2, a new off-slip at Harbledown, Palmars Cross Hill, Rough
Common Road and A290 St Thomas’ Hill. The local roads that currently connect
Wincheap to Nunnery Fields will be closed except for cycle access.

2. The Barton zone: using A2050 New Dover Road and A257 Littlebourne Road as the
radial routes. Traffic will not be permitted beyond St George’s roundabout other than
to U turn and will be controlled using traffic signals and ANPR cameras. Access to
adjacent zones will be via the new eastern movement corridor and outer ring road.
The local roads that link both to adjacent zones and that form short cuts within this
zone such as Pilgrims Road will be closed except for buses and cycles.

3. The Northgate zone: using A28 Sturry Road as the radial route. Traffic will not be
permitted beyond Sainsbury’s roundabout except to U turn and will be controlled
using traffic signals and ANPR cameras. Access to adjacent zones will be via the
new eastern movement corridor and outer ring road. The local roads that link to
adjacent zones will be closed except for buses and cycles.

4. The St Stephens and St Dunstans zone using both of these roads and A2050 as the
radial routes. Traffic will not be permitted beyond St Stephen’s roundabout or the
junction of Station Road West with St Dunstan’s Street, or St Peter’s roundabout.
There is no outer ring road proposed for this zone, but an improved Rough Common
Road will give access to the A2 Canterbury bypass.

5. The central zone covers the area of the city centre, the majority of which is already
restricted except for those vehicles requiring access. Most of the city centre car parks
will be removed, reducing the need for vehicles to enter this zone. It is proposed that
this will be controlled by ANPR cameras.

Existing Ring Road

The existing ring road will be reduced to single carriageway - one all-vehicle lane in each
direction and will not be available for through traffic. The remaining lane will be repurposed
as a bus lane where there is not one currently, and as a high quality segregated two way
cycle lane.

The existing roundabouts will remain so that traffic on the main approach road of each zone
has the opportunity to U-turn and return to the outer ring road. However, the roundabouts will
be redesigned to create safe routes for cyclists. Traffic signals and ANPR cameras will be
employed at the roundabouts to prevent traffic from using the existing ring road as a through
route, with exceptions for residents within this zone, and deliveries and service vehicles.

This is shown in the diagram below:

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This diagram and artist's impression shows a section through the existing road at Rhodaus
Town with one traffic lane in each direction and the remaining highway space having been
repurposed to provide a segregated two way cycle lane and footway.

Cyclists will be given marked lanes through the roundabouts to maintain their segregation,
and separate stages within the traffic signals. This will remove a major barrier to cycling as it
will be possible to cross and move along the existing ring road in safety.

City centre
The area within the city walls will be accessible only for residents, disabled parking and
delivery vehicles. The majority of the car parks will be relocated to outside the city walls to
remove the need for large volumes of cars to drive into the city centre. This will facilitate a
pedestrian priority environment to protect the environment and heritage of the city centre.
The programme of repaving the city streets to improve the public realm and emphasise
pedestrian priority will continue. The removal of the majority of traffic through the city centre
will enable safe cycling without the need for marked out cycle lanes within this area.

The following extract from the transport modelling demonstrates that this approach will
significantly reduce the volume of traffic on the city’s roads. Roads forecast to carry less
traffic than in the do nothing approach are shown in green and roads with predicted
increases in traffic are shown in red.

Bus routes

Buses will play an essential role in meeting the need for cross-city journeys. Currently all bus
journeys into and out of the city start and finish at the bus station. However a new approach
will be needed to ensure convenient bus routes are available for people to conveniently
travel across the city.

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It is envisaged that new routes, possibly served with smaller buses, could meet this demand,
and early discussions with bus operators will be necessary to ensure that routes can be
commercially successful.

The provision of bus lanes, and modal filters that allow bus access, will speed up journey
times, reduce delays and enable greater predictability in arrival times. These factors will
dramatically improve the efficiency of the bus operation allowing greater opportunities to
offer cheaper fares.

Public car parks

The approach will be to maintain overall parking supply and ensure it is provided on a zonal
basis to meet demand.

In order to reduce vehicle trips on the inner ring road and into the city centre it will be
necessary to close many city centre car parks. Parking capacity will be provided at the
outskirts of the city with Park and Ride sites, retaining some existing car parks and the
construction of a new car park at Simmonds Road in Wincheap. The car park placement has
been considered so that at least two car parks are accessible within each neighbourhood
zone, with a capacity proportionate to the traffic flow on that approach as shown in the table
below:

Demand* Possible supply

Wincheap Zone 758

New car park near gasholder/Simmonds Road 300
Wincheap P&R 590
890

St Dunstans and St Stephens Zone 1780

Station Road West MSCP 374
St Radigunds 292
Millers Field 43
Castle Street MSCP 430
Castle Row car park 93
Merton Farm Park & Ride 500
1732

Northgate Zone 940

Riverside at Kingsmead 220
Sturry Road P&R 576
St Johns Nursery (coach parking relocated to P&R sites) 200
996

Barton Zone 1222

Whitefriars MSCP 518
New Dover Road P&R 1000
Longport 110
1628

4700 5246

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*This ‘demand’ figure is based on the existing parking supply of 4700 spaces and distributed
in line with existing traffic flows along the relevant traffic corridors. The final modelling will
forecast the new traffic flows in the different sectors so the distribution figure may change,
but it is assumed that the overall demand will broadly remain the same allowing for a small
amount of growth.

Car parks that have been identified for potential disposal in the future are:

Watling Street
Queningate
Pound Lane
Holmans Meadow
North Lane

Cycle network
The vision for transportation in the city is that a network of high quality cycle routes will link
residential areas, key destinations and the city centre. Developers will be expected to
provide high quality routes through their sites and to provide or improve off-site facilities to
link to key destinations. The removal of one lane of capacity from the ring road will enable
the remainder of the road space to be redesigned to provide a two-way cycle lane and
footway as well as bus lanes.

Cycle routes on the arterial roads will connect to the ring road cycle lanes with cycle lanes
that give priority to cyclists such as the example below taken from LTN 1/20 (DfT Cycle
Infrastructure Design)

Cycle routes on arterial roads will be provided by a combination of marked cycle lanes, or
routes on quieter roads to provide connections.

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A proposed network of cycle route infrastructure is set out in the Local Cycling and Walking
Infrastructure Plan.

Modal Filters
These are road closures that only permit certain modes of vehicles to pass and are
proposed at all locations where roads link one neighbourhood zone to the next. If the road
has an existing bus route, that will continue using traffic signals and ANPR cameras for
enforcement. If the road has no bus route the modal filter may permit emergency vehicles
and refuse vehicles, subject to consultation, but will otherwise be closed with bollards or
planters to prevent the through route.

Example of modal filter at Haringey

Modal filters with bus access are also proposed. An example of this is at Norman Road and
Nunnery Road which will remove a significant volume of traffic from the surrounding
residential streets.

Highway infrastructure
The highway capacity and access that will be removed from the current ring road will be
re-provided by the construction of an outer ring road that will be the link from one
neighbourhood zone to the next.

The A2 Canterbury bypass was opened in 1980 before which time all traffic between London
and Dover used the current ring road. The Canterbury bypass has spare capacity and can
be utilised as part of an outer ring road. To extend this to provide an alternative to the A28 a
link road between A2 at South Canterbury and A28 just west of Sturry is proposed as an all
movement corridor to cater for all modes of transport.

The eastern movement corridor between A2 and A257 will be provided as part of the
infrastructure requirements of the eastern Canterbury strategic sites. The remainder of the
link to A28 Sturry Road will be provided by a combination of s106 contributions and also CIL
monies from sites across the district. It will join A28 Sturry Road at the new roundabout for
the Sturry link road (which is expected to be completed by 2025).

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The eastern movement corridor is proposed as a 2 lane single carriageway with a footway/
cycleway to integrate with the Sturry link road. It will cross the Canterbury to Dover railway
line with a bridge, and will meet the A257 with a roundabout junction. It will be lit and will be
designed as a 40mph/ 30mph link depending on the number of side roads joining.

The initial feasibility study2 for the eastern movement corridor showed the most direct
alignment from A28 to A257 . However this would have meant constructing the road through
the site of special scientific interest (SSSI) at Old Park.

Consequently two additional routes were assessed3, one to the west of Old Park and one to
the east. The western alignment still had an effect on the SSSI, and therefore the alignment
to the east, skirting south of Fordwich is now proposed. Although this route option is longer
and therefore more expensive, it avoids harm to the SSSI in line with government policy.

The route would cross Well Lane and Moat Lane south of Fordwich with modal filters
implemented at these locations so that Fordwich would only be accessible from the north,
removing all through traffic from the village. The access into Fordwich from Sturry would be
eased by the removal of through traffic from Mill Lane which will come with the opening of
Sturry link road.

A new junction is proposed where the new outer corridor intersects Stodmarsh Road. This
will provide access to Stodmarsh Road which can then be closed at its junction with A257 to
remove through traffic.

To the north and west of the city an outer link road will be provided by improvements to
Palmars Cross Hill and Rough Common Road, linked to the A2 with improvements to the
existing junction at Harbledown to create an all movement interchange.

Mode Hierarchy

The Canterbury circulation plan is based on large-scale integrated people-first outcomes to

increase active travel and public transport options and that generally reduce road access
through the urban areas, leading to greater social, environmental and economic
sustainability.

The mode hierarchy at an intervention and system level is:

1. People: safe and healthy walking routes between home and neighbourhood centres
with progressive pedestrianisation at the centres
2. Bicycles: safe and easy cycling within neighbourhoods and on routes to school, work
and urban centres, segregated wherever possible
3. Public transport: increasing access, reliability and connectivity of bus, rail park and
ride, and innovative public transport services
4. Service vehicles: planned, coordinated and efficient delivery of goods and services to
minimise the impact on urban centres, neighbourhoods and congestion

2
Canterbury Eastern Bypass - Preliminary Feasibility Study (November 2017)
3
Canterbury Eastern Bypass - Preliminary Feasibility Study (November 2021)

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5. Shared mobility: infrastructure and systems that reduce the need for private car
ownership such as car clubs
6. Private vehicles: appropriate levels of access for private vehicles to the regional road
network, but generally disincentivising short distance and through neighbourhood
individual car journeys

Throughout the hierarchy, measures and infrastructure to enable the rapid transition to
electric and other net zero transport technologies are to be incorporated.

The circulation plan will progressively implement measures and schemes that step towards a
neighbourhood segmentation of the Canterbury City area where:
● local movement with neighbourhoods and between neighbourhoods and the centre of
the city is predominantly by foot or bicycle
● access to and around the city can be achieved by all modes but there are advantages
for using public transport over trying to enter the city using a private vehicle
● movement of goods and services is optimised to reduce vehicle movements within the
urban centres and enable safe and clean distribution within neighbourhoods
● In all situations, access for those that are unable to use active and public transport will
be enabled.

A core part of the circulation plan involves re-routing road traffic moving between
neighbourhoods and across the city away from entering the congested central ring road.
This will be enabled by providing alternative routes around the city. In turn the existing
central ring road will have more designated space for walking, cycling and public transport to
improve the safety, health and ease of movement of these ways of moving. This is illustrated
in the diagram below.

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Transport for the South East Strategic Investment Plan

The three vision objectives of the TfSE Strategic Investment Plan of environment, social and
economic align well with the city council’s transport strategy’s aims to rebalance the
hierarchy of movement modes by providing a movement corridor as the only link between
neighbourhood zones. This enables existing road space to be reallocated to sustainable
transport to make these modes more attractive. It also removes direct links through adjacent
neighbourhood zones so that each zone will see a significant reduction in traffic flow and
improvements in air quality which in turn also support a move to active travel.

Coastal towns

Herne Bay and Whistable already benefit from a high quality bus service between the two
towns and Canterbury.

Herne Bay

Transport infrastructure improvements were proposed in the existing Local Plan, the majority
of which are linked to strategic sites from that Local Plan, but not yet provided.

No additional strategic development sites are proposed in Herne Bay in the new Local Plan.

A number of active travel schemes are proposed which will encourage greater uptake of
cycling and walking to key destinations and are shown in the local cycling and walking
implementation plan.

Whitstable

At Whitstable a fourth arm will be added to Thanet Way/ Whitstable Heights roundabout, and
a new eastbound only on/off slip at A299 South Street will be provided, as well as a
proposed realignment to South Street. This will reduce some of the queuing and congestion
at the A299/ Long Reach interchange, and will provide direct access to the strategic site at
Brookfields Farm.

The town centre suffers from congestion and residents struggle to be able to park when the
town is busy. A reduction in on street parking opportunities for non residents coupled with an
out of town car park would reduce some of these congestion issues. It is proposed that a
Park & bus facility will be provided by a strategic development on land on the south side of
A2990 Thanet Way.

A network of cycle route improvements is proposed and set out in the cycling and walking
implementation plan, the most significant of which are the completion of the extension of the
Crab & Winkle Way walking and cycling route to the harbour and alongside th A2990..

Villages

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The most frequent complaint about transportation in the rural areas of the district is that the
bus service is non-existent or infrequent or difficult to access.

Working with Stagecoach it is proposed that innovative ways of delivering demand

responsive rural bus services are explored in order to improve options for access. The bus
stop infrastructure in rural areas will be improved with lit footways leading to bus stops and
improved bus stop provision.

Next Steps

Further work is required to identify the phasing and delivery of the infrastructure projects.
Some are linked directly to strategic developments and can only be provided by the
developer when the trigger points of housing construction are reached.

Other elements of infrastructure will be provided by the Community Infrastructure Levy which
pools contributions from developments into a central fund from which all infrastructure
projects are funded. The projects will be ranked in terms of deliverability and cost/ benefit.

Items of transportation infrastructure have been identified as set out in Appendix A.

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Appendix A

Infrastructure requirements
Eastern Movement Link from A28 Sturry Road to A2 South Canterbury
Corridor
Western link Upgrade of Rough Common Road
Harbledown junctions Coast bound on slip
London bound off slip
Modal Filters Roads to be closed to all motor traffic x 10 across all sectors
ANPR cameras at points where limited traffic will be permitted x
CCTV 22 across all zones
Right-turn signals Access into St Andrew’s Close and Rhodaus Close
Reallocation of road Remove one lane of dual carriageway in each direction between
space for active travel London Road roundabout and St George’s roundabout and
provide high quality, segregated cycle lanes on Rheims Way, Pin
Hill, Rhodaus Town, Upper Bridge Street, Lower Bridge Street
and Tourtel Road
Broad Street and Military Road - on road cycle lanes
New Dover Road, Sturry Road - on road cycle lanes
Additional road space for Rheims Way London Road roundabout to St Peter’s roundabout
bus priority - provide new bus lane
Sturry Road bus lane from junction with new Sturry link road to
Tourtel Road
Remove some city centre Reprovision of city centre car parks to out of centre locations.
car parks Cost neutral over 10 years
Cycle infrastructure Comprehensive upgrade of cycle network in Canterbury and
coastal towns including removal of on street parking spaces as
necessary to create dedicated, safe cycle lanes
Public transport Package of bus infrastructure improvements in villages to
encourage public transport.
New Park and Ride at Merton Park
New Park & Bus facility at Whitstable
Walking Town Centre public realm improvements eg paving, street
lighting,
On street parking Extension of residents’ parking schemes to remove all long stay
parking from city

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