PLANNING COMMITTEE AGENDA - Hartlepool Borough Council

Planning Committee –25 th February 2009 4.6
Report of:
Assistant Director (Planning & Economic
Development)
Subject:
TESCO, BURN ROAD, HARTLEPOOL
1. UPDATE
1.1 A Stage 3 Post Completion Safety Audit was carried out by White Young
Green Consulting on the filter lane on Saturday 31 January and Wednesday
4 February 2009. The report stated;
“The left filter lane from Burn Road onto the A689 provides an obtuse angle
at the give way, rather than an acute angle requiring drivers to look over
their shoulders. Visibility to the right for vehicles joining the A689 is also
partially hampered by the presence of pedestrian guardrail. Both factors
require drivers to exercise an additional, but not excessive, degree of
caution when emerging from the filter lane.”
1.2 The recommendation in the report is;
“Observe performance over the first 6 months of operation in order to
determine if the layout requires any ‘fine tuning’.”
1.3 A full copy of the Audit report will be made available in the Members Room.
The Engineering Consultancy commenting on the Audit acknowledge that
drivers need to exercise additional but not an excessive degree of caution.
The guardrail used is the high-visibility, staggered-infill type and also has a
visibility gap at the top approximately at drivers’ eye height in order to
maximise vision through the guardrail. The angle of approach of the filter
lane is largely governed by the desire to provide a pedestrian refuge and the
usual requirement to minimise land-take. Provision of the refuge means that
pedestrians only have to cross a maximum of two lanes on the eastbound
leg of Burn Road instead of three as would be the case without the refuge.
The angle of approach is also limited by the presence of underground
services. A full length merging lane was considered but could not be
provided as the feature is not recommended by current design standards for
this class of highway. The recommendation to monitor operation will be
carried out as this is standard procedure for major road improvements and
an update report will be provided.
RECOMMENDATION – Members note the contents of the report and that a further
report be provided after the 6 month monitoring period.
4.6 - Planning - 09.02.25 - RPS T esco
1 HARTLEPOOL BOROUGH COUNCIL