A housing developer bidding to close off an A90 Forfar bypass right-turn says a “do nothing” approach is no use for the problem junction.
And Scotia Homes suggest that if Angus Council won’t allow them to close off the crossing at Lochlands then a 50mph limit should be considered.
They say that has helped at Laurencekirk, 25 miles north on the A90 dual carriageway.
Non grade-separated
In October, the north east housebuilder submitted a bid to Angus Council to close off the northbound right turn at the A932 junction.
It is the first entry to Forfar for traffic coming from the south.
But it is also the only bypass junction which is not grade-separated.
The closure plan is part of Scotia’s bid for housing at Westfield, where they want to build 120 homes.
The area is allocated for several hundred new houses in the Angus local plan.
However, Scotia’s proposal has drawn more than 100 objections from locals.
Forfar Community Council said closing the junction would create a “nightmare” along the Glamis Road to the West Port.
But the firm say Lochlands has been an “intractable” issue for more than 15 years.
Transport consultant have submitted a 176-page submission setting out Scotia’s case.
It points out that closing the right turn was considered as far back as 2008.
Scotia suggest the council is faced with five options.
- Do nothing, which would appear to prolong the current unresolved situation
- Provide full grade separation, which does not appear to have progressed as an option since at least the 2008 committee paper discussing this
- Undertake some other as yet unidentified scheme of minor improvements
- Progress the central reservation closure
- Implement a speed reduction scheme which would provide dual safety and capacity benefits.
Long-standing issue
“It is evident that there is an existing issue with this junction, irrespective of the Westfield traffic,” the consultants state.
Other development to the north of Forfar has a bearing on the Lochlands situation, they suggest.
“Such development may be well outside any reasonable geographic distance in which Lochlands would be assessed,” they add.
“But the fact remains that addition of southbound traffic removes gaps for right turners at Lochlands and reduces the capacity of the right turn.
“The council and Transport Scotland will need to consider this issue in a strategic context.”
West Port capacity
The submission suggests the West Port traffic lights can cope with traffic from 450 new homes in the overall Forfar masterplan.
And if the council is not willing to consider closure, Scotia say a Laurencekirk-type speed reduction could cut the accident risk.
“On the face of it, and in the context of allocated development sites and a seemingly intractable issue at Lochlands, implementation of a 50mph scheme would enable development in Forfar (and further north) to proceed with no right turn closure at Lochlands,” the consultants add.
Transport Scotland previously asked for any decision to be delayed so they could formalise their response.
The application will be considered in due course after a determination deadline passed in December.
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