Transport for NSW concerns for petrol station

IN letters sent to Council, Transport for New South Wales has highlighted a range of issues for a proposed service station development on Aberdeen Street, Scone and suggested the development may be better suited to the northern or southern end of the bypass.

Read: Development debacle deepens.

Public submissions on the development close tomorrow, with Council to then decide if they will pass an additional permit of use to support the development.

The letters are referenced in the materials currently on public display and scone.com.au obtained copies: April 30, 2019 and August 14, 2020.

The first letter is in response to plans to rezone the land for the development and Transport for NSW raised many concerns including:

• Statements in the proposal claim the bypass was designed to accommodate a service station development St Aubins, these claims were refuted and Transport for NSW directed the misleading statements be removed from the document.
• Insufficient review of the negative impacts on loss of trade to existing Scone businesses.
• The stormwater indicates flood levels will increase by 100mm at surrounding properties and 500mm across St Aubins Street, “this would not appear to be acceptable and Council should consider this impact.”
• No intersection modelling has been carried out. The road safety audit should be conducted by a qualified team.
• Headlight glare from vehicles entering and exiting the site.
• Reclassification of roads: Aberdeen Street and St Aubins.
• Noise and light spill impact from the development and additional traffic on existing residents
• Potential environmental impact (contamination) of water table
• Negative impact on existing businesses
• Negative impact (reduced growth) to other existing business areas, such as the industrial/commercial development at the north of Scone.

The advice from Transport for NSW was the development “may be better suited at the proposed interchanges located at the northern and southern ends of the bypass by providing safer access points for heavy vehicle movements to and from the bypass.”

In the second letter Transport for NSW highlighted some previous concerns and for every response to their concerns stated, “the issue raised by TfNSW needs to be addressed.”

Issues highlighted in the second letter included, which in a further letter dated September 24 are outstanding include:

• No intersection modelling has been carried out for impacts on St Aubins Street, Aberdeen Street, Liverpool Street or the bypass. The safety and suitability of the seagull intersection at St Aubins needs to be addressed.
• A road safety audit should be conducted by a qualified team to review safety on the roads surrounding the development and the increased traffic at the St Aubins Street intersection.
• Unclear to whether connection to St Aubins Street is exit only described in traffic report or entry/exit as indicated on the plans. Driveway proposed on St Aubins Street should be restricted to left in and left out and concrete median be extended.
• Peak morning period for the development is based on the opinion of the consultant, not based on evidence. The Guide indicates trip generation based on the size of the convenience store, however the development is not located within a Scone CBD with nearby competition.
• Suitability of number of parking spaces for heavy vehicles to accommodate 30 metre PBS 2B heavy vehicles.
• Larger vehicles and towing vehicles will be traveling slow southbound affecting the through traffic on scone bypass. Therefore a 450 metre acceleration lane would be required in the southbound direction to get the increased intersection traffic to 100km/hr safely. This may result in bridge and embankment widening being required.

The proposal is on public display and closes on December 22. The proposal can be found on Council’s website: Planning proposal 1/2018.

Related stories:

• New Petrol Station and Motel Proposed – March 1, 2018
• Established Businesses to be Bypassed – March 16, 2018
• Development Doubted – March 22, 2018
• Update: Aberdeen Street Service Station – June 3, 2020
• Letter: Aberdeen Street Development Concerns – July 8, 2020
• Stevens Group Speak On Aberdeen Street – July 9, 2020
• Letter: Aberdeen Street Proposal “I Am Disgusted” – July 9, 2020
• Residents Oppose Aberdeen Street Rezoning – July 9, 2021
• Petrol station development in Aberdeen Street – December 8, 2021