The proposal estimates on average over 5,000 shoppers will visit the store every weekday, they do not give projections for weekend shopping which is their peak trading!  So we can assume that there will be around 30 - 35,000 shoppers a week entering and leaving the store - they claim this will not add to the traffic burden along Watton Road!

Those of you who live on Watton Road, the surrounding roads or travel into or out of Ware on this road on a daily basis will know the traffic problems often associated with this road.  Asda's own traffic projections estimate over 30% increase in the Average Annual Daily Traffic with an increase of 20% for lorries.  This is a smoothed average which Asda will use to try to downplay the effect on Watton Road - Peak traffic will be much higher than their 30% prediction.

And remember if BIFFA get their way also building an incinerator at the junction of the A10 and Westmill Road then there will be 750 Lorry journeys around that roundabout every day to contend with as well as the increased shopper and delivery traffic from Asda - will our already damaged roads cope with this sort of volume of traffic?

This is a picture of Watton Road, showing the Cintel Entrance, at 6pm on Tuesday 9th September 2008.  This is not untypical of the road at this time of night.

In the mornings the traffic is much the same but coming down the road into town.

 Some additional Video Footage of traffic on the 9th October 2008 - Link & Link2

  T - Junction

   The new design shows a T-junction at the entrance to the store this was a reluctant concession by ASDA to the demands of the planning officer, however this junction poses its own issues, namely of stopping traffic up and down Watton Road.  There is a small slip road for those coming down the road to pull across the traffic, but in busy times this will simply build up and prevent any traffic from moving up or down the street.  By design it will stop cars along the road which will add additional noise to those local residents living close to the store as cars brake and start up again as they approach the store or travel along the road.

  If we also accept ASDAs assumptions that this is a store for Ware (and not a store for the A10) then most of the traffic leaving the site will be turning right - where they will now require three lines of traffic to be free (the two coming down Watton Road and the one going up) before they can exit the store and onto the main road.  This will cause congestion not only in the store roadways but also along Watton Road at this junction.

  This congestion will have a knock on effect and force people to rat run down Fanshawe Crescent, both by cars tired of waiting to turn right, turning left instead and using Fanshawe as a new route into Ware town, and by those coming down the hill into town who want to avoid the congestion around the Asda store.

Lorries

Asda estimate 14 of their ASDA articulates lorries per day will be delivering to the store.  They are aiming to start deliveries at 7 in the morning through to 10pm at night.  Remember this store is surrounded on all sides by residential properties!

If, as NAiW suspects the articulated lorries are not able to easily enter the store from Parks Road, then more smaller lorries will be used instead.

This number doesn't consider that there will also be other deliveries to the store not managed directly by ASDA such as the Bread and Milk deliveries.

They state that they will tell their drivers to turn off their reverse bleeps when then arrive on site - do you believe this?  NAiW doesn't - who will enforce it?  Certainly not Asda.

When challenged in the Ware Council EGM about lorries parking up along Watton Road

waiting to deliver, the Councillors were assured that the lorries would park up along the A10!!

NAiW is not sure they will, you decide...... 

The link below shows Asda lorries breaking the law and parking on double yellow lines

outside one of their stores.  Watton Road doesn't have any parking restrictions currently so

do you really believe they will be parking up along the A10 instead?  NAiW thinks not!!

http://brentandharrow.greenparty.org.uk/observer6Sept.htm