Plans to build an Aldi supermarket, houses and retirement flats in Rye may depend on the Environment Agency’s response to a flood risk assessment (FRA) — which has had to be updated by the project’s developers after the EA said the assessment failed to include “tidal breach monitoring”. Meanwhile, the developer’s plans for access to the site have been criticised in another submission from local supermarket firm Jempson’s.
Flood risk
After the EA objected to planning permission being given to Aldi, Decimus and McCarthy Stone in August, the developers’ consultants GTA Civils and Transport submitted an “addendum” to the FRA late last month.
The argument between the EA and the project developers for the low-lying Winchelsea Road site centres on whether the finished floor levels (FFL) for the proposed accommodation and supermarket will be high enough to cope with projected flood heights. FFL for habitable accommodation have to be least 30cm above this level and at least 60cm above for sleeping accommodation at ground level.
The Environment Agency was also highly critical of the developers’ FRA — including an earlier McCarthy Stone proposal to install a “floodable void space” under its proposed large retirement flats building. The agency also raised the question of whether residents or users of any new development would be able to safely evacuate before an extreme flood. “One of the key considerations … is whether adequate flood warnings would be available to people using the development,” the EA pointed out, adding that it usually only issued a flood warning 30 minutes to two hours before flooding.
In its FRA update to Rother District Council, GTA said JBA Consulting had been commissioned to undertake a breach modelling exercise and claimed the EA had approved the model’s parameters in May. GTA said a flood breach at Strand Quay car park would create the worst case scenario, potentially leading to a maximum flood level of 3.15m AOD at Aldi. However, the consultant claimed the Aldi ground floor level would be 3.45m, 30cm above the highest flood level.
GTA also said the McCarthy Stone retirement flats would offer 60cm flood clearance and that the proposed 16 private houses would have no habitable accommodation on the ground floor.
While conceding that flooding could start quickly if a Strand Quay breach occurs, the developers claim that it would take more than 13 hours for maximum flood depth to be reached.
According to the consultant, the ground floor levels of the proposed Aldi, the retirement block and private houses are all set 30cm above flood breach levels and the occupants would receive more than four hours’ notice to evacuate.
No floodplain water storage is now proposed beneath the retirement accommodation. Other corrections and revisions to the developers’ FRA have been made.
Aldi and the other Winchelsea Road site developers will be anxiously hoping that the Environment Agency accepts their response to the flood risk assessment criticisms — as it appears unlikely that the project will be granted planning permission without the agency’s green light.
A spokesperson for Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA) told Rye News: “The site in question is still in consultation with our technical team”, adding that a response from the Environment Agency is expected very shortly.
Access to the site
Jempson’s has placed further pressure on Aldi’s supermarket planning application by employing a consultant to examine the international firm’s road access proposals and transport modelling. The consultant, Exigo Project Solutions, claimed “the true effect of the development is skewed by inaccurate trip generation, the modelled trip types and an invalidated base model… The proposed access does not meet the standards set out for a trunk road; the A259 is a trunk road.”
Vehicle queues at the proposed junction would create a highway problem, he said. He argued that as a starting point for a junction with the expected traffic volume, a “ghost island right turn lane” would be required. The ghost island option, however, appears to have been discounted by Aldi as part of its own transport analysis.
You can read the full report in the documents submitted to Rother District Council’s planning portal here. The access plans have also been heavily criticised by the National Highways Agency.
A spokesperson for the Winchelsea Road development, which also includes homes and retirement housing as well as Aldi, gave this statement to Rye News: “The applicant teams are continuing to work closely with Rother DC planning officers, the Environment Agency, National Highways and other technical consultees.”
The proposals are expected to be discussed by Rother District Council’s planning committee before the end of the year.
Image Credits: Harris Partnership , David Worwood .