Delnies ghost island priority junction falls foul of Highland Council's Transport Planning Team

An application by Cawdor Maintenance Trust seeks to replace the proposed roundabout to service the Delnies development with a simpler, ghost island priority junction. The Council's very own Transport Planning team have come out against it however. A document posted yesterday on the Council's e-planning site sates: 

"Although we do not dispute that based on the possible predicted level of traffic, a ghost island junction would be adequate, it is the duty of the Council to consider the wider issues of junction choice and consider the benefits that other junction types may provide. In addition as it unknown as to how much traffic a future development at Sandown may create and it is not clear if a ghost island will be able to satisfy policies 16 and 17 of the Highland Wide Local Development Plan for suitable shared access to the Sandown and Delnies development sites. A ghost island junction fails to consider the broader urban design issues relating to the growth of Nairn. 

A ghost island junction does not provide a gateway feature, cannot help to distinguish between urban and rural areas and provides little in the way of helping to differentiate between a change in speed limits. Furthermore there are proven specific safety benefits that make roundabouts a more desirable junction and it is a more attractive option for pedestrians and cyclists wishing to access the south side of the road. Therefore we do not support this application to vary Condition 14 of the previous planning in principle permission."

Gurnites may wish to read the entire document over at the Highland Council's e-planning pages here.