Since July 2022, our auditors Richard Marriott and Lee Williams have carried out various design stage road safety audits to include the Section 278 works for the two main site access roundabouts (northern and southern roundabouts) plus various carriageway widening.

The section 278 works which were audited by our team, consisted of roundabouts being constructed along the existing alignment, with a slight deviation to accommodate the circulatory and provide deflection. The roundabouts will have a 3-metre-wide shared use footway-cycleway running along the northbound lane.  The northern roundabout’s arm into the site will go directly into a residential development, and the arm coming off the southern roundabout will serve the commercial business park development at the southern extent of the site, with a priority junction link to the residential site along it.

This extensive project will continue for some years yet and we are certain our audit team will be back to site soon to carry out further Road Safety Audits to support the ongoing developments at Drakelow Park.

There is a planned redevelopment of the stadium, which will increase the capacity to over 50,000 and include over 7,000 sqm of public realm surrounding the Witton Lane entrance. As part of the redevelopment sustainable technologies such as solar panels, sustainable drainage systems (SuDS) and green roofs will be used.

Not only do we carry out Road Safety Audits at high profile football stadiums, but the concept of safety audit is also drilled down to grass roots football.  TMS are regularly commissioned to carry out Road Safety Audits on new vehicle accesses to support the growth of football clubs in various towns and villages throughout the UK. More recently, we have completed a Stage 1 Road Safety Audit on behalf of Kibworth FC in Leicester on their proposed expansion, which consists of a new dedicated access for the growing club.

(Picture: proposed development of Villa Park, ©Aston Villa)

The audit team commented: “During the site visit, on the village green, it was lovely to see the small, but fitting, memorial to the station and all that served during World War II.  We feel very fortunate to be able to audit such vastly different highway schemes in such diverse locations and be able to see some unusual sights along the way.”

At TMS, we have extensive experience in carrying out Road Safety Audits, at all stages, for small and large scale residential developments including Section 278, Section 38 and Section 111 schemes.

Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS) are designed to manage stormwater locally (as close to its source as possible) to mimic natural drainage and encourage its infiltration, attenuation and passive treatment.  SuDS are used to reduce the impact of rainfall on new developments, by using soakaways, grassed areas, permeable surfaces and wetlands.

Neal and Lee also carried out a Stage 1 Road Safety Audit on a Sustainable Drainage scheme in Whitstable, Kent.  The scheme consisted of amendments to the carriageway drainage, with direct connection into new conveyance swales within the park, recreation ground and landscaping works.  The outlook and purpose of the scheme was very similar (as can be seen from the artist’s impression of the final product).