modelling A27 Falmer Interchange i!provements

The request was partially successful.

Dear East Sussex County Council,

Highways England have referred my request to you.

I enclose their note

Our ref: FOI 154-66

Mr Rob Shepherd

Sent Via Email: request-298875-
[email address]
Daniel Beckley
Team Executive
2nd Floor
Bridge House
Walnut Tree Close
Guildford
GU1 4LZ
Direct Line: 0300 470 1324
23 November 2015
Dear Mr Shepherd
I am writing to confirm that we have now completed our search for the information, which you
requested on 24 October 2015 about the modelling and improvement works for the A27 at
the Falmer interchange. Please see the responses to your questions below.
1. Was HE's modelling based on analysing just the peak hour(s) traffic or did it
follow the DfT's guidelines for handling cumulative queue build up in highly
congested junctions, as set out in DMRB V12 S2?
Highways England including our predecessor the Highways Agency did not carry out
the modelling work. I refer you to the modeller in this case East Sussex County
Council.
2. If it followed the DfT's guidelines, what were the queue length values provided
to LinSig or calculated by LinSig for the start of the peak hours? Specifically the
Eastbound off slip, Knights Gate Road and the B2123 S & N.
Highways England including our predecessor the Highways Agency did not carry out
the modelling work. I refer you to the modeller in this case East Sussex County
Council.
3. The vehicles freed from the queues on the North Roundabout can exit North,
East, South or West but will mainly exit South (B2123) or West (A27). What
assumptions were made in the model about the mix of this traffic flow, i.e. the %
taking each exit?
Highways England including our predecessor the Highways Agency did not carry out
the modelling work. I refer you to the modeller in this case East Sussex County
Council. We were consulted about the study but we are not responsible for the
decisions made by the modeller.

Y4. Was B&HCC explicitly advised about the additional peak time load this traffic
will place on the B2123, specifically at Bexhill Road, the Woodingdean Junction,
Steyning Road and Rottingdean junction? If not, was this issue raised in normal
liaison meetings, so B&HCC could make its own assessment? HE were aware of
B&HCC's planned "Lewes Road Improvements" which substantially reduce that
road's capacity and displaces high volumes of peak traffic into Rottingdean
Coastal and Woodingdean wards, as set out in the 2010 JMP study and raised
as a concern in the May 2013 Strategic Transport Assessment.
We can find no record and have no recollection that we explicitly advised B&HCC
about any additional peak time load on the B2123.
5. Were the values used in the LinSig Models, referred to in (2) and (3) above,
based on the Traffic flows prior to these major changes or after these changes?
B&HCC say they made HE aware of concerns expressed by local residents, that
the already serious blocking back of the B2123 queue towards the A27 (a
composite queue of the traffic unable to reach Bexhill Road or Woodingdean
Junction), would by Year 2019 regularly reach the A27 and negate the key
modelling assumption that the B2123 exit flow (south) is unobstructed. i.e. some
of the value of the planned improvements could be negated.
Highways England including our predecessor the Highways Agency did not carry out
the modelling work. I refer you to the modeller in this case East Sussex County
Council. We were consulted but we are not responsible for the decisions made by the
modeller.
6. How was this information communicated to HE, what actions were taken as
result and what conclusions resulted from any assessment of this threat to the
SRN?
We observed the pre-existing queues and undertook several workshops and
discussions with ESCC and B&HCC as well as a number of local major stakeholders.
We then set about surveying and studying the issues that were highlighted and as you
will be aware in our earlier correspondence, Highways England have installed various
signs to mitigate the safety risk

.Yours faithfully,

rob shepherd

Freedom of Information, East Sussex County Council

Dear Mr Shepherd

EIR Request ref: 6428 / Modelling A27 Falmer Interchange improvements

Thank you for your request for information about the above. Your request was received on 23/11/2015 and I am dealing with it under the terms of the Environmental Information Regulations 2004.
We always aim to respond as quickly as possible, but we do need you to clarify your request before we will be able to process it.
 
Please confirm whether we are answering all 6 questions or whether we are only answering questions 1, 2, 3 and 5 which Highways England have explictly said East Sussex County Council hold.
 
Your request is on hold pending receipt of your clarification. Please quote the above reference number in any communication regarding this request.

Kind regards

Amilia Holland
Customer Information Adviser

East Sussex County Council
Communities Economy and Transport Directorate
W1D, County Hall
St Anne’s Crescent
Lewes
East Sussex BN7 1UE

Phone: 01273 482913
Fax: 01273 481208
email: [East Sussex County Council request email]   web: www.eastsussex.gov.uk/foi
  please consider the environment - do you really need to print this email

show quoted sections

Dear Freedom of Information,

Thank you,

Q4 also applies to ESCC as the unit that did the Modelling

Yours sincerely,

rob shepherd

Freedom of Information, East Sussex County Council

Dear Mr Shepherd

EIR Request ref: 6428 / Modelling A27 Falmer Interchange improvements

Thank you for your request for information about the above. Your clarified request was received on 24/11/2015 and I am dealing with it under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
We always aim to respond as quickly as possible, and in this case will do so no later than 22/12/2015, which is the 20 working day deadline. The deadline is counted from the first working day we receive it, not the date a letter is written / posted or an email sent.
Please quote the above reference number in any communication regarding this request.

Kind regards

Amilia Holland
Customer Information Adviser

East Sussex County Council
Communities Economy and Transport Directorate
W1D, County Hall
St Anne’s Crescent
Lewes
East Sussex BN7 1UE

Phone: 01273 482913
Fax: 01273 481208
email: [East Sussex County Council request email]   web: www.eastsussex.gov.uk/foi
  please consider the environment - do you really need to print this email

show quoted sections

Freedom of Information, East Sussex County Council

Dear Mr Shepherd

Further to my email below, please accept my apologies, I did not make it clear that we are dealing with this request under the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 and not the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

Kind regards

Amilia Holland
Customer Information Adviser

East Sussex County Council
Communities Economy and Transport Directorate
W1D, County Hall
St Anne’s Crescent
Lewes
East Sussex BN7 1UE

Phone: 01273 482913
[mobile number]
Fax: 01273 481208

show quoted sections

Dear Freedom of Information,

May I remind you that the response to my request is overdue.

The information may be required at an appeal on 6th of January so I would appreciate it if you could try to answer soon.

(Specifically, I cannot calculate the number of cars that will be released from the slip Road, without knowing whether the estimated Queue includes any Queue that built up before the peak time. I am confident I know the answer but prefer certainty when making a statement to a government inspector!)

Thank you

Yours sincerely,

rob shepherd

Freedom of Information, East Sussex County Council

Dear Mr Shepherd

Thank you for your email. Please accept my apologies that this information is late. The information requested was undertaken by Officers that have since left East Sussex County Council. We are currently liaising with ICT to see if this information is retrievable.

I will contact you again once ICT have given me a response.

Kind regards

Amilia Holland
Customer Information Adviser

East Sussex County Council
Communities Economy and Transport Directorate
W1D, County Hall
St Anne’s Crescent
Lewes
East Sussex BN7 1UE

Phone: 01273 482913
[mobile number]
Fax: 01273 481208

show quoted sections

Freedom of Information, East Sussex County Council

 

 

Dear Mr Shepherd

 

EIR Request ref: 6428 / Modelling A27 Falmer Interchange improvements

 

Thank you for your request for information about the above, which has been
dealt with under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act 2000. Your
request and our response are set out below. Please note that any
information we provide is subject to the copyright and reuse of
information terms and conditions set out at the bottom of this email.

 

REQUEST

 

Modelling A27 Falmer Interchange improvements

 

1. Was ESCC's modelling based on analysing just the peak hour(s) traffic
or did it follow the DfT's guidelines for handling cumulative queue build
up in highly congested junctions, as set out in DMRB V12 S2?

2. If it followed the DfT's guidelines, what were the queue length values
provided to LinSig or calculated by LinSig for the start of the peak
hours? Specifically the Eastbound off slip, Knights Gate Road and the
B2123 S & N.

3. The vehicles freed from the queues on the North Roundabout can exit
North, East, South or West but will mainly exit South (B2123) or West
(A27). What assumptions were made in the model about the mix of this
traffic flow, i.e. the % taking each exit?    

4. Was B&HCC explicitly advised about the additional peak time load this
traffic will place on the B2123, specifically at Bexhill Road, the
Woodingdean Junction, Steyning Road and Rottingdean junction? If not, was
this issue raised in normal liaison meetings, so B&HCC could make its own
assessment?

5. Were the values used in the LinSig Models, referred to in (2) and (3)
above, based on the Traffic flows prior to these major changes or after
these changes?

 

RESPONSE

 

The information you have requested was carried out by four East Sussex
County Council Officers that have now left the Council. In addition to
this, these Officers were the only ones who knew when the work was carried
out, which would enable ICT to retrieve the information. Any information
held on closed accounts over 6 months old is also very time consuming for
ICT to retrieve. Regulation 12(4)(b) EIR provides that a public authority
may refuse to disclose information where the request is “manifestly
unreasonable”. We have assessed that to require us to retrieve and examine
each account is manifestly unreasonable.

Unlike the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), the EIR does not have a
specified cost limit for providing responses. But we have nevertheless
drawn a comparison to the FOIA to illustrate why we have concluded that
this part of your request is manifestly unreasonable. The appropriate
limit with regard to FOIA requests is £450, which equates to 18 hours of
staff time at £25 per hour. This limit is set out in the Freedom of
Information and Data Protection (Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations
2004. Our calculation of the time required to gather and collate the
information for this part of your request greatly exceeds this limit and
would be a disproportionate drain on the County Councils resources and
would divert staff from their core functions.

 

Regulation 12(4)(b) EIR, is not absolute. Before we can rely upon it, we
are required to decide, despite our assessment of your request, whether or
not it is in the public interest to make the information available. We
will be carrying out this Public Interest Test and notify you of the
decision as soon as possible.

 

We do, however, hold some information that may be of use to you in
response to the questions you have raised. If you are happy to refine your
request and accept the information we have already collated, please do let
me know and I will send this to you.

 

Kind regards

 

Amilia Holland

Customer Information Adviser

 

East Sussex County Council

Communities, Economy and Transport

W1D, County Hall

St Anne’s Crescent

Lewes

East Sussex BN7 1UE

 

Phone: 01273 482913
Fax: 01273 481208

email: [1][East Sussex County Council request email]   web: [2]www.eastsussex.gov.uk/foi

P    please consider the environment - do you really need to print this
email

 

 

 

Copyright and Re-Use of information

1. Providing you with documents under the Freedom of Information Act does
not give you an automatic right to re-use those documents in a way that
would infringe copyright – for example by making multiple copies, or by
publishing / issuing copies to the public.

2. Copyright in the information is owned by East Sussex County Council
and/or its contractor(s) unless otherwise stated. Brief extracts of the
material can be reproduced under the “fair dealing” provisions of the
Copyright Design and Patents Act 1988 (S.29 and S.30) for the purposes of
research for non-commercial purposes, private study, criticism, review and
news reporting.

3. We do not give permission for this information to be used for the
purposes of direct marketing.

4. If you wish to use this information then, in accordance with the
Regulations on the Re-use of Public Sector Information 2015, you must
first ask our permission. Such re-use may or may not involve the granting
of a licence and the application of a Fee.

 

 

 

This message is intended for the use of the addressee only and may
contain confidential or privileged information. If you have received it in
error please notify the sender and destroy it. You may not use it or copy
it to anyone else.

E-mail is not a secure communications medium. Please be aware of this
when replying. All communications sent to or from the County Council
may be subject to recording and/or monitoring in accordance with
relevant legislation.

Although East Sussex County Council has taken steps to ensure that this
e-mail and any attachments are virus free, we can take no responsibility
if a virus is actually present and you are advised to ensure that the
appropriate checks are made.

You can visit our website at http://www.eastsussex.gov.uk

References

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1. mailto:[East Sussex County Council request email]
2. http://www.eastsussex.gov.uk/foi

Dear Freedom of Information,

Thank you I am 100% happy to go along with your suggestion.

I was 95% certain of the facts anyway and just trying to make absolutely sure, but the effort is clearly out of proportion to the value of the information.

Thank you very much for your efforts, I have been very impressed with how diligently you worked to satisfy my information needs

Yours sincerely,

rob shepherd

Freedom of Information, East Sussex County Council

 

 

Dear Mr Shepherd

 

EIR Request ref: 6428 / Modelling A27 Falmer Interchange improvements

 

Thank you for your email. Please find below the information that we hold.
Once we have carried out the Public Interest Test I will contact you again
to let you know the outcome.

 

REQUEST

 

Modelling A27 Falmer Interchange improvements

 

1. Was ESCC's modelling based on analysing just the peak hour(s) traffic
or did it follow the DfT's guidelines for handling cumulative queue build
up in highly congested junctions, as set out in DMRB V12 S2?

2. If it followed the DfT's guidelines, what were the queue length values
provided to LinSig or calculated by LinSig for the start of the peak
hours? Specifically the Eastbound off slip, Knights Gate Road and the
B2123 S & N.

3. The vehicles freed from the queues on the North Roundabout can exit
North, East, South or West but will mainly exit South (B2123) or West
(A27). What assumptions were made in the model about the mix of this
traffic flow, i.e. the % taking each exit?    

4. Was B&HCC explicitly advised about the additional peak time load this
traffic will place on the B2123, specifically at Bexhill Road, the
Woodingdean Junction, Steyning Road and Rottingdean junction? If not, was
this issue raised in normal liaison meetings, so B&HCC could make its own
assessment?

5. Were the values used in the LinSig Models, referred to in (2) and (3)
above, based on the Traffic flows prior to these major changes or after
these changes?

 

RESPONSE

 

Modelling A27 Falmer Interchange improvements

 

1.The details on how the initial LINSIG model that was set up are not
available. This work was carried out by officers who are no longer with
East Sussex County Council. The model has since been passed to Highways
England who have amended and updated it in consultation with ESCC & B&HCC.

2. As the details of the initial LINSIG model are not available this is
not known. The queue lengths in the more recent  model update have been
validated against queue length survey data.  

3. The amount of traffic taking each exit was based on survey data.
Junction turning movement counts were carried out in May 2014 and the
resultant data was used to construct the model.

4. B&HCC have been in attendance at the B&HA transport meetings where this
has been discussed as well as at sub group meetings that have specifically
considered changes to these junctions and the results of the modelling.

5. The latest LINSIG model is based on traffic flow data collected since
the opening of the Stadium.

 

I hope that this answers your enquiry. If you believe that the County
Council has not complied with the FOI Act in responding to your request,
you may ask for an internal review. If you wish to do so, please set out
the grounds of your appeal in writing to:

 

Philip Baker, Assistant Chief Executive, East Sussex County Council,
County Hall, St Anne’s Crescent, Lewes, East Sussex. BN7 1UE.

or by email to him at [1][email address]

 

Please quote the FOI reference number in any communication regarding this
particular request.

 

If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you then
have the right to apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a
decision. Generally, the Information Commissioner cannot make a decision
unless you have exhausted the County Council’s internal review procedure
as described in the previous paragraph. The Commissioner can be contacted
at: Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane,
Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF. Tel: 0303 123 1113.  [2]www.ico.org.uk

 

 

With kind regards and wishing you a Merry Christmas

 

 

Amilia Holland

Customer Information Adviser

 

East Sussex County Council

Communities, Economy and Transport

W1D, County Hall

St Anne’s Crescent

Lewes

East Sussex BN7 1UE

 

Phone: 01273 482913
Fax: 01273 481208

email: [3][East Sussex County Council request email]   web: [4]www.eastsussex.gov.uk/foi

P    please consider the environment - do you really need to print this
email

 

 

 

Copyright and Re-Use of information

1. Providing you with documents under the Freedom of Information Act does
not give you an automatic right to re-use those documents in a way that
would infringe copyright – for example by making multiple copies, or by
publishing / issuing copies to the public.

2. Copyright in the information is owned by East Sussex County Council
and/or its contractor(s) unless otherwise stated. Brief extracts of the
material can be reproduced under the “fair dealing” provisions of the
Copyright Design and Patents Act 1988 (S.29 and S.30) for the purposes of
research for non-commercial purposes, private study, criticism, review and
news reporting.

3. We do not give permission for this information to be used for the
purposes of direct marketing.

4. If you wish to use this information then, in accordance with the
Regulations on the Re-use of Public Sector Information 2015, you must
first ask our permission. Such re-use may or may not involve the granting
of a licence and the application of a Fee.

 

 

 

This message is intended for the use of the addressee only and may
contain confidential or privileged information. If you have received it in
error please notify the sender and destroy it. You may not use it or copy
it to anyone else.

E-mail is not a secure communications medium. Please be aware of this
when replying. All communications sent to or from the County Council
may be subject to recording and/or monitoring in accordance with
relevant legislation.

Although East Sussex County Council has taken steps to ensure that this
e-mail and any attachments are virus free, we can take no responsibility
if a virus is actually present and you are advised to ensure that the
appropriate checks are made.

You can visit our website at http://www.eastsussex.gov.uk

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
mailto:[email address]
2. http://www.ico.org.uk/
3. mailto:[East Sussex County Council request email]
4. http://www.eastsussex.gov.uk/foi

Dear Freedom of Information

No need for a public interest test thank you, I am satisfied you have done your reasonable best and the matter is closed

Yours sincerely,

rob shepherd