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An imposing 3.1 metre (10ft) high wooden fence on two sides of the site of Bradley Stoke’s new town centre is now complete. The structure begins on the access road opposite the new filling station and initially follows the line of a public footpath, skirting first the vacant site originally reserved for Bradley Stoke’s new health centre and then a couple of houses in Manor Farm Crescent. An overlapped gap in the structure allows access from Manor Farm Crescent and Shepherds Walk. The fence then continues up to the corner of the site near the Little Green flats, where there is a second access point for pedestrians and cyclists. The public footpath leaves the town centre site at this point, and continues to The Hedgerows and Dewfalls Drive. Beyond this, the fence continues unbroken to the far corner of the site, behind houses in Dewfalls Drive. There is no access to the site along this stretch of the boundary, in particular at the end of The Hedgerows between the Little Green and The Pasture apartment blocks.
In the detailed town centre plans, the fence is referred to as an “acoustic barrier”. It is intended to protect houses in Manor Farm Crescent, Shepherds Walk, The Hedgerows, Little Green and The Pasture from noise generated within the town centre complex, in particular from the five non-food retail units located on the west side of the site. The service yard of the non-food retail units will be very close to houses in Manor Farm Crescent and Shepherds Walk and the planning permission forbids deliveries to/from these units (but not the new Tesco store) outside of the hours of 08:00 to 20:00.
The access road to the town centre site will, in the coming months, be redirected to follow the line of the new boundary fence. This will allow a start to be made on construction of the new town square and surrounding shops/offices, the site of which overlaps the existing access road, between the new and old filling stations. The planning permission requires the town square and buildings on its southern side to be complete before the new Tesco store is allowed to open.
Work on laying a major sewer pipe under the line of the new access road has been progressing for several weeks, from time to time necessitating the use of temporary traffic signals opposite the new filling station. The resulting traffic delays are believed to have put some customers off visting the existing Tesco store and it is noticeable that the traffic signals are generally removed at weekends, when traffic is heaviest.
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