Further traffic studies needed at proposed post-16 campus

Tuesday 07 September 2021

The proposed rebuild of Les Ozouets could require "infrastructure changes" to the surrounding area to accommodate the 1,200 students and staff expected to visit the site every day.

The States will this week debate ESC's proposals for 11-16 schools at Les Beaucamps, Les Varendes and St Sampson’s, with the post-16 offering centred around a Sixth Form Centre co-located with the Guernsey Institute at Les Ozouets Campus, which will be demolished and rebuilt.

The committee's plans are still subject to several amendments before ESC can get a clear sight at the £54m capital backing it is looking for when the debate resumes on Wednesday. 

Ahead of debate, Environment & Infrastructure President Lindsay de Sausmarez submitted written questions requesting a breakdown of total, full-time and part-time anticipated staff and student numbers using the proposed new-post 16 campus, including daily or weekly peaks on site at any one time. 

During the last academic year, there were approximately 320 students and staff accessing the current Les Ozouets Campus.

ESC says there is likely to be approximately 450 full-time students aged 16-21 at the new site, which will likely result in around 300 students being on campus at the same time each week day. 

Pictured: Under ESC's proposals, the Sixth Form Centre and all Guernsey Institute activity will be moved to a newly-built £40m campus at Les Ozouets. The two will be co-located but will not form a tertiary college. 

There are approximately 350 apprentices who will attend the campus one day each week, equating to 75 apprentices on campus each week day. 

There are approximately 2,000 part-time adult learners, many of whom attend for less than half a day a week, and some of whom will attend the campus during the evening. This, ESC writes, equates to 175 adult learners on campus at peak times. 

According to current forecasts, the Sixth Form Centre will have approximately 400 students. There will also be 240 staff, however ESC says that “not all of whom will be full-time and some of whom will teach in the evenings.”

In total, that would mean almost 1,200 people using the site each day, most of which will be old to drive. 

ESC adds: “It will be possible, and desirable, to stagger their arrival and departure times.”

Other potential solutions are being looked at because of the constrained road network around the school.

Active travel will be encouraged, but with limited parking provision, ESC has accepted that it needs to carry out further traffic studies to ensure that traffic flow around the busy campus and the surrounding residential area can be managed. 

Pictured: The Sixth Form Centre will move from Les Varendes to Les Ozouets under ESC’s proposals. 

“It should be noted that the consolidation of The Guernsey Institute from five sites to one will reduce the number of movements between sites during the day, making active travel solutions more viable than they are today," said ESC President Andrea Dudley-Owen. 

“Traffic counting as part of a traffic impact assessment will be undertaken in the autumn (having been delayed by lockdown and pandemic-related travel restrictions) so that there is a firm evidence base from which to make recommendations for infrastructure changes if necessary. 

“Within the proposed budget, funds have been set aside should it prove necessary or desirable to improve the infrastructure around any of the sites proposed in the Committee’s model to better facilitate access, with a particular emphasis on changes that promote active travel.”

In addition to changes to infrastructure, Deputy Dudley-Owen said that staff and students for the Guernsey Institute could be encouraged  to travel to the campus by bus.