Representation by Shorne Parish Council (Shorne Parish Council)
- Date submitted
- 27 February 2021
- Submitted by
- Parish councils
Shorne Parish Council is a Local Authority constituted under the Local Government Acts. The Parish is located to the east of Gravesend, in the Borough of Gravesham in the north-west of the county of Kent with the A2 to its south and the River Thames to its north. Our principal concerns about this proposal are summarised as follows: 1) Traffic impacts on the A2 and beyond - this proposal will increase vehicular traffic on the A2 both heading west and particularly east from London and the M25. Traffic in this area is already congested and set to increase further due to the Lower Thames Crossing (LTC) proposals coupled with very large housing development targets. The proposal will pull even more traffic into the wider area, including also using the A229, A228 and A227 which are already congested and/or unsuitable for additional traffic volumes. The LTC proposals include narrowing the A2 down to only two lanes (from current 4) as it passes by Gravesend without room for later re-widening. Traffic will also be pulled onto the Dartford Crossing compromising any relieving effect from the LTC. There is significant fear of large queues forming on the A2 wanting to exit to the Theme Park. This will be especially bad in the run up to Xmas due to conflict with Bluewater Shopping Centre traffic. 2) Traffic impacts on M25 junction 2 - The junction of the M25 northbound with the A2 westbound is already a traffic bottleneck as traffic needs to negotiate a roundabout controlled by traffic lights, and will be made worse. 3) Interference with access to and from Ebbsfleet International Station - Local residents need to be able to access the station to make journeys and also to get back home again. For rural residents this is predominantly by car. We are concerned that residents will be prevented from accessing and leaving the station in a timely fashion (including during many years of construction) and that parking at the station will be occupied detrimentally by visitors to the theme park. 4) Conflict for train timings and space on trains - In our view there will be conflict between theme park attendance and commuters, especially late afternoon and early evening. Too many trains are being planned to use the HS1 line which is only two-track, and this will slow our commuter trains. 5) Landscape impact - The early plans for the scheme were relatively low rise, now high multi-storey buildings are proposed that will have visual impact over a very wide area particularly from Shorne Woods Country Park and the North Thames Marshes Special Protection Area and Ramsar Site, having detrimental effect on their ambience. 6) While not direct impacts on our Parish, we would also like to express concern about: the loss of businesses located at Ebbsfleet that are used by our residents as it is not clear where they will be relocated to; the environmental impact on the Ebbsfleet peninsula marshes; the adverse effect on local residents of Northfleet and Greenhithe. 7) There may be other points that we wish to raise that are not being presently mentioned.