Representation by Eleanor Owens
- Date submitted
- 2 November 2023
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
I travel very short distances through cowfold, Horsham and partridge green for work as a gardener. It’s already such a struggle to keep to my timetable due to traffic and this will make it impossible to have a career here. I’ll have to move my business elsewhere. Traffic on the A272-congestion, traffic lights, delays, accidents, access for emergency services, pollution on A272 and in the village (Cowfold is an Air Quality Management Area and therefore of concern). We no know that there WILL be HGVs going through Cowfold and lots of smaller vehicles travelling to the cable route, the substation and the huge compound to the village side of Oakendene. - Visual impacts from A272 at the substation entrance and the huge western compound near the industrial estate - Health effects-noise, light pollution, dust, traffic fumes, electromagnetic fields (substation and high voltage cable to Bolney) - Traffic going through the village to get to the cable route-congestion, pollution - Traffic in the tiny lanes such as Kent Street, Picts Lane, Dragons Lane - There are around 130 businesses in Cowfold. How will they be affected if the roads are congested? Especially those at Oakendene where there will be a large compound for HGVs and storage. Will they survive? What about the effect on the wider economy of the county of delays on the A272. - If you like to walk through Taintfield Wood or round the lake at Oakendene, think about the visual impact of the substation right by the public footpath. Also, the way it will look from Kent Street and the huge visibility splay onto the A272 with the removal of hedges and trees which will alter the rural feel coming into the village permanently - The loss of habitats and wildlife at Oakendene and along the Cowfold stream, especially the significant nightingale breeding sites and the impact of the noise and light pollution on the species around the lake. The wildlife corridors from the A281 to A272 which will be disrupted by the cable route and substation construction. We now know there are red listed species such as otters and hazel dormice, which are ONLY present on Oakendene and nowhere else in the whole project including the south downs or areas of special scientific interest. 8 of the 14 Important Hedgerows they have discovered along the entire route are here and in danger. - Comparison with the alternative sites on Wineham Lane- access, traffic disruption, businesses affected, sensitive ecology etc