Representation by Ian Ridley
- Date submitted
- 3 April 2024
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
I STRONGLY OBJECT TO THESE PROPOSALS As a professional whose working life has been in the Construction Industry I am aghast at the lack of detail and due diligence in preparing elements of this Report, especially the investigation of all aspects of potential Traffic Routes and Construction Programming. Planning permission has already been granted for several other solar panel developments in the immediate area and the addition of Byers Gill Panel Areas B,C & D would form a virtual blanket coverage to the South East and West areas surrounding Great Stainton which also occupies a high elevation over looking them all and no amount of fencing hedges etc. can hide them from the Residents homes. The amount of vagueness, ambiguity and what appears to be selective use of ‘Data to suit the Narrative’ does not provide any confidence in these submissions for a proposal of such magnitude and the concerns of the majority of the local population e.g. Reference:- Byers Response 6.4.2.8. Environmental Statement Appendix 2.8 Construction Traffic Management Plan (CTMP) My initial concern whilst first reading through this document was 1.1.4 “ A detailed CTMP will be produced for the proposed Development following the appointment of the Principal Contractor” followed by use of “ estimated” “could be” “expected” as per:- 2.2.3. This outline CTMP establishes the principles (rather than the full details) for the routing of HGVs and staff travel to the Proposed Development. 2.2.4. It has been assumed that the hours of construction will be restricted to 08:00-18:00 Monday to Friday and 08:00-14:00 on Saturdays 5.2 Estimated Construction Programme The Traffic Movement Statistics refer only to average weekly volumes but these statistics omit to identify the two weekday daily rush hour periods. The Great Stainton Speed Monitors on the C43 road record the heaviest flow between the hours of 0700am to 09.00am and 16.30pm to 18.30pm. The additional Construction and Personnel traffic will drastically increase these numbers and will create further congestion at site entrances; all of which do not appear to be reflected in the traffic proposals. Great Stainton is situated at the cross roads of local traffic, serving access to the A1M J59 to the west; A1M J60 to the north; Local Medical Centre, Hospital & Stockton on Tees to the east; and the A66, Teesside Airport, Hospital and Darlington to the south. The current amount of traffic using Bishopton Lane South has prompted Darlington Borough Council to propose the construction of a completely new By Pass linking the A1M J59 to the A66 east of Darlington in next few years. The residents of Great Stainton trust that should Byers Gill be awarded Planning Permission, suitable Written Conditions will be imposed ensuring that no associated construction and personnel traffic will be allowed to use the actual roads through the village namely The Green, Glebe Road and Back Lane (see Google Maps) Darlington Borough Council to my knowledge did not consult with the Local Residents on any of the proposed traffic management schemes surrounding the villages. If this proposal is granted the Construction Works of each individual panel area could go on in a piecemeal fashion for many years (it is suggested 12 to 18 OR 18 to 24 months) Yet there are no precise details given of sequencing of the works in general nor the exact locations of construction site entrances. All of which will obviously impact on the traffic management planning and result in a never ending upheaval and disruption to the residents lives with associated noise and dust from this industrialised development Referring to Figure 12.1 Proposed Access Routes and Survey Location :- The proposed abnormal load route along Bishopton Lane South terminates after Area C - does this mean that No Abnormal Traffic associated with these proposals travels further north through Great Stainton? This is not clear and would be totally unacceptable to the Residents it is yet another example ambiguity of detail and lack of consideration. Proposed Access Routes from Area ‘B’ continue east to Areas ‘D’ ‘E’ & ‘F’ which would mean that Great Stainton would be surrounded and engulfed by Construction Traffic for the whole tenure of these proposals until all construction works were completed. Surely an alternative could be that Area ‘B’ could only be accessed from the west and the route terminated once work has been completed. Construction Traffic destined for Areas ‘D’ ‘E’ & ‘F’ could be routed via Bishopton Lane coming from the south via Little Stainton to Bishopton in the east instead of using reference roads 9 East of Great Stainton and 10 West of Bleach House Bank thus completely leaving the cross roads at Great Stainton complete clear of Construction Traffic If the underground cable routing follows the roads, the narrowness of the local carriageways would no doubt require some road closures/diversions or at the very least ‘traffic light management systems’ either of which would impact further on the surrounding network of road traffic congestion. The working hours stated for this industrial large scale Construction, 5 days from 8am to 6pm and on Saturday 8am to 2pm is completely unacceptable lacking any consideration for the residents of this rural area especially with use of Piling Rigs The noise, dust and dirt created by the construction traffic will be intolerable, although normal Construction Industry Practice wheel washing facilities have been proposed will this requirement be made a condition along with regular mechanical road sweeping on all adjacent public roads. In general no account or consideration has been given to local knowledge and Residents who when trying to going about their normal daily business will have to negotiate and tolerate not only construction traffic but also the sole destroying visage of the construction works, let alone the finished article. What concerns me also that it is we the taxpayers and consumers who are directly or indirectly financing these proposals with profits going to a German Company.