Representation by Mark Blackett-Ord
- Date submitted
- 1 September 2022
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
The scheme, Brough to Appleby The present A66 is the southern boundary of the North Pennines AONB and runs about one km north of the four villages of Sandford, Warcop, Flitholme and Langrigg. So the scheme as first proposed was on or just south of the old road, to mitigate pollution in the four villages, but without incursion into the AONB. Only a closer look at the site shows what damage is caused if it is not put further north, although admittedly into the edge of the AONB: (1) The present A66 is on the turnpike road on the site of the Roman road from York to Hadrian’s Wall and the north. The road had itself been positioned by the Romans to avoid damage to a neolithic stone circle (which later gave “Warcop” its name) and three bronze age burial barrows just west of where Sandford lane joins the road. The largest of these will now be destroyed, with all the unknowable Roman archaeology along the old road edge (2) Facing unnecessary destruction are the cricket field, the largest level space in the parish, irreplaceable in this hilly country, and the fairground where the Travellers and Gipsies meet, at the September fair dating from the fourteenth century called “Brough Hill”. (3) Around the Crooks Beck at the centre of Warcop the houses often get flooded by two becks (streams) which meet: the Low Beck, coming from the direction of Brough, and the Hayber Beck or the Moor Beck, draining from the Pennine edge. The tarmac on the dual carriageway would add run-off into these becks, and global warming is increasing the severity of rainstorms. NH propose settling ponds, but they only take out debris and effluent from the water-flow, and would have little effect on stopping a sudden flood to the village. If the road were further north the road water could flow out westwards to join the Eden below Warcop. (4) There are many privately owned residential properties, many of them Georgian, south of the road and along and near the proposed dual carriageway. There are none on the land to the north, which is used exclusively for army training. (5) Each of the four villages to the south of the present road has a lane up to it. It would be sensible to keep the old road as a by-road giving access to these lanes. But to build the dual-carriageway immediately south of the A66 road means that it cuts off those lanes from it and requires bridges under it or fly-overs over it. They will be an eyesores on the AONB edge. (6) The North Pennines AONB extends to 770 square miles, and the choice of its southern edge here on the A66 was arbitrary. The mess from military training means that little actual “Natural Beauty” is preserved on it north of the road, and its ancient and traditional buildings are all demolished. South of the road is still pleasing ancient pastureland and traditional buildings.