Representation by David Wood
- Date submitted
- 20 May 2023
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
Having attended the presentation at Narborough Village Hall, I was not impressed by the knowledge of those making the presentation. Of most concern was the person who dismissed all arguments that the additional trains running through would have little to no impact on the area. In fact, he stated that apparently, the traffic chaos at peak times that can see traffic backed up to the B4114 and around the island, through the village along Leicester Road and on the opposite side back along through Littlethorpe was mainly the fault of motorists not using the crossing point correctly. They had, they allege, done some monitoring to prove this, but that was not presented or available. Apart from this, they could make no real case for this new site being needed, other than it takes lorries off the road from Harwich to the Midlands. They could not state why putting all these goods on a train to the M69 site and then putting the same number of lorries on the road from the new site to saturate this area was actually logical or necessary. In fact, many of these goods are for destinations in the south, so trucks will go from the new site to southern destinations, adding time and costs when they could have gone from the ports to their southern destinations directly. And no comments were forthcoming that this would in any way reduce road transport needs, it seems that all that will change is the lorries starting from the new site instead. So far, it has been a poorly conceived idea, poorly executed and for no logical reason that is apparent.