Representation by Sharon Scott
- Date submitted
- 23 May 2023
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
• No market need due to close proximity of other SRFIs in the area (including Daventry International Rail Freight Terminal (DIRFT) and East Midlands Gateway (part of the new Freeport complex)). • Magna Park already utilizes DIRFT. (Located 8 miles from Magna Park.) DIRFT brings in freight from Felixstowe via the all-electric line round London as well as from Southampton, Tilbury and Liverpool. • Magna Park serves the whole of the UK and is therefore not a local market. A feasible environmentally sound option would be to put in a short electric railway link from Magna Park to nearby West Coast Main Line. • South Leicester is more accessible from Magna Park than from HNRFI due to severe congestion at junction 3 M69 / junction 21 M1 roundabout. • Coventry is equidistant from DIRFT and HNRFI. • Traffic congestion in our area is already severe. Key pinch points are: 1. Junction 3 M69 / M1 Jct 21 roundabout – long queues for most of the day and evening, often back to Junction 2 of M69 and backing up on the four lane M1 in the other direction. 2. Junction 1 M69 / A5 roundabout – heavily congested at peak times. 3. B4669 from Sapcote to Hinckley – long queues at peak times. 4. Sapcote ‘S’ road bend in the centre of the village with very narrow pavements. Tritax have not provided specific detail regarding the highways improvements they propose for Sapcote, despite the whole of the main road through the village being included in the DCO. When I asked for more detail at the public consultation, Tritax’s highways expert refused to answer my questions. Opening up extra slips at M69 Junction 2 will increase traffic coming through the village from Broughton Astley direction to join M69 for Coventry. Neither of the bypass options initially proposed by Tritax would solve this issue. 5. The off-site APNR system proposed by Tritax would be very difficult to police. 6. Mini roundabout in the centre of Stoney Stanton – no specific detail given as to how this will be turned into a traffic light junction given tight land constraints in the village centre. 7. No resilience in the area to closure of M69. 8. Most people in the area commute to work in Leicester (mainly) or Coventry ¬– increased traffic congestion will decrease productivity. 9. Additional downtime at Narborough level crossing will severely increase congestion through the villages. Tritax say that only one additional freight train will be added between 7 – 10 am, and two between 4 –7pm, but this leaves a further 13 trains to allocate, assuming that the 16 trains per day that Tritax suggest are all to go via Narborough. This will inevitably increase congestion at off-peak, as well as peak, times. • We do not have 8,400 to 10,400 workers available locally. Employees from the deprived areas that Tritax say will provide the workforce will not afford local house prices and so will have to be bussed in daily since the nearest railway station to HNRFI is in Hinckley town centre. This level of in-commuting will seriously intensify traffic congestion in the area. (Magna Park already busses in workers from across a diverse geographical area). • The cycle ways and pedestrian access to HNRFI that Tritax propose will be of no use because it is unlikely that any employees will live within walking or cycling distance of the site. • HNRFI site is situated on the edge of Burbage Common and Woods. This is a Country Park and is well used locally, particularly by families. The Woods are ancient woodlands and are one of the best bluebell woods in the county. The Pandemic has particularly highlighted the need for green spaces. The buffer areas that Tritax are proposing will offer little protection from the noise and diesel fumes of the HGV’s. The link road along the edge of the common proposed by Tritax will only intensify this. • Whereas the DIRFT/ Magna Park complex is constructed mainly on a large tract of open land, HNRFI is very close to the residential areas of Hinckley, Burbage, Sapcote, Stoney Stanton, Elmesthorpe, Aston Firs and Aston Flamville. There is a mobile home park and a permanent travellers’ park immediately adjacent to the HNRFI site. • Residences on the west side of Sapcote and Stoney Stanton have been impacted by severe flooding in recent years. This is likely to be exacerbated by concreting over such a large area as the proposed site. • Very narrow geographical spread of alternative sites looked at by Tritax. (7 sites clustered around the Felixstowe to Nuneaton railway line in Leicestershire.) In particular, no sites in Warwickshire were investigated, despite Coventry being seen as a key market. (Coventry is on the West Coast Main Line and close to the new HS2 route, and also M6, M40 and A45. The Coventry to Leicester railway line proposed by Midlands Connect may offer further potential sites for a SRFI in Warwickshire, if needed.)