Representation by Terence Richardson
- Date submitted
- 6 June 2023
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
I am the Leader of Blaby District Council. This proposed development will have a major impact on the quality of life across most of the Blaby District area especially in terms of; This is not a rail freight interchange in my opinion. The original vision for the development was to bring goods in by rail, do sub assembly on site, and the take goods out by rail which would have been worthy of far greater consideration. What is now happening is that we have a proposed warehouse development masquerading as a rail freight interchange to avoid the planning decision being made by the Council. Indeed central government have recently announced a review of the Strategic Planning criteria as it is recognised that they are not fit for purpose. Inability of the road network to cope with the large increased volume of traffic both from freight and employee journeys leading to severe congestion and poorer air quality. Some of the villages the freight road transport is likely yo go through are unable to cope with the size of the vehicles involved with major potential for injury yo pedestrians and damage to property especially as the plan shows very little in the way of mitigation. Indeed with SMART motorways now on the Junction 21 of the M1, which is already a significant congestion area, will not be able to cope with the increased traffic on the M69 forcing vehicle to use inappropriate routes. The adequacy of consultation was not fit for purpose for all the reasons put forward by Blaby District Council in their submission to the Planning inspectorate. Indeed without the appropriate information from responsible bodies such as the Highways Authority being available how can a comprehensive consultation be considered to have been done. There are significant questions over the number of trains going to and from the site and the potential impact on the railway crossing in Narborough village. Even on current railway crossing times traffic already goes back into the B4114 several times a day with all of the safety issues this involves. Alternative nearby roads are already gridlocked and age problem would be severely exacerbated with more 'rat runs' going through local villages. Residents living near the Soar river and tributaries have already seen a significant increase in flooding in recent years and it has not yet been evidenced how water run of from the site would impact the situation. Unemployment within the local area is insufficient to meet the employment needs of a site of this size which will not be able to be served by the public transport system causing even more road journeys which has been said above the current network, even with the current proposed mitigation, will be able to cope with. The purpose of a strategic rail freight interchange is to reduce road transport movements, something most would support, all this site will do is to move the problem to a different location which does not have the infrastructure to cope.