Representation by Gill Spatcher
- Date submitted
- 18 June 2023
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
My main concerns are transport infrastructure, environmental and economic impacts of this project. Transport Infrastructure: The Building of a slipway onto the M69 from Sapcote towards Coventry was rejected in the 1970's because the local village roads would not be able to cope with the volume of traffic travelling through Sapcote and Stoney Stanton. These roads were built for horse and cart not HGVs and cars. The same reasons apply today, if not more so. Traffic will come through the villages to access the M69 to Coventry. Any incidents on the M69 will mean lorries will divert through the villages. I would suggest someone one from the Planning Inspectorate visits the villages of Sapcote and Stoney Stanton, so that they fully appreciate the difficulties. Environmental: The location of the site next to Burbage Common which is bursting with wildlife and is a local recreation area for people in Hinckley, Burbage, Sapcote and beyond would be spoilt for ever by noise, fuel and light pollution. The amount of HGVs accessing the site would no doubt increase the pollution in the area. The extra vehicles coming though the villages of Sapcote and Stoney Stanton would also add to pollution in the area. Economic: There are many empty warehouses along the A5 in Hinckley and in Lutterworth. I don't think it is economically viable to build more warehouses especially as there appears to be no customers as yet to rent the buildings. It would make more sense to re-open the railway line from Leicester to Shawell (near Lutterworth) and extend to Magna Park as the road infrastructure is already in place and there are ready to use warehouses. Furthermore, the unemployment rate is very low in the Blaby and Hinckley & Bosworth area so recruiting people locally would be difficult. Employees would have to drive in from other parts of the country further polluting and increasing traffic on local roads.