Representation by Sapcote Parish Council (Sapcote Parish Council)
- Date submitted
- 21 June 2023
- Submitted by
- Parish councils
Sapcote Parish Council oppose the development of the HNRFI because we consider: 1. The need is not properly established, both in terms of the level of need and the provision of other sites. 2. It has not been demonstrated that the rail network would or could be utilised to the extent assumed, both in terms of the network constraints and in terms of the uncertainty about how much the terminal will actually be used. 3. The direct and indirect traffic impact would be serious. In particular this would be likely to include increased traffic on local roads and through local villages, including Sapcote and Sharnford, with impacts on safety, congestion and amenity, especially when there are restrictions on other routes. 4. The major change of introducing slip-roads to the M69 Junction 2 would have detrimental impacts, both from development traffic to the HNRFI and from other induced traffic. 5. Access to the site by public transport and other sustainable modes would be likely to be limited. 6. There would be impacts on the landscape, biodiversity and amenity of the area which cannot be adequately addressed, including loss of countryside and landscape, impacts on habitats and species (including SSSIs and other designated sites), light pollution and loss and degradation of footpath network. 7. There would be impacts on air quality, noise and vibration and we are unconvinced that the mitigation proposed would resolve these issues. 8. The overall impact on climate emissions would be likely to be serious, both from construction and operation, as well as traffic induction resulting from changes to the network and further new developments. 9. The cumulative impact of the development also includes further development enabled by the changes to M69 Junction 2 which would cause further impacts of concern.