Representation by Harborough District Council (Harborough District Council)
- Date submitted
- 22 June 2023
- Submitted by
- Local authorities
The Council considers that the scale of the proposed development and its implication are significant. Our main issues and concerns are that, 1. The proposed development will generate significant additional traffic (HGV’s and cars) on the highway network. Appropriate and adequate highway mitigation must be provided to address the impact of the scheme, both in general and particularly in advance of rail facilities & infrastructure being delivered and reaching optimal operating capacity. 2. Transport assessment work is undertaken to the full satisfaction of the relevant Highway Authorities, including the testing of alternative scenarios for HGV and car-based traffic growth (on the basis that utilization of rail-services by future occupiers is optional), and is robustly scrutinised to inform proposed on and off-site highway interventions. 3. Highway mitigation works, with greatest potential implications for residents / businesses of Harborough district, at the Cross in Hand roundabout (A5/ A426) are proposed ‘subject to further capacity assessment’ and are therefore currently uncertain in terms of nature, extent, and timing. 4. Highway mitigation measures in the vicinity of Broughton Astley are limited to the B4114/B581 junction, when compared to indicative proposals in the applicants earlier public consultation stages. 5. Allocated sites and planned development set out in the Harborough Local Plan 2012-2031 (adopted April 2019) has potentially not been factored into cumulative assessments of transport impact, due to the Environmental Statement referring only to the superseded Harborough Core Strategy (2011). 6. The applicant’s consideration of the potential for upwards pressure on the need for housing, arising from the proposed development, is based on the Leicester & Leicestershire HEDNA (2017), which has since been superseded by the Leicester & Leicestershire Housing & Economic Needs Assessment (HENA, 2022) https://www.nwleics.gov.uk/files/documents/housing_and_economic_needs_assessment_june_2022/1 - Final-HENA-Report-June-22.pdf. Additional housing need is not apparently quantified, and its implications for Harborough district or other adjoining authorities within the HMA (reflecting forecast commuting patterns) is not clear. Notably, Magna Park located in Harborough district has undergone significant expansion since 2019, with its implications for housing considered in the Magna Park Employment Growth Sensitivity Study (2017) https://www.harborough.gov.uk/directory_record/2984/magna_park_employment_growth_sensitivity_study and agreed via the Duty to Cooperate as part of the LP preparation process. 7. The proposed development should not exacerbate the documented shortage of on-site and off-site lorry parking provision in the East Midlands and surrounding local area.