Representation by Greg Jones
- Date submitted
- 22 June 2023
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
This project is not taking place on brownfield sites, but on green belt, ie. fields, hedgerows and woodland. The environmental impact of this project will be huge for both the flora and fauna in the area around Burbage Common. As a community facility, Burbage Common and its environs will be greatly affected, not only during the building of this project, but also after the establishment of it for decades to come. The idea of such a project is to establish a transport hub where freight can be loaded onto lorries, who will distribute it across the East Midlands and beyond. The effect of this increase in road transport, and large articulated lorries in particular, will not only have a knock-on effect for the traffic on the M69, A5, M6 and M1, but also the local road network in and around the Centre, particularly the A47, B4669 and B4668. If the proposed project is granted, then the disruption to the surrounding area will be colossal on many counts. The effect on the local roads of increased construction traffic as well as disruption during construction, the disruption to users of the M69 during the alteration of Junction 2, the increased level of both noise and air pollution for local inhabitants and the disruption to users of Burbage Common are just some of them. The idea that a project of this size and capacity will increase the job opportunities for those in the Hinckley, Burbage and SW Leicestershire area is fairly baseless as, with large distribution centres that have been built around Desford where I live, there's been little or no work for local people. During the construction of such a project, the companies involved will all provide work for their existing workforce and not recruit local people. Finally, the need for such a large project is questionable. Although I wholeheartedly approve of using trains to move freight around the UK, as it's more environmentally friendly, I disapprove of creating a large hub from which that freight is distributed, because of the amount of lorries that will come into and out of the distribution hub. It would have less of an impact on the environment and the local area if there were more, smaller, localised distribution hubs in and around the major cities of the Midlands, where brownfield sites adjacent to the rail network could be adequately used.