Representation by Maria O'Connell
- Date submitted
- 23 June 2023
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
I live 1.5 miles from Burbage Common and Woods, where we walk our dog most days. It is an 85 hectare Local Nature Reserve owned by Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council, and is historically common land. Burbage Wood is a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest for Leicestershire, and Burbage Common is a place of abundant natural biodiversity. The HNRFI will have profound destructive impact upon this environment and its natural biodiversity and habitats. The purported benefits of this project will in no way compensate our local communities for the destruction of the local environment and also the potential infrastructure chaos. I believe the majority of the transport to and from the HNRFI site would be via the road network rather than rail, including up to 9,000 HGV movements a day. This will have a significant detrimental impact upon the villages and communities in terms of 24/7 noise pollution and air pollution and gridlock traffic congestion. The road infrastructure is most definitely not equipped to cope. There is already a severe increase in traffic in the villages due to the all the new housing developments that have been built over the last few years. I believe there will be 32 trains a day, each containing 50 lorry loads of goods which will go out on our local roads to reach the various motorway networks. The Midlands /East Midlands is already home to a sufficient number distribution sites. Our area has Magna Park and DPD near the M69 Junction 1. There are two rail freight terminals at Crick, one being the Daventry International Rail Freight. There is Maritime Transport near Tamworth, and one at East Midlands airport. I have friends who commute daily from Earl Shilton and Hinckley into Leicester for work. The HNRFI will potentially cause notable disruption for passenger train services at Narborough station, which is the train stop between Hinckley and Leicester.