Representation by Ralph Andrew and Gillian Yardley (Ralph Andrew and Gillian Yardley)
- Date submitted
- 23 June 2023
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
This is an inappropriate use of productive agricultural land in an area which is already saturated with warehouses, distribution depots and the like. Sited immediately adjacent to Burbage common and woodlands with its increasingly rare areas of managed ancient meadowland, it would be nothing less than an ecological disaster for the conservation efforts of the local authority and the wildlife centred on the common and woods. Far from reducing the total number of HGVs on our roads, as the developers claim, it would simply relocate them with a concentration around the the terminal to facilitate the onward distribution of the freight. Already struggling to cope with the volume of HGV and other traffic in the area, the highway infrastructure -much of it country lanes passing through small to medium sized villages to gain access to more major routes - is simply inadequate for the type and volume of traffic the project will generate. Moreover, the proposed new access road onto the M69 will add to the already serious delays on that motorway at its junction with the M1. Anyone who has travelled that route will know that long delays with a tailback of traffic, often 2-3miles long (and almost all with engines idling) queuing to join the M1 or continue over the roundabout towards Leicester are commonplace. It is impossible to see how this resonates with the developers claim that the proposed rail terminal will reduce HGV generated atmospheric pollution, at least locally. Many believe that the claims made by Tritax concerning the number of secure, long term jobs which will be brought to the area are, at best, aspirational and, more probably, creatively fanciful. Since the site is is in a region which has historically enjoyed relatively low rates of unemployment then the number of workers envisaged by Tritax would have to be recruited from outside the area. This would, in turn, involve travel to work, most likely by car, which would further increase the traffic congestion locally -and the associated pollution. These are the most immediate and pressing of the numerous reasons why we, and the vast majority of local residents, feel very strongly that the proposed Hinckley Rail Freight Terminal should be rejected by the Secretary of State. Andrew and Gill Yardley.