Representation by Jai Evans
- Date submitted
- 23 June 2023
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
From the proposed development there will be a huge influx of additional traffic coming through Sapcote village main roads, Hinckley road and Leicester road. If the proposed opening of the M69 junction heading towards Coventry and off the M69 coming from Coventry, the village will become a through road to and from the M69 rather than currently having to use the A5 which is a much larger road for dealing with traffic on that scale. This traffic will not only be HGV but a huge increase in smaller vehicles too which will cut through. This is not the only thing to consider, Sapcote is a small village with many families with young children which will need to cross roads to get to school or access local amenities, with larger number of vehicles passing through this is going to create a huge increase in risk whilst walking around the village. There are also a large number of elderly people living in the village who also need to feel safe when moving around. The road through Sapcote village does not lend itself to a large number of vehicles and definitely not HGV's due to the many tight corners some of which two vehicles even a little larger than a family car would not be able to pass through safely, as well as very narrow pavements at points. Another thing to consider is the noise and vibration from the HGVs that will result. It will create additional traffic and as result of the roads being narrow this will end up queuing meaning it will be difficult to get out of driveways leading onto the main road. I'm sure there are many other sites that could be considered which would cause much less disruption for local people of an area. If the development is to go ahead I think bypassing the villages is the only option especially if the other direction of the M69 is going to be open. Traffic is not the only thing to consider. The environmental impact will be huge, light pollution, noise pollution, air pollution and destruction of the natural habitat of many wildlife species, Buzzards, Owls, foxes, Badgers, Hedgehogs and Muntjac to name a few, all of which I see on a regular basis on my journeys to and from work. With all of these things considered (and more!) I am still struggling to see any benefit of building such a development so close to the DIRFT site which is only 20 minutes away from the proposed site On the original plans there was a bypass planned to bypass Sapcote which would help to alleviate the extra traffic caused by opening up the M69 junctions and the extra traffic going to and from the development such as HGVs and workers. This has now been shelved due to cost. However it must have been considered necessary to have planned it in the first place and additional traffic must be expected as the plans now mention traffic measures in Sapcote instead , which is no way going to do the job the bypass would have. If this development goes ahead, a bypass is necessary for Sapcote and it shouldn't be allowed to go ahead if the road will not be paid for so it reduces the impact on local residents. The development should not go ahead if this isn't included. If the bypass is not something that can be done at the same time, then there should be a strict weight limit so the lorries from the development at least can't drive through Sapcote to take a short cut to the A5. Instead they should have to join the M69 at the new slip road and drive to the Burbage juntion and join the A5 there so they are using main routes that don't impact any of the villages.