BIRCHWOOD Town Council and local residents have teamed up to unanimously oppose a major redevelopment of the Trident Business Park which is feared could generate more than 1,000 HGV vehicle movements a day.
Following on from the Extraordinary Birchwood Town Council meeting, held earlier this month, Birchwood councillors and residents, who have been consulted on the proposed development, discussed the Planning Application submitted by St Modwen, the American owners of the Trident Business Park, in Birchwood. Based on the concerns raised by the residents, Birchwood Town Council unanimously opposed the Application.
The Planning Application (Ref No 2021/40696) details plans to develop the Trident Business Park into a sizeable HGV distribution depot. This depot would consist of two buildings; T83, which is 130m long, 15.48m high and 82,892 square foot (7,700m2), and T43, which is 71m long, 13.0m high and 46,889 square foot (4,356m2). These would house 14 docking bays, operating 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and 365 days a year, and would be a mere 50m away from the nearest residential property.
Predicted traffic, based on the application data, includes 14 HGV’s arriving, with a turnaround time of 30 minutes, equating to 28 HGVs arriving and leaving per hour, which is 56 HGV movements per hour, which equates to a potential for 1,344 HGV movements a day. This does not factor in the delivery vans and other auxiliary site traffic, nor the existing traffic accessing the area. Even if the depot operates a 40 min turnaround time for HGVs, it would still be over a 1,000 vehicle movements a day over a 24 hr period, which extrapolates to 7,000 over 7 days, 28,000 over 4 weeks and 365,000 HGV arriving and leaving movements per year, and that is just the HGVs. This data does not include the site traffic and the delivery vehicles, which could double these figures.
The main concerns raised by residents are a major loss of amenities to those residents who will be directly affected, in addition to those in the surrounding areas, in addition to loss of natural light during the day from the sheer size of the development. In addition, light disturbance at night from the HGVs and vehicular noise, the noise of reversing alarms of the HGVs, as well as the forklift trucks, which will operate between 90 and 120 dB, when anything above 34dB is considered a nuisance between the hours of 11 pm to 6am. The noise generated would carry at night and almost certainly beyond the immediate area.
Mental health issues are also a major concern, due to the stress and anxiety the application is causing, in addition to loss of sleep, leading to sleep deprivation, which will further impact negatively on the local resident’s mental health.
Residents have also been advised by independent Estate Agents that, if the Application is Approved, the anticipated loss of house value is expected to be between 25-30% lower than the current market value, which is likely to lead to saleability in the future.
The impact of such a massive depot and the predicted traffic increases would also affect a much wider area than the identified impacted residents in close proximity to the proposed development. In addition, despite the recently revised plan submitted by the developer identifying new landscaping proposals, this would take 15 years (circa 2038) to come to maturation and offer any reasonable screening benefits, which wiould still only be seasonal, due to the plants and shrubs proposed, and will therefore offer no screening whatsoever during winter months. The revised plan also brings the structures closer to Warrington Road than in the original Application.
The Application and its impact on numerous Birchwood wards, including Culcheth and Glazebury, in addition to the entire length of Warrington Road, from the huge volume of traffic proposed on an existing single-lane road, which already has weight restrictions with regards to HGV traffic, as the road currently has a 7.5 ton restrictions that are already flagrantly disregarded by HGV and heavy load traffic, is incalculable, and will most certainly set a precedent for the rest Warrington, if it is Approved, as to where these huge distribution depots can be sited in close proximity to residents and with no suitable infrastructure in place to accommodate them.
Concerns have also been raised about local wildlife, including bats nesting at the derelict former Noggin pub, which is within the development site.
During the internal inspection undertaken, several pipistrelles and possible brown long-eared droppings were identified, and a confirmed pipistrelle roost was also recorded.
The main bat species identified during the Dusk (Emergence) and Dawn (Re-entry) Surveys were common pipistrelles, with low numbers of brown long-eared, noctule and myotis species.
The bats and their roosts are protected by UK and European Law and therefore the destruction of their roosts, or other intentional or reckless disturbance to them, will require mitigation, in order to maintain the Favourable Conservation Status (FCS) of the species.
The application is expected to come before Warrington Borough Council planners later this year.
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