6/4/2007
Letters
Depot scheme is a trade-off I cannot acceptYour comment in last week’s News, entitled ‘Everybody must have their say on the Pyestock scheme’, was either a deliberate attempt to ignite some public debate or sadly ill-informed. You state that the “developers have amended their plans beyond all recognition”.
As far as I am aware the latest submission has not yet been registered by Hart District Council and is not available for public scrutiny.
The development will create jobs but the majority of them are low-skill, low-paid employment. Recently published figures for unemployment in Hart and Rushmoor showed exceptionally low levels, well below 1,600.
The general level of salaries in the distribution business will not pay local mortgages or rents and potentially put an even greater strain on the affordable housing market in this area. These jobs will likely create more inbound commuting.
As to the £3.5million invested in the areas highway network, the majority of that money will go to either develop the access road to the site or to convert the roundabout in Minley Link Road into a ‘signalised traffic junction’ to improve the geometry for heavy goods vehicle manoeuvrability, or add a roundabout in the middle of the new Ively Road to allow worker access on to the site separate from lorry access off Summit Avenue.
The developer has never performed a traffic accident assessment (as was done in an earlier application by Qinetiq) so it cannot be said that these self-serving works improve road safety one iota.
Balance these works against the addition of around 2,000 HGV and car movements per day and can it be said to be a ‘plus’?
The developers, in their press release, have indicated that their revisions to the scheme are those displayed at the ‘exhibition’ last June.
You only need to go to the council’s planning website and see how many letters of objection were submitted after the exhibition to get a sense of what the public are saying.
People will accept development where there is some trade-off. The residents of Hart and Rushmoor lived with the noise and occasional smells from the Pyestock site when it was a research base and deemed to be in the national interest.
Being asked to endure 24 hours a day, seven days a week traffic with its associated noise and air quality implications for the sake of leading high street chain stores — sorry, that is not a trade-off I am prepared to make. And should we all not start to be really concerned for our planet and cut down the total carbon emissions it takes to deliver our food and consumer goods?
Bob Schofield
Guildford Road
Fleet First printed in:
Aldershot News and Mail
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