"In November 2006, OCC carried out a survey of all lorry traffic, including traffic associated with Watkins Farm, travelling north and south on the B4449 through the village of Sutton to the north of Stanton Harcourt. This route avoids the A415, is a shortcut to the A40, and is disallowed in the routeing agreement for Watkins Farm. The results of this survey demonstrate that this routeing agreement - the very agreement which the applicant (Hanson Agreegates) proposes should be continued for Stonehenge Farm traffic - is failing for about 45% of the time. In one day, out of 80 lorry movements in and out of Watkins Farm, 35 followed the route north or south through Sutton." (Source: Response by Outrage dated 25th March 2008 to the revised application to extract Sand and Gravel at Stonehenge Farm, Northmoor)
"When in the Planning Application it says that there will be an average of 40 lorry movements per day, does that mean 20 lorries going in and coming out each day? Or does it mean 40 lorries coming to collect gravel each day and going out again? And is the average calculated over five days or seven?"
Sent in by Michael from Northmoor on 29th May
"Hanson's application specifies 20 lorry movements in and 20 out, this
rising at busy times to 25 in and out." Sent in by Julie Hankey, Outrage
"Impact on rural villages
Villages in West Oxfordshire already affected by the impact of gravel extraction and some small industrial sites. I am concerned that further industrialisation will put the villages at risk of becoming polluted, dangerous, and throughways for trucking. Many of the villages are of historic importance and further gravel extraction will in my view put this at risk. Villagers will not want to live there, the exterior of houses (many of historic importance) will get dirty very quickly and require additional maintenance, house prices will fall, and the villages will deteriorate.
Danger and pollution to villagers
In addition, the villages will become further polluted by trucks, which in my view appear to be dirtier than a standard HGVs for moving consumer products. Very recently at 6am in the morning, I saw a gravel truck parked in a very small layby (designed for resident parking), outside houses in Sutton. While I am sure trucks will stay within a 30 mile an hour speed limit in built up areas, the impact of a collision with a truck, even at this speed will be far more severe than with a standard size car.
The local road networks are not designed for constant use by HGVs
The small rural roads through the villages are not designed for heavy use by large trucks. They are designed for light use, predominantly by standard cars, and limited access by HGVs. They are often quite narrow with sharp bends - I frequently see trucks struggling to get round bends and using both sides of the road. Villagers, through Council tax are faced with the higher bills to maintain these roads.
Many years ago, it was decided not to widen the single lane parts of the A40 to dual carraigeway, in part to limit the potential for industrialisation of the area. the A40 is extremely busy into Oxford, and is not designed to take the volume of HGVs that it does at the moment."
Sent in by a resident of Stanton Harcourt on 28th May
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