Cherry Willingham Parish Council

Cherry Willingham Parish Council

The Millennium Hall, 16 High Street,

Cherry Willingham, Lincoln LN3 4AQ

Office telephone: 01522 753398

Chairman of the Council: Cllr Jennifer Robinson

Clerk to the Council: Mrs Michelle Vail

Lee Rowley

Senior Project Leader

Technical Services Partnership

Lincolnshire County Council

22nd November 2013

Dear Sirs

Formal Complaintin Respect of Eastern Bypass Proposal

Further to your response to my Councils letter of concern dated 18th September 2013, I have been instructed by Members following their further consideration of the matter at the councils November Committee meeting to write to you to lodge a formal complaint in respect of the publicity process undertaken for the proposed Lincoln Eastern bypass.

Councillors strongly object to the procedure followed by LCC’s Planning Department and are of the strong opinion that Lincolnshire County Councilshould have formally notified this (and other) parish councils about the revised planning application for the single lane road (PL/0007/13 (L/0110/13).

Notwithstanding the earlier response to my Council’s concerns by your Head of Planning (Mr A Gutherson) wherein it is suggested that the County Council have satisfied their statutory responsibilities in relation to the publicising of planning applications, my Council considers that LCC have shown a lack of understanding about the local communities they purport to serve and the implications for those communities that will be directly affected by the bypass proposals.

More specifically, by not directly notifying those communities, the County Council have effectively restricted their opportunity to comment and influence the consideration of the proposal. Although the minimal statutory level of publicity/notification was undertaken, it is considered that there was undoubtedly a reasonable expectation on the part of my Council that any further planning applications or amendments to the original dual road bypass would be notified direct to them.

That expectation was reasonably formed on the basis of their being directly consulted on the initial planning application and equally on the basis of a direct presentation to the Parish Council and publicity event (in 2008) in the village by officers of the County Council. That consultation event was focussed on identifying a preferred scheme route rather than presenting any detailed scheme for comment.

This Council would respectfully suggest therefore that inevitably, against such expectation, limiting subsequent consultation to non-direct publicity (site notices etc.) was unlikely to practically achieve its intended purpose and certainly did not seek to engage with impacted communities in the manner previously suggested and acted upon.

Evidence for this is implicit in the lack of comment received in the context of the planning application and the significant additional comment and response that has been generated through publicity of the recent highway stopping up orders (statutory notices which unlike the planning application notices/adverts reference site specific details).

The suggestion in the earlier letter therefore that there has been no injustice is not accepted.

The significance of the eastern by pass and its potential implications for nearby and adjacent communities (without reference to the technicality of parish boundary lines) was clearly recognised by the commitment to earlier publicity arrangements (and stated in the Statement of Community Involvement that accompanied the last application) and as a matter of good practice and professional awareness of the precedent set through publicity arrangements for the original planning application should have ensured a level of publicity above the bare minimum.

The very limited nature of the publicity undertaken therefore effectively restricted direct input from impacted communities to the planning process. It is reasonable to assume from the evidence of third party input and nature of comment received to the stopping up orders that there has clearly been a lack of awareness about those implications of the bypass at planning application stage. That situation could and should have been avoided simply by reference to previous and best practice as reasonably expected by local communities including suchas Cherry Willingham and Reepham.

My Council also considered that to lay people, the plans and information are not clear, and that any provided description is limited. Indeed, councillors and residents have reported that they have found it very hard to find anything on the LCC website to show that the consultation was taking place. Members overwhelmingly expressed complete disgust in the way the matter has been handled and they request an enquiry into the way the matter has been dealt with.

On matters of detail, Councillors further object to the current proposal to stop up the existing cycleway and footpath, and to give a left turn only junction. Key points of concern are that traffic will only have the option of turning left when travelling from Cherry Willingham to Lincoln along Hawthorn Road. There will be significant impact on the junction of Kennel Lane where it meets the A158. Kennel Lane already has existing highway safety issues with many near accidents as well as those reported and this will exacerbate them.

Fiskerton Road will also see an increase in volume of traffic, and the junction of Fiskerton Road with the Wickes roundabout will be greatly impacted on. All of which will create added pressure, congestion and difficulties in terms of an increased flow of traffic through this village. It is not clear whether there has been any assessment of displaced traffic through the village and impact on safety and amenity matters as opposed to simple highway capacity issues. It would be helpful if confirmation on the extent of off site assessment could be provided.

Councillors further expressed concern regarding safety aspects associated with the stopping up of Hawthorn Road and the social and economic implications for the village.

Although a footbridge addition to provide a more suitable footpath/cycleway link is now being pursued, access to the Carlton Centre will be compromised as well as access to Cabourne Avenue where a number of residents use the facilities such as the dentist and doctor surgeries. Some residents use mobility scooters to travel to Lincoln for these facilities, and the proposal will negatively impact on them.

It's also noted that the proposed bridge does not sensibly connect with the existing footpath/cycleway

infrastructure provided along Hawthorn Road.

Councillors’ other main area of concern regarding safety was that the road will be blocked completely at the Lincoln end, thus stopping parents travelling from Lincoln to Cherry Willingham from accessing the local schools quickly and easily. This could lead to serious implications for both village schools in terms of their continued sustainability as well as compromising student safety. Indeed it was furtherconsidered that this could negatively affect parental choice of school for their children in the future, something potentially damaging to the structure of the local community.

Overall, the Parish Council is strongly of the opinion that the revised plans for the eastern by pass are not an improvement, nor would it bring any significant benefit to this village. Indeed there is serious concern that the impact on the village may be detrimental.

In conclusion therefore this Council wishes to express its strong dissatisfaction with the consultation process and would request that this letter be considered as aformal complaint.

Furthermore there is serious concern about the implications of the revised proposal for the village such that this letter should also be considered as a tabled strong objection in that respect.

Yours sincerely

Mrs Michelle Vail

Clerk to Cherry Willingham Parish Council