Move to stop piles of earth being shifted across Southend ‘could cost …

Move to stop piles of earth being shifted across Southend 'could cost city a fortune' <i>(Image: Bellway Homes / Southend Council)</i>

Move to stop piles of earth being shifted across Southend 'could cost city a fortune' (Image: Bellway Homes / Southend Council)

A MOVE to prevent thousands of tonnes of earth being transported on the city’s road could cost Southend[1] Council millions of pounds, a councillor has warned.

The place scrutiny committee met on Monday to discuss the Bellway Homes plan[2] to transport 85,000 lorryloads of earth to raise the ground by up to six metres in order to build 214 new homes on flood-prone land off Barge Pier Road.

The soil will be transported via 120 lorryloads a day[3] along the A13 and the A127, and onto Eastern Avenue and Royal Artillery Way, before proceeding along Thorpe Hall Avenue and the seafront to the development adjacent to Gunners Park and the Garrison Estate.

A motion put forward by the Conservatives in March, which received cross-party support, called for a temporary weight restriction in Thorpe Hall Avenue to prevent possible damage to an underground sewer and structural surveys of homes along the route if Bellway does not come up with an alternative such as movements by rail or by barge.

However, that could render the scheme commercially unviable.

Martin Terry, Independent councillor for Thorpe Ward, said: “We are the planning authority. We’re also the highways authority. We’ve legally granted permission to Bellway to develop that land so we’ve got a responsibility on the highways side of it.

“A legal response needs to come back to this committee explaining what the potential legal liabilities will be to this local authority because this could cost the city an absolute fortune.”

Kevin Buck, councillor responsible for highways, parking and transport, said: “As long as the local authority provides an adequate route then there should be no legal issues as far as I can see but we will get some legal advice.”

Grilled about the logistics of using alternative methods of transport, Mr Buck said: “It’s up to them to look at the options. When we get to the point where we are sat face to face with them discussing what the options are that’s when we can have the more serious conversations with them.”

Both Labour and the Lib Dems questioned who would pay for the Anglian Water inspection and assessments of the structural surveys of homes along the route.

Mr Buck said Anglian Water would pay for the “assessments of their own assets” and the developer would be expected to pay for the cost of the surveys.

References

  1. ^ Southend (www.echo-news.co.uk)
  2. ^ the Bellway Homes plan (www.echo-news.co.uk)
  3. ^ soil will be transported via 120 lorryloads a day (www.echo-news.co.uk)