This evening there was a good meeting held to discuss the problems associated with the increasing levels of Heavy Goods Vehicle (HGV) traffic operating from Chalcroft Distribution Park near West End. This centre started life as a rail freight distribution centre in the first half of the 20th Century and over the years it has turned solely into a road haulage distribution centre but at the start of the 21st century the levels of HGV traffic greatly increased to the point where serious accidents are happening and sleep of the residents near the centre is being disturbed.
At the meeting there were Eastleigh Borough Council Officers representing all the affected disciplines at the council from traffic, planning, planning enforcement, environmental health to legal and democratic services; from the community were representatives from Burnetts Lane Residents Association and Moorgreen Road Residents Association; as elected representatives there were councillors from Eastleigh Borough, West End Parish, Fair Oak Parish, Bishopstoke Parish, Hedge End Town and Botley Parish councils.
The aim of the meeting was for the residents to express their concerns and for the Borough Council Officers to explain what the council has done and can do with respect to the various issues associated with the distribution park. The various councillors there including all four West End’s Borough Councillors all tried to help the process of finding a way forward to improve the lives of the effected residents.
After a full and very open discuss the meeting was able to establish a number of points these included :-
So in conclusion Eastleigh Borough Council’s powers to affect traffic movements to and from Chalcroft Distribution Park are limited mainly to planning applications and the councils aims on all planning matters are defined in the Local Structure Plan, which can be found at :-
http://www.eastleigh.gov.uk/pdf/ppdModsChapter705.pdf – page 112
The correct Planning Policy within this Local Structure Plan is 123.E and it says that – Proposals for the alteration, extension or change of use of existing land and buildings at the Chalcroft Distribution Park will be permitted provided all of the following criteria are met:
It would be good if the Traffic Commissioners licensing policies also reflected the policies of the Local Planning authorities, in this case Eastleigh Borough’s Local Structure Plan point 123.E. Commenting on this local councillor David Goodall said :-
“Eastleigh Borough Council has to decide whether or not to give an entertainment license to a person playing a guitar at a public performance in a community hall and whether or not the noise impact on neighbours is too great. Yet if that same person were to regularly drive through the neighbourhood in a HGV Eastleigh Borough Council would not have any formal say. This is truly a case of over centralise government gone mad.”
The main aim now is to get and a review of the site’s operation by the Traffic Commissioner. So Eastleigh Borough Council officers and Councillors undertook to write letters to support the agreed planning policy to any further license requests to the Traffic Commissioner.