Draft Nottinghamshire Minerals Local Plan

Dear Sirs
Ref: Minerals Local Plan Consultation response from Ranskill Parish Council
Ranskill Parish Council wish to register their concerns regarding the proposals in the latest draft of the Minerals Local Plan, specifically in relation to the Strategic Transport Assessment which has been issued in support of the proposed Minerals Plan and forms an integral part of the assessment of the suitability of site specific allocations.
In your preamble regarding the supporting documents you state that your Strategic Transport Assessment (STA) "... has been completed to ensure that there are no unacceptable overall impacts on the highways network... and concludes "... that the highway impacts of new or extended mineral sites would be minimal..." Whilst the impact on the Highways network appears to have been adequately covered there is very little said in the STA about the impact on communities which you state is one of your key strategic objectives in section DM9 of the plan i.e
"Proposals for minerals development will be supported where it can be demonstrated that...
c) Where appropriate, adequate vehicle routeing schemes have been put in place to minimise the impact of traffic on local communities".
Ranskill Parish Council's concerns relate to the STA for the following sites which are all on land adjacent to Ranskill Parish:
Scrooby (MP2K)
Scrooby North (MP2n)
Scrooby Thompson Land (MP2m)
The STA in relation to these sites states in section 3.22 that "outbound HGV traffic will route towards the A1 (M) J34 by turning right out of the access onto the A638 before joining the B6045 (and subsequently the A634). Inbound HGV traffic would route vice versa and turn left into the site access. This does however pass through sensitive receptors in Ranskill and Blyth".
Ranskill Parish Council are extremely concerned about the impact of this on the community of Ranskill. The junction of the A638 and B6045 is already an issue for many residents and is right in the centre of the village as regards services, with the shop and pub on opposite sides of the junction. Planning permission has been granted for 32 dwellings to be built close to this junction with their main access being on to the A638. B6045 (Blyth Road) is a residential road and although it is stating the obvious it is a "B" road not a "A" road.
According to the vehicle movement numbers given in section 3.22 combined with the delivery schedules given in appendix 2, Ranskill would be subject to a further 62 vehicle movements a day between 2019 and 2022 inclusive on top of the vehicle movements from the existing quarry.
In addition, there is currently a planning application awaiting a decision by Notts CC ES/3793 for a quarry at Barnby Moor which could see an additional 100 vehicle a day being routed though Ranskill should it be given planning permission. This existing application cannot be ignored just because no decision has yet been reached.
Although the Parish Council are fully aware that according to your STA summary "... all sites will require a detailed transport assessment at the planning application stage" they fear that the reality will be that this route, having been stated in the plan and it's supporting documents, will become accepted as the status quo without any investigation of alternative routeings taking place.
Ranskill Parish Council would therefore like to request that Notts CC investigate an alternative route which would use the A638 going north to the A638/A614 junction where lorries could then take the A614 to the A1.
This would allow laden HGVs leaving the site to do a left turn out of the site. Although it could be said to pass through Scrooby the A638 skirts the very edge of the village which unlike Ranskill is centred away from the A638. From there traffic could travel via the A614 to the A1 junction without passing through any other communities.
Ranskill Parish Council are at a loss to understand why this route is not the first choice and why the County Council would prefer to route traffic through the centre of Ranskill and Blyth and use a "B" road. If the decision is taken not to investigate alternative routings the Parish Council would be very grateful for an explanation which they can pass on to their residents.
Finally, in relation to MP2m - Scrooby Thompson Land, the Parish Council would like to clarify whether the County Council are proposing that access to this site will be via Folly Nook Lane as this would be a further cause for concern in light of recent and proposed new building taking place along the lane.