6.3.06: More road cracks appear- Now English Heritage critical of Northern route plan.
English Heritage, the government’s statutory advisor on the historic environment, is the latest organisation to express major concerns to Lancashire County Council over the planning application for the Heysham M6 Northern route.
English Heritage (EH), which must be consulted on such matters, is unhappy about the way information has been presented and interpreted by Lancashire County Council (LCC) in the planning application for the Northern route. It believes that the assessment of the road’s impact may require reworking, and demands that the planning application be deferred until missing information is provided and EH given the opportunity to comment further.
- EH has found flaws in LCC’s work in the grading of sites in the plan, and it is not clear to EH if any work has been done to identify locally important buildings.
- Information on about half the sites in the site gazetteer is missing, and EH is unhappy that cultural heritage sites are missing from LCC maps. If they were shown, EH would have a better understanding of the road’s impact on the historic environment.
- Mitigation of the damage caused by the £118 million scheme is also questioned. EH cannot pinpoint mitigation for cultural heritage sites in the plans.
- EH say that LCC should consider the historic dimension to the landscape. EH want to understand the impact of the dual carriageway on designated parkland and the mitigation measures to be taken to minimise damage.
- EH are concerned about facing materials used in bridges and walls in terms of landscape and cultural heritage. The textured finish concrete and reconstructed stone facing in the plan would, in their view, do little to enhance the character and quality of the area. The impact of the retaining walls themselves needs careful assessment. EH complain about the lack of detailed visualisations in LCC’s plan which would help in understanding the impact.
“This highly critical report, coming so soon after the damning objections raised by the Environment Agency, reflect very badly on LCC’s planning application,” says David Gate chair of Transport Solutions for Lancaster and Morecambe (TSLM), the local campaign group who favour non road building solutions to the congestion problems. “The plans do not stand up to professional scrutiny. The mistakes here are so elementary that they must call into question the competence of LCC to manage the project. It is clear that LCC have been too quick off the mark. Funding has not even been obtained. The plain fact is that a great deal more time and money will have to be spent before EH and the EA are satisfied. How can the government fund this when the costs are unclear?”
Cracks in the support for the road surfaced in a planning meeting in Morecambe last week when seven City councillors expressed grave concerns and voted against the plan. (12 voted for, and one abstained.) But despite the fact that there are around 600 formal objectors including the EA, EH and the local MP, the County planners should have less of a problem with satisfying their own planning committee: LCC actually considers its own application to itself!
“There has been no proper public consultation. That’s because LCC knows that people don’t want this road, and the facts show that the public are now entitled to question the whole basis of the scheme.” says Mr Gate, “If ever there was a case for a public inquiry or judicial review this is it.”
In summary:
English Heritage has responded to the planning application and Environmental Statement for the Heysham M6 Link Road. It says that the report is deficient in several respects:
- the grading of listed buildings, and the assessment of the road’s impact on them, is wrong and * *
- inconsistent; they should be reviewed and re-assessed;
- cultural heritage sites should be shown on the road plans;
- information is missing about half the sites in the site gazetter;
- locally important or curtilage buildings have not been identified;
- mitigation for the cultural heritage sites has not been identified;
- impact on historic landscape character should be assessed, and the effects of the retaining walls;
- detailed visualisations of retaining walls and bridges need to be provided,
- design and materials should reflect and enhance the local area
English Heritage, a statutory objector, insists that the application should not go ahead until LCC has provided this information, and EH has commented on it.
Download the full English Heritage response here