RS under fire
Page 7
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NORTHERN'S plans to &late most of its Metro
n area operations at the iber UK furniture facat Hoddesdon, Hertshire. ran into fierce sition from residents at a C inquiry in Hertford veek.
e company wants to rens existing Basildon and eld depots with the ises at Rye Road, Hod>n and to run 60 lorries 0 trailers there.
:hough over 600 resivoiced initial objections, four had made valid remtations in accordance the regulations; there ilso a valid representation the local Labour party 11 owns the Labour Hall to the premises.
r the company. Stephen 3right, said the premises xen used as an industrial e for over 20 years, and had been granted ling permission for full ;trial use.
hreiber used the premises lanufacturing and distrim centre until last year. re were no objections the planning authority, lighway authority or the :e.
he Thames Water iority had recently been ited a licence for an ating centre in Rye Road seven sludge tankers and tippers without objecThose vehicles plus five [sit vans generated 136 movements a day along Rye Road.
Roy Price, managing director of BRS Northern subsidiary GDS Transport, said that Basildon and Enfield depots were insufficient to cater for expansion. At the peak of the Schreiber operation there were 107 lorries including 94 artics and 30 minibuses being operated from the site with 630 vehicle movements on and off the site per day.
GDS operated 34 vehicles and BRS Northern 20 vehicles from Hoddesdon.
The GDS vehicles undertook paper products distribution for Peaudouce, and confectionery. distribution.
The BRS Northern vehicles were engaged on a contract with Carreras Rothmans.
The residents' main cornplaint was that Rye Road and two bridges on it were too narrow and unsuitable for use by heavy vehicles, and that vehicles were causing vibration at night.
They did not object to the activities on the site as such but to the environmental impact of the access. The combination of a narrow residential road, parked cars and heavy lorries created danger.
Roger Mann, regional estates manager (south) of the NFC Property Group, admitted that the use of a bridge belonging to the Thames Water Authority, which had a five-ton axle limit warning notice, was at the company's own risk. The TWA would seek redress for any damage.
Metropolitan Deputy Licensing Authority Hans Silberstein said that BRS vehicles exceeded that weight limit by a substantial margin and he doubted whether the bridge was safe.
The hearing continues.