West Cornwall Transport Interchange KJ

19/8/2011

I visited the Cornwall Council exhibition on the proposals for the interchange held at St Erth Church Hall on Friday 19 August 2011. I found the exhibition and distributed leaflet very informative and the CC staff present very helpful.

Basically, the site surrounds the listed station at St Erth which remains as attractive as ever. Three car parks are proposed, one on the up side on the old goods yard site, more recently a scrapyard. This car park being adjacent to the main road will obviously fill up first, the second park lies on the down side of the station, this is fed by the road leading to St Erth from which a road already exists to serve the treatment plant. The third, overflow, car park is to the left of the village road utilising a field alongside the down line towards Penzance. Bus services would call at shelters provided in the station forecourt.

In order to provide level, relatively, access to all platforms at the station either a foot bridge with ramped approach or a pedestrian tunnel to the west of the station platforms will be provided. The footbridge might provide photographers with a new vantage point but would be detrimental to the view westwards from the station. The existing footbridge being part of the listed station will remain.

As to Lelant Saltings, there is no proposal to close this station on the branch although, one thinks, time and use will tell.

The junction with the A30 will be controlled with lights, anybody who has tried to exit the road from St Erth station and village turning right will welcome these lights. In my personal opinion one point of the proposal which although fitting in well with the concept of a Transport Interchange will not be popular with local inhabitants is the establishment of a heliport close by.

A further update following an exhibition In early September concerning the proposed St Erth Heliport is that many local residents are very concerned about the noise that will be introduced to the area should this proposal go ahead.

J. Abram.

28/10/2011 01:09:25 pm

As a villager of St Erth... I can only say that there are far more objections to this ridiculous proposal than just a few about noise pollution.

1) Potential breaches of the “The Human Rights Act 1998”.
2) Failures to comply with legislation in respect of “Environmental Protection”.
3) Failures to comply with legislation in respect of “Protected Species”.
4) Failure to carry out proper procedures in respect of the protected species of “Trelloweth Woods” and issuing mendacious statements to the Council and the Public claiming that British International Helecopters had the approval of the RSPB in respect of the Hayle Estuary Protected Reserve. The RSPB have now said that they do not, nor have they ever had any such approval from them.
5) Failures to comply with legislation in respect of “Pollution Control” (to whit: chemical pollution, in breach of government guidelines, with respect to Benzene).
6) Failures to account for the personal and “Ancient Rights” which have so far been ignored entirely and infringement of the “Civil Liberties” of the people of St Erth, Rose-An-Grouse, and Canonstown.
7) Failure to protect the “Health and Safety” (to whit: Chemical Pollution, Carcinogenic Air Pollution of NOx and Benzene as well as other chemical and gas pollutants, Greater Than Industrial Levels Of Noise Pollution, which if they were emitted by any other industry, would be completely illegal and other significant risks to health) of the people of St Erth, Rose-An-Grouse and Canonstown.
8) Failure to protect the property and property rights of the people of St Erth, Rose-An-Grouse, and Canonstown (in further breach of The Human Rights Act 1998 and other Acts). This proposal effectively transfers the property equity owned by the people of St Erth, Rose-An-Grouse and Canonstown, to the pocket books of “British International Helicopters”, “St Aubyn Estates” and also “Cornwall County Council” or their “Park and Ride” scheme, in respect of any Section 106 contribution agreements. All creating significant bias and potential for corruption.
9) Complete failure of this development to comply with the existing and approved “Local Plan” ahead of the issue of any new “Area Plan”.
10) Failure to propose a development which is in keeping with the historical development pattern of , St Erth, Rose-An-Grouse and Canonstown.
11) Proposing a development which is likely to lead to excessive “Road Traffic” as people will now have to drive from the proposed Heliport to Penzance and vice versa , thus increasing not decreasing the road traffic.
12) Additional traffic chaos, which will be encountered at the A30 / Station Approach, especially in the summer months. It is already bad enough at this location. This is already an extremely dangerous junction and the road passing under the railway is narrow and twisting with no direct line of sight. Not to mention that it is also used by all of the lorries heading into and out of the waste disposal site. Which it seems is not accounted for anywhere in this proposal.
In fact the Highways Agency has also now highlighted this problem. Stating that Station Approach and Trelloweth Lane are already being used over capacity. Further, that the "Secretary of State For Transport" has made an order that the Council may not consider the Heliport application for a further six months, in order that the developer, provide better proposals for traffic mitigation. Personally we can't see how he can when the road has to pass under the listed Bridge at the station, which can't be altered.
13) We will also suffer a large amount additional traffic through St Erth as “Sat-Nav” tries to send it towards Helston. In terms of road traffic alone, this proposal holds the probability of serious accidents waiting to happen. How many deaths do there have to be.
14) This proposal would also be in breach of the County Councils duty of care to protect Children and those who for whatever reason by virtue of age or otherwise are unable to protect themselves.

This Heliport and Park and Ride are a complete non starter at this location. The Park and Ride needs to be expanded at its existing location at Lelant Saltings, and the proposers of that abortion of a Heliport, need to have the common decency to fly out of an airport. That's what we have one at Newquay for.

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West Cornwall Transport Interchange KJ

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