Agenda, decisions and minutes

Major Applications Planning Sub-Committee (HS2) - Wednesday, 4th March, 2020 6.00 pm

Venue: Committee Room 5 - Civic Centre. View directions

Contact: Anisha Teji  01895 277655

Items
No. Item

17.

Apologies for Absence

Minutes:

There were no apologies for absence.

18.

Declarations of Interest in matters coming before this meeting

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest.

19.

To sign and receive the minutes of the previous meetings pdf icon PDF 96 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

RESOLVED: That the minutes of the meetings held on 8 January 2020 and 16 January 2020 be agreed as a correct record.

 

20.

Matters that have been notified in advance or urgent

Minutes:

None.

21.

To confirm that the items marked in Part 1 will be considered in public and those items marked in Part 2 will be heard in private

Minutes:

It was confirmed that all items were marked Part I and would be considered in public.

 

22.

Land within the Colne Valley (Near Harvil Rd/Moorhall Rd), Moorhall Road, Harefield - 74320/APP/2019/3187 pdf icon PDF 7 MB

Additional documents:

Decision:

 

RESOLVED: That the application be deferred for further information.

 

 

Minutes:

Request for approval of plans and specifications under condition imposed by Schedule 17 to the High Speed Rail (London - West Midlands) Act 2017 relating to the design and external appearance of the Colne Valley viaduct (part of Scheduled Work 2/1), associated earthworks and the location of fencing. (Commencing at a point 60 metres to the southeast of the existing Harvil Road alignment and 255 metres north of the Harvil Road crossing of the Chilterns Line; terminating at a point 120 metres west of the A412 - North Orbital Road and 180 metres west-northwest of Weybeards Cottages).

 

Officers introduced the report and provided an overview of the application. It was noted that the information requested had not yet been made available and the Environment Agency had in unhelpful in assisting with the Council’s consideration of the viaduct. Officers made a recommendation to defer the application for further information

 

The Borough Solicitor advised the Committee that if a Schedule 17 application was not determined within an eight week period or an extension of a time agreed in writing with HS2 Ltd, then HS2 was entitled to appeal to the Secretaries of State and they would then be able to recover the appeal or delegate it to the Planning Inspector. If HS2 did decide to appeal, a report would still need to be put before the Sub - Committee at some point for Member consideration.

 

The officer’s recommendation was moved and seconded, and upon being put to a vote, unanimously agreed.

 

RESOLVED: That the application be deferred for further information.

 

 

23.

South Ruislip and West Ruislip Worksites (5N0) Harvil Road, Old Dairy Lane, Clacks Lane, Breakspear Rd South - 75369/APP/2020/288 pdf icon PDF 2 MB

Decision:

 

RESOLVED: That the application be refused and delegated authority be given to the Head of Planning and Chairman to agree the refusal reasons.

 

Minutes:

Request for approval of Lorry Routes (conditions relating to road transport) under condition imposed by Schedule 17 of the High Speed Rail (London -West Midlands) Act 2017, relating to the demolition, construction, tunnelling and spoil removal; ground stabilisation and treatment works; utility diversions, structural and civil engineering works and all other activities for the purposes and in connection with the scheduled and ancillary works at the sites identified as South Ruislip Vent Shaft Main Compound, West Ruislip Portal Satellite Compound, Breakspear Road South Uxbridge Satellite Compound, Northolt Tunnel and Earthworks Main Compound and Harvil Road Realignment Satellite Compound.

 

Officers introduced the report and noted that there was a lack of information on peak hour movements and the arrangements at each site to manage vehicles to and from sites without bunching of vehicles queuing to get into the HS2 Ltd sites. Concerns were noted in relation to the submission because it was the main civil works with SCS working east of Harvil Road and Align working West of Harvil Road. The level of accumulation of traffic needed to be considered in the area and there were going to be fluctuations in the intensity of lorry movements. There would be a six month period where it would be above 300 lorry movements a day, which would have a major impact on Swakeleys roundabout and the surrounding road network. The extent of lorry movements was originally assessed as part of the Environmental Statement which presented over 1000 lorry movements a day and led to a considerable amount of challenge from residents and the Local Authority. This was considered by the Select Committee and the movements were then restricted to 550 at Swakeleys roundabout. Although the Council welcomed the reduction in traffic, nonetheless no further information had ever been provided by HS2 to change the conclusion that there were likely to be significant effects as a result of HS2 traffic.

 

The Committee was informed that the lack of any alternative routes meant that there was not an objection being raised to the routes selected and it was important to recognise this. Although there were no objections to the routes, there were concerns about what happened on the routes, such as the lorry frequency, impact at peak hours and possible queuing to access the sites. The proposal previously put forward by HS2 was to partially signalise Swakeleys roundabout, officers considered that this would cause some relief to HS2 traffic, but would adversely affect the wider traffic network in Uxbridge and other nearby roads. For this reason, the proposal was not supported by the Council and was not taken forward. Evidence was produced to justify the signalisation by HS2 which confirmed that the road network around Swakeleys roundabout was heavily congested.

 

The legislative requirement for lorry routes was that if the Council wished to mitigate the harm through conditions, then the conditions needed to be agreed by HS2. With a previous submission for lorry routes of a smaller scale considered by Committee, it was noted that  ...  view the full minutes text for item 23.