Dear Daniel,
I’m a resident of Great Eastern Street and constituent of your electorate.
I’m sure you are aware of the increasing unhappiness surrounding the building
of an industrial scale 12 carriage trainwash facility at the railway sidings
behind Great Eastern Street. The facility is, at last report, going to comprise
a 33m long, 9m high, 7m wide grey metal shed and a smaller pump engine
building. It will operate 24/7, primarily in the evening, with up to 4 washes
per hour. That’s up to 50 trains a day passing through. The site will be lit up
in the evening with 2m high lights all the way along. There will be associated
train movement and idling in the sidings.
The visual, noise, air, water, chemical, and vibration of this industrial scale
complex is outrageous in built-up residential area. The existing 8 car
trainwash south of the station was closed a few months ago both because it is
too short to accommodate the new trains and because of noise complaints from
residents of the newly built flats. This will be far worse.
GTR seem to have worked around permitted development laws to have chosen this
site and then build upon on it, avoiding both planning permission and community
consultation. GTR claims that there was no other suitable site on industrial or
non-residential area. However, we believe that they may have avoided other
sites, such as near the new North Cambridge Station, because of their monetary
value to lease or sell to property developers. We also believe that if GTR is
able to continue, they will set a precedent for permitted development that will
be used to railroad(!) community interests in far more contexts.
This development will irreparably damage property values and the nature of the
Romsey community.
Building starts in March. We want the development ceased permanently. However,
in the interests of time, we need an interim solution.
We need your help to seek an injunction on building at least such time as the
GTR development process can undergo scrutiny for compliance with all planning
and environmental regulations.
Please help us.
We look forward to hearing from you.
We are having a community meeting at the Earl of Beaconsfield on Tuesday Feb 4
starting at 7pm if you or a representative would like to attend.
Sincerely,
Sean Rintel and Cherie Gregoire
