Items
No. |
Item |
51. |
Apologies for Absence
Minutes:
Councillors Tom Kelly, Terry
Piccolo, Jane Pothecary and Luke Spillman sent their
apologies.
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52. |
Minutes PDF 96 KB
To approve as a correct record the minutes of
the Lower Thames Crossing Task Force meeting held on 14 January
2019.
Minutes:
The minutes of the Lower Thames
Crossing Task Force meeting held on 14 January 2019 were approved
as a correct record.
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53. |
Items of Urgent Business
To receive additional items that the Chair is
of the opinion should be considered as a matter of urgency, in
accordance with Section 100B (4) (b) of the Local Government Act
1972.
Minutes:
There were no items of urgent
business.
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54. |
Declaration of Interests
Minutes:
There were no interests
declared.
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55. |
Highways England Update
Minutes:
The Highways England (HE)
Development Director began by stating that HE had visited the LTC
Task Force at the end of 2018, and since then the consultation had
ended and HE were currently individually analysing 28,000
responses. He stated that, of the responses that had been analysed
so far, the main issues were the A13 connectivity; the proposed
Rest and Service Area; the lack of the Tilbury Link Road; the
vertical alignment of the road, particularly on the Mardyke Valley and Tilbury and Ockendon loop lines; the health impact of the road;
and the air and noise pollution. He commented that once responses
had been analysed, proposed changes to the plan would come back to
the Task Force and the weekly meetings with Thurrock. The HE
Development Director added that HE’s ambition was to submit
the Development Consent Order (DCO) at the end of 2019, although
this would be reliant on changes made to the LTC due to
consultation responses. He mentioned that HE were aware that Thurrock was working on its Local
Plan and felt that HE and Thurrock Council could collaborate on
land parcels. He added that HE were planning on undertaking
environmental surveys later on in the year, but assured the Task
Force that they would stay fully informed. He finally stated that
although the LTC was not near the procurement phase yet, last week
HE had published their EU Hiring Notice which stated their
intentions subject to contracts and got the supply chain ready. He
added that HE wanted to work with the local supply chain and were
in talks with SELEP, Invest Essex, as well as other partners.
The Thames Crossing Action Group (TCAG) Representative opened the
debate and asked about the agricultural surveys HE were planning on
undertaking, and asked what protection would be given to residents
as some of the proposed survey areas ran over historic land fill
sites. The HE Development Director replied that the agricultural
surveys would consist of shallow soil testing, the same as what was
currently happening in Kent. He added that HE had not yet applied
for consent from Thurrock Council, so the surveys would not begin
for some time. The Assistant Director LTC confirmed that Thurrock
Council had not granted any licences for agricultural surveys on
council land, but could not comment on licences for private
land.
The Vice-Chair commented on the on-going Health Impact Assessment
(HIA) as Thurrock had an increased level of COPD compared to other
boroughs. He asked HE if they could
provide cut and cover across the route, particularly around urban
areas such as Chadwell St Mary,
Tilbury, Bulphan and Stifford Clays. He wanted to ensure that progress
was not detrimental to resident’s health. The HE Development
Director stated that the scheme had to meet the National Policy
Statement National Framework which would give protection to
residents by testing air quality and noise pollution. The Assistant
Director LTC confirmed that Thurrock had shared all health data
with HE and the Strategic Lead Public ...
view the full minutes text for item 55.
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56. |
Task Force Priorities List PDF 122 KB
Minutes:
The Assistant Director LTC
stated this was a standing item which had been requested by
Councillor Tom Kelly to keep sight of the Task Force priorities.
She stated this document was a pre-cursor to the Mitigation
Schedule. She then drew the Task Force’s attention to areas
of the Priorities List which had been populated by HE in sections
1a (ii), 1a (iv), 1d, 2b (ii) and 7e.
She ran through the changes which included:
1a (ii): HE had clarified that during the construction phase 900
construction workers would be needed at peak construction times in
Thurrock. HE had stated jobs would grow as journey times would
decrease, which would increase labour markets and help
businesses.
1a (iv): HE had stated that a crossing
at Canvey Island had been discounted in 2009 as it did not meet
scheme objectives and HE could not justify it.
1d: HE had clarified they would be using local contractors as the
PIN notice had been published last week, which could be shared with
the Task Force and Thurrock Business Board.
2b (ii): Thurrock Council had now agreed a Planning Performance
Agreement (PPA) with HE that could recover costs in terms of
officer resources, and this had been backdated to September
2018.
7e: A group had been set-up regarding the HIA which had met in
November 2018 and January 2019, and would continue to meet
quarterly to discuss the Health Impact Assessment, as the Assistant
Director LTC believed that work was not progressing quickly
enough.
Councillor Allen asked for clarification regarding 1a (ii) as
although 900 workers were needed for the construction phase, HE had
put out to EU tender, and asked if local construction workers could
receive these jobs. The Assistant Director LTC clarified that due
to the scale of the project, and procurement rules, it had to go to
EU tender. She stated that the tenders would be tiered, so both
larger and smaller contractors could receive business. She added
that through the DCO process, Thurrock Council wanted to ensure a
certain amount of local goods and contractors were used on the
project.
The Chair stated that at 1a (ii) part of the initial scheme had
included a Tilbury Link Road to connect the docks. He stated that
he remained opposed to the LTC, but had felt the Tilbury Link Road
may have bought benefit. The HE Development Director replied that
when HE had spoken to Thurrock businesses, the majority of feedback
contained frustration at the Dartford Crossing. He stated that
there was not the infrastructure to cope with a Tilbury Link Road,
and if it was included in the scheme it could impact upon local
roads. He added that HE were working with the Department for
Transport and other partners to work on a different concept to
connect the Port of Tilbury, either during or after the LTC had
been built. The Assistant Director LTC replied that Thurrock needed
access to the cordoned model to be able to analyse ...
view the full minutes text for item 56.
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57. |
Mitigation Schedule PDF 193 KB
Minutes:
The representative from Peter
Brett Associates (PBA) introduced the report and stated this was
the latest version of the mitigation schedule, having been updated
on 5 February 2019. He stated that the mitigation schedule drove
the agenda for technical meetings and covered key areas such as the
Local Plan; operation and construction; community and health
impacts; traffic and transport; environmental impact including air
quality, landscape, water, ecology and stakeholders. He added that
the technical meetings were grouped around issues such as the local
plan workshop; the design elements of the scheme; the operation of
the LTC; the construction and logistics; and community impact. He
then listed the upcoming meetings and topics which would be
covered, these included:
1. Thurrock Council and PBA had been invited to take part in the HE
Design Panel which critiqued the design of the scheme.
2. The cordoned model and key elements for traffic.
He drew the Members attention to the areas of the mitigation
schedule which were highlighted in red, as these signified areas
which were now being dealt with elsewhere, as they were outside the
scope of the LTC. He listed point 5, 30, 31, and 35 which were all
highlighted red and were now being dealt with in another way. The
Vice-Chair highlighted point 20 which commented on the crossing at
East Tilbury as he felt many Local Plan developments could not take
place in this area due to the LTC and its remedial works. The PBA
Representative replied that this had been covered during the Local
Plan workshop and HE had said they would take ideas discussed
regarding design away, to ensure potential development sites were
not neutralised. The Vice-Chair replied that houses could not be
built next to motorways unless the motorway was buried underground
in tunnels. The PBA Representative commented that HE had to ensure
there would be no adverse effects for residents as part of their
design work.
The Resident Representative asked how land to the side of the LTC
would be treated, as to mitigate the scheme the roadside should
offer some protection to residents from pollution. The Assistant
Director LTC replied that HE only had to mitigate against their scheme, and a 1km tree belt
on the side of the road was not necessary in law. She added that HE
could only compulsorily buy land where it was necessary to deliver
the scheme, and the 1km tree belt could not be compulsorily bought.
She stated that this was why point 5 in the report had been
highlighted in red. She mentioned that Thurrock Council were
working with HE to identify mitigation work, but the red-line
boundary was not fixed as additional environmental work needed to
be undertaken.
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58. |
Work Programme PDF 52 KB
Minutes:
The Chair stated that as purdah
started soon there may be some disruption to the meetings. The
Assistant Director LTC stated that she had been expecting the March
meeting to be a traffic modelling workshop, but there was now not
enough time. She proposed the traffic modelling workshop take place
in the April Task Force meeting, and invited HE to go into design
detail, including architectural approach, during the March meeting.
The HE Development Director replied that he would look into this.
The Assistant Director LTC stated that Thurrock Council had met
with other local authorities, and requested HE organise the
upcoming meetings for the Stakeholder Advisory Panel. She stated
that she had contacted the Planning Inspectorate and case workers
to raise issues and concerns, and had requested the outreach
planning inspectorate to discuss issues.
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