HGV wheel spin…

‘Spin’ is the use of a statement which, although true in its original context, deliberately misleads in the retelling. Here is an example of Rose Energy spin.

There are two bridges near Glenavy Main Street. The pedestrian foot bridge crosses the main A26 road at a point where the road is straight and wide and even has room for traffic to wait in the middle of the road to turn right. The statement in the Rose Energy planning application that this road has a capacity of 13,000 vehicles per day is accurate. That is one vehicle every five seconds over an eighteen hour day.

Rose have quoted that figure in the press to imply that all the roads around Glenavy have a capacity of 13,000 vehicles per day. They then go on to say that their one lorry every eight minutes won’t make a difference.
Consider the other bridge in Glenavy, the railway bridge over the Glen Road. Here, the HGV’s will have to go along the middle of the road to get under the bridge. They can’t see far enough along the road to see if an oncoming lorry is approaching the bridge. Imagine an HGV passing every eight minutes. All along the three routes on the plan, which is taken from the Rose Energy’s 2009 update to their planning application, there are places where it is difficult for vehicles to pass an HGV. There are junctions where HGV’s have to go on the wrong side of the road to make the turn. There are places where children wait for the school bus.

If you use the roads listed on the plan, the Rose Energy application will affect you. CALNI has commissioned a report from JMP Consultants Limited that clearly shows that

• Road users and pedestrians are going to be inconvenienced and their safety put at risk.
• There are going to be more accidents on Glenavy roads.
• The roads and verges are going to be damaged, leading to increased maintenance costs to be paid for by you, the tax payer.

Click here to read or print the full report.

Key:

Blue Route:
From Ballyvannon Road, down Lurgan Road turning onto the Station Road, then via Upper Ballinderry onto the A26

Red Route:
To and From Ballyvannon Road, up the Lurgan Road, up Aughnadarragh Road, turning into the Crumlin Road, then down Gobrana Road onto the A26

Yellow Route:
To and From Ballyvannon Road, straight up Edendenture Road, onto Glen Road, turning into Crumlin Main Street then onto the A26

From the publication of our first “Protecting the Future” report onwards, CALNI has been convinced that Rose Energy obtained their site, a former agricultural small holding, and then built up a site selection case to justify their bargain purchase. Whilst CALNI can make such assertions freely, we thought it best to commission expert opinion as to what a properly considered site selection process should be.

Strategic Planning, a Holywood based consultancy have carried out such a study for us, and their report was submitted to the Planning Department in July, 2009. They concluded that their site selection assessment clearly shows that there are suitable sites that could accommodate the Rose Energy proposal, which would be more appropriate from a planning policy perspective than the current application site. Furthermore, there is one particular site, the Kilroot site, which although it is not the top suitable site, it has scored very well, and is currently available on the open market. The Kilroot site should, among the other high ranking sites identified, therefore be pursued as an alternative solution.

Click here to read or print the full report.