Planned haulage centre in small village scrapped by council over safety concerns

Plans in place for a centre for truckers in a small village were ultimately rejected by the council during an early stage of development. The concept was refused development as members of the local council thought it would lead to many truck drivers navigating routes that would be potentially unsafe for themselves as well as other drivers in the area, putting others at risk.

The site, formally a builder’s yard was set to play host to training facilities for potential truck and forklift drivers aiming to earn their licence. The site is within the Broadland District, the district council held a meeting to discuss the plans for development on March 4th that didn’t materialise in a way that could ensure the public’s safety while using the roads.

The application was submitted to update McCafferty’s Builders Yard, based in Felthorpe into a new up-to-date training facility which would offer more opportunities for hauliers and forklift drivers in training, along with upgraded facilities and equipment to match the demand of their training.

Unfortunately for the drivers, local councillors unanimously voted to reject the proposals, considering the particular location and the lack of safety on the roads it could lead to. 

Speaking on the matter, Julie Fox, Broadland planning officer told councillors: "The Highways authority objected to the proposal as they considered the semi-rural location of a substandard nature, and also unsatisfactory for increased by HGV traffic."

She added: "The proposal would provide no economic benefit and it's considered it should not be approved - the recommendation is for refusal.

Parish Council vice-chairman, John Bebbington, said to the committee: "This is a builder’s yard but the vehicles on site were a maximum of six and they were box vehicles, not HGVs. A business of this nature is best suited to an area of the city that provides the best location to meet their needs. Felthorpe really is a very small village."

A report published before planning offered some insight into the development of the facility: "The proposed use would make effective use of a brownfield site in former employment use. The proposal would not cause significant detrimental impact on residential amenity. The proposal would have limited economic benefits, and overall no economic and social benefits."

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