I am pleased to have received many copies of letters to the County Council and to Babergh in respect of the proposed Chilton Quarry. If you haven’t yet written please don’t forget to do so!
The police have come out strongly against the application. Paul Crick the Sudbury District Inspector writes that the police object on three grounds (and I quote)
1. Increased HGV traffic on relatively minor country roads, which are already struggling with peak time volume.
2. Increased risk by volume to road traffic accidents
3. Interruption of traffic flow in and out of Sudbury either by numbers of heavy goods vehicles entering the site or indeed by roundabout.
Inspector Crick continues:-
Over the past twelve months there have been 38 road traffic accidents on the A1071 (main road to the proposed site from Ipswich), one of which was a fatality. There were 13 accidents on the A134 between Chilton and the A1071 junction, again one of which was sadly a fatality. It is difficult to attribute accidents to any one factor because many things play a part, the only common denominator being vehicles themselves. The two main roads providing access to the proposed site are not dueled nor likely to be and indeed a long stretch of the A134 is a 30mph limit through small villages.
The very nature of these roads means, that inevitably accidents do occur, and when this happens the road often becomes completely closed. This in turn necessitates officers being tied up for long periods of time managing both accidents and indeed diversions through villages, which are even less able to cope with volume.
Both the A1071 and, in particular, the A134, albeit not dueled or particularly wide are major commuter routes between Sudbury, Colchester and Ipswich. As such at peak times they are congested with long tailbacks into Sudbury and onto the A134 from the A1071. It is my opinion that the proposed increase in lorries will further congest both areas and impede traffic flow even further as well as increase the risk of accidents. I consider this to be true, whether or not a new roundabout is put in place.
In closing, as a representative of Suffolk Police I tender my opposition to the application on the above grounds
