Local councillors recently asked South Glos to investigate whether, if Morrisons move out of their warehouse on Armstrong Way, the planning permission could be changed so that it would no longer been used as a distribution depot.
This would have the effect of removing a good deal of heavy goods traffic from roads in Yate and the surrounding villages – Iron Acton and Rangeworthy residents have been complaining for years about the volume of lorry movements.
The question is whether the site is appropriate for distribution use now – would planning permission be granted if it was a new site? In view of the other traffic problems in the area, quite possibly not. This is being interpreted as local councillors trying to drive Morrisons out of town, but it’s just asking for a reassessment of the site in the light of changed circumstances.
Whatever happens, some lorries will still have to go in and out of Yate, to bring things in local people want and need and to take away things that are made here, but with major distribution centres you have lorry traffic coming in and going out again with little benefit to local people. Those sorts of uses are far better right next to motorway junctions so that the lorries don’t have to trundle up and down the narrow country roads or get tangled with town rush hours.
What would be the overall effect on local employment? Even if the planning permission was changed, this would still be employment land. Different employment uses could quite possibly bring more jobs – South Glos officials say that distribution provides a very low number of jobs for the area of land taken up.
But are Morrisons definitely going? Morrisons management indicated quite a while back – long before any changes of weight restrictions on rural roads - that they would be closing some but not all of their smaller depots once their Bridgwater depot opened. Workers at Morrisons however have been given the impression that the Yate depot WILL close.
Steve Webb is going to be visiting the Morrisons depot, and we’ll ask him to report back what he finds out.
Graham Watson MEP is supporting a European Parliament move to eliminate truck blind spots, which are responsible for 400 deaths on our roads every year.
As part of Brake’s national ‘See Me, Save Me’ campaign MEPs have signed the petition calling for safety rules to be enforced. New technology will allow drivers to fit reversing aids and new radar sensors to detect pedestrians and cyclists.
The campaign was started by the family of Eilidh Cairns who was killed cycling home from work.
It is estimated that 2000 cyclists are killed on EU roads every year and many of these deaths are caused by blind spots. 13,000 children were injured in road accidents in the UK alone last year.
In Devon and Cornwall three people were killed by moving vehicles at work and 219 were seriously injured during 2007-2008. The campaign has the backing of Frances Reeves, whose husband, Bert, was killed by a reversing lorry at the skip waste site where he worked in Trowbridge. Mr Reeves was in a large blind spot in the lorry's mirrors when he was struck by the rear of the lorry and run over.
Research has shown that the proposed measures to reduce blind spot deaths will only cost about £300 per vehicle.
Graham commented:
‘I strongly support the ‘See Me, Save Me’ campaign and the work of my colleague Fiona Hall, who has been leading the petition in Brussels. Lorries account for 8% of EU traffic, but 30% of accidents, this is a travesty when you consider that these deaths are so preventable. As of this morning 233 MEPs signed the petition but we still need more for the campaign to be a success.’
