OBJ0047 LDH Plant Limited

Transcription

1 1 OBJ0047 LDH Plant Limited The Welsh Ministers (the M4 Motorway (Junction 23 (East of Magor) to West of Junction 29 (Castleton) and Connecting Roads) and the M48 Motorway (Junction 23 (East of Magor) Connecting Road) and the London to Fishguard Trunk Road (East of Magor to Castleton) Compulsory Purchase Order 201 Statement by Nicholas Higgins on behalf of LDH Plant Ltd

2 2 LDH Plant Limited M4- Relief Road - Newport Docks - Impact Statement on Behalf of LDH Plant Ltd 1. Introduction 1.1 My name is Nicholas Higgins. I am a co-owner and a director of the company and instrumental in setting up and developing its facilities at Westway Road in a compound leased from ABP. 2. LDH Plant Ltd 2.1 LDH Plant Ltd (LDH) is a plant hire and plant sales (new and second-hand) company based in Newport Docks. It occupies offices, workshop, paint shop, steam cleaning bay and fenced yard off Westway Road on the western side of the Newport Docks estate. It has a lease running for 21 years from The M4 Relief Road Scheme requires land at the rear of the yard, the CPO line taking concrete hard standing, the steam cleaning pit and the plant room. This land comprises Plots 7/3y and 7/3dq in the CPO. 2.2 The steam cleaning pit connects into the adjacent paint shop, passing through a trap for the paint shop floor and thence into an unusually deep drain (approx 30 feet deep). The whole of this area has been provided with unusually thick strengthened concrete able to handle the extreme loadings of the largest plant brought in by LDH, up to 80 tonnes. 2.3 The yard space required for the scheme also houses installations vital to the functions of the Company. These include storage racks, a waste oil tank and raised water tanks to pressurise the steam cleaner. Compressors, chemical additive tanks and steam cleaning equipment are house in the plant room that is affected by the published CPO. 2.4 The loss of the CPO land would effectively close down the company since it cannot operate without the steam cleaning bay. This is a substantial facility able to handle plant up to 80 tonnes. Hired equipment must be cleaned and sanitised after use, as must equipment being serviced or refurbished for onward sale. 2.5 LDH has grown to make intensive use of its premises. The compound is often completely full of equipment in the parking areas whilst other parts of the site house a septic tank, loading ramp, offices and storage containers. There is simply no opportunity to relocate the steam cleaning bay and the associated plant room and supporting outdoor storage facilities.

3 3 2.6 LDH has recently taken over new dealerships and developed other new business that will add to the demands placed upon the site. 2.7 The Company has a high turnover, measured in millions, but low margins. This makes it particularly susceptible to any interference or disturbance to the business activities. Its position within the dock estate is important in that it enjoys the extra security afforded by the dock perimeter and dock security systems. This is particularly important in that there is much valuable plant, parts and workshop equipment as would normally be found at a site housing this activity. 2.8 Notwithstanding the advantage of the docks security, the Company has experienced recent break ins through its rear steel panel fence, beyond which lies the Newport City Council landfill site. The new link road to be built to the rear will increase its vulnerability to such attacks and great care would need to be taken during construction when the yard fencing is breached by the works. 3. Discussions with Welsh Ministers 3.1 Some progress has been made in that WG now recognise the importance and value of the facilities that would be lost to the published CPO and has offered to mitigate the impact of the scheme by the provision of a retaining wall in place of the planned embankment. This allows the steam cleaning bay to remain, with reduced space, along with the plant room and some of the yard. 3.2 At the present time, the Company does not feel that the mitigation has gone far enough to be acceptable. The main problem arises at the south western corner of the yard. WG propose to minimise the length of the retaining wall to minimise its own costs. The result of this is that the new boundary will cut across that corner of the yard, taking out a triangle of land. 3.3 Without the space afforded by the current squared off corner there would be difficulty in resiting the oil storage tank and other facilities displaced from the other end of the yard, all of which are rectangular or square in shape. The loss of the corner would also deprive the company of a space for a sizeable machine, which, given the space restrictions in the yard, would have a significant effect upon turnover.

4 4 3.4 The plan attached as Appendix 1 shows the revised line proposed by WG. The solid red line represents the permanent highway fence line. It has been offered that this permanent fence be installed at an early stage of the works, requiring entry into the yard for approximately one week only, after which all further work will occur outside the red line fence. Fencing would be to an equivalent standard to the current substantial structure of overlapping steel sheets on steel girders, complete with security lighting. 4. LDH Proposals for Mitigation 4.1 LDH would accept a modified CPO boundary as shown on the plan in Appendix 1 but in slightly modified form. The modification is to take the retaining wall further south allowing the new permanent boundary to avoid taking the corner of the yard. The change to this boundary is shown as a dashed red line. Although not a square corner, there is then sufficient space to reorganise the fixtures in the yard and park a vehicle as before. 4.2 I have set out below the main points that LDH would wish to incorporate into a mitigation package to protect the integrity of its site and its business; 1) Subject to the next point, the new fence line (edged red on the plan in Appendix 1) at 3.1m from the corner of the wash down pit can be agreed as the final CPO line, with only a short temporary licence to work in the yard to erect the new permanent fence. For the avoidance of doubt it is intended that LDH will be able to place structures, racks or equipment against or adjacent to the new fence. 2) The new fence line to remain at or outside the existing yard fence at the south west corner of the yard, leaving the corner of the yard in its present location, but tied into the new permanent rear fence joining it at an angle. This modification to the red line is shown as a dashed red line on the plan in Appendix 1 3) The replacement boundary fence will be installed ahead of the construction of the retaining wall that is required for the new link road. Existing lighting on the fence to be replaced as part of the works and the specification to be equivalent to the existing, with additional height provided if it is felt necessary by WG to protect road users from spray drift 4) Road construction personnel will only take entry into the yard beyond the red line/red dashed line for a week for fence construction, after which there will be no further works or entry into the yard 5) LDH to be consulted at least 2 months ahead on the timing of the fencing works to enable it to schedule work to have the least impact and disruption. WG will leave some scope for the fence work to be rescheduled if required by LDH for operational reasons

5 5 6) LDH have extensive stock of its own plant and that of customers, manufacturers and its finance company. It is a minimum insurance requirement that the yard be kept secure, with locked gates. 7) Insurers will be being consulted regarding adequate arrangements to be put in place during the fencing works. LDH needs an undertaking from WG to keep the yard properly secured at all times, in accord with the emerging requirements of the insurers, and to indemnify LDH against any failure to do so. 8) LDH is a lessee of the site, the freehold being held by ABP. Whilst LDH can come to an agreement with WG as to what mitigation will adequately protect its business, it will be for WG to obtain any necessary consent from ABP as the freeholder. 5. Conclusions 5.1 LDH is opposed to the CPO as published. The land taken cuts blindly through a large number of vital structures and functions, rendering unusable some substantially engineered adaptations that are specific to the Company. As such the Company could not adapt the existing site post scheme and would have to remove elsewhere. Whilst this could be dealt with by way of compensation, it would be disproportionately expensive and can be avoided by way of sensible modifications to the order. 5.2 LDH has indicated above and by way of the attached plan an alternative approach to the scheme which would accommodate its needs at what is likely to prove a much lower cost to the public purse. I therefore invite the Inspector to modify the Order to realign the land take along the red/dashed red line on the plan, together with a temporary licence to enter the yard for the sole purpose of constructing the new permanent fence at an early stage of the works. Signed...Nicholas Higgins Dated...7 February 2017

6 6 Statement by Nicholas Higgins on behalf of LDH Plant Ltd Appendix 1 - Plan of Propose Revised Land take

7 7