Beighton Parish Council

To:
Professor Jacquie Burgess,
Chairman,
Broads Authority
Yare House,
62-64 Thorpe Road, Norwich,
Norfolk, NR1 1RY
27th September 2016
Dear Mrs Burgess,
Beet Deliveries to Cantley Sugar Factory on Sundays
At a meeting yesterday evening with Cantley residents, British Sugar announced that they intend to start regular beet deliveries to the Cantley factory on Sundays, beginning next month. Up to now, beet lorries have not run on Sundays except in exceptional circumstances to cover plant failures, bad weather etc. The justification for the change is that the sugar content of beet may drop slightly whilst being kept for an extra day. This has never been raised as an issue before and it is noteworthy that in many cases, beet often stands for days in piles at the side of fields before being transported to Cantley, apparently without degradation.
Our concern with this development is not only the disturbance and noise to residents in the vicinity of the factory but across the Broads/Broadland/North Norfolk area as a whole, with lorries loading and then negotiating the highways and byways of the region. The beet reception entrance of the factory will be open on Sundays from 7.30am, which means that lorries will be loading and setting out all over Norfolk from 6.00am onwards.
Sunday is the day when there is much leisure activity in the area with walkers, cyclists and horses taking to the roads which, especially in winter, can be very wet and muddy making it very unpleasant, intimidating and, potentially, dangerous to be overtaken by a heavy lorry.
In 2012, the Broads Authority gave planning permission to British Sugar for the delivery of raw sugar by road from Great Yarmouth to Cantley (ref. BA/2012/0111/EXT13W). Condition 17 of that permission states that there should be no deliveries of raw sugar on Sundays or Bank holidays “to control traffic movements to the site in the interest of the amenity of adjoining occupiers…” Whilst not directly concerned with beet traffic, this decision indicates that the Broads Authority wished to limit lorry movements on Sundays. The situation with beet lorries will be much worse than that proposed for raw sugar deliveries. Firstly, there will be many more beet journeys than envisaged for raw sugar delivery and, secondly, whereas the raw sugar traffic would have been directly along the A47 and into Cantley, the beet traffic will be from all over the area, causing widespread disturbance. On a typical day there are in excess of 300 beet deliveries to the factory, mostly by articulated lorries, each carrying up to 25 tons (it should be borne in mind that each delivery represents two journeys, one to and one from the factory).
Robert Beadle
29A Church Road
Cantley
Norwich
NR13 3SN
Tel: 01493 701231
e-mail: robert.beadle1@btinternet.com
Ray Scrivens
6 Highland Close
Cantley
Norwich
NR13 3SW
Tel: 01493 700544
e-mail: rayscriv@yahoo.com
As planning authority for the Cantley Sugar Factory, we would ask the Broads Authority to place a restriction on British Sugar, or come to some other written agreement, permitting deliveries of sugar beet to take place only on weekdays and Saturdays, other than in exceptional circumstances. This has been the situation for as long as can be remembered and, whilst at present not set down formally (to our knowledge), we can surely claim “grandfather rights” to maintain the status quo. This seems to be a case where a very small commercial gain (if any) will be at the expense of the whole area.
Yours faithfully,
cc (by email)
Keith Simpson MP
Cllr Andrew Proctor
CPRE Norfolk
The Broads Society
Keep Sunday Special
Beighton Parish Council
Cantley Parish Council