Sickening blow to Partington as Carrington Relief Road is approved

The views of thousands of residents and businesses who objected to the Carrington Relief Road seemingly meant nothing to Trafford Planning Committee at a meeting held on 5 November.

At the meeting both Labour councillors from Bucklow were absent and offered only a statement in full support of the relief road which was expected, the Reform UK councillor Charlotte Waterworth attended as did Friends of Carrington Moss representing the majority who didn’t want the relief road.

As Bonfire Night got into full swing the councillors in the chambers of Trafford Council got to work asking questions and offering opinions for and against, some claims by a councillor that skylark birds would be happy in or around miles of hedges on a busy road was not accurate.

Skylarks are heavily dependent on their complex, high-altitude song-flights to attract mates and defend their territories. Research shows that heavy traffic noise significantly reduces the probability of birds detecting conspecific songs. When the continuous roar of a busy road masks their calls, male skylarks struggle to communicate with rivals and potential mates, which directly lowers their breeding success.

Councillor Minis was more accurate and on point with everything she said on the night, the Lib Dem councillor was also stopped from talking on a very interesting point which basically says the council already had approved the application before it was even read out to the committee which cannot be right, this must be looked at more closely.

Green Party’s Dan Jerrome was also against the relief road due to the many problems that will come from it whilst it’s being built and when it’s built, pollution to the erasure of acres of agriculture, 700 trees felled and the basic removal of wildlife.

All councillors were concerned with the CTO Polyolefins late statement submitted to the application surrounding safety, if an accident happened and gasses released then they would have to shut the road immediately to ensure safety, Planning officer Rebecca Coley mentioned that she was happy with any safety concerns because the HSA has given a ‘Do not advise against’ on the application.

Once the HSA decides something the council will go with that rather than safety concerns from the firm CTO Polyolefins or a councillor, previously in the meeting Councillor Patel spoke about the late statement saying “it was a tactical one linked to commercial compensation rather than planning matters”

What we will see now is destruction of things that we cannot get back and many more road works on Manchester Road and more lorries blocking lanes making things way worse than they are today, this will frighten wildlife who will scatter to safer places and they are becoming less in Trafford due to over development.

Ripping up Carrington Moss will be not just bad for wildlife but for cyclists, walkers, runners, this safety loss during construction will mean more cyclists will have to travel on ever dangerous and polluted roads.

The trees that are to be replanted will take years to grow with one councillor claiming 2038 before they are of any benefit and could be delayed due to the unpredictable climate, effectively they destroy healthy trees that have been in existence for decades, maybe even longer, without question going against the so called ‘Climate Emergency’ that Trafford Council declared.

Whilst everyone agrees that Trafford does need ‘Social’ housing it should not mean the council can dump a huge road that will affect everything for it, no one resident, no wildlife, no green belt should be affected or harmed by development and the decisions by the council which many will feel had already been decided well before the planning meeting on 5 November will be remembered as one of the worst in modern history by this badly run council.

Lots of people are asking about an appeal, no one can appeal, however it is possible to ask for a judicial review. For that to happen, something said at the meeting that was entirely wrong, the interruption by Councillor Hartley when Cllr Minis spoke could also be looked into.

In general anything that could have persuaded a councillor to approve this application due to another councillors inaccurate statement could be used to get a judicial review, any decision of course will be down to a solicitor and that will cost a fortune and sadly time is against anyone who wishes to challenge the decision, if a councillor or councillors grouped together to finance this with help from residents GoFundMe or donations will work out, but hurry!