Motorway's tyre wall sound barrier plans rejected

Motorway's tyre wall sound barrier plans rejected

JULY 07 2009

A CONTROVERSIAL scheme to build a noise barrier from old tyres alongside a Hampshire motorway has been thrown out.

The plan had been described by objectors as a “devious means of flytipping waste”.
Hampshire councillors rejected gravel giant Raymond Brown’s proposal to build the “wall” – aimed at blocking traffic noise from the M27 at Nursling.

Although the project would screen the M27 from Church Lane “very few residents” would benefit from the proposed 375m long barrier built from baled tyres and construction industry waste, according to an assessment by council officers.

The Environment Agency supported the proposals but Nursling and Rownhams Parish Council and Romsey Extra Parish Council did not. Both authorities claimed the plans would have led to extra traffic as the operation would have involved transporting a huge tyre mountain from the nearby village of Ashfield to the site.

Nursling Parish Council described the plan as a “devious means of flytipping waste” in the countryside and warned that if the scheme went ahead there was a “potential” for contamination to spread onto the M27’s surface and viewed it as unacceptable.

Nursling residents also expressed concerns about noise and dust coming from the construction site while the proposed 20ft high barrier was built from 90,000 cubic metres of waste of which, 17 cubic metres would have been of bald tyres.

Had the application been approved, it would have led to an average of 32 lorries a day using Station Road and other nearby lanes while the work was being done.

Hampshire County Council’s deputy leader Roy Perry, whose Romsey Extra division covers Nursling, voted against the plans. He said transporting the tyres would create gross disturbance with a significant number of lorry movements and it seemed to counter the objectives of the consent for the tyre depot at Ashfield.

He added: “The site is close to the valley of the River Test, New Forest National Park as well as the historic St Boniface Church and should not become a tyre dump even if they are covered up.”

By Andy Simmonds - dailyecho.co.uk