200-strong petition against plan for site in Redbridge developers say will create 750 jobs

Residents living near the proposed development say they will hand in the petition against proposals for the distribution park in Redbridge to civic chiefs next month.

As reported in the Daily Echo, amended plans for the complex in Test Lane were handed in last month, with the firm behind the proposals saying they could create 750 jobs.

However, residents living near to the site say the amended plans don’t go far enough to allaying their concerns over air pollution, traffic, noise, the impact on the environment and its proposed 24-hour operation.

Evander Properties first handed in proposals for the 16-acre plot of land next to the Daily Echo offices last year.

In the amended plans, currently being considered by the council, the firm says the 21,000 sq m complex would see three new buildings up to 14.5m in height built, alongside a servicing area and car parking.

Two of the units would be used for storage and distribution, with the third for industrial use.

Some of the changes include increasing the size of a “linear park” of public land on the site from three to four acres and moving two unit away from the southern boundary of the site and nearby houses.

They also say extra noise mitigation measures will be introduced, the general industrial use removed and say they want to widen Test Lane with a view to making it easier to negotiate for heavy goods vehicles.

And the developer has attempted to reassure residents that heavy goods vehicles will not use Gover Road.

But residents have made more than 90 objections to the proposals and are also concerned over a proposed attenuation pond, which would collect excess water on the site, which the developer says would be maintained by the city council.

Speaking at a protest at the site on Saturday, Old Redbridge Road resident Darren Hallett said: “It is going to create more flooding problems than we already have when the pond is there.

“Also, it is a protected bird area and the impact of this on the environment is going to affect the bird population.”

And Margaret Wright, the vice-chairman of Redbridge Residents’ Association, said: “The council will inherit the maintenance of the pond, when they council hasn’t got money as it is.

“There is terrible pollution around Redbridge as it is and Southampton has already breached EU air regulations, so more HGVs isn’t going to help that.”

The residents say they will hand in their petition to the council next month and plan to carry out protests against the proposals.

A decision on the plans for the site - which is adjacent to the Daily Echo's offices at Newspaper House - is due later this summer.