OUR PROPOSAL
What is being proposed at Cricklewood?
The proposal is for a new modern ready-mixed concrete ‘batching’ plant to be set up on one part of the wider Cricklewood Rail Freight Facility (RFF). The RFF is currently permitted to be used for the rail transportation and storage of aggregates and waste spoil arising from local building and construction.
The concrete plant would be supplied by aggregates (principally gravel and sand) by train. The aggregates would be unloaded and stored on site within enclosed bays until it is needed to make the concrete.
In addition, the state-of-the-art design of the plant would ensure adherence to the strict environmental standards in place in areas such as air quality and noise reduction, with adaptations to the local road network already in place to improve road safety.
Location
Our aggregate storage bays will be enclosed with bay walls and fitted with dust suppression water spray systems, minimising the chance of material becoming airborne.
Operation
Producing concrete involves combining aggregates (eg gravel, sand and rock) with cement and water plus small amounts of additives (eg fibres) that control the performance of the final concrete mix. The aggregate would be delivered directly from trains into enclosed (walled) storage bays and then, using a front end loader, fed into the covered storage hoppers from where it is transferred by covered belt conveyors into covered storage ‘bins’.
Vehicle Movements
Operating Hours
Approval will be sought to operate the concrete plant from 7am to 7pm on Mondays to Fridays and from 7am to 2pm on Saturdays. These hours are the same as consented for the wider rail sidings development.
In reality there would be busy times and quieter times, depending on the local demand on any given day. There would be no concrete batching plant operations on Sundays and Public Holidays.
Air Quality
A detailed assessment of the potential effects on local air quality (including dust and traffic emissions) has been carried out by DB Cargo as part of the development of the wider Rail Freight Facility and agreed through the planning process as part of that application. Our proposals will not generate any additional net emissions and will comply with all of the monitoring requirements and limits set in the wider site permission.
We recognise that air quality is a primary concern and we have built in air quality mitigation measures into the design of our proposals ‘from the ground up’. These include ensuring that any potentially ‘dusty’ activities are enclosed where practicable, the use of dust suppression systems (fine spray at key locations), keeping the ground clean (especially areas where vehicles will be operating) and minimising drop heights from loading equipment when handling materials.
Vehicles used will be regularly maintained and engines switched off when stationary. Furthermore, the concrete mixers would all have the latest Euro VI engines which are the cleanest available and the only ones approved for us in Ultra Low Emissions Zones (ULEZ) such as London.
Aggregates deliveries to the proposed site would be by rail, bringing huge benefits in terms of air quality. Each train delivery keeps between 75 and 85 lorries off the roads depending on the length of the train, and UK Government rail freight studies have found that a typical aggregates train is proven to have on average 76% lower carbon emissions than the equivalent road transport. Particulate emissions from rail transport are an average of 90% lower than the equivalent road journey. (Source: UK Government Rail Freight Strategy 2016)
The plant itself would be a modern design which comes with the latest technology to eliminate the air quality impacts sometimes associated with older plants. We would be required to obtain and maintain an environmental permit from the Local Authority for the operation of our proposed concrete plant, which will include requirements for how we operate and will ensure that we do not generate unacceptable emissions.
Furthermore, the London Plan requires that new developments be classified as ‘air quality neutral’. Assessment against benchmark emissions identified for buildings and transport show that the Proposed Development can be certainly considered as ‘air quality neutral’.
Landscape and Visual Impact
The original plant design was lower than other similar concrete plants and would have been largely screened by other buildings nearby. However, after consultation with neighbours, we redesigned the plant to improve things, especially the height of the cement silos. The original height of the silos was intended to be 20.7 metres. Following consultation we initially reduced this to 17.9 metres then, after more discussions, we changed the plant layout to reduce the silo height to 16 metres. Illustrations from viewpoints around the site were created to show what this would look like.
Around the perimeter of the site, extensive screening and landscaping is required under planning permission 17/5761/EIA for the wider site and so no additional landscaping is proposed within our application.
To give a clearer indication of how the site would look from the outside we have worked with local representatives to identify nine key viewpoints and created photomontages showing current view and what each would look like if the proposal were to go ahead.
Noise
Detailed noise assessment and monitoring has been undertaken as part of the development of the wider RFF, and a noise monitoring scheme and maximum acceptable noise levels agreed. Our proposal will comply with all of these noise requirements.
An assessment of the potential noise generated by our proposed development has been undertaken and calculations show that there will be no impact with regard to noise as a result of mitigation measures incorporated into the design of our plant and equipment and the mitigation measures provided for the wider rail sidings development.
All plant and equipment would be designed to minimise noise and we would, therefore, comply with the standards set out in the site management plan that has been agreed as part of the recently approved planning permission for the site.
The existing rail freight activity also saw the installation of an innovative ‘eco barrier’, a living wall made from a variety of plant species growing on a natural fibre matting mounted on a light steel frame. This is a key feature that is proven to effectively absorb sound from operational sites and also plays an important part in preventing dust from leaving the site.
Lighting
Detailed assessment of the potential for light pollution was undertaken as part of the wider RFF site development. Our proposals will comply with all of the lighting requirements placed on the wider RFF and we will use the same sort of low light spill illumination.
While our operating hours will be restricted to those permitted for the wider RFF the concrete plant will need to operate in the dark during the winter months and some lighting will be needed for safety reasons.
Comment on our proposal
You can view the planning application (reference 20/4817/FUL) by searching on the planning page of the London Borough of Barnet where you can also make comments. Whilst our planning application is being determined, we continue to welcome questions so please do get in contact us by email.