MAGNA PARK EXPANSION PLANS WOULD FURTHER DECREASE THE QUALITY OF AIR IN & AROUND LUTTERWORTH

1. The Magna Park plans are truly immense in scale. If plans were approved, it would be the equivalent of building 7 O2 Arenas or Millennium Domes upon farmland in rural South Leicestershire. One single warehouse could house 16 full-sized football pitches!

2. It's more intelligent to build logistics centres at locations with railheads (like DIRFT only 10 miles away) or at motorway junctions (like Rugby Gateway only 3 miles away). Magna Park has neither of these two important strategic advantages.

3. The road infrastructure around Magna Park already struggles very badly to cope with existing traffic volumes. Traffic congestion and road traffic accidents would inevitably and significantly increase if these massive plans were approved.

4. Leicestershire is one of the worst counties in the country for road fatalities.
6th= out of 43 counties. We do not want South Leicestershire to become the most dangerous road death area in the country.

5. The A5 and A426 would clog up more often with the extra traffic created by these plans that would substantially increase the size of the existing Magna Park. Blocked roads with lengthy queues at junctions and small roundabouts (especially the Gibbet) would result in even longer journeys and commutes, and more lost productivity.

6. Some HGVs do not follow approved routes, travelling dangerously through tiny villages on small rural roads.

7. It's smarter to build warehouses nearer to people who would take up the new jobs being created. The area around Magna Park has almost zero unemployment. The thousands of new jobs would therefore have to be filled by those having lengthy commutes into the area, generating even more traffic congestion around Magna Park.

8. Lutterworth already has some of the worst air quality in Leicestershire, alongside that of Leicester City Centre and East Midlands Airport. It doesn't presently meet EU standards.

9. Logistics sites that serve the nation should properly be planned strategically in the Midlands rather than be approved in a fragmented and uncoordinated way by a large number of different district or borough councils all vying for additional business rates' income.

10. There were over 1,800 written objections to the Magna Park plans, including those submitted by our local MP, Alberto Costa. I would contend these could well be the most unpopular plans in Harborough District Council's history. Many commented about the poor quality of air in the Lutterworth area.

11. Approving the three Magna Park plans could generate over £16M a year for the local authorities. HDC currently spends about £30M a year. Are the Magna Park plans really about greed (more money for Harborough District Council & the two developers) rather than about need?

12. Opposing the expansion of Magna Park is most definitely not "NIMBYism." We already have Europe's biggest dedicated distribution centre in our backyard! We have to breathe the air in the Lutterworth area.

This matter should correctly be recognised as a grave public health issue.