Residents complain about Barnham haulage site

A GROUP of Barnham residents has formally complained about the continued operation of a haulage business.

The Lake Lane Neighbourhood Group members have contacted the Traffic Commissioner to complain the firm is still working from Old Lake Lane Nurseries.

As reported, the Traffic Commissioner rejected an application by Stuart Lyons Haulage for an operating licence to keep 24 trailers at the nursery.

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The commissioner noted the haulage operation was unsuited to the rural location ‘due to real interference with the comfort or convenience of living and the enjoyment of property according to the standards of the average person’.

The residents’ group also believes Lake Lane is inadequate as an access route because its width and lack of footpath makes it unsafe for other users when large lorries are travelling along it.

A spokesman for the group said: “We note that Stuart Lyons’ HGV lorries have continued to operate unabated.

“There appears to be no limit on the numbers of lorries nor their hours of operation.

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“Almost all of the many lorries passing along Lake Lane during the most unsociable hours – Saturdays, Sundays and late at night – are from the Stuart Lyons’ operation.”

“We have no complaint about the normal transportation of nursery product during normal working hours.”

The residents had a right to know what was happening behind the scenes to meet the commissioner’s objections.

In a letter to Mr Simmonds, Arun District Council’s chief executive, Nigel Lynn stated: “It is important to recognise that whilst Stuart Lyons Haulage was not granted a licence to have an operating centre at Lake Lane, this does not mean that their vehicles cannot visit and leave their premises on Lake Lane.

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“Furthermore, the planning appeal allowed them to use the premises without reference to the conditions imposed many decades ago. No party sought to challenge this decision in the courts and therefore it stands.”

Mr Lynn said the council was using its draft local plan to see how the situation could be improved for residents.

He encouraged the group’s members to become involved in the consultation about the plan to state their case.