A CONSTRUCTION project on the outskirts of Cuffley could increase the number of lorries using the roads by 100 per day for more than year.
Hertfordshire County Council received a planning application for an earth bund at Woodhurst Farm in Cattlegate Road earlier this month
The landscape re-profiling would protect the fields beside the M25, used by horses at the farm’s paddocks, from noise and visual disturbance ahead of major works on the motorway next year.
According to the application, the bund would be 23ft (7m) high and require 208,000 tonnes of inert soil to be brought to the site over a period of 15 months – an average of slightly over 100 deliveries per day according to the plans.
Northaw and Cuffley parish councillor Brent Cheetham said: “I know a lot of people will be concerned about the potential volume of traffic up that road.
“My personal view is that, although there could be a lot of disruption, once the construction is completed, I think it would be good for wildlife and the Green Belt but, in the meantime, there’s 15 months of disruption.”
Northaw and Cuffley Residents’ Association chairman Ken Golding said his organisation would object due to concerns about traffic.
It has been conceded by the applicants that there will be “significant implications for the local highway network”.
The fields in question lie north of the M25 between Junctions 24 (Potters Bar) and 25 (Waltham Cross), where the motorway will be widened in preparation for drivers being allowed to use the hard shoulder from 2016 as part of the Managed Motorways project.
A statement from the consultants to the applicants, Jnp Group, said: “Passing vehicles are already spooking the animals in the paddocks to such extent as to render them effectively unusable as pastures or for riding.
“The situation will be further exacerbated following the implementation of the managed motorways scheme.”
Deliveries would be between 9am and 5pm on weekdays, with an extra hour between 7am and 8am from March to October.
The parish council’s planning committee is due to discuss the application at a meeting on Wednesday January 4.
