West Cumbria Water Supply Project

West Cumbria Water Supplies Project– Thirlmere Transfer United Utilities plc Supplementary Information Volume 2 Planning Application Consultation Responses Revision | 0 29 July 2016 Supplementary Information Volume 2 Planning Application Consultation Responses West Cumbria Water Supplies Project - Thirlmere Transfer Project no: B2707061 Document title: Supplementary Information Volume 2 Planning Application Consultation Responses Revision: 0 Date: 29 July 2016 Client name: United Utilities plc Jacobs U.K. Limited 5 First Street Manchester M15 4GU United Kingdom T +44 (0)161 235 6000 F +44 (0)161 235 6001 www.jacobs.com © Copyright 2016 Jacobs U.K. Limited. The concepts and information contained in this document are the property of Jacobs. Use or copying of this document in whole or in part without the written permission of Jacobs constitutes an infringement of copyright. Limitation: This report has been prepared on behalf of, and for the exclusive use of Jacobs’ Client, and is subject to, and issued in accordance with, the provisions of the contract between Jacobs and the Client. Jacobs accepts no liability or responsibility whatsoever for, or in respect of, any use of, or reliance upon, this report by any third party. i Supplementary Information Volume 2 Planning Application Consultation Responses Contents 1. Introduction ................................................................................................................................................ 1 2. Consultation Responses .......................................................................................................................... 2 ii Supplementary Information Volume 2 Planning Application Consultation Responses 1. Introduction 1) This Planning Application Consultation Responses report supports a planning application (the Planning Application) to the Lake District National Park Authority, Copeland Borough Council and Allerdale Borough Council (the Three Planning Authorities) for consent under the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 for development of a water supply connection from Thirlmere to West Cumbria. The proposal is referred to as the West Cumbria Water Supplies Project – Thirlmere Transfer Scheme (the Proposed Scheme). The application references for each of the Three Planning Authorities is, respectively, 7/2016/2027, 4/16/2108/0F1 and 2/2016/0045. 2) This report forms Volume 2 of the Supplementary Information submitted in July 2016 in support of the Planning Application. Other volumes of the Supplementary Information present details of proposed amendments to the planning application and consideration of their environmental effects (Volume 1), and further information regarding the assessment of alternatives to the Proposed Scheme (Volume 3). 3) The Three Planning Authorities have carried out extensive consultations with both statutory and non- statutory stakeholders. In turn, stakeholders have submitted to the Three Planning Authorities their responses to the Planning Application. 4) This report summarises the representations which have been received from consultees, and provides responses to them. The report comprises a schedule of over 250 representations from statutory bodies, non-statutory organisations and members of the public. Although it is not feasible or necessary to cover every detail of the responses, wherever practicable further information has been provided to aid the decision making process. Where appropriate, responses provide references to where, within the Planning Application documents, more information can be found on a particular subject. 5) The report comprises a table of consultation responses (Table 2.1 below) together with a number of appendices that provide additional detail where required. The Appendices are: • Appendix 1 - Environmental Management Process • Appendix 2 – Tree and Hedgerow Loss • Appendix 3 – Permanent Sites Visibility Splay Drawings • Appendix 4 – Access Arrangements, Royal Mail Delivery Office Keswick. 6) A number of the consultation responses required updates to the Construction Strategy documents submitted as part of the Construction Code of Practice within the original Environmental Statement. Revised versions of a number of the Construction Strategies have been submitted along with this report as revisions to the original Environmental Statement Appendix 4.2. These are: • A4.2.1 – Construction Strategy General Overview Rev 1 • A4.2.3 – Construction Strategy Pipelaying Rev 1 • A4.2.4 – Construction Strategy Pipelaying Open Cut Watercourses Rev 1 • A4.2.5 – Construction Strategy Water Quality Monitoring Methodology Rev 1 • A4.2.7 – Construction Strategy Tunnelling Rev 1 • A4.2.9 – Construction Strategy Preliminary Method Statement Shoulthwaite Moss • A4.2.13 – Construction Strategy Working in Floodplains Rev 1 • A4.2.15 – Construction Strategy Outline Land Drainage Plan Rev 1 • A4.2.16 – Construction Strategy Outline Soil Management Plan Rev 1 • A4.2.17 - Construction Strategy Outline Biosecurity Management Plan Rev 1. 1 Supplementary Information Volume 2 Planning Application Consultation Responses 2. Consultation Responses Table 21: Summary of Consultation Responses Resp Summary Consultation Response Text UU Response No. NATURAL ENGLAND 1 Impact on R. The Information to Inform the Appropriate It should be understood that cessation of abstraction Ehen Assessment (IIAA) document details the impact of here is intended as part of a staged process to re the scheme on The River Ehen SAC as negligible. naturalise the flow regime, which was identified through Natural England are concerned this may lead to the Environment Agency’s Review of Consents process queries about why the project is therefore necessary and noted in the Inspector’s Report following the as we are hoping the impacts on the Ehen are Examination in Public of UU’s WRMP[1]: “the cessation significant and beneficial. Our advice would be to of abstraction is not the sole environmental goal. It is produce a clarification document which negates more part of a process of river environment potential negative reaction to this statement. improvements to facilitate the removal of the weir and the return of the River Ehen SAC to a favourable condition under natural flows”. Therefore, the operation of the Proposed Scheme is seen to have significant benefits for the River Ehen SAC in the longer term through its enabling of future measures (not part of this assessment) towards a more natural flow regime. “ The EA consultation response also confirms this: “The Information to Inform the Appropriate Assessment, provided by United Utilities in Volume 4, Appendix 11.13 and other locations within the documentation, describes the impact of the change from the before to after the implementation of the proposed scheme as negligible for the River Ehen and Ennerdale. Given that one of the main purposes of the proposed scheme is that it enables the abstraction from Ennerdale to cease, this may cause confusion or raise questions as to the value of the scheme. However, it is acknowledged that this is a step in the process that will ultimately enable greater beneficial changes to both the River Ehen SAC and Ennerdale SSSI.” 2 River working In the Water Environment section (appendix 3 of the The table does refer to a working window of March – windows ES) Table 2.3 details the 'working in water window' to October but caveats this with the particular sensitivity of be March-October. This would not be suitable, an individual watercourse and requirements of the flood especially in a salmon river. This should be altered to defence consent conditions. Works within any salmonid June - September. watercourses would be restricted to June – Sept unless agreed with the Environment Agency or Cumbria CC. It should be noted that additional working windows for aquatic ecology receptors are detailed in the ecology chapter and supporting appendices. 3 River River modifications within the red line boundary are The river modifications referred to are detailed in the Modifications of concern. There is little assessment on how this will Environmental Statement, Volume 4 Appendix 9.3 Realignment alter geomorphological functioning downstream and section 6 (pg.75) and relate to Shoulthwaite Moss and the potential impacts on fish migration and spawning. Smaithwaite on the Raw Water Aqueduct. The mitigation is fairly low key given this is detailing Further details on Shoulthwaite Moss have been [1] The Planning Inspectorate (2014) Water Resources Management Plan Regulations 2007, Examination in Public into the United Utilities Revised Draft Water Resources Management Plan November 2013. 17 November 2014. 2 Supplementary Information Volume 2 Planning Application Consultation Responses Resp Summary Consultation Response Text UU Response No. realignment of a watercourse. This should be given provided as part of the Supplementary Information within more thought in term of if alternative solutions are Volume 2 Updated Construction Strategies, A4.2.9 possible. In all cases this should avoid culverting of Preliminary Method Statement Shoulthwaite Moss and the channel and should include the reinstatement of A4.2.9 Shoulthwaite Moss Management Plan. Ditch the channel to allow for natural processes. realignment has been dealt with as part of this document and looks at the future process for considering the hydrological and geomorphological processes downstream in Naddle Beck. With regard to the watercourse intersecting the red line boundary around a tributary of St John’s Beck around

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