Report

The Woodsmith Project - S73 Project Amendments : Planning Statement

extent of development and concentrating the main permanent buildings on the shaft platforms. These are then set behind the landscaping bunds, thus minimising development to the south of the site. The two-storey welfare building will be 83m in length, 37m in width, with a ridgeline at 212.8m AOD. The building will provide facilities, including a change house, kitchen/canteen, medical centre, offices, and meeting/conference rooms all in one space. The building design will be clad either with wood or dark green coated, profiled metal cladding with dark grey sheet metal roofs. Light spill from window openings will be controlled by shutters during the hours of darkness. The building will be positioned on a concrete plinth. The roof will comprise a non-reflective material. To the south of the building will be a covered bus terminal (pick up/drop off) and walkway, for workers and visitors to arrive on site. A new car park will be constructed adjacent to the building, consisting of 75 car parking spaces, including four accessible spaces, and 15 larger work van spaces. A proportion of parking spaces will have electrical vehicle charging points. Most workers and visitors are anticipated to arrive via the Park & Ride services, with private vehicle access minimised and controlled via the issue of permits. The Welfare area also includes an emergency helicopter landing point, to the south of the building. This has been relocated from the previously approved layout so that it remains close to the revised Welfare area.

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Logistics

The following developments are proposed to support the logistics and operation of the Woodsmith site:

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Rail Logistics Hub

A rail logistics hub will be constructed as part of the Service Shaft building to facilitate the supply of consumables, materials, and spare parts to the mine throughout its operation. The materials described above will be transported to Woodsmith Mine via HGV freight transport, in consolidated containers that can be lowered down the Service Shaft. The rail logistics hub provides a covered and screened building within which to undertake the unloading of HGVs and the loading of containers onto rail carts for transfer inside of the Service Shaft building. This approach minimises noise and visual disturbance that could be caused by the logistics process and these activities otherwise being undertaken externally.

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Northern and Southern Facility Hubs

Maintenance spaces will be required at the operational stage of development. As such, a maintenance workshop and warehousing space will be required, for which purpose, the existing temporary winder houses for the Production and Service Shafts will be retained. These buildings have been present on the site for several years, are well screened from external views and would not lead to any new or altered environmental or social impacts.

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