Transport Acts

Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions

TRANSPORT AND WORKS ACT 1992

The Secretary of State for Environment, Transport and the Regions gives notice pursuant to section 14(1)(b), (3A) and (3AA) of the Transport and Works Act 1992 (“the Act”), that he has determined under section 13(1) of the Act to make with modifications the Tyne and Wear Passenger Transport (Sunderland) Order 1998 (“the Order”) forthwith after the publication of this notice. The Order will come into force 21 days after it has been made. The Order was applied for by the Tyne and Wear Passenger Transport Executive (“the TWPTE”), Cuthbert House, All Saints, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 2DA. The Order will authorise the TWPTE to construct, operate and maintain works for the extension of the Tyne and Wear Metro from Pelaw to Sunderland and South Hylton. The Order will authorise also subsidiary works and operations, the compulsory acquisition of land and rights over land and the extinguishment of rights of way, in connection with the proposed extension. Before making this determination, the Secretary of State considered the environmental statement submitted with the application for the Order. He complied with the obligations under section 10 of the Act in relation to all objections which related to the environmental statement and referred to the Inspector all representations (other than objections) which related to the environmental statement. The main measures which the TWPTE will carry out to offset the effects of this project which, if unmitigated, would in the opinion of the Secretary of State be major adverse are as follows: The TWPTE will provide substitute rights of way for the parts of the Hendon to Penshaw footpath and cycleway displaced by the reinstatement of the railway between Sunderland Civic Centre and South Hylton; produce a scheme of landscaping to be approved by the local planning authority, to deal with the effects of visual intrusion; implement the arrangements agreed with English Nature to minimise the loss of rare grassland habitat at Claxheugh Rock and Ford Limestone Quarry SSSI and establish an appropriate management regime; and produce a scheme of working practices and noise and vibration schemes, to be approved by the local planning authority, to minimise disruption and disturbance caused by construction works. Copies of the Order (once made) may be obtained from the Stationery Office Limited at the address shown on the last page of this Gazette or through booksellers. A. S. D. Whybrow, Head of Charging and Local Transport Division, Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions, Great Minster House, 76 Marsham Street, London SW1P 4DR.