Scrap yards and motorway junctions
With the recent fire next to the M1 and the damage caused to motorway supports the highways agency are planning a risk review.
But this got me thinking as to why a scrap yard would be placed there in the first place. I don’t know the M1 location but next to the North Circular there’s also a yard tucked away under the road.
Looking at the location it’s right next to several roads and also a railway. These are all noisy and dusty, just like the yard itself. The space is also irregular and the light is blocked by the road. On the plus side, the location has good road links and no-one is going to mind a few heavy lorrys visiting.
I can see why no-one would want an office there and how a business like a scrap yard would not be bothered by the poor quality of this site.
So I expect the issues faced by the Highways Agency is going to be what to do with these sites if they don’t use them for scrap yard and for the yards where else they can be sited whilst avoiding the inevitable complaints from Nimbys.