A draft Code of Construction Practice (CoCP) will be developed and submitted as part of the DCO application. This will support the responsible delivery of the new railway, manage expectations, and set a consistent approach to avoiding or minimising construction impacts.
The draft CoCP will specify the reasonable and practicable measures, practices and standards of work that would be applied during construction of the project so that its potential significant adverse environmental effects on people and on natural and historic assets are avoided so far as possible.
In general terms, the draft CoCP will include:
Provisions needed to effectively plan, manage and control construction activities to mitigate potentially adverse environmental impacts and effects.
Requirements for monitoring of construction activities and their impacts, and implementation of corrective measures where appropriate.
Mechanisms to engage with the local community and their representatives throughout the construction period.
The draft CoCP will contain general provisions related to:
- Community relations and keeping people informed.
- Training and competence of the workforce.
- Working hours.
- Construction site layout and good housekeeping standards.
- Pollution prevention.
- Lighting and security.
- Hoarding, fencing and screening.
- Emergency preparedness and fire prevention.
- Extreme weather events.
- Demolitions.
The environmental assessments for each topic will assume as a minimum that these measures would be implemented, as such measures represent a general best practice approach. The draft CoCP may also include some additional measures specific to the requirements of the project.
The draft CoCP will form one of the DCO application documents. After obtaining consent, the appointed construction contractors would use the measures outlined in the draft CoCP as the foundation for developing more detailed measures. These measures would take account of the detailed designs and of the specific approach to construction that they support, accommodating local and specific sensitivities where necessary.
The draft CoCP will continue to be developed in consultation with local authorities and relevant stakeholders, and further information will be presented at the statutory consultation. At this stage, the key elements and measures likely to be included in the draft CoCP are set out in Appendix B of the PDF report that replicates this website.
