HEDON TOWN COUNCIL intends to discuss the Able UK development at its next Planning Committee meeting.
The proposals from Able UK will see the building of a Marine Energy Park on the South Bank of the Humber. In the process of constructing the Energy Park, valuable nature marshlands will be lost; Able UK propose to compensate for this loss by creating new marshland areas, including by flooding farmland at Cherry Cobb Sands near Stone Creek on the North Bank.
As part of the public examination into this issue, two days of hearings are to be held in Grimsby in November.
At last night’s Hedon Town Council Planning Committee, correspondence from Mr Simon Taylor of Stone Creek (also sent to HU12 Online) was brought to Councillors’ attention. Mr Taylor objects to the hearings being held in Grimsby when the issue impacts on local people.
Mr Taylor says that by holding the two additional hearings in Grimsby it effectively excludes local interested parties who will be unable to attend due to the expense incurred from travelling to Grimsby. If the hearings were to be heard locally, more people who are directly affected would be likely to take part. The Alexander Hall in Hedon proved adequate for this purpose and was used for an earlier Open Hearing in September.
The response to Mr Taylor’s letter from the Planning Inspectorate Examination Panel is worth quoting in full:
“In making the arrangements for the additional hearings the Panel has had to give particular attention to two points. First, the need to be able to service any possible technical requirements such as projection or document management. Second, the numbers of people who might wish to attend, both as direct participants (interested parties, technical experts, legal representatives) or as you put it to ‘listen in’. “
“Given these requirements it seemed to the Panel that the safest choice to ensure an efficient hearing was to continue to use the Humber Royal Hotel in Grimsby. I am sorry that this makes participation more difficult and expensive for those of you who live and work on the north side of the Estuary, but I hope you will understand why we took this decision.”
At the Hedon Town Council meeting last night some councillors expressed disappointment that Hedon had been disregarded as a possible venue for the Hearings and that the technology for such events was available.
Mr Taylor addressed the issue of the experts and legal representatives that might wish to attend in his original letter:
“The professional’s attending are being paid for the day and all their expenses fully met, the choice of venue therefore has little impact on them.”
So what do you think? Hedon or Grimsby to discuss Cherry Cobb Sands?
HU12 Online has covered this issue in some detail.
When members of Hedon town council attended a meeting some time ago with represenatives of this company they said they had consulted correctly with the local concil at Keyingham, it was pointed out to them that Cherry Cob Sands is in Paull parish not Keyingham. They said the best place for this flooding of compensation land for wildlife was on the north bank, when they had discounted a location virtually next to the nature reserve at Barton and some other sites on the South bank
The letter of complaint from Mr Simon Taylor to the Planning Inspectorate was forwarded to me from County Hall yesaterday, and I was astounded to read that the decision had been made to hold the meetings in Grimsby. How they, the Planners, can, in all fairness, expect those people who live and farm down there in the Stone Creek area, to take themselves out of their jobs and businesses for what might be two full days, beggars belief !
The following are extracts from the Panel lead member’s response to Simon’s letter –
1) ” this (the venue) should be as accessible as possible to people on the north side of the Humber,”
2) “the need to be able to service any possible technical requirements such as projection or document management.” and
3) “the numbers of people who might wish to attend, both as direct participants (interested parties, technical experts, legal representatives).
My response –
No 1 – so, Grimsby fits that description does it? Utter rubbish..
No 2 – can easily be overcome – if they can’t bring their equipment here to the Alexandra Hall, Hedon Town Councli will lend them theirs – I cleared this at last night’s |Council Meeting
No 3 – the technical experts and legal representatives will all be on pay and expenses, let them get their backsides across here.
If bloggers would like to support Simon and those other local residents on this, please call me 897129
John Dennis