Cornwall Cabinet decision based on biased and misleading information
28/9/09The Cabinet of Cornwall Council, which contains no Members from the Penzance area, decided on September 16th to allow the resubmission of plans to build on Battery Rocks beach, but the report that councillors used as a basis for their decision was seriously flawed.
Below for download you will find a paragraph by paragraph analysis of the officer’s briefing, but we would in particular draw your attention to the following points:
1. The briefing unfairly and systematically downplays the scale of public and political opposition in the Penzance area.
2. Public consultation in the Penzance area has been poor or non-existent, and objections largely ignored.
3. The amendments that have been made to the original scheme in no-way address the principle concern of the public that the scheme will result in the encroachment of commercial activities into a leisure and public amenity area.
4. The reference to the CABE South West Design Panel report omits entirely the report’s criticism of the choice of location for the Penzance facilities.
5. The report into alternative locations for the Penzance passenger and freight facilities was organised by companies contracted by the Route Partnership to implement the original scheme, and as such its conclusions in respect of the cheaper alternatives cannot be relied upon.
6. The delivery risks associated with alternative options for Penzance are modest; the public want an alternative to building on Battery Rocks beach and will support any planning applications based around an out of town freight depot and a passenger terminal on an existing harbour side site.
7. A number of questions remain about the Harbour Revision Order process and there is a risk that it may be challenged; this could result in it being stayed or revoked entirely.
8. The Hart Fenton report into alternative vessel options contains serious flaws that undermine its main conclusions and call into question the decision to opt for one vessel over the current two-ship system.
9. If the existing operator does not win the tender to operate the new vessel there is a good chance that they will continue to operate their existing vessels in competition, seriously undermining the economics of the new ship and placing Council taxpayers at risk..
Taken together the Friends of Penzance Harbour believe that the officer’s briefing was designed to allow them to continue with an ill-conceived and flawed scheme against the wishes of local people and at a time when affordable and less destructive alternatives exist.
It is not too late to change direction but Cornwall Council must abandon thoughts of building on Battery Rocks beach and put 100% of its efforts into the alternatives that local people are demanding.
The Cabinet meeting also agreed to further investigate alternatives but doubts remain about how serious they are in this regard.
FoPzH analysis of Council Briefing : download pdf | view pdf
Minutes of Cabinet Meeting