English Heritage say NO to building on Battery Rocks beach

2/12/09

In their response to the recent Cornwall Council request for listed building consent in respect of Penzance’s historic South Pier, English Heritage have objected to the plans to infill and build on Battery Rocks beach.

In their capacity as statutory advisors on matters relating to historic structures English Heritage have told Cornwall Council that their plans to build on Battery Rocks beach will “cause considerable harm to the listed structure and to the surrounding coast and townscape” and recommended “that this element is… removed from the current proposals”.

Cornwall Council are also criticised for not responding to previous concerns expressed by English Heritage, for failing to seek pre-application advice from English Heritage, and for not reviewing alternatives to a satisfactory degree. English Heritage also point to the lack of evidence to support Cornwall Council’s claims that the scheme will have “no detrimental impact to the environment, townscape, or seascape”, and that this opinion is contradicted by the Council’s own previously submitted Environmental Statement.

English Heritage have confirmed what local people have known instinctively since they first saw the plans in September 2008. Cornwall Council must now stop wasting time and taxpayers money on this ill-conceived scheme, withdraw the current planning applications, and get on with redesigning the scheme to fit the needs and aspirations not just of the Scillies but of Penzance too.

English Heritage is not objecting to the lengthening of the pier so long as it is clad in granite of an appropriate quality and efforts are made to relocate the original 1853 lighthouse. In respect of the proposed rock armouring on the Lighthouse Pier they say that “it would be preferable if this element were not proposed” but do not object on the grounds that there are no less harmful alternatives.

Cornwall Council’s justification for the lengthening of the pier and the rock armouring is the choice of a larger vessel, but like the infilling of Battery Rocks beach the Council have failed to make the case for a larger vessel.

English Heritage Objection : download pdf | view pdf