English Heritage objection to Option A “still stands”
25/1/10In a letter addressed to the Chief Executive of Cornwall Council, English Heritage have said that the objection they made to the recent request by Cornwall Council for listed building consent for Penzance South Pier “still stands”.
While the letter makes it clear that English Heritage has not changed its position since the Strategic Planning Committee (SPC) decision on December 14th, Cornwall Council are claiming that a reference elsewhere in the letter to decisions having to be based on a “balance of issues” constitutes a “material change” to the circumstances surrounding the scheme and gives the Council the right to resubmit the original Option A application. In fact, all that English Heritage has done is to describe a well understood convention that all involved in the SPC decision were perfectly aware of.
Nonetheless, today’s Cabinet meeting agreed to resubmit the Option A plans. It also agreed not to pursue Option C, and to investigate Falmouth as a fall back if planning permission for Option A is not successful. There was no discussion about why the Council’s own consultants had previously rejected Falmouth as an option, nor what circumstances have changed since then. This issue is covered in greater detail in the Cabinet briefing sent to all Cornwall councillors by FoPzH (see below for download).
The resubmission of the application will follow a similar procedure to last time with opportunities for the public and statutory consultees to object. If the SPC approves the application second time around it will then go to the Secretary of State for Communities & Local Government for final determination. A continued objection from English Heritage at that stage would likely trigger a Public Enquiry.
FoPzH Cabinet Briefing : download pdf | view pdf