Day 10 - Thu 17th Feb - FICKLE C.P.R.E.

[The Oldman]

Public Inquiry Day 10 (Thursday)

Got to the Inquiry today just after 2.0pm and apparently missed quite a show by a spokesman for the friends of Sheepcote Valley. Lord B will no doubt elucidate. So I sat through the Regency Society giving evidence and being cross examined. Their spokesperson was a Hazel Mackay. She had previously worked At Adur district Council as their deputy director of planning.

Her dream is for Shoreham Harbour to be regenerated and if only the Albion would stop being so obsessed with Falmer and take on the challenge of redeveloping the Harbour in conjunction with the Harbour Board, Adur district council, Seda (all are currently opposed to a Stadium in the port) then her dream would be realised. Money would come flooding in for a new link road (cost £ 90 to £150 million) and port related enterprises would welcome the chance to be relocated to make way for a community stadium. And while that all goes on a minor redevelopment of Withdean to accommodate 12000 to 17000 is the way to go.

She suggested that if that was not possible then Sheepcote Valley was the next best. Supporters would happily walk from Hove to the Valley from as far as Sackville Road. She suggested the club and planners were making too much of congestion problems. She said when you get congestion people find ways round it. So if your roads get clogged up local folk will soon learn how to avoid. However, it seems to me that good planning tries to avoid creating congestion. But then I am not a planning expert.

Now she had a lot else to say, much of it trying to show her society’s (of 400 members) opposition to Falmer as a site. She also agreed to retract a statement suggesting that Martin Perry had put undue influence on Adur district council to oppose a stadium at the port. The lady was still in the hot seat at 6.0pm when I had to leave.

I understand there is no hearing on Friday

 

[dougdeep]

Thanks for that. It amazes me how long it takes to say yes.

 

[Beach Hut]

So which supporters would be happy to walk from Hove to Sheepcote Valley ?

FFS what is this woman on about

 

[Curious Orange]

So, more people who think that saying somewhere is better than Falmer is proof that it actually is better than Falmer.

 

[Lord Bracknell]

Re: Public Inquiry Day 10 (Thursday)

Got to the Inquiry today just after 2.0pm and apparently missed quite a show by a spokesman for the friends of Sheepcote Valley. Lord B will no doubt elucidate.

I understand there is no hearing on Friday

Just a quick elucidation for the moment.

The Friends of Sheepcote Valley aren't appearing until next week. Today's witness was David Bangs, from the Friends of Whitehawk Hill.

And yes, the Public Inquiry isn't sitting on Friday. The next session starts at 10am on Tuesday.

 

[John Boy]

Why isn't the Inquiry taking place on Friday?

 

[Gully]

...interesting to note that port related enterprises would welcome relocation, a bit difficult if they are related to shipping, I can see it now "right, lets move the loading dock to Steyning so a football team can build a stadium with a nice waterfront aspect", bizarre...

 

[Everest]

Edited to stop me looking a fool

 

[Ccider]

Why isn't the Inquiry taking place on Friday?

Probably for the same reason it doesn't "take place" on Mondays either. Bloody part-timers.

 

[The Oldman]

Hazel Mackay

David Bangs

I presume you failed basic biology at school then, Dave the Confused?

Not quite. The confusion is that I said Friends of Sheepcote Valley when it was in fact Friends of Whitehawk Hill. Hazel Mackay appeared as a witness after the David Bangs.

Sorry to confuse Dave.


edited by gaffer to correct spelling

 

[ShorehamGull]

Just a brief note from myself for tonight, I will give my views on todays events at the inquiry in a small report tomorrow.

Good report from Gaffer, I do remember chatting to you today.

Looking forward to reading Lord B next report on todays inquiry, it always puts the days events into great context.

Megan (Mr Clays Assistant) was there today looking stunning as usual, won't get to see her lovely face again until tuesday.

off to sleep now, see you guys and girls in the morning

 

[Lord Bracknell]

Today's report:-




The third week of the Public Inquiry came to an earlier end than expected, as a result of the unavoidable absence of one witness and a hasty reshuffle of the programme that will give everyone Friday off.

We heard evidence from four witnesses. The first two, representing the Campaign for the Protection of Rural England, appeared side by side to press the case for Sheepcote Valley, which they described as the ‘least worst alternative site available’.

This came as a surprise to Jonathan Clay, the Albion’s lawyer, who had been under the impression that, only last year, CPRE had supported Brighton and Hove City Council’s policy to resist development in Sheepcote Valley because it was open countryside. That impression had been heightened by the appearance at the Local Plan Inquiry of CPRE’s Richard Allden and Gerald Summerfield to show how keen they were to ensure that no major building would ever spoil the Valley.

Yet here they were today, arguing exactly the opposite – that the Albion should build a stadium in this open countryside, with a hefty chunk of enabling development alongside, to help the viability of the project. It didn’t seem to make sense. Had CPRE members done a u-turn? Certainly not, explained Mr Allden. He is the Campaign’s local committee member with planning responsibilities and that allows him to decide what the organisation should be campaigning for. Or against. As the mood takes him, it would seem, since not even his committee had discussed his representation before he had sent it into the Inquiry.

Hmmm. What it really looked like was that CPRE was against a stadium at Falmer, and that they would twist whichever way they wanted to maintain that stance. They’d been rumbled.

Next came David Bangs, the Citizen Smith of the Friends of Whitehawk Hill. Now, this was a performance. Top quality political ranting against the trashing of the downs by agri-businesses, the City Council’s ‘appalling management’ of Waterhall and the fingering of Sheepcote Valley by ‘conservative conservation groups’. Did he mean CPRE?

His message was clear, if novel. The Albion needed a people’s stadium in an urban location, to ‘affirm the success of the club’. To get it would need political will and mobilisation of our supporters. And the downland at the urban edges of the city needed to be protected.

That meant he was against Falmer. He was against Waterhall and Toads Hole Valley too. And he was especially against a stadium in Sheepcote Valley, which was ‘more important than Beachy Head’ but didn’t enjoy the same protection because it was in Brighton’s East End.

Where was the ideal urban location, then? He had a shortlist of seven sites: the Goldstone Retail Park, the Dolphin Industrial Estate at Kingston Buci, Preston Barracks, Victoria Road Recreation Ground in Portslade, Hove Recreation Ground, Brighton College Sports Ground, and Lower Benfield Valley.

Hmmm, again. Fortunately he’s been too busy regaling the recent National Park Inquiry to work up the details. When the Inspector suggested that he might care to concentrate on the issues raised in the letter from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister that had set the terms of reference for this Inquiry, he just carried on ranting, until his shock announcement that he had to go and see his mum.

I think the Goldstone Retail Park is safe from further development.

The final witness of the day was Hazel McKay, representing the Regency Society of Brighton and Hove. She is a former Deputy Planning Officer of Adur District Council and a Past President of the Royal Town Planning Institute. She treated us to a seminar on town planning theory.

We were told that dealing with congestion isn’t the same thing as promoting sustainable transport. She speculated about what the phrase ‘community stadium’ really meant. She criticised the methodology that the Albion were using to assess visual impact. And she pitched into traffic engineering as a profession that contributed little of value to the planning process. All very interesting. Maybe.

But she did reveal the favourite stadium option of the Regency Society, which she had worked up with the help of Michael Ray, the former Hove Borough Planning Officer who had recommended that approval be given to the redevelopment of the Goldstone Ground.

They want it to be at Shoreham Harbour. OK, they recognise that the site isn’t available at the moment, and that the Shoreham Port Authority won’t have it. And that Adur District Council are opposed to it. And that the Shoreham Maritime Vision hasn’t got it in its sights. And that everyone says that there will have to be a £150 million road scheme paid for before any development can happen.

But all this can change, apparently. If only the Albion could push itself into leading a new partnership that will bring everyone together with a new vision that will transform the Port of Shoreham.

Since the Albion are still struggling to get the new partnership between Leon Knight and Mark McCammon going full out, I reckon this might be a tall order. But who knows? Maybe one day the Club will realise its destiny and Mark McGhee can be President of the Royal Town Planning Institute.

In the meantime, of course, we’d have to carry on playing at Withdean. For years. And Mark McGhee might end up as League Two Manager of the Month.

I hope not.

 

[The Large One]

Sackville Road to the Sheepcote Valley site must be 4 miles, or 7km. (I'm guessing but it must be over an hour's walk.) She's just trotting out what Collyer said, and that opinion got blown out of the water in the first week of this Inquiry. I'll remember to walk that distance in the freezing pissing rain on a Tuesday night in November. I hope she'll join me.

Now I'm confused. A Regency Society is there for what? The protection and consideration of Regency Brighton. Or is that society a misnomer? And yet she dismissed the problems of traffic congestion at a stroke. Congestion which will ruin - nay, destroy - the city.

 

[The Large One]

And she pitched into traffic engineering as a profession that contributed little of value to the planning process. All very interesting. Maybe.

What she means is - don't give any weight to the Brighton & Hove City Council's traffic expert, because there is a possibility that his evidence will be shit-hot and will end Sheepcote as a stadium site once and for all.

We hope.

 

[perseus]

Today's report:-




Next came David Bangs, the Citizen Smith of the Friends of Whitehawk Hill.
Where was the ideal urban location, then? He had a shortlist of seven sites: the Dolphin Industrial Estate at Kingston Buci.

Blimey, I never thought about it. It is the bottom of my road; a one way street.

It used to have a railway station though.

 

[perseus]

misstyped

 

[London Irish]

Next came David Bangs, the Citizen Smith of the Friends of Whitehawk Hill. Now, this was a performance. Top quality political ranting against the trashing of the downs by agri-businesses, the City Council’s ‘appalling management’ of Waterhall and the fingering of Sheepcote Valley by ‘conservative conservation groups’. Did he mean CPRE?

His message was clear, if novel. The Albion needed a people’s stadium in an urban location, to ‘affirm the success of the club’. To get it would need political will and mobilisation of our supporters. And the downland at the urban edges of the city needed to be protected.

That meant he was against Falmer. He was against Waterhall and Toads Hole Valley too. And he was especially against a stadium in Sheepcote Valley, which was ‘more important than Beachy Head’ but didn’t enjoy the same protection because it was in Brighton’s East End.

Where was the ideal urban location, then? He had a shortlist of seven sites: the Goldstone Retail Park, the Dolphin Industrial Estate at Kingston Buci, Preston Barracks, Victoria Road Recreation Ground in Portslade, Hove Recreation Ground, Brighton College Sports Ground, and Lower Benfield Valley.

Hmmm, again. Fortunately he’s been too busy regaling the recent National Park Inquiry to work up the details. When the Inspector suggested that he might care to concentrate on the issues raised in the letter from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister that had set the terms of reference for this Inquiry, he just carried on ranting, until his shock announcement that he had to go and see his mum.

I think the Goldstone Retail Park is safe from further development.

Good old Dave - top bloke. He's a big mate of the comedian-activist Mark Thomas, virtually his Brighton contact. Yes, I do recall him being very anti-Falmer, but I admire what he's doing exposing the hypocrisy of the middle-class conservation groups like CPRE and the Regency Society over Sheepcote. Apparently green land is only worth protecting next to affluent villages, not council estates. I don't know how nuanced his message was to the inquiry, I guess his arguments are not exactly tailored to be that winning to a government planning inspector, but any evidence against Sheepcote will help us in our overall goal, so I say well done Dave. His alternative sites can be safely ignored, but surely have great mileage for comedy purposes. Wouldn't it be great to nationalise the playing fields of Brighton's biggest public school and smack a stadium right on it? I could see Mark Thomas doing one of his Channel 4 shows on that

 

[Curious Orange]

And she pitched into traffic engineering as a profession that contributed little of value to the planning process.

So she is basically saying that the criteria set out by the ODPM is wrong then? Clever girl!

 

[Jim D]

Maybe it's still early in the enquiry, but I'm getting concerned that Sheepcote is now being touted as an acceptable alternative to Falmer. I don't think it matters how small or wierd the various groups are - the fact is that there seems to be a concerted effort to get us (and the inspector) looking at Sheepcote. If this happens then we'll be faced with more planning enquiries - even if Prescott decides not to call it in - and hundreds of thousands more in additional costs.

 

[Curious Orange]

Maybe it's still early in the enquiry, but I'm getting concerned that Sheepcote is now being touted as an acceptable alternative to Falmer. I don't think it matters how small or wierd the various groups are - the fact is that there seems to be a concerted effort to get us (and the inspector) looking at Sheepcote. If this happens then we'll be faced with more planning enquiries - even if Prescott decides not to call it in - and hundreds of thousands more in additional costs.

Don't be too alarmed, Sheepcote fails to meet the sustainable transport criteria that was laid out in the ODPM letter that re-opened the Inquiry. So far it sounds as though no group has provided any evidence to prove that sustainable transport is possible to the site - the argument seeming to be that transport is not actually an issue at all. Fortunately the ODPM think otherwise.