Stepping up to win for our best wildlife sites has never been easy – I’m lucky to work with colleagues across the UK who are brilliant at it and – modesty not withstanding – we have a great record of protecting our best wildlife sites from damage; this blog is full of their stories.
Sometimes we must draw a line in the sand and argue that a proposal should not go ahead, often its about finding a middle way where predicted damage can be avoided or where compensation can account for damage that will take place for imperative reasons of overriding public interest (and that has its own acronym, IROPI, if you are collecting them).
This system of regulation that enables us to fight effectively has been brought to you because of the wildlife laws put in place by the European Union – at a time when the UK’s place in the EU has never been under greater scrutiny and when the coalition Government’s drive for growth is seeking to push development ahead of all other considerations, the job of protecting the best wildlife sites we all treasure has just got a whole lot harder.
Redshanks, like this one, depend on the threatened habitats of the Humber for their survivial Pic RSPBImages
It’s been some time since I’ve posted anything about this proposal but here’s some background and here’s an earlier blog.
The planning examination into Able’s application for a marine energy park on the south side of the Humber Estuary has now officially closed and we now have a better idea what the new planning procedures for major infrastructure projects has meant for our team after an arduous six month examination period.
The approach to major infrastructure planning (the big stuff) claims to make it fairer and faster for communities and developers alike. The Marine Energy Park was about agreeing compensation proposals, we were forced to stand our ground because the developer’s initial proposals weren’t good enough – we then had to deal with a series of new proposals with challenging deadlines that pushed our team to the limit. Even at the end of the examination we were facing new submissions running to hundreds of pages.
The new system is supposed to ‘front load’ the process and put the focus on sorting the contentious stuff out early, despite trying hard to do this we were left with no option but to tackle wave after wave of new submissions.
We coped, because we had a great team who went further than the extra mile to respond and respond again and, crucially, improve the compensation on offer to counter damage to the Humber Special Protection Area – but fairer for communities? It will take a well engaged community with access to expertise and resources to make a meaningful and effective case.
There should be a decision in six months – unless more spanners are tossed into the works.
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