Well that's it then!
Everyone will go home to their nice 2 up and 2 down and snuggle down to watch Love Island with a nice mug of Horlicks. Well if that's what you're thinking, think again!
This campaign was never destined to be settled by any Court or what ever (see), It's deeper than that. You need to go right back to our distant past ancestors to find the reason why even today people are prepared to suffer hardship for 24 months 50 feet up in well defended tree's for what they believe in and their gut feeling of what is right.
So think again you developers and land bank speculators it's soon to be your turn if I'm not mistaken. Best to sell your shares now before the crash. (This piece was written in 2006 and the developers share price has now fallen by over 50%)
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Where did all the Police go?
Well that was peaceful enough wasn’t it? I’m referring to the two separate Rally’s in support of the campaigners fighting to prevent the massive Greenfield development that will devour the last remaining green lung in Durrington, and do irreparable damage to one of the last remaining blocks of ancient woodland on England’s coastal plain.
The first, organised by Bicycles Against Bulldozers, set off shortly after 12noon from Goring station with 50 or so cyclists accompanied by several police vehicles, there presumably to keep motorists in check. In the leisurely ride that followed, cyclists visited ancient Titnore Lane and the spot where over 200 ancient trees are planned to be bulldozed just in order for a bend to be removed. The cyclists then meandered their way to Worthing town centre via the Mulberry and Goring road shopping parades, to cheers and clapping from shoppers.
After a short tour around Worthing the cyclists met up with the second Rally in front of Worthing’s pier pavilion, organised by Worthing Eco-Action . After a wait for the estimated 110 to assemble, the signal was given for everyone to walk/cycle through the town and up to the Town Hall where the Rally, now joined by more residents furious over the threat to such cherished woodland, heard speeches from council taxpayers dismayed by the weak council rolling over to the dictate of an evermore unpopular government.
The Rally ended with the organisers asking all residents to write to the areas M.P Peter Bottomley asking him to use his position to try and obtain a Public Inquiry into the Greenfield development.
Mr Bottomley can be contacted at Haverfield House, Union Place Worthing.
Or by e-mail: bottomleyp@parliament.uk
Or as he says on his website: http://www.peterbottomley.org.uk/record.jsp?type=topic&ID=16 “You are welcome to call me on 020 7219 5060 at any time”.
We started this piece referring to how peaceful the day had been. Was that due to the greatly reduced police presence compared to previous Rally’s? If so maybe some good has come out of the last few days’ airport grief and the need to divert police power there, where it belongs!
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Tescopoly
News that government have refused to call in, for examination at a Public Inquiry, the application by Tesco for a massive new store on a Greenfield site in Durrington, has angered small businesses and environmentalists alike.
This massive new store, over twice the size of the present one will swallow up Chemists, News agents, Travel agents, Furniture shops, Dry cleaners, Off-licenses, Clothes shops, TV/electrical shops etc etc AND the jobs with them as far away as the Strand and Goring Road.
Yes the existing Tesco is crowded at peek times, but they had a more modest refurbishment plan to over come that. But then came along the councils West Durrington Urban Development Plan and the involvement of multibillion pound multinational conglomerates.
The longer all this goes on the stronger the smell gets and that’s not just from the stench of all the extra traffic. To think out side the Town Hall stands a memorial to those good Worthing folk who gave their lives fighting for a better world. If only they knew how they’ve been betrayed.
Incompetence!
What a fine mess Worthing borough council has got itself into again. Not content with being a laughing-stock over what has become known locally as the Sherylgate affair (an unseemly legal battle between members of the council and the Chief Executive) that cost council tax payers nye on £1millon, we now have the Titnoregate affair and the likelihood of more lengthy and expensive High Court proceedings when The Worthing Society, one of the most respected preservation organisation with origins dating back to a more sane age, are likely to take the council to court for cooking the Titnore evidence given at the planning committee meetings.
And to think all this grief could so easily have been avoided if the council members had backed our call for a Public Inquiry into this hated Titnore development. Instead of that they have constantly refused to even answer our correspondence.
So where are we now. Well for a start we have only 22% of electors in the Ward closest to the development thinking any Party is worth voting for. There are over 12 tree houses in the woods, some with attics and over 70 feet above ground together with dozens of protectors whose only mission
in life is to save the woodland for future generations to enjoy. Then clearly there is the poor old council taxpayer who
yet again is going to pick up another hefty bill for the councils incompetence.
But the biggest bill will surely come from attempts to remove the protectors from their well-defended tree houses should the protectors High Court appeal fail. A similar operation at Newbury when campaigners dug in to stop the bypass cost the taxpayer £10million – and all to build a road that’s now judged by the local council to have been a failure.
Then finally there’s the image of a beleaguered Worthing on the television every night, as police and bailiffs battle it out with the protectors in the attempt to remove them from their homes, together with the real prospect of flare-ups in near by problem estates as the grief spreads there.
Worthing council’s daydream of attracting businesses is no more, its deceased.
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Come back Dixon of Dock Green
Now I've given my age away!
Just think about it, you're sitting down at home having a glass or two with friends from overseas when all of a sudden the riot police burst in all tooled up with not even a polite 'hello can we come in'.
Ok so this is not your usual 2 up and 2 down but a protectors camp built in ancient woodland to prevent it from being trashed to make way for a road to a new housing estate, but what's the difference?. This camp is their home, and an Englishman's home is his Castle - as the quirky saying goes. But what that means is, sure you're welcome to visit me but it's up to me if I want to let you in.
Ah but the protectors are not welcome by the owner of the land, true but the law states that you need a court order to remove them and until that order has been served the police, just like Joe public, can not enter unless invited. if they do they are trespassing.
And that's not the first time in the last few day's that the police have got to big for their size 11's. Take the council meeting held in the Town Hall to consider the latest application in the series to approve the development. Members of the public including the woodland protectors decided, as is their democratic right, to attend the meeting. What they didn't expect in exercising that right was to be met by van loads of police in full riot gear and to have video cameras stuck in their faces.
Right so the protectors weren't wearing pin-strip suits or low cut blouses but until they break the law are perfect allowed to move around without hindrance or more importantly intimidation and that includes entry to the Town Hall to observe democracy at work. Anything else smells of dictatorship!
In fact when the protectors finally entered the committee room they must have been pleasantly reassured democracy was still breathing for the chairman of the committee that deals with planning applications (one who is known to be quite strict) not only allowed questions to be asked about the development but then allowed extra time for more questions, such a sensible man. Not so though the policeman outside the meeting room (I think he was called the gold commander) who was clearly visible in full kit but minus his hat. Surely not a done thing in Worthing Town Hall, the full kit that is.
I think all this can be summed up by what happened after the meeting. As people stood on the pavement outside the Town Hall chatting, the cameras appeared and the intimidation reared it's head again the police determined to have the last say.
Oh I nearly forgot the highlight of the day, the planning decision. Yes you know the answer, passed unanimously.
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Sign of the times?
Call me an old cynic, but I suppose we were being hopelessly optimistic in thinking there would be any chance of 10 ordinary people – albeit elected (with less than 40% of the vote) by the community but unskilled in the art of cross examining witnesses or challenging technical evidence - doing anything else than approving the 3 Titnore lane / Durrington Greenfield urban extension applications that came before them this week - 27-31 March 2006 - at the planning committee meeting.
But you must admit there’s something a little odd when there’s one Supermarket application that will be examined in minute detail at a Public Inquiry only days later, yet another Supermarket application (one of those above) gets nodded through unopposed.
Clearly one has to ask, could it be due to the amount of money involved? While the Walmart-Asda application, on a site near Field Place Durrington, involves many millions of pounds and is little more than 2 miles from the site of the Tesco application above, that Tesco application is part of a massive development valued by some at over £3Billion when the last brick of the 1200 luxury houses, supporting buildings of the district center and roads infrastructure is complete.
No, to my mind it would have been far safer in these days of money for a Peerage, sleaze and sweeteners that ease contracts along, for the Worthing Borough Council Development Control Committee to have recommended that the Secretary of State John Prescott call in all the planning applications linked to the West Durrington urban development for full examination at a public inquiry by those qualified to ask the right questions. Our democracy deserves nothing less.
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The Public Have a Right to Know!
Just what is going on? When is a road classified as an 'A' road not an 'A' road. That is the mind numbing question we want answered. Because at a Worthing Borough Council Development Control (DCC) meeting, June 2005, called to approve a massive housing development and destruction of ancient woodland trees, an officer of the highway authority gave evidence stating that the access route to the development was an 'A' road when he knew in practice it was still a 'C'.
How did this happen? Well about 1994 when a new flyover was built across the A27 at Patching nr Worthing, it was mooted that an ancient droveway called Titnore lane might be widened and straightened to become the main route from the A27 to west Worthing if, the then under discussion A280 bypass fell through.
Jumping the gun, the Highways Agency obtained the 'A' classification for the lane in anticipation of widening the lane. Now as it happened the new A280 road was built, but conveniently someone left the signage on the A27 that directed all the heavy traffic down Titnore lane to West Worthing etc.
If had not been for an eagle eyed conservationist they may have got away with it and Titnore lane and a lot of the ancient woodland may already have been trashed. Anyway the Highways Agency - or who ever - tried to cover up by saying 'Ah but it was only a paper exercise as the lane couldn't really be an 'A' road until a major redesign of it was done'.
Back to that council meeting. Because the meeting relied heavily on council officers evidence, the application was passed, but with the recommendation that John Prescott's office was asked for their comments. This gave opponents to the scheme vital weeks to gather more evidence and call for a Public Inquiry. As this was before the road classification issue came to light John Prescott rejected a Public Inquiry.
What now. Well on January 5th, 2006 Worthing's DCC met to finally rubber stamp the nasty scheme. Undeterred objectors arrived in numbers and presented new evidence, including how councillors had been mislead over the 'A' classification. to put it mildly there was confusion with councillors demanding an explanation. As this was being recorded for a television programme the chairman adjourned the meeting for the councils officers to prepare that explanation.
The next meeting took place January 24. But that one was adjourned after a few minutes because councilors had received even more new evidence and the officers were unprepared for it.
Well what a to-do. First we have officers telling porky's over the 'A' thingy then more dodgy evidence from officers - click for details - about speed limits, roundabout positioning, braking distances, traffic volumes, vulnerable users, accidents, access to the new estate from the A27 etc etc.
Now if Prescott still rejects the need for a Public Inquiry Democracy will be the weaker.
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