Click On the Link For a Primer on Cromwell Bottom LNR and watch this space for the consultation Video Coming Soooon !!!!!
Sounds Like a Moth .? Well No. Its actually the FEET Video on the Councils Consultation on Cromwell Bottom . Unknown to the council we have videographers and members of the public in the public domain Video key events in the Process , its an interesting and staggering piece of work which we hope will underpin the councils inappropraite plans to commandeer North Loop as a Commercial Theme Park / Cycle Track quite contary to the obligations placed upon them under the NERC Act 2006 where there is an overwhelming responsibility to replace the very significant Biodiversity destroyed as a consequence of recapping this Ox Bow Loop , a Closed Landfill that should have been remediated many years ago .Additionally the site is regulated by the Environment Agency who should as statutory Regulator ensure the Biodiversity on site is restored
The production will be acutely embarassing to Merran McCrae CEO who has been asked to meet on a number of occasions over the matter . We hope to make the production available nationally on Social media so that it is clear that this is a council driven agenda with officers acting ultra vires.
A FOI Freedom of Information Request is being lodged with the Coucil to establish how much of Public Money has been spent in the process in terms of Officer Time and other expenditures largely due to Ms McCrae failure to respond to communications duly made
Coming Soon and Available to All to See and Comment
Runniing Time 12 m 27 s with Backing Tacks and visual impact
Quotes of the Week
Cllr Scott Benton " I dont have to justify my environmental reputation to you.... "
Not Far Behind Mr Firman , Council Biodiversity Officer , " There will be a net gain in Biodiversity " -
not unlikely given 20 yrs of Biodiversity was removed during capping and all elso will come from the seed packet !!!
Helen Rhodes , Senior Consultation , Officer. " Go away and do your own consultation . please dont interfere with ours "
Mick Smith Highway Officer , on extant duty to maintain PROW 42 and its use of right made , "Its not a council priority, we are looking into track access elesewhere with the development Team "
Prior to considerring requesting a SS56 Magistrates order to ensure the use of right of Brighouse 42 (part of the Boundary Walk) is preserved and maintained and signed in accordance with the authorities responsibility to so lawfully do or was it that it would interfere with the road needed to reach a nearby marina subject of ongoing planning permission and would be better off forgotten ??
Some of these Officer ommisions surely must be worthy of Private Eye . if you seek to apply rules , you need to be seen to abide by them. A Clear message to Mr Hughes the Authorities legal scholar " nemo est supra legem " and for the Harbinger of any Judical Review" non in legendo sed in intelligendo leges consistunt| "
" No man is above the law and no man is below it: nor do we ask any man's permission when we ask him to obey it."
Theodore Roosevelt
The Councils Consultation
Firstly I am now in a position to assert the councils consultation is flawed firstly it was scheduled at events that catered for a disproportionally large number of visitors attending Brighouse 40 Weekend at events and was not predominantly aimed at local people.and to Questionairres circulated ourside Calderdale on Noodl
Secondly I have requested that Helen Rhodes be withdrawn from the process due to a significant conflict of interest which is currently with the CEO at the moment and involves vested interest
Thirdly as indicated the Council are approaching private land owners outside the consultative process and enterring into a series of negotiations outside the any consultative outcome thereby making a shambles of a consultative process which in fact Helen Rhodes refused to engage in
Fourthly some of the material facts being presented where incorrect if not misleading and does not reflect the current position of conservation management of a local nature reserve or any vulnerable groups using the reserve as a result of previous funding bids namely , blind disabled, elderly or Schools
Fifthly, given it is Ms Rhodes field of expertise , the questionairre was not a validated piece of work which could in any way be taken as serious in so far its structure presentation was biassed and prejudiced in its outcome
Sixth Given the Publics lack of scrutiny it is likely that such statistics would be presented to Cabinet in such a way to be a fore gone conclusion
Seventh The Nature reserve due to its popularity is being used as a primer to justify other elements of master planning without due regard to the authorities lawful obligations ( NERC ACT 2006 )
Eight Images and information relating to North Loop are not that, North Loop is NOT a former Landfill Site , it remains a Closed Landfill Site Regulated Under Licence by the environment Agency in the process of remediation until such times as the EA satisified that remediation is complete . The consequence of promoting it at such a juncture is resulting in the puiblic accessing the site through perimeter breeches such to constitute a position of endangerment
Nine Nowhere is there a clear aspiration to nominate North Loop as a LNR Local Nature Reserve which is deliberately not being dealt with advice from Natural England is clear there does not have to be substantive biodiversity or for that matter public access for the process to be begun simply a management plan and aspiration from the local land owner. There are a number of environmnetal issues which bring the impartiality of councils Biodiversity remit into question . I express concerns that there appears to be a stong dictat derived from the Councils Communities from senior management Directorate bordering on what might be perceived as bullying
Ten The authorities view is increasingly to turn this land foot print into a cash cow to the exclusion of conservation groups and ultimately to the Public who will pay for car parking , and services already paid for within the council
Eleven As a conservation group engaging in access for the disabled and with a membership reflecting the same the Councils position in failing to provide FEET equivalent structures on the reserve as accorded with other stake holder groups as concerning and outside the equality act
Twelve In relation to data if any group or otherwise is interested in processing or qualifying the statistical basis or interpretation of the same them it should be readily available there are clear implications in terms of Freedom of Information and Data. Given the Councils model contained a significant portion of Lower Valley other than the Nature reserve there is substantial concern that such informtion will be incorrectly applied to any Master Planning or Cabinet Decision Making inappropriately
Thirteen There is now evidence that the Council are as initially identified approaching land owners to offer financial inducements outside the proces . so if you think you consulattion counted think again . It is very likely given that such activities remain unsanctioned by cabinet , after all its your money, that such officers are acting ultra vires , being their powers
There is an overwhelming view that the beauty of this natures reserve is best managed by leaving it alone. If you are in agreement This is best brought accross by sending a clear message to the council
Fourteen
How much did Council Offcers pay themselves from the public purse to sell a flawed consultation. Members of the Public where told that such a process would be at no cost to the tax payer . Watch this space for more news . Why would a lead officer refuse to participate in a Consultation with numerous users groups and statutory undertakers ??
Petition
Having read this post What are YOUR views there is a POLL on the RIGHT seeking your assessment by signing the Petition see top of Blog you will also give a message to the Council
Petition
Cromwell Bottom Stakeholder Groups
For avoidance of doubt and clarity There are however two Primary Blogs run by two parity stakeholder groups Freshwater Environment Ecology Trust and CBWG which differ and contribute to the Nature Reserve in different ways and increasingly its future
For More Information on FEET and the work we undertake please visit the link . Thank You.
