Grillo call-in requests rejected

Further to my previous post on the subject, news has reached Caebrwyn that the Welsh Government have rejected the rest of the call-in requests on all six of the Grillo planning applications. They did not consider the issues raised to be of more than local importance and all the Stop Notices will be lifted.

By way of another reminder of some of the issues this highly controversial development raises, here's an extract from the Cadno column published in the Carmarthenshire Herald a couple of weeks ago, shortly after the visit by the Planning Committee;

Cadno does not go for a paddle 

"....Cadno hopped up onto the harbour gate and quickly found a wall behind which he could clean off his paws. Imagine his surprise when he heard a succession of cavalry twill and safari shirt types with their lady-folk in blue-rinsed tow pointing out where a school, supermarket and houses would be built. 

As she headed into the yacht club, one of the ladies delightedly pointed out to her companions,
“There’s where the pub will go!” 

Amazing, readers!
Such was the old girl’s ability to see into the future, Cadno thought for one minute she must be councillor. After all, it was a councillor who announced that the redevelopment scheme for Burry Port would go ahead not only before the planning meeting to view the scene of the crime but before the Welsh Government had even released part of the plans from call in.
As Cadno says: amazing! 

Always fond of exploring new opportunities for looking at rare and unusual wildlife, and making sure it remains rare, of course, Cadno decided to take a short hop and a skip over to the other side of the harbour and find out what all the fuss was about. 

The ground opposite bears every sign of considerable industrial use until the relatively recent past. Of course, Cadno does not know what pollutants and toxins are below the thin layer of soil upon which the weeds are growing. But that’s okay, readers, neither does any other bugger! 

You see, readers, the best the report the site developers own environmental specialist can come up with is that further tests are needed before development begins. Of course, the Council has no intention of paying for those tests, just in case it finds something ‘inconvenient’. So, the Council has come up with a scheme. Basically put, the Council is going to do something of which it is quite fond: it will bury the bad news and leave it for someone else to sort out afterwards. 

It might save a lot of heartache, time, and expense if a truly independent survey was commissioned before work began you might think.
And for good reason. 

Now, readers, being the subterranean type, Cadno knows something about digging. If you dig out soil it has to go somewhere. If that soil is subject to deep-seated contamination, you will therefore be digging out the contaminant and distributing it on the surface, into the wind and air, or have it washed back in to the ground you have broken. 

Exalted and popular Council employee Mark James is understood to have a personal hotline to The Almighty, so perhaps disposing of the industrial pollutants is something he has already sorted out with The Power that is (or be, or whatever). However, Cadno has some difficulty in believing that even the entreaties of the respected and illustrious humble functionary Mark James would persuade Jehovah to wave his magic wand or deploy the heavenly hoover to suck up all the pollution. 

As sure as eggs is eggs, all the topsoil in the world to cover up the site will not get round the need to sink foundations and dig out the ground in which they will sit. 

‘Metals in soils at concentrations high enough to pose a risk to human health are widespread. Asbestos has been identified in a few locations. It is concluded that the most appropriate method for soil treatment is to import the top 1m of clean cover in areas of gardens and soft landscaping on all of the sites to be developed. 

Due to the presence of asbestos, and its possible presence in locations that have not been subject to intrusive investigation, earth moving should be kept to a minimum during construction, and appropriate health and safety procedures used. Dust blow, in particular, should be prevented. Soils should only be removed for treatment to a waste facility if ground levels cannot be raised, and excavation is needed before placing the clean cover.’ 

Not Cadno’s words: those of the Council’s own planning officer speaking about the very site upon which the Council wants to give a developer permission to build..."

         (extract from the Carmarthenshire Herald)