Why the workers downed tools and left
One of the most telling images from St Dennis yesterday was that of construction workers leaving the site, following the High Court verdict that there was no valid planning permission for the waste incinerator.
Back in July I asked Cornwall Council cabinet member Julian German and Corporate Director for the Environment, Tom Flanagan, why work was starting ahead of the formal approval notice. They said that in view of the cost of delays (£1million per month in landfill and haulage costs) it was a risk worth taking. Work on clearing the site and building the access road started a few days later. Strangely, neither Julian nor Tom had anything to say yesterday.
But Cornwall Council's own website offers this helpful advice on the risks associated with jumping the gun:
"It is a criminal offence...this applies to those who carry out the works as well as those who order them to be done. Proceedings can be taken for the offence which can result in a large fine and/or imprisonment."
And the prosecuting authority? That would be Cornwall Council.
I'm ´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio Devon’s Graham Smith, blogging on news, views and some fresh insights into West Country life, particularly the way government works locally and nationally.
Comment number 1.
At 15th Oct 2011, backofanenvelope wrote:Will anybody be held to account for this shambles? I doubt it. Not the previous LibDem council; not the current council; and not the council officers who took the decisions.
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Comment number 2.
At 15th Oct 2011, P_Trembath wrote:I don't know about anybody being held to account, but I do know who will be left picking up the bill......................
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Comment number 3.
At 16th Oct 2011, youngcornwall wrote:backofanenvelope wrote:
"Will anybody be held to account for this shambles?"
There needs to be, I would have thought, otherwise lessons will never be learnt.
It is clear to see why Cornwall is considered to be the poor relations, when you have councillors of this calibre throughout Cornwall throwing tax payers money away on projects they clearly know very little about, which could have been better spent on something that could have been for the betterment of everybody in the county.
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Comment number 4.
At 17th Oct 2011, backofanenvelope wrote:I am willing to forecast that no one will be held to account and no lessons will be learnt. I feel sorry for the current council because this is not their mess - it belongs to the Libdems in Truro and the Labour party in London. And they were driven by the EU-imposed Landfill Tax. Now we are going to be paying a million pounds a month to dump waste into holes in the ground. That equates to about a quarter of the money the council is trying to save by reducing costs and services. As I say - a shambles.
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