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| A stretch of long-established hawthorn hedgerow has been felled to make way for the new hoarding opposite the supermarket car park |
NEW controversy is looming over the proposed Strawberry Fields development opposite the Tesco superstore on an important approach road to Cleethorpes.
The 86-homes project is only going ahead after Liverpool-based property tycoon Ming Yeung successfully appealed against North East Lincolnshire Council's refusal to grant planning consent.
Not only did he win, but he was awarded his appeal costs - likely to have been substantial - out of NELC funds.
More recently, Mr Yeung's company, YPG Developments, applied for permission to install advertisement hoarding around the perimeter of the site.
Nervous about having fingers burned again, planning officers were minded to grant permission - until Humberston Village Council objected, complaining that the hoarding would have an adverse visual impact on a leafy site that was already well screened by mature trees and shrubs.
NELC - or rather, its planning partner Equans (formerly Engie) - was frit at making a decision and passed the chalice over to councillors on the planning committee who unexpectedly backed Humberside Village Council.
The application was thus refused, and, at the start of December, Mr Yeung received the following curt refusal notification from NELC:
Proposal: Display of 143 metres of non illuminated hoarding signs
Application Site: Land At Hewitts Avenue New Waltham North East Lincolnshire
Consent is hereby refused on the grounds that:
The proposed advertising hoards by reason of their size and extent (143m in length) would have a detrimental impact on the visual appearance and character of the area and highway safety causing a distraction to drivers at this busy location.
His reaction is not definitely known, but the Liverpool man was almost certainly outraged when the letter arrived on his desk.
Just before Christmas, he installed the hoardings (less the advertising) anyway, in effect inviting NELC to take enforcement action for their removal - if the authority dares.
Not only has YPG Developments put up the fencing, but the company has preceded this work by felling trees and shrubs bordering the highway on land thought not to be within its ownership.
Based on its reluctance to take enforcement action against developers who breach planning regulations, NELC may well turn a blind eye and hope no one kicks up too much of a fuss.
The last thing it wants at the start of the New Year is a costly and expensive legal dispute in which it risks having its eye blackened for a second time.
The Grimsby News says: Faced with this breach, NELC can adopt the pragmatic (not to say cowardly) approach by looking the other way. Alternatively, it can do the right thing by insisting both that the hoardings are removed and that those trees and shrubs that have been felled are replaced immediately. Time will tell . . .
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| What was once a fine hedgerow has been reduced to a row of 100 stumps |
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| This advertisement for seafood has now been hidden behind the hoardings |
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| A verge has been churned up to accommodate site access/exit arrangements |
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