Serious setback for Pleasure Island consortium as Environment Agency warns of flood hazard

                                                     

Overtopping of Buck Beck could cascade water into the adjacent Pleasure Island site

THERE has been a setback for the Lidl-led consortium which is seeking to redevelop the former Pleasure Island theme park in Cleethorpes.

Probably the most important consultee, the Environment Agency, has announced its opposition to the application because of potentially life-threatening flood hazard.

It states: "The flood risk assessment does not adequately assess the flood risks posed by the development.

"We therefore object to this application and recommend that planning permission is refused."

The site is vulnerable to being swamped either by a North Sea seasonal surge or by overtopping of the adjacent Buck Beck in the wake of prolonged heavy rain.

The consortium’s agent had sought to address these concerns in its application.

However, it seems the EA was unimpressed because it was based on data that was either incomplete, flawed or out of date.

It states: "During pre-application discussions the applicant was advised to avoid locating lodges in areas at risk of fluvial flooding as a seasonal occupancy restriction would not be suitable for managing the risk.

" It appears this has not been possible, and there is a currently identified risk of flooding to two of the lodge areas."

Although warning sirens could be sounded in the event of a flood emergency, the EA is not satisfied that this arrangement would suffice.

It further notes the risk of cars and other vehicles being washed about the site, randomly and dangerously.

And the EA has found another cause for concern. 

The site is close to a landfill site, and construction activity coud lead to the escape of noxious gases - potentially fatal in future years if they seep into the holiday lodges.     

North East Lincolnshire Council could choose to disregard the EA’s objection - and those of other parties -  but many would see knowingly to put lives at risk to be an indefensible course of action for a local authority.

Given the EA’s red light, insuring the site would also be a significant issue.

The consortium has the option of amending its scheme in the hope of persuading the EA to withdraw its objections, but this would hold up the much-delayed project even further

Meanwhile, the planning authority is still awaiting, probably later this week, the expert comments of two other influential parties, both within its own organisation - the highways department and ecology officer Rachel Graham.

SEAQUAKE!: How Mablethorpe, Cleethorpes, Skegness and Ingoldmells were hammered by the calamitous North Sea floods of 1953 eBook : Wright, Jim: Amazon.co.uk: Books