Late intervention by lawyers scuppers Pleasure Island redevelopment scheme - at least for time being

                                        

Wait and see! It is still not known whether Pleasure Island redevelopment will go ahead

THERE has been a late twist in the great Pleasure Island redevelopment saga.

Lawyers have entered the fray.

Just hours before councillors were due to determine the proposal at this morning's planning committee meeting in Grimsby Town Hall, North East Lincolnshire Council received at least one - possibly two - lawyers' letters, warning them not to proceed.

The contents of  the letter(s) were not read out at the meeting, so those members of the public in attendance were left in the dark. 

But the message was plain. If the committee were to approve the application - as recommended by senior planning officer Cheryl Jarvis - then a legal challenge might be pursued in the High Court.

Following a new recommendation, this time from NELC's legal team, the committee resolved to defer deliberation of the application pending further consideration of the application.

Deferment was backed by committee chairman Cllr Matthew Patrick (Lab, Heneage) with support from both from Cllr Henry Hudson (Con, Wolds) and Cllr  Hayden Dawkins (Con, Humberston & New Waltham).

It subsequently emerged that one of the letters has been written by the law firm representing Tesco which is unhappy about the prospect of a Lidl discount supermarket opening on a patch  from  which its Cleethorpes superstore draws many of its customers.

It is possible that the Pleasure Island  application might be determined at the August meeting of  the planning committee, but it seems just as  likely that the new wrangling could drag on into next year and possibly beyond.

The Grimsby News says: This matter has been handled unsatisfactorily by NELC. The legal correspondence had missed the deadline for submissions and so should have been  disregarded. Failing that, it should have been read out to the committee so that members could have formed their own judgement on whether it represented  a vexatious, delaying tactic  by opponents of the scheme or if it has genuine merits. The temptation now for the applicants will be to bypass NELC - on the grounds of non-determination - and submit their proposal direct to the independent national body, the Planning Inspectorate.