It was with some astonishment that I read in Swanage Matters that the Town Council are now saying that anyone wishing to view the geological face at California Quarry must obtain permission from Suttles and the Council. Letter sent today by me to the Purbeck Gazette My consternation rises because as Swanage Town Council owns the road leading to the site they should by law have received of one third of the value of the whole quarry site in return for it’s use, (case law Stokes vs Cambridge – Google it) which would have put – well – six figures into the towns coffers. But what the towns people got instead was the ‘opportunity’ to look at a geological face which to my mind was not the best deal in the world - but hey ho. Now Infrastrata plan to use this same road and this same site, and the potential profit from that (calculated directly from the planning file so please don’t poo-poo this figure) is £55billion. Taking 50% off as tax to central government and, say, a generous £10million to drill this would still leave a value of £27,490million – of which the town should be receiving a third – something over £9 billion – or if you prefer a little under a million pounds for each of us! Incredible? Well – it WOULD be but STC in their wisdom have elected to ignore their own mission statements stating they should maximise profits from their assets (the road to Suttles being just one) and have even signed variations to the existing lease agreements to make life easier for Suttles and Infrastrata and, despite still being in the driving seat, are NOW saying that the public also have to get permission from the owner to go on the site – which is a stricter arrangement than any other private land in Dorset – so actually we get NOTHING! Bravo STC! But two things you should consider. The first is that all wells fail. It may take time, but eventually the steel jacket that separates the water table from the toxic chemicals and hydrocarbons below rusts, the ground water gets poisoned, and that is when the suffering will really start (Google that too if you are sceptical) and when (not if) that happens even your million would seem like poor compensation for the shocking illnesses you and your family will risk getting. The second is that there is an election this year, and if you keep on voting in a troop of blue rosetted Councillors it is highly unlikely that you will see any changes for the better. There will however be a selection of independent candidates running – so maybe you should think about giving them a try? Andy Kirkwood Movement for Active Democracy
Posted on: Sat, 03 Jan 2015 13:09:21 +0000
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