Dear Anne-Marie,

Thank you for taking up my case and copying me your letter to Martin Swales, CEO, South Tyneside Council.

I think you have to be very specific about which end of the shelter you refer to when talking about the height. The fall along the length of the shelter is about 3m and this coincidentally is the height of overbuild. If you have not said that the planned height (15.5m) is the river end of the shelter, Mr Swales, if he follows the arguments of Messrs Cunningham, Atkinson and Mansbridge before him, will say it refers to the road end.

I will send you a letter, as soon as possible, confirming this email. I will copy it to Mr Swales, carefully making this observation.

your sincerely
Michael Dawson

The MP for Berwick starts:

I am writing on behalf of my constituent, Mr Michael Dawson, currently residing in Amble, NE65, who previously lived in South Shields, which is why he maintains an interest in this matter.

It relates to a boat repair shelter at Tyne Slipway, River Drive, South Shields which Mr Dawson tells me was constructed outside the remits of the approved plan, which was a stated height of 15.5m. According to my constituent, the actual height of the structure is some 3 metres higher, yet was signed off by the Council regardless.

There are then two paragraphs which may be subject to litigation and she finishes:

Mr Dawson maintains that the shelter is not appropriately located and is clearly concerned that planning conditions are being ignored and are not being enforced by the Council.

I would be grateful to receive your views on this matter, so that I can report back to my constituent.

This letter is copied to me.

15th May:

Stephen Hepburn MP for Jarrow acknowledges my recent correspondence relating to the slipway cover and forwarded it to Anne-Marie Trevelyan MP for Berwick.

South Shields MP Case Ref: ZA4803

From: “Emma Lewell-Buck”
To: Mr Dawson
Sent: Wednesday, May 06, 2015 1:54 PM
Subject: From the office of Emma Lewell-Buck (Case Ref: ZA4803)

Dear Mr Dawson,

It is disappointing that this response is not helpful to the situation. I want to be very clear: I will continue to act on behalf of people who live in the South Shields constituency regarding the Tyne Slipway if I am re-elected.

I have noted your comments regarding candidates’ addresses on the ballot paper but I would be grateful if you would take considerable care and refrain from further and wider disclosure of my address which may put my safety and security at risk.

I am disappointed to see political games being played. I sense some mischief-making at work. I know of no other reason why you would circulate details of my residence in this way.

There are occasions when candidates may have good reason not to want their address to be made public and to appear on the ballot paper other than to state the constituency in which their home address is situated. Please take note that I have good cause not to wish my address to be made public as a reasonable security measure to ensure that my home and family remain safe during and after the General Election, and there is no obligation to do so.

I hope that this clarifies my position.

Yours sincerely,

Emma Lewell-Buck
Labour Party Parliamentary Candidate for South Shields

Ede House
143 Westoe Road
South Shields
NE33 3PD

Office: 0191 427 1240

From: Michael Dawson
Date: Tuesday, 5 May 2015
Subject: Re: Inappropriate Slipway Cover – South Shields
To: Candidates in South Shields and Jarrow constituencies;
Cc: Emma Lewell-Buck, mick.dawson@theharbourview.co.uk*

Dear All,

I think my ex MP, although technically correct in her reply to me was actually ducking the issue. As one can see from the reply from Sir Alan Beith’s Office they are not really interested in buildings built without planning permission in South Tyneside.
see http://theharbourview.co.uk/cover/

The slipway cover in question, she resides in earshot**, is probably an embarrassment and it is possibly one of the reasons she has left her address off the ballot paper. I’m lead to believe her address is not on the ballot paper but I may be wrong.

I know this information is a bit late to help you in your election campaigns but it might help if we have a hung parliament and another election before long. I’ve copied the Jarrow PPCs into this email because they may know of issues arising from planning decisions made in the Town Hall in South Shields.

Regards
Mick Dawson

* changed mailbox from personal to theharbourview.co.uk
** the estate where she lives was named in original email

From: Michael Dawson
Sent: 23 April 2015 18:41
To: alanbeith@berwicklibdems.org.uk
Cc: Emma Lewell-Buck
Subject: Re: Inappropriate Slipway Cover – South Shields

Dear Sir Alan,

I wish you well on your retirement and hope you have a long and happy one.
Sorry to bother you with this but South Tyneside Council have allowed a slipway cover to be built on the banks of the Tyne without planning permission. I write to you to confirm that what Emma Lewell-Buck is saying is correct, and that she cannot look into it on my behalf, and ask that you pass it on Julie Porkson when she hopefully wins the forthcoming election.
If your successor is unable to take this on because of the location of the slipway then please advise who would handle a case like this.
Either way, please do not hesitate to contact me for any more information if you think it may be of political use in the hustings.

Kind regards
Michael Dawson

and reply:

From: alan.beith.mp@parliament.uk
To: Michael Dawson
CC: julie@berwicklibdems.org.uk
Subject: RE: Inappropriate Slipway Cover – South Shields
Date: Thu, 30 Apr 2015 07:36:11 +0000

Dear Mr. Dawson,

Sir Alan has asked me to thank you for your email and for your kind words.
I have passed your email on to Julie, for her information.

Yours sincerely,
Gill Cheeseman

Head of Office
Rt. Hon. Sir Alan Beith

From: Emma Lewell-Buck
Subject: From the office of Emma Lewell-Buck (Case Ref: ZA4803)
To: Mr M Dawson
Date: Tue, 7 Apr 2015 15:36:02 +0000

Dear Mr Dawson,

Thank you for contacting me regarding the Tyne Slipway.

I have noted your concerns. Unfortunately, strict Parliamentary rules mean that I can only act on behalf of people who live in the South Shields constituency.

The date of the next general election is set at Thursday, 7th May, 2015 and no-one has a Member of Parliament (MP) from dissolution until the result of the General Election is known. However, I will keep in touch with my former constituents to honour any commitments made when I was an MP.

I understand that this response may not have been the answer you were hoping for, but please be assured that I will continue to help constituents if I win the seat at the election.

Yours sincerely,

Emma Lewell-Buck
Labour Party Parliamentary Candidate for South Shields

Ede House
143 Westoe Road
South Shields
NE33 3PD

Office: 0191 427 1240

From: Michael Dawson
Sent: 31 March 2015 14:26
To: Emma Lewell-Buck MP
cc: Other Concerned Residents
Subject: Slipway Cover, River drive, South Shields (2 with refs).

Dear Emma,

Eighteen months ago my former neighbour, Miss Melanie Todd wrote to you in September about our concerns regarding a development described as ‘Approved’ boat repair shelter at Tyne Slipway, River Drive, South Shields’ and asking to meet with you. I understand at the meeting, the Residents expressed concerns that, firstly, it was being built on River Drive, and secondly, that the framework had not been built to plan.
We now have an admission from South Tyneside Council that the repair shelter was built without planning permission. This admission had to be prised out of the Council: the Principal Planning Officer was still telling a Residents’ Association at a meeting on November 25th 2013, organised by one of the Ward Councillors that it was built to an approved plan. I would like to point out here that he had not changed his point of view in correspondence with me in January 2014.
I pursued this with his boss the Planning Manager who initially said that the measurements were in accordance with the approved plans. In February 2014 however, after some reasoning from me, he conceded that the repair shelter was not built to approved plans.
The Head of Development Services would not admit to the fact that it was built 3m higher than approved and in a letter to residents in May, he said, “The approved dimensions of the steelwork are: Proposed height 15.5m at the River Drive end, Proposed length.. etc. ”
He has not produced any plans that support this and there are none in the public domain, either, that show the shelter to be built to an approved height. It is significant that South Tyneside Council will not say who signed off the shelter when building Control issued the Completion Certificate on June 17th 2014. Customer Advocacy, the team that respond to Stage III complaints on behalf of Mr Swales, the CEO, admit to the repair shelter being built without planning permission and this complety changes the complexion of the development on the slipway, River Drive (now UK Docks, formally Tyne Slipway) and I would like you to look into why it has been allowed to be built without planning permission and that the Planning Department are considering an application dated June 20th 2014 (just 3 days after the first shelter was signed off) to build an even larger shelter alongside the existing one.
I understand that you will be busy with the impending election but may I ask you again to meet with the residents affected by continual disturbance of the ship repair facility allowed to built on River Drive, see their point of view, and give them support in stopping the further expansion of this inappropriately located shipyard.

Kind regards
Michael Dawson

Former home: South Shields, now Amble

South Tyneside Council Refs:
Case 248789 – Work continuing on unplanned shelter.
Case 253539 – Fundamental questions raised in Petition evaded & abuse of Complaints System.
Case 266782 – STC accept planning application ST/0461/14/FUL to build an even larger shelter.
Local Government Ombudsman   Ref: 14 015 052

cc residents in Greens Place and Harbour View.