Denials

From the beginning the protesters had tried many paths, including the MP and co-opting the Tyne Gateway Assn, to convince the Planning Office that the cover was not built to any approved plans. The statements written in red in this section appear to have no justification on which to base them.

From the Gazette: Monday 09 September 2013 – The Council are referring  enquirers in writing to the complaints procedure without answering questions.

RIVERSIDE residents in South Tyneside are up in arms after work began on a huge industrial shed – 17 years after planning permission was granted.
The 36ft-high structure is being built just yards from their homes in Harbour View, South Shields, and householders were stunned when the steel structure emerged almost overnight at the Tyne Slipway.
A spokesman for the applicant, UK Docks, said: “All I can say is that we have been through all the controls with the planners, and the work meets all the necessary legal requirements.
“All we are doing is going ahead with the previous planning permission.”

36ft = 11 meters

The Denial

At a meeting with residents on Nov 25th 2013 the Principal Planning Officer said that the slipway cover was built to approved plans. See email from Councillor below. This agrees with my assessment of the meeting but I would not have used the term ‘legal’. I would have been more precise and said: The Principal Planning Officer said that it was built to the approved plans in both height and width.

From: cllr.john.anglin@southtyneside.gov.uk
Date: Sun, 1 Dec 2013 18:37:40
Subject: RE: TGA – Town Hall Meeting 25 Nov
Michael
I took no minutes as is customary at these informal meetings.
For your record I am sure all would agree :
1.       The Exec representatives of the Group accepted that the construction had been made legally as per drawings seen.
2.       The Exec representatives accepted that Items 3 and 4 which had not been complied with by the building company previously had now been properly addressed.
3.       Concern was expressed that the building as approved would be unfit for purpose ( eg not big enough to take in the Ferryboat ) but this was accompany problem until/ or if, additional construction was made.
4.       Concern was expressed as to the fact that there had been rumours that the Company was preparing to apply for further Planning Permission for at least one more building of about the same size.
It was agreed that until Planning Permission was requested no other action or re-action could be  made by the Council. Indeed, that if a request was made the final decision could end up being made by  persons from outside the Borough.
Best Regards
John

I was troubled about this meeting as we knew that the slipway cover was not built to plan and the plan on the table at the meeting was not the plan that I had seen on the portal.
Unfortunately I was not able to request a copy of this drawing at the meeting and so requested a copy in subsequent correspondence. It was when I received a copy of the plan that we had already seen on the portal, 8296/1B, that I realised that there was something seriously wrong with the way that the Planning Office were handling ST/0242/96/UD and application ST/1146/13/COND and the Council did not have an approved drawing.

Fortunately it was easy to check the width of the frames with a fair degree of accuracy, when viewed from Greens Place,  and they were about a meter wider than planned. I guessed it would be dismissed in some way but it would establish that the shed was not being built to an approved plan.

The Gazette Spoiler

Is included in the Denials Section because of the error in the Headline about the height.

Two selected items from Gazette Report of April 1st 2014 which appears to be a spoiler for our Petition to be presented to the Town Hall  the following day (the no of petitioners was quoted was 2/3 actual figure).

UK Docks has built the 36ft-high boat repair shed at Tyne Slipway, South Shields – just yards from homes in nearby Harbour View – which residents say is obstructing clear river views, increasing noise levels and raising fears of health risks. – untrue it’s over 50ft.

36ft = 11 meters and 50ft = 15.24m

At the time, a spokesman for UK Docks said: “All I can say is that we have been through all the controls with the planners, and the work meets all the necessary legal requirements. All we are doing is going ahead with the previous planning permission.”

It looks like the Council have reverted to their position held in September 2013.

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