This letter was copied to the Chief Executive and it appears that he just dropped it in the bin. He did not pass it to Haley Johnson or if he did she ignored it when she wrote to the MP for Northumberland.
Amble
Morpeth
Northumberland
9th June 2015
Boat Repair Shelter, Tyne Slipway, River Drive
Dear Anne-Marie Trevelyan MP,
Thank you for taking up my case and copying me your letter to Martin Swales, CEO, South Tyneside Council.
I agree with your summary but I must say that one has to be very specific about which end of the shelter one refers to when talking about the height. The fall along the length of the shelter is about 3m and this coincidentally is the height of the apparent overbuild.
You have not specified that the stated height (15.5m) is of the river end of the shelter and it is likely that, Mr Swales, if he follows the arguments of the Planning Manager and the Head of Development Services before him, will say it refers to the road end. The drawing, 8296/1A which they have used for their argument also states the height of the river end as 15.5 meters. This is clearly not consistent given the slope of the slipway.
I maintain that that the dimension at the road end has been specified incorrectly and I think that anyone that has spent any time training in a drawing office will agree with me.
Knowing that both ends of the slipway cover were given heights of 15.5m on drawing 8296/1A I used a different drawing to gain the admission of the Planning Department that the cover had not been built to an approved plan. They had said at first it was being built to approved plans.
This drawing, 8296/14, is available on the planning portal for all see (8296/1A is not readily available) and it shows the river end gable with door fittings. It has sufficient detail on it to determine that the height is near enough 15.5m i.e. – nowhere near the 18m of the built height of the river end.
If Mr Swales provides any new plans to show you that I am wrong in my assessment of
the development on River Drive by UK Docks please let me know.
yours sincerely
Michael Dawson
cc Mr M Swales, CEO South Tyneside Council