Email 13th February 2014 by the Planning Manager.
Requirement to improve the structural stability of the shelter by taking the steelwork to ground level has resulted in it being constructed to a width of 13.1m when measured at ground level.
As said elsewhere the footings for the columns were laid in 2001 and that they were laid nearly a meter wider than planned. If the extra width was a requirement to improve the structural stability then this would appear to be dictated by the extra height of the shelter and making the pillars vertical (3m) rather than anything else. The point he makes about it being wider implies that plans were being made in 2001 to make it wider and taller. Who signed off the work done in 2001?
That the extra width and making the side vertical allows the crane to fit nicely into the framework is surely more than a coincidence.
Is it due to the extra height that the shelter has to be made wider?
Did they plan to make it taller as well as wider in 2001?
Has the crane been in storage since then or is it a stock width?
Why are the Planning Officers making excuses for UK docks building without planning permission?