NEWS FROM CAPRI - 43

1. The Inquiry ends

The Inquiry is now over and quiet has returned to Corse and Staunton Village Hall.

There was only one Inspector. He has packed his bags and gone away, taking with him a vast number of files. He will submit a report and his recommendation to the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, Eric Pickles, and this he has undertaken to do no later than 18^th October; it is then up to the Secretary of State to make a decision. When that decision is published (together with the Inspector’s report) is a matter entirely for Mr Pickles. My guess would be sometime before Christmas.

2. How did it go?

No one knows. Both sides made a number of points, to my mind some good, some not so good. What is important, however, is what the Inspector thought of them.

3. Transcript

During the hearing, a transcript was made of everything said. That transcript, in daily instalments, can be downloaded from the ‘Documents’ page of the CAPRI website. CAPRI’s closing submissions can also be downloaded from the same page, or read online here.

4. National Grid

National Grid was better prepared than last time. Their comedy act in 2007 had been replaced by an organisation more befitting a Public Inquiry. They had more witnesses than either Tewkesbury Borough Council or CAPRI and they took more of the Inquiry’s time. This was reasonable. The onus lay with them to prove that the Appeal should be allowed, not with the others to prove that it should not be.

Their barrister was clear and forceful, but the Inspector – whose last Inquiry this was - would have been well aware that the manner in which an argument is put does not necessarily indicate its validity or force.

5. The arguments

NG argued that there was an urgent national need for the PRI, that under the local development plan – to the surprise of many - it would not be an alien feature in the countryside (on the grounds that the Secretary of State had said that it was only in the countryside that it could be built) and that it would be, well, almost invisible.

TBC were in a more difficult position. Not only had their Planning Officer recommended that the PRI be built, but they had also agreed both the landscaping scheme and the landscape management plan. Nevertheless, they argued that there was a better site available – at Downend – and that therefore their decision to refuse permission should stand.

CAPRI argued that there was no urgent national need for the PRI and that the site selection process was flawed, thereby invalidating the choice of Tirley. We also criticised the landscaping and the landscape management plan.

The safety and the security of the PRI were also questioned, and the difficulties of a rapid response - especially during flooding - were raised.

6. On Pigging

We have had an explanation from NG that individual sections of the pipeline were pigged as they were completed. This seems reasonable and without more information, both technical and factual, we were not in a position to dispute it.

7. On Safety

During the Inquiry there was a site visit and NG supplied a minibus. Inside the minibus there was a notice clearly indicating that wearing seat belts was a legal requirement. Neither of the NG representatives wore a seat belt. If safety (and obeying the law) were as deeply rooted in NG as they claim, the instinctive reaction of the NG people would have been to put on the seat belts as soon as they had sat down. As it is, one may legitimately ask which safety practices (and laws) NG requires its employees to follow, and which it does not. And that is a question we have put.

8. And lastly …

On the last day the Inspector said how impressed he was with the attendance of the public throughout the Inquiry, a sign, he said, of how important it was to the community.

This has indeed been a response by an entire community to a grave threat.

CAPRI has done its very best to counter that threat with strong and cogent arguments. The support we have received has been immensely encouraging. A very big ‘thank you’ to all!

And now we wait.

Joseph Gabbott

Secretary

27.7.10