MP slams Invergordon 'V-sign' over development plans
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
A FURIOUS MP has called for “heads to roll” over the “obscene” treatment of an Easter Ross community by a major local employer.
Anger over the erection of crash barriers along a coastal strip of amenity land known as Linear Park turned to unbridled fury this week as the bulldozers moved in.
Despite a legal bid to stop the work from progressing, and ahead of a scheduled meeting with Highland Council chief executive Alistair Dodds, the Cromarty Firth Port Authority this week pressed ahead with work on an expansion of the service base it says is essential to protect and create more jobs.
Easter Ross MP John Thurso yesterday confirmed he has raised the matter with the Secretary of State for Scotland and is calling for a change in the law to close what he believes to be a major loophole allowing such schemes to go ahead without the need for planning permission.
Lord Thurso told the Journalitalics: “The fact that work has started in this way is an extraordinarily high-handed V-sign to the democratic process. I think they have a lot to answer for and this calls into question their fitness for position.
“It’s unacceptable in the 21st century for an organisation to think it is beyond the clutches of the democratic process.
“It’s clear permitted development rights have to be taken away across the whole of Scotland and I will lobby Treasury ministers over that.
“For somewhere where there’s been amenity ground for so many years to be expropriated in this way with complete disregard to what anyone else thinks is frankly obscene. Heads should roll.”
The MP said he had hoped dialogue would lead to a compromise but said it is “unacceptable to say we don’t care what the community thinks”.
Saying that he is looking for the “fullest retribution”, he stated his belief that the planning system needs tightening up. It is, he said, a “massive development affecting hundreds if not thousands of residents.”
He said: “As far as I can see there has been absolutely no consultation with the community which has been lied to. It’s astounding that anyone should behave in such a dictatorial way.”
He said it was extraordinary that the Crown Estate, which has a remit over the seabed and shore, should have permitted it.
When contacted for comment, Paul Bancks, The Crown Estate’s coastal manager in Scotland, yesterday told the Journal:italics “The Crown Estate has no remit regarding land-use designations in planning matters, which is a matter for the local planning authority, in this case Highland Council.
“We are aware of the feelings of sections of the Invergordon community concerning the loss of this area, which is why we required CFPA to get the view of the council before proceeding with the change of use.
“The Highland Council has now confirmed that, in its view, the land in question forms part of the operational land of the port and permitted development rights apply.”
No-one at Highland Council was able to confirm yesterday that a planned meeting between its chief executive and CFPA chief executive Ken Gray is still going ahead.
However, Cromarty Firth SNP ward councillor Maxine Smith, who confirmed she had sent a fax via a solicitor asking that work be halted, said she “deplored” the fact work was now going ahead. Her fellow councillors Martin Rattray (Liberal Democrat) and Carolyn Wilson (Independent) have also criticised the way the affair has been handled.
A spokesperson for the Cromarty Firth Port Authority confirmed that the work now under way “is a continuation of the phase 2 development, as set out in the port development plans...and can also confirm that the Port Authority is in regular dialogue with the Highland Council”.
The spokesperson declined to comment on claims the CFPA has failed to consult and has ignored local feeling.
Asked about a solicitor’s letter received via councillor Maxine Smith, the spokesperson said: “A letter had been received and all enquiries are handled by the port’s solicitor. The development plans are progressing as planned and outlined recently.”
