12 June 2011

Wo ist das planning applikation? Tory Council issues planning consultation in German

Plymouth's Conservative Council has issued documents on their controversial plans to build an incinerator in the heart of the city in German.

Investigations by Plymouth's Labour Group on the City Council has revealed the consultation documents on plans for a mass-burn incinerator at the Naval Base in Devonport are not only hidden away in an obscure part of the City Council's website but also contain documents written solely in German.

The City Council's preferred bidder for the incinerator contract is German firm MV Unvelt.

Cllr Tudor Evans, whose Ham ward is the site of the incinerator, said: "We have said throughout that the consultation has not been good enough but this is simply ridiculous. The Council knows how angry people already are about plans for an incinerator on their doorstep, so why is the Council not speaking in plain English on this controversial issue?"

"The technical drawings are annotated in German. Clearly they did not check the documents before they put them on the website. They simply don't care enough."

Cllr Mark Coker who has been leading Labour's opposition to the incinerator said: "People in Devonport are under no doubt already that this consultation is a sham but to require them to learn German to read what the Council plans for our community is an outrage."

Cllr Brian Vincent, who is Labour's environment spokesperson said: "the Council has hid essential details of the project all along. Now even the most important elements of the application are unreadable for most residents."

Alison Seabeck MP said "This is a real challenge to the Council's Localism credentials. It clearly doesn't want the views of local people. It failed to inform me, local councillors and most crucially local residents that the most controversial planning application in a generation was in their hands and they were consulting".

It is understood that the council received the application on 10th May, and that the formal consultation period started on 31st May, and runs for 6 weeks.

The Councils website makes no mention of this on its front page. Residents would need to know already that the plans are in and would have to navigate to the planning pages.

When they reach the planning pages, there is no mention of the opening or closing dates for the consultation

The technical drawings are annotated in German. The number of German speakers in Plymouth is unknown but thought to be quite low.

The application follows controversial approval of the business case for the incinerator using Redacted financial information.