Route Partnership plan will harm regeneration in Penzance
2009-08-24Participants attending a recent meeting hosted by Andrew George MP have discussed how the Route Partnership’s plan to build on Battery Rocks beach will harm the future regeneration of the harbour area.
The maturing of plans for the redevelopment of Coinagehall Street, the vacating of the old Trinity House building, and the recent closure of the Dry Dock have all made the Route Partnership's (RP) plan hopelessly out of date, and these new opportunities for regeneration in the harbour area must not be undermined by locating an industrial freight handling facility and associated traffic in the heart of the historic seafront.
One of the main arguments used in favour of the RP plan to build on Battery Rocks beach has been that it would be the first part of a regeneration of the harbour area, but a representative of the developers of one key site in the area dismissed this claim and took the opportunity of the meeting to explain how harmful to the future prospects of the area the RP scheme would be, and how important it was to tackle traffic and remove heavy goods vehicles from the area.
The meeting, which also included representatives from the Friends of Penzance Harbour, local councillors, and businesses from around the harbour, went on to agree that an out of town freight depot was a preferable alternative to building the same on Battery Rocks beach.
The meeting should have been attended by representatives of the Route Partnership including Graeme Hicks (the transport portfolio holder at Cornwall Council) but they withdrew at the last minute. This followed their withdrawal from a Penzance Community Network Area meeting just two days before, which left local councillors angry, and confirmed for many their worst fears about the new Council. Certainly the Council’s refusal to listen to local people and its determination to push ahead with an unpopular scheme calls into question it’s commitment to “localism” and community driven local government.
Press Statement from Andrew George : download pdf | view pdf