Gloucestershire gas plant plans rejected

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Wednesday, February 03, 2010
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This is Gloucestershire

​Villagers are celebrating after National Grid’s controversial plans to build a gas plant near Tewkesbury were rejected.

The borough council’s planning committee yesterday (Tue) refused to grant permission for a pressure reduction installation (PRI) close to Flat Farm, Tirley.

Despite the company saying it would help supply up to 20 per cent of the nation’s gas, councillors felt the PRI would be a blot on the rural landscape. After visiting the site, where they were met by placard-waving protesters, they decided the wrong location had been chosen and voted overwhelmingly to throw out the application.

Their decision led to joyful celebrations at the council offices in Tewkesbury from some of the 992 people who objected to the scheme.

Councillor Phil Awford (C, Highnam with Haw Bridge) told the meeting: “This massive industrial plant has no place in open attractive countryside where it will be remote and unmanned.”

Residents feared the PRI’s 12 28ft-high chimney stacks would ruin the countryside, pump out fumes and create a huge amount of noise.

Mr Awford said: “I am advised that the noise is the equivalent of a jet aircraft passing directly overhead. The impact on horses and livestock would be dire.”

Despite planning officer Oliver Rider saying the police felt the site would be protected against a terrorist threat, some members were not convinced that villagers would be safe.

Mr Awford said that, if there was an explosion, there would potentially be loss of life.

Councillor Derek Davies (C, Highnam with Haw Bridge) said PRI might as well stand for ‘permanent ruination instantly’ and added: “While I am minded that there has to be a solution to this ill thought out application, the one on offer is not the correct one.”

If the application had been approved by the council, it would have been referred to the Government for a final decision but the committee’s refusal decision means this will not now happen.

It is the second time National Grid has had its plans for a PRI near Tewkesbury rejected. Its bid to build one a few hundred yards away, in Corse, was thrown out by the Forest of District Council in 2006. The company appealed against its decision but it was upheld by the Planning Inspectorate following a public inquiry in 2007.

After yesterday’s meeting, National Grid’s major projects manager, David Mercer, said: “We’re very disappointed with the decision. The secretary of state, in his report into the public inquiry, had confirmed the very important national need for this installation.

“We will now have to go away and consider the reasons for refusal before deciding on our next course of action.”

Peter McMurtrie, chairman of the Campaign Against Pressure Reduction Installation group, said: “I’m delighted. I think the council has reached the right conclusion. The site was not the right one for an industrial installation.”

He added: “The site was the cheapest available as far as National Grid was concerned. It was a bad choice and they deserved to lose.”

Zog Ziegler, who lives near to the proposed site, said: “I’m absolutely delighted. A lot of people thought ‘you can’t beat them’ but my mantra was that it’s not over till the fat lady sings and she’s had a good old sing now.”

 

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  • Profile image for This is Gloucestershire

    by Stu, Tirley

    Saturday, February 06 2010, 3:26PM

    “Mark Barber, Prince of Wales Pub:

    Some stimulating comments - its good to have views like this for a lively debate...

    1st - it was never on the cards for it to be anywhere near Chelt.

    2nd - Why do you want it to be hear when extending the pipeline a couple of miles will result in cheaper Gas and Electric for you in the long term as less gas will have to be burned off?

    And what have you got against the English countryside?

    You should come out here for a walk - you'd change your mind about it being a 'dump'”

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    by stu, Tirley

    Saturday, February 06 2010, 2:35AM

    “Mark Barber, Prince of Wales Pub:

    If you live at the Prince of Wales in Staunton - you will hear a constant buzz from the PRI when its up.... Some people are fine with that - and if you are, then cool.. my points are boring.... but if you think that would annoy you then we only have one chance to stop this monstrosity. I'll buy u a pint sometime... this will be bad for Staunton as well.”

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    by Mark Barber, Prince of Wales Pub

    Friday, February 05 2010, 7:11PM

    “Stu, Tirley - BOOOOORING!”

  • Profile image for This is Gloucestershire

    by Stu, Tirley

    Friday, February 05 2010, 4:53PM

    “Part 1/3

    Hi, Concerned Council Tax Payer:

    Thanks again for the comments - it seems a bit like a personal attack against me although I'm merely pointing out various points from meetings, reports, notes, other news articles, websites etc.

    I've not ever said I'm any kind of expert on anything like this - in fact I'm quite the opposite - my degrees are in a completely unrelated subject and I was never any good at mathematics or physics so I've had a hard time getting my head around all the facts and details - but I've tried to get as much of a comprehensive view on this as I can because I wanted to try and understand every aspect of this problem as fully as I possibly could. I've obviously formed my own views from this and yes, I don't want my life and work disrupted, nether would anyone else. I have lived in this area all my life - I've seen the change between these villages being local and most of the houses becoming completely unobtainable for locals - and that is sad - We have JUST managed to get a place in Tirley - by the skin of our teeth I have managed to live in the locality where I grew up - something that is increasingly difficult, if not imposable for a lot of people. Apart from my other views on the subject - if I couldn't work here because of the noise and I couldn't move because the house was suddenly worth nothing it would have a MASSIVE impact on my life - of course I don't want that but I've tried none the less to understand all sides of this argument to the best of my ability.

    Concerned Council Tax Payer said --- "I am concerned that Stuart may have borrowed his blinkers from Cheltenham Racecourse! He seems to have an ability to take facts totally out of context and twist them in his mind to support his narrow minded view."

    There is no need for this sort of insulting language - I'm merely trying to protect the countryside I grew up in and love - and I'm disgusted that so many people are hateful of my love but I guess this is what society has come to today! Its very very sad!

    Concerned Council Tax Payer said --- "In responding to his misinformation I do not know where to start there is so much flowing out - it is not surprising that he managed to bamboozle the self-interested folk that put themselves forward as councilors. Anyway in no particular order here goes!"

    As I said - I've taken all my information from meetings and reports. In trying to make the case for my narrow mindedness you are demonstrating your own by not being open to the fact that a money driven FTSE100 listed company may be trying to push for the cheapest solution to keep their balance sheets healthy. I don't find this at all hard to believe but you obviously have more trust.

    Concerned Council Tax Payer said --- "1. You say you do not use gas yet as another educated party points out 40% of electricity is produced from gas fired power stations."

    Its not about that, I understand there is a need - and had NG planned this pipeline properly it would all be up and running by now - NG knew, when plotting the route of the pipeline that AGI's and PRI's would be needed - and the way they planned it, some of these fell on areas where local and national planning policies protected areas of beauty and designated agricultural land. These rules have been there for a long time and are there for good reason. NG at that point should have sought permission before even laying one mile of pipe.

    Concerned Council Tax Payer said --- "2. You state that the PRI will make the noise of a jet plane passing directly over. You imply by your choice of phrasing that this will be the normal level of noise arising from the PRI. However as you put yourself forward as such an expert can you inform us all the frequency of such a noisy activity - is it infrequent? Say every 10 years or so!"

    This is directly quoted from the evidence heard in the planning meeting - Specifics were not given apart from the fact that the noise would be c”

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    by Stu, Tirley

    Friday, February 05 2010, 4:51PM

    “Part 2/3

    Concerned Council Tax Payer said --- "3. You try to highjack the previous inspectors report to support your position and say to people that they should read it. I would like to ask you if you think that the planning officers who are TBC planning experts have read this report? If they have and understand the report can you explain how they came to the conclusion that the application should be approved?"

    The inspectorate did not come to this conclusion - they rejected the application after hearing 2 days worth of evidence, and stated that the location was highly inappropriate - this is coming from the same Secretary of state that recognises the need for a PRI. This enquiry also heard details and saw plans for the PRI at Wormington which, would be a lot smaller (seeing as it bypasses the bottleneck between Tirley and Wormington, more efficient (less gas would have to be burned off to reduce the pressure thus, in the long term having a beneficial affect on fuel prices and the environment) and not adding any visual difference to the existing Wormington installation. This site is also manned. I'm sorry if you don't agree - but this information came from international pipeline experts and it was agreed at the last appeal that this would be a good option.

    After all this, NG decided to submit an application for exactly the same PRI as was just refused both by forest of dean council and the secretary of state, in the next field, just a few hundred yards away. At this point common sense has completely gone out of the window. I reference Dr Richard Furness's report on this. Its an interesting read.

    Concerned Council Tax Payer said --- "4. Stuart also has a tendancy to throw in spurious statistics and numbers like saying that as the presure is currently running at 80% of planned pressure then the volume of gas is at 80%. Considering that Boyle's Law would seem to inply that for each atmoshere (bar) change in presure then the volume of gas halves? This is not a straight line relationship!"

    I got these from the CAPRI website - and while you are right - its not a straight line relationship national grid have simplified the percentages for their propaganda to make a point clear and accessible - Don't shoot me simply for relaying a point. The fact is that most of the gas that would be transported with the PRI in place - would also be transported without it. This is undisputable fact.

    Concerned Council Tax Payer said --- "5. Stuart and the other nimbys like to say that the PRI can go somewhere else but did the inspector last time not say that he recognised that the relative location of the PRI was efficient? Yes I am sure that the PRI could be put closer to some other people who live nowhere near the pipeline but can he explain how this would be a better solution? Surely extra miles of pipeline would have to be built and as National Grid are a regulated company the cost of this would be passed on to the end user - not to mention the environmental impact of extra miles of pipeline."

    The pipeline has already covered over 200 miles - an extra few is not going to look like anything on the projects total budget and, since NG are a private, limited company reporting billions of profit last year why is it wrong for me to ask for a few extra million of investment for the long term benefit of our country. We retain our beautiful countryside and the country gets a less wasteful, more efficient supply of gas! Yes of course I don't want it in the next field, nether would you... be honest, but I also believe the expert reports I've read stating a very good case for the rethinking of this. I'm very very sorry that you do not see any merit in this report but there is nothing I can do about that.

    Concerned Council Tax Payer said --- "At the end of day my conclusions are that the country needs the gas, the PRI has to go somewhere, the nimbys have not given reasons, other than smokescreens and self-interested rant”

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