Biggins Wood, Cheriton: Planning Application Y17/0888/SH

Shepway District Council have submitted Planning Application Y17-0888-SH which is linked to planning application Y13/0024/SH to erect 49 industrial units (4562 sqm) and 2 office blocks (1240 sqm), together with the construction of the industrial estate road and parking and turning areas and landscaping  at the Biggins Wood Site in Cheriton. (pictured below) The application was submitted by Mr Andy Jarrett (pictured) of Shepway District Council Strategic Development Projects Department, on the 20th July 2017 and validated on the 31st July 2017.

 

The application will be discussed and voted on tonight at the Planning & Licensing committee. The committee is made up of nine Conservatives, two UKIP and one Independent.

The Biggins Wood site is contaminated land, how badly contaminated is still yet to be determined by Shepway District Council. A recommendation to the committee by SDC’s Environmental Health team is that a desk top study shall be undertaken and submitted to and approved in writing by the Local Planning Authority. The study shall include the identification of previous site uses, potential contaminants that might reasonably be expected given those uses and any other relevant information. If a desk top study shows that further investigation is necessary, an investigation and risk assessment shall be undertaken by competent persons and a written report of the findings shall be submitted to and approved in writing by the Local Planning Authority prior to commencement of the development.

Now we believe that further investigation will be absolutely necessary as both methane and CO2 levels on the site are significantly high as we have made clear in past blog posts. Yes it can be re-mediated, but at what cost? This is an important question as it is the taxpayers of Shepway who will ultimately foot the bill.

Our public face (pictured red jumper) requested via EIR, that certain redacted documents relating to the Biggins Wood site be released. Shepway District Council said no, so it went to the the Information Commissioner’s Office to decide. She sided with our public face and on the 13th Oct 2017, SDC elected to appeal, the Commissioner’s decision. Case ref EA/2017/0240  is at present between SDC & the ICO but  our public face has been granted permission- as it was he who brought the original case – to join with the ICO, to take on SDC at a tribunal hearing in the early part of 2018.

So with a Planning & Licensing Committee which is heavily Tory, 9 out of 12, the likely result is that SDC and will more than likely be granted permission.

As an aside for those of you who do not know, SDC purchased the land from Mr Adrian Kirby (pictured) – a convicted criminal -for £1.5 million in Dec 2016. We note that Mr Kirby has now changed the name of the company SDC purchased the land from Biggins Wood Homes Limited to Ravensbourne Retail Ltd and that a British Virgin Island company by the name of Gateway Capital Holdings (Ptc) Limited, has become a director. The address the company is registered to in the British Virgin Islands shows up not once, not twice, but three times in the Panama Papers. We note that the person with significant control of the newly named company Ravensbourne Retail Ltd is still Mr Adrian Kirby, who gives his address as Chemin De La Morintse 9a, Ch-1936 Verbier, Switzerland.

The Shepwayvox Team

There are legitimate uses for offshore companies and trusts. We do not intend to suggest or imply that any people, companies or other entities included in this blogpost have broken the law or otherwise acted improperly; unless found so by a court of law.