{"id":1108,"date":"2019-11-15T06:48:49","date_gmt":"2019-11-15T06:48:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ni4h.org\/?p=1108"},"modified":"2019-11-15T07:09:23","modified_gmt":"2019-11-15T07:09:23","slug":"reflections-on-the-inquiry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ni4h.org\/index.php\/2019\/11\/15\/reflections-on-the-inquiry\/","title":{"rendered":"Reflections on the Inquiry"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Incinerator Inquiry which follows a legal framework is not the easiest of environments in which to ask residents to come and express their concerns. The Planning Inspector, Ian Jenkins, was as accommodating as possible in making people feel comfortable, but if residents did give evidence they had to consider if they would accept cross examination from Britaniacrest’s barrister in order to add more weight to their views. The process is not meant to be adversarial but inquisitorial. However, despite this many members of our community did come forward and made their feelings known to the Inspector about the impact that building this incinerator would have on their daily lives.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n


I attended this afternoon the last closing speeches in the Appeal against the County Council\u2019s decision to reject the application for an Incinerator at Warnham. A decision by WSCC which I welcomed.<\/p>


The Inquiry has been especially intense for the \u201dNo Incinerator for Horsham\u201d community group (steering committee pictured) who from scratch raised money and hired a barrister to present, very effectively, different but additional concerns alongside the WSCC representation. The Inquiry has now closed but it may be several weeks before we know the final outcome of this process. <\/p>Jeremy Quin, Parliamentary Candidate for Horsham

<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

We were pleased that the Inspector set aside a day\nfor site visits with all interested parties to personally view the local area.\nHe was also making other visits on his own both during day and night to inform\nhis decision. This was reassuring and much appreciated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another vital part of the Inquiry process was the\nopportunity for Ni4H and residents to take part in discussing what planning\nconditions should apply, if the incinerator were to be approved. Ni4H were\nassisted in round table discussions by our planning expert, Maureen Darrie and\nwere able to bring forward proposals from research into conditions from other\nincinerators and to present a reasoned best practice case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the past two years there have been two\nconsultations regarding this incinerator application and the response from the\nresidents of Horsham on both occasions has been an overwhelming objection to\nthe development. It is by far the largest reaction to any planning application\nI have seen in my 14 years as County Councillor. During the first consultation\n5,500 residents rejected this application either by direct objection to the\nplanners or by signing a petition. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since the Appeal application was made another 2,237\npeople have added their names to a second petition which was presented to the\nPlanning Inspector at the Inquiry. This is an overwhelming NO vote. It is local\ndemocracy at work and we asked the Inspector to give this the weight it\ndeserved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ni4H and the local community has been at a huge\ndisadvantage to Britaniacrest in bringing our representations to this Inquiry.\nGiven the issues involved here are very technical and complex, they have been\nable to use their considerable resources to buy themselves experienced experts\nand representatives to make their pitch. On the other hand, Ni4H are not\nexperts and it is not a professional organisation – it is a Community Group\nattempting to understand and reflect the concerns of the community. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ni4H has had to work hard not only in developing\nits case, but also through fundraising events, public donations and pledges of\nfinancial support, to collect significant funds so that we can afford a\nbarrister and experts, to represent local residents. Without this massive\ncommunity effort over the last 12 months, it would have been impossible to give\nfull weight at the Inquiry in presenting the excellent case we have and the\npowerful reasons we have for rejection of this appeal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are confident from many submissions made by\nresidents, that the Inspector will have understood the concerns that local\npeople have about their future wellbeing if the incinerator comes to this area,\nthe wholesale change of character that would be brought to our market town, how\nit would be out of keeping with its surroundings and the massive structure\nwould overwhelm existing buildings in the surrounding area and would have a\nsignificant adverse impact on our beautiful views. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We hope these heartfelt views and the more formal input from Ni4H and\nWSCC barristers will sway the Inspector to reject this Appeal. We remain\noptimistic for a positive result.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Any suggestion that the Ni4H campaign was\nmisleading is not so. In fact, Ni4H learned from other Community Groups\nlabelled in this way how to avoid doing just that. Ni4H has taken great care\nover the content of press releases, social media publicity, newsletters,\nprinted material and discussions with the public to remain measured in our\napproach to our campaign, opposing the development of this incinerator.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally, we want to say a big thank you to everyone\nwho has backed this campaign in their many different ways and to Ni4H Barrister\nNick Grant from Landmark Chambers, Ni4H Experts Maureen Darrie from GP Planning\nLtd, Only Solutions LLP and UKWIN. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Through the hard work of Ni4H and the amazing local\nsupport we have given ourselves at least an even chance, where without it we\nwould have had no chance, in putting our case forward so strongly for rejection\nof the Appeal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We now await the Inspector\u2019s decision probably in\nthe first quarter of 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Peter Catchpole, Chairman Ni4H, County Councillor Holbrook<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Incinerator Inquiry which follows a legal framework is not the easiest of environments in which to ask residents to come and express their concerns. The Planning Inspector, Ian Jenkins, was as accommodating as possible in making people feel comfortable, but if residents did give evidence they had to consider if they would accept cross […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1111,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1108","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ni4h.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1108","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ni4h.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ni4h.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ni4h.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ni4h.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1108"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/ni4h.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1108\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1112,"href":"https:\/\/ni4h.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1108\/revisions\/1112"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ni4h.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1111"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ni4h.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1108"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ni4h.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1108"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ni4h.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1108"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}