Press release: SeaChange agrees not to fell trees on Queensway Gateway road site ‘unless and until’ planning permission reinstated

July 21, 2015 by combehavendefenders

Press release

21 July 2015
Combe Haven Defenders [1]

More info: 07565 967 250

Picture available: https://combehavendefenders.wordpress.com/?attachment_id=4694

SEACHANGE AGREES NOT TO FELL TREES ON QUEENSWAY GATEWAY ROAD SITE ‘UNLESS AND UNTIL’ PLANNING PERMISSION REINSTATED

Treefelling commenced despite quashing of planning permission for polluting road

SeaChange Sussex, the developer of the Queensway Gateway road, has agreed not to fell two large trees on the site of the proposed road, unless planning permission is granted for a second time. Permission for the road was revoked after a local resident challenged the decision at the High Court. Hastings Council accepted that it made an error of law in granting the permission, which should have been refused because the road would have breached national and EU directives on air pollution [2].

SeaChange’s lawyer has now stated, ‘My client agrees not to cut down the two trees to which the bat licence relates unless and until a new planning permission has been granted…. My client will also not cut down any other trees’.

The trees, an ash and a holm oak, were left standing during the first round of felling in March because they contained bat roosts. SeaChange contractors moved in to fell them on July 7, but were thwarted by protesters who sat under the trees and refused to move [3]. Police were called but left after intervention by the lawyer for Gabriel Carlyle, who had brought the judicial review of the planning decision.

The attempted treefelling – which came only weeks after the original planning permission was quashed – raised fears that Hastings Council may be planning to once again rubberstamp plans for the £15m road.

Gabriel Carlyle said, ‘We are glad that SeaChange has agreed not to fell these particular trees unless planning permission is regranted. However, they should not have been attempting to fell them once the permission been revoked, and we should not have been forced into a confrontation with the police in order to save them. SeaChange’s actions are particularly alarming as they suggest there is a presumption that Hastings Council will rubberstamp the planning application for a second time without addressing the very serious issue of air pollution.’

More info: 07565 967 250

NOTES
[1] www.combehavendefenders.org.uk

[2] https://combehavendefenders.wordpress.com/2015/06/22/4543/

[3] https://combehavendefenders.wordpress.com/2015/07/08/4647/