Application March

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Received from Cornwall Council Strategic Planning Committee
(i)10-0095-LBC and (ii) 09-01118-P
(i) Extensions and alterations including; demolition and making good two sections of listed seawall to provide pedestrian and vehicular access, extension to Lighthouse Pier, creation of new seawall and retaining wall to South Pier, placing of infill material for reclaimed land and rock armouring abutting the listed seawall, demolition of toilet block and erection of new security gates and fencing.(ii) Construction of new sea wall (above reclaimed level)
South Pier and Lighthouse Pier, Penzance Harbour, Penzance
Cornwall Council

This application will be reported to the Strategic Planning Committee for it to decide. The Committee meeting will be held in the Council Chamber, County Hall, Truro and will begin at 2pm on Monday 8 March 2010. You can see the report and recommendations on the application from 7 days before the date of the meeting either by visiting the Council offices or by contacting us for a copy to be sent to you, or on the Council’s web-site.
You can attend and listen to the debate and the Committee’s decision. Members of the public have the right to speak at meetings of the Strategic Planning Committee during consideration of planning applications. Registration to speak at the meeting must be made with Democratic Services and should be received no later than 12 noon two working days before the Strategic Planning Committee meeting at which you wish to speak. Forms to register to speak are available to download from the Council’s website or may be obtained by telephoning Democratic Services on 01872 322291. No further written representations can be made unless they relate to matters of fact that have been incorrectly recorded in the report. Notification of such should be made in writing to me no later than noon on the Thursday before the Committee meeting.
I will write to you after the meeting to tell you the Committee’s decision.
Yours faithfully
Dave Slatter
Major Projects Manager
Planning and Regeneration Service
Tel: 01209 614250

 

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MARCH MEETING

Documents Page ...

http://democracy.cornwall.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=618&MId=2355&V

 

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December 2009 Documents Page

http://democracy.cornwall.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=618&MId=2193&V

From an email received
Here can be found the reports on the two planning applications regarding Penzance Quay and the decision notice for the meeting of the Strategic Planning Committee on 14 December 2009. The recommendations of the
Historic Environment Service are covered by the report of the Conservation Officer and the Archaeologist. English Heritage's views are also included in the reports. This is the current situation.
I trust that this helps to indicate what advice we have given
Yours sincerely
Nicholas Johnson
Historic Environment Manager
Environment Service
Cornwall Council

 

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email reply from John Denham MP. I have been asked to reply as this office acts for the Secretary of State in planning matters for Devon and Cornwall.
As you may be aware, on the 14th December 2009 the Secretary of State exercised his powers under Article 14 of the Town and Country Planning (General Development Procedure) Order 1995 on application 09/1118/P. The Article 14 Direction directed Cornwall Council not to grant permission on this application without specific authorisation. This direction was issued to enable him to consider whether he should direct under Section 77 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 that the application be referred to him for determination. This direction does not, of course, prevent Cornwall Council from considering the application, forming a view as to their merits or, if they are so minded, refusing permission. The revised Listed Building application (10-0095-LBC) is not subject to an Article 14 Direction, however I can confirm that this application will also be referred to the Secretary of State for consideration, if the council are minded to approve the application at the committee on the 8th March 2010. We are currently considering all requests for the Secretary of State to call-in both applications and we will notify you of our decision in due course.
Yours sincerely
Mrs M PeartAssistant
Planning Manager - Plymouth and Cornwall

 

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copy from an email received

Thank you for your email to the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, the Rt Hon Ben Bradshaw MP concerning an application to upgrade Penzance Harbour from Grade II to Grade II*.

English Heritage are currently considering the application. Once they have submitted their report, and once any further representations have been evaluated by officials, the Secretary of State will consider all the evidence, and make a decision on whether or not to upgrade the Harbour. It is intended that this will be no later than 25th March. However, you should be aware that this date may be subject to change if additional scrutiny reveals issues that require further investigation.

Gerry Ranson
Public Engagement & Recognition Unit (PERU)
Department for Culture, Media & Sport
2-4 Cockspur Street
London SW1Y 5DH

 

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Special Meeting, Strategic Planning Committee
Monday, 8th March, 2010 2.00 pm
Council Chamber, Cornwall Council, County Hall, Truro, TR1 3AY.

Contact: Michelle Davey, Senior Democratic Services Officer, 01872 322291

Relevant Information and URLs posted in this thread.​

 

[Bilge Rat]

Reasons to be cheerful

Your Reference 10-0095-LBC​

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The above application by the Route Partnership to build Option A on Battery Rocks beach outside South Pier, the destruction of the listed seawall to create access and the pier extension was refused planning permission last December or subsequently withdrawn.It should be refused again on the following grounds.

• Despite what is said it does not comply with many planning policies, goes against the grain of their own Historic Buildings Analysis and will bring no substantial benefits to the community of the town.

• The construction of this scheme and associated rock armour will destroy the character of the listed pier viewed by millions of visitors from the land from Marazion round the coast to Mousehole. It will also be destroyed for the tens of thousands who annually view it form both the air and the sea. It will obliterate for ever part of the historic heritage of the town.

• The history of the development of Penzance from the reef that was responsible for the towns beginning to the extensions of the pier through the centuries as the town grew will be lost forever.

• It will destroy the setting and character of other listed structures and buildings in the area – the Jubilee Pool, the Barbican etc. It will also adversely affect what remains of the Battery and the War Memorial. The South Pier is the line that separates the working harbour from the leisure areas to the west.

• The extension of Lighthouse Pier and the erection of a second lighthouse, merely to accommodate mooring warps of a non sustainable vessel, are unacceptable and will cause problems with the existing piers stability and devalue the listed asset of the original lighthouse.

• The proposal will increase the traffic congestion at a dangerous bend and will affect the enjoyment of the setting of the listed buildings and structures in the area. There will be noise, pollution and a threat to public safety.

• This proposal will also irreparably harm the environment and the prospects for the economic regeneration of Penzance and the surrounding area. Other more beneficial options exist.

• It does not complement its surroundings.

• It will damage the environment of the Battery Rocks inter tidal area that was considered to be of such educational value that Natural England were minded to have it listed as a Nature Reserve only two years ago.

• The industrialisation of such an environmentally and historically important area will deter visitors from Penzance having a negative cumulative effective on the economy of West Cornwall.

• The applicants Environmental Impact Analysis states that while the proposed work was undertaken to South Pier the Gry Maritha and Scillonian would operate from the inner face of the Albert Pier. The Albert Pier was built because it did not have problems with over topping and facilitated the loading and unloading of cargo safely. Draw your own conclusions.

• As a result of the Strategic Planning Committees refusal in December the Route Partnership should be seeking an alternative that will protect the seafront and encourage the link between the town and the historic seafront.

• The governments Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment said “they would have liked to have understood why an option outside the seawall was chosen”. English Heritage are of a similar opinion and propose to upgrade the listing of the South Pier.

• The Route Partnerships consultant, Hyder (UK), rejected the option this proposal is based on in 2004.

 

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OBJECTION Date 15th February 2010.


Planning application Nr 10-0095-LBC
Listed Building Consent: Penzance Harbour.

I object to any scheme that promotes the destruction and/or 'burying' of the ancient Listed structure of the South Pier at Penzance. The Ferry is needed, berthing is needed, but not at the cost of so much heritage that the Nation can ill afford to lose.

My personal objections are in relation to the loss of heritage of which I have personally researched, before the report prepared by Nick Cahill of the Cornwall Archeological Unit (now the Historical Environment Service) as to Historic and Heritage Merits of the site. The site not only has heritage intrinsic to its structure, it directly connects to people and buildings of this town of Penzance, recounted in many histories and old books (of which I have copies). The Harbour and especially the Pier and the Barbican, Battery area directly relate to many histories, all specifically mentioned, all the way back to its early days, with the mun pit.

The Applicant’s Own Historic Building Analysis declares that this is ‘among the most sensitive of any archaeological sites in any Cornish urban environment, and, in a national context, as significant an archaeological resource as any harbour or coastal town in the country’. Yet, demolition works will cause very substantial damage to the fabric of the listed building and in particular the pier’s c1745 parapet wall.

English Heritage has stated ‘the stonework to the South Pier is a distinctive part of the harbour and creates the setting for the entire area. The loss or concealment of part or all of the harbour walls as part of a scheme may be considered to have a large adverse effect on the heritage asset as a whole.’

This may be considered to be the largest and longest 18th century pier in Conwall.
The proposal shows that the intention is to bury all of this behind a building and wall of unsuitable materials and construction, behing an industrial development in an unsuitable location. This will alter its appeareance irreversibly from one of traditional virtues into one of no architectual distiction or merit whatsoever, destroying one of the factors that visitors come to see.

The Applicant’s Own Historic Building Analysis declares it to be ‘part of an extensive and important harbour complex that puts it on a par with [Grade] II* [listed] harbour structures elsewhere in Devon and Cornwall’, and that the ‘current Grade II assessment is inaccurate and the pier should be Grade II*’.

The loss of sight of the original ‘natural’ harbour, namely the reef on which the present pier is built, together with other rare rocks, destroys the view and the attaned history of the very reason what Penzance harbour was ever built there and the reason for the placing and development of Penzance itself. To remove that physical narrative from the scene by building on it destroys an integral part of Penzance’s history.

At present the public’s view of the Bay is primarily seen from the Parade Ground, that exists as a part of the original mun pit, as well as the later Lime Kilns, and the site is indicated by specific marking on the granite wall at its entrance. This wall is shown in the engraving of the wreck of the Diana, of which I have managed to get an original (showing two lighthouses and a lookout tower). It is all shown on the 1842 Tithe Map, with its configuration, and the use of the beach as landing bay. Any consideration that this is a new beach is a total fabrication. It has been here and in use for centuries for trade purposes. This is not only a vital part of Penzance’s history, but to alter this area will remove the quiet view over the Bay, via the harbour framing, to St Michael’s Mount and the great backdrop of ‘The Lizard’.

The materials and methods in the works are entirely out of keeping with the
appearance and design of the listed building, the surrounding area and general vernacular of the region.

None of these works have been designed with proper consideration and there is no account taken of historic content, to the point of total disregard. It is not the way in which I dealt with situations.