Another summer, another LEMP. Version 5 (nearly lost count) of Tormead’s Landscape and Ecological Management Plan for the Urnfield development has appeared onscreen. The school is applying once more to get approval for what was, you may remember, a critical “pre commencement” condition. This was the condition the school pushed through a “deemed discharge” process back in February because it couldn’t wait any longer.
It seems the reason Tormead has made this new application is because it has only just become apparent to the school that the plans for the development (which it drew up) are incompatible with the approved LEMP (which it drew up) that provides for a 10m “badger exclusion zone” around all of the setts on the site and close to the boundary.
They can’t dig up the ground to build the athletics track without incursion into what should be a No Go zone to protect the badger setts. Oh, except they have dug up quite a bit already, as you can see from the aerial view.
As usual there is a bunch of glaring errors in the material presented in this new application, including a claim the development has not yet started, and that the site cannot be seen from any public land.
The LEMP itself continues to contain fundamental errors and inconsistencies. It does make you wonder whether Tormead is getting value for money for what it is spending on all of the consultants managing this project.
No matter. The fact that there is a new application to discharge the condition (approve the LEMP) means that the school does not have all the necessary approvals to do the works, which must now therefore stop. Immediately.
We have been given three weeks to comment on the new LEMP before the council decides whether or not to approve it and we are grateful to GBC for that.
Meanwhile, we’re collecting evidence of possible contraventions of the badger licence issued for the site, and potentially unlicensed work. If I were the named individual on that licence (let’s just say, a Headteacher) I might want to check my contractors and consultants are on the ball.
The consequences of getting it wrong are most unpalatable.
