THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY - CONTRASTING RESPONSES TO SPURN VISITOR CENTRE RULING

                          OBSERVATORY TRUST SAY PLEAS 'FELL ON DEAF EARS'      

            

The scene outside County Hall following the meeting

 THE responses to East Riding of Yorkshire Council's decision to grant planning consent for a visitor centre at Spurn could hardly  be at further ends of the spectrum.

Spurn Bird Observatory Trust, some of whose members attended the planning meeting where the decision was made, are dismayed.

This statement has been issued by its chairman, Rob Adams:

I am very sorry to have to advise you that the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust's  planning application for a visitor centre in Triangle Field was today passed by the ERYCC planning committee.

"Despite several thousand objections, the committee sought to approve this application.

 "We at the observatory had always made it clear from the outset that the proposed location was the key issue in our objection and had pleaded with YWT at executive level to move it to a more environmentally suitable site.

 "Unfortunately our pleadings fell on deaf ears and we now believe that the wildlife that abounds at Spurn will be faced with a very uncertain future."

 By contrast, the YWT was cockahoop at the ruling as its statement reveals:

"The trust  is delighted with the decision made by the East Riding of Yorkshire Council to award planning permission for a new visitor centre at Spurn National Nature Reserve. 

"We believe this gives the wildlife of Spurn a much brighter future and will ensure Spurn’s many visitors have a safe, informative and enjoyable experience for many years to come.

"We would like to thank E.ON, our other partners and members of the public for supporting our proposal."

The statement continues: "We acknowledge that many people do not support the proposal.

"With our recently formed advisory group of site partners and representatives of the local community, we are committed to try and find ways to work with everyone with a stake in the future of Spurn for the benefit of the site and its iconic wildlife."

Both parties will now study the minutiae of the application's  planning  conditions in order to ascertain what precisely has been approved and how effectively they are likely to be enforced.

Below more photos of the scene outside County Hall, Beverley, where YWT directors came under some heavy-duty barracking from  opponents of the application.