First Letter of Objection to Pembrokeshire County Council Planning Application 20/0732/PA in Pembroke Dockyard.

Letter Notes and diagrams available via hyperlinks in the text.
Pembroke Dock	East Bergholt
Pembrokeshire	Colchester
	Essex
Pembrokeshire County Council
Planning Department	Email:

 

21 January 2021

 

Dear Mr Simmons

 

Planning Application: 20/0732/PA (Outline) – Gate 4 Pembroke Dockyard

 

I am writing to state objections to the above planning application and to ask that Pembrokeshire County Council refuses to grant outline permission. I have attached to this letter my notes regarding the several ways in which this application fails to meet policy guidelines as set out in the adopted Local Development Plan (LDP). I have also attached some diagrams that illustrate some of my reasons for objecting to this application.

 

My reasons are:

 

1)      The scheme proposed would have negative environmental and social impact on those living in and around the site. Given the magnitude and impact of what is proposed, there are only vague expressions of the likelihood of it providing economic benefit to the local community. The scheme is not of strategic national importance otherwise it would be determined at government level.

 

2)      The scheme is inappropriate and damaging for a site within a Conservation Area, set within a Landscape of Outstanding Historical Interest.

 

3)      The area is identified in the LDP as having been allocated as an employment zone. Transformative development does NOT have to be such that it destroys the historical assets within its boundaries. Any transformation that takes place should build upon the assets already existing, particularly in a place that has such significance for cultural history of Pembroke Dock. This scheme is destructive of the cultural and amenity value of the site.

 

4)      Alternative sites for the scheme are available within the haven, but these have not been explored adequately by the applicant. The applicant’s trust port status places an obligation on them to build upon the assets that give the community of Pembroke Dock a sense of culture, place and well-being. In return they have been given extraordinary powers which they are now using to prize a project into their own property, for which it is ill suited for a range of reasons.

 

5)      The scheme would detract from the clear potential that the site has to act as a catalyst in boosting the visitor economy of Pembroke Dock. The site has obvious and great potential to help make Pembroke Dock into destination that visitors would return to.

 

6)      The scheme would, due to its scale and location, have a negative effect on the prospect of developing highquality visitor accommodation within Pembroke Dock. The ability to cater for tourists and tourism is an identified leading characteristic of the Pembrokeshire economy.

 

7)      Apart from the destruction of a unique signature collection of listed monuments that are a statement of the origins of Pembroke Dock, the proposed fabrication sheds and swathes of concrete inflict severe damage on the settings of other listed buildings and scheduled monuments within the dockyard and wider conservation area.

Notably the buildings whose context and setting will be drastically altered for the worse are:

i) Paterchurch (Listed Grade I and Scheduled Monument); ii) SW Dockyard Tower (Listed Grade II* and Scheduled Monument); 

iii) Bomb Stores at West End of Fort Road (Scheduled Monument); 

iv) Defensible Barracks (Listed Grade II* and Scheduled Monument); 

v) The former Commodore Hotel (Listed Grade II*); 

vi) The former Oakum Store (Listed Grade II); 

vii) The Foremens’ Office (Listed Grade II);

viii) A series of listed buildings that with The Commodore comprise the Terrace and Gateways etc. (Listed Grade II*); ix) A series of listed Offices, Stores and Houses (Grade II);

8)      See: https://cadw.gov.wales/advice-support/cof-cymru/search-cadw-records for further examples.

 

9)      The destruction of so many other buildings within the dockyard, that incorporate much skill, worked materials and effort is a waste of natural resources. Many of these buildings could be put to good use in a scenario that is very different and more sustainable than that proposed.

 

10)   The applicant is intending to use its extraordinary, but now inappropriate powers, to summarily evict a number of freeholders and tenants to allow the proposed scheme to take place. In many cases this means that the businesses displaced will find it extremely difficult to find alternative accommodation. This will undoubtedly affect their well-being and future economic resilience.

 

11)   The amenity of residents and properties within close proximity to the site will be severely diminished leading to loss of personal well-being and those characteristics of one’s home or workspace that make for a pleasant life.

 

12)   The location of some fabrication sheds and concrete work areas will allow unavoidable construction and maintenance noise to impinge on the well-being of patients, staff and visitors at the neighbouring South Pembrokeshire Hospital.

 

13)   The design of the proposed buildings is unsustainable.

 

14)   The design of the buildings pays but an imagined regard to local distinctiveness.

 

15)   The scheme, of uncertain nature and future, will critically diminish any future opportunities that Pembroke Dock will be able draw upon to use its rich history to its own economic benefit.

 

Pembroke Dock has a unique history and design. The buildings in the dockyard and town are a testament to the lives spent creating the place over the course of the nineteenth century. The dockyard employed the most skilful workers in its construction and to produce its signature product – ships. The masons, blacksmiths, carpenters and shipwrights built a town that reflected their talents and capability. They left us buildings and spaces, particularly in the dockyard, that have sadly been squandered. Now is the time to stop this desecration of the past and to put it to a use that will benefit, in all the best ways, the residents of Pembroke Dock.

 

I hope that the above and the attached notes and diagrams will be of assistance to you and your colleagues in making a decision. I request that you refuse this application for the longer-term benefit of Pembroke Dock, which needs to find a way forward that is not dependent on a boom-and-bust economic cycle.

 Yours sincerely

Adrian James