Line drawn under Hunny pier row?
WEST Norfolk Council will no longer spend officers' time looking into challenges surrounding Hunstanton Pier if a report into the long-running saga is approved next week.
The authority's ruling cabinet is being recommended to draw a line under the row and move on, in a report which addresses the controversies raised ever since the amusement arcade on The Green was destroyed by fire in 2002.
The document, compiled by the council's head of legal services Nicola Leader, lists repeated criticisms and legal challenges to the council's decision to grant CHS Amusements planning permission to replace the former Pier Entertainment Centre.
Protesters objected to the development because of its encroachment on The Green, questioned the council's consultation process and accused it of maladministration.
They petitioned the council and later claimed CHS was obliged to rebuild Hunstanton's Victorian pier, which blew down in a gale in 1978.
But the report, due to be discussed by the cabinet on Tuesday, says that now the replacement building has been built, the courts would not entertain any challenge to the council's decision to give planning permission.
It also outlines why its current owners are not obliged to rebuild the pier and recommends a deed be drawn up formally releasing the Hunstanton Pier Company from any obligation to repair the pier.
"It is really time to draw to a close the debate surrounding the Hunstanton Pier and associated matters. There is no real prospect of any successful legal challenge in respect of any of the council's actions, and having to deal with repetitious questions and criticisms is very demanding on officer time," it concludes.
"It is therefore recommended that in the future any members of the public who raise questions relating to issues dealt with herein simply be directed to this report and its conclusions."
Pier campaigner John Maiden, who led protest group the Hunstanton Objectors, this week vowed to continue his campaign and has written to North West Norfolk MP Henry Bellingham claiming Mrs Leader's report was a "cover-up" and a "three-pronged attack on human rights".
In an e-mail to Mr Bellingham, he said: "If members of the cabinet are unwise enough to vote in favour of this ill-conceived proposal, they will be doing a grave disservice to Hunstanton, which has been poorly served by West Norfolk Council on a number of significant occasions."
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Weather for King's Lynn
Sunday 27 May 2012
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