Legal challenge launched to Labour council’s approval of Veolia site processing huge quantities of chemicals that caused one of biggest non-nuclear explosions in history – in the heart of a residential area
Residents of Garston and Cressington in the south of Liverpool have begun the formal legal process to overturn the decision by the city’s Labour council to approve a site that will process more than double the quantity of a mix of dangerous chemicals that caused the 1974 Flixborough disaster, one of the biggest non-nuclear explosions in human history, with a blast radius of over three miles that killed twenty-eight people in a rural area.
Despite the Flixborough inquiry’s conclusions that the chemical should not be processed near residential areas, the council’s planning committee did not even discuss the risk of explosion before approving the construction of the site, only 200m from the nearest school and nearby housing estates. In light of the much larger quantities ultimately to be processed at the site, the potential blast radius could reach almost to the city centre six miles away. The planning committee was also told that there was no need an outside assessment of the dangers of the site, because its officers were the ‘independent’ investigators and had assessed Veolia’s reports.
After raising an initial legal fighting fund, lawyers acting for the residents have sent a formal ‘letter before action’ to Liverpool City Council, challenging the Council’s decision to grant permission for Veolia to construct two additional fractionation towers used for distilling and processing the chemical waste on King Street (planning ref. 23F/0408).
The letter challenges the decision on the basis that the planning application was deliberately split from an earlier application for two identical towers on site. If the developments, which will be built and used simulataneously, are properly considered together they meet the threshold for being a ‘Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project’. This designation would mean that development consent should have been required from the Secretary of State, rather than a pliant local council known to have diverted emails from residents about the development away from their intended recipients.
The letter argues that any construction which takes place without that development consent will be in breach of the law and could therefore be ordered to be demolished by the Council. Finally, the letter argues that the environmental impact assessment which was supportive of the development the site did not properly consider the cumulative effect of both applications. The letter requests that the Council responds to the challenge by 22 February after which the action group may consider lodging proceedings to ask the court to review the decision.
Donations can be made to the residents’ legal fighting fund here.
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Right Wing Lab council dumps on residents; these toxic plans need scrapping & Liverpool needs more Socialist Community Independents who put the health & well being of citizens first.
When Right Wing Lab takes the power for themselves the top down power goes to their heads?
This is disgusting, Right Wing Lightweight Lab – The Dirty Men & Women of Liverpool?
Boot them out!
I’m a little surprised that there has been no mention on these pages about Julian Assange’s upcoming court hearing next week.
“The fate of the free press is in your hands: join the protest next week.
Julian Assange’s very last chance to escape extradition to the US will happen next week in the Royal Courts of Justice. ……….
We need everyone who can possibly come down to protest outside the court, on both Tuesday 20th and Wednesday 21st February. We’ll be there from 8.30am to the close of court business in the late afternoon. Do join us for as long as you can. But no matter how much time you have please come down and add you voice to those demanding a free press.
You’ll be in good company. MPs Jeremy Corbyn, Richard Burgon, David Davis, Apsana Begum and Zarah Sultana will be there. So will journalist Peter Oborne, Tim Dawson from the National Union of Journalists, and lawyer and member of the House of Lords John Hendy.
When the court session finishes on the second day we’ll be marching from the Royal Courts in the Strand to Downing Street. Please make a special effort to join us for that protest.
We need a last drive to leaflet for the protest, especially on the huge national Palestine demonstration due in London next Saturday 17th February. So it you can do any leafleting do let us know at office@dontextraditeassange.com.
If you would like us to send you some leaflets directly to your address so that you have them handy we’d be happy to do that. On the Palestine demo you can pick them up from the Stop the War Coalition stall.
Julian Assange judge previously acted for MI6
The judge set to rule on the Assange extradition case was previously paid to represent the interests of MI6 and the Ministry of Defence – whose activities WikiLeaks has exposed.
https://www.declassifieduk.org/julian-assange-judge-previously-acted-for-mi6/
Credit to the citizens acting as L19 Action Group. The Council’s disregard for the safety of its residents is shocking.
Like Starmer supporting Israel’s Gaza genocide, LCC’s Approval for two (additional) hazardous chemical re-processing towers at Garston Docks shows that the centrists in charge of Labour – and the Labour-controlled LCC – have no regard for people, for democracy nor for due process.
People in Liverpool should ask themselves how many other UK cities have a council so reckless and irresponsible it is willing to set up a potentially dangerous cyclohexanone reprocessing plant in its midst and within 200 metres of the nearest school?