Press Release: December 5th 2018
Eden District Council is Woefully Mistaken as
Executives receive update from EDC Officers
The Penrith Masterplan still going forward despite over 7,000 objections
A meeting was held of Eden District Council’s Executive last night on 4th December 2018, where the Executive received an update on the public consultation undertaken in respect of the Beacon Villages Masterplan.
Please click the link to read the attached the EDC update. – Penrith Strategic Masterplan – Public Engagement Update – Eden Development Portfolio Holder
Adrian Hill, Spokesman for the Keep Penrith Special Campaign Group commented:
‘It’s absurd that the Council persists with calling this woeful and unlawful consultation an engagement, when they know full well that the rules governing public consultations applied.
They have failed to abide by the well-established legal requirements for a public consultation.
They boast about the level of engagement, when in truth, it was simply an uprising of anger and rejection of the plan to double the size of Penrith, by building a new town 2.5 miles from Penrith on the highest point between Cross Fell and Blencathra, and on top of the UK’s strategic gas pipeline.
The Masterplan is distilled insanity, and more than 4,500 local people who have signed our petition
(thousands also signed the petition of to save the Beacon) effectively told the Leader of EDC and the whole Council to bin the Masterplan. But they still insist they are going forward. They are not listening to the Eden Residents.
Keep Penrith Special are preparing to put up independent candidates endorsed by our group against any Councillor who is in favour of the Masterplan or indeed any councillor who sits on the fence like our MP, Rory Stewart. Please get in touch with us at mail@keeppenrithspecial.org if you are interested in standing.
We are also ready to apply for a judicial review as soon as EDC take a decision to proceed with the Masterplan. We are confident that we will be successful in such a judicial review, that is because EDC started their process at chapter 3, and in law they had to start at the beginning, chapter 1, with a full review of all sites and not jump to a preferred site behind the Beacon as they did. We say it would be far better for EDC to follow the lead of Lowther Estates and to abandon the Masterplan and to stop wasting our money defending the indefensible.’
Keep Penrith Special Campaign stands:
Keep Penrith Special and REJECT the Penrith Masterplan because the People of Eden and Penrith deserve better. We want a proper grounded, practical and sensible plan to make Penrith a better place to live, work, shop and visit and we want to get everyone to contribute their thoughts in building that plan. A plan for the many not just the few, in a true and democratic process and not behind closed doors.
• Build on the Beacon – NO
• New Town/Villages 2.5 Miles from Penrith – NO
• Double Population – NO
• More Congestion – NO
• More Pressure on Local NHS – NO
• More Pressure on Schools – NO
• Major roads on every side of Penrith – NO
• Affordable Housing for Locals – YES
• A Better Vision for Penrith & Eden – YES
Ends
It must be made absolutely clear the Masterplan is still happening. We urge all Eden residents to follow and like our Facebook page @keeppenrithspecial that provides up to date information since the consultation ended. Moving forward KPS are going to build an alternative plan for our district, called the 3PE (the People’s plan for Penrith and Eden). We will build it between now, involving anyone who wants to be involved and the May elections, so there is a clear plan you can vote for. We guarantee it won’t involve a new town, it will involve more affordable housing and tackle local issues that should have been tackled long ago
Keep Penrith Special launched an online petition on 10th September against EDC’s Penrith Masterplan. Links to the petition and video can be found at www.keeppenrithspecial.org. More than 3,600 people have signed the online petition and 100’s of wet signatures and over 1,600 written postcard objections have been collected since the launch. Over 92% are from Eden District/Cumbria postcodes (CA10 & CA11), being overwhelmingly dominant. More than 3,000 people have watched our video and seen the appalling wanton destruction that the Masterplan would inflict on the beautiful Eden Valley.
For further information please visit www.keeppenrithspecial.org or if you would like to speak to the Keep Penrith Special Group, please contact Adrian Hill on 07831810467 or email mail@keeppenrithspecial.org.
