Last night there was an extraordinary meeting of full council to debate the Hoylake Golf Resort scheme.
This has long been a hugely controversial proposal which has sucked time, energy and cash from where its really needed and what Wirral people support which is regenerating East Wirral. How much further advanced would Wirral Waters be if we hadn't wasted so many of our resources on the hugely unpopular scheme.
By a single vote on one motion Labour won the day but they are clearly losing the war. It is a real failure of political leadership that this scheme ever saw the light of day never mind the failure to now pull the plug.
Firstly, I’d
like to sincerely thank the work of the Stop the Hoylake Golf Resort group.
Their detailed and dogged analysis has systematically challenged the economic
and environmental credentials of this scheme.
Anyone who
watched the recent call-in on the local plan will have heard the cabinet member
for housing say more than once “none of
us councillors want to build on the green belt”.
The simple
truth is by promoting this scheme, and allocating huge amounts of public funds
that could have been invested where really needed, the leader and cabinet have
persistently demonstrated that they do want to build on the green belt.
And, there
can therefore be no surprise if the public simply do not trust this council to
protect any of our green belt.
So instead of
rebranding this scheme as the Celtic Manor Resort let’s start calling it what
it really is – “The Hoylake executive housing in the greenbelt” scheme.
But the public
loss of trust extends way beyond the green belt. This scheme is a poster
project for unsustainable development. It assaults every key environmental
concern that we face.
Take biodiversity: we know that, on a global
scale, humanity has wiped out 60% of mammals, birds, fish and reptiles since
1970. Just last week, the UN warned us that the world's food supply is under
'severe threat' from loss of biodiversity.
In response,
Ireland’s President Michael Higgins said “Around the world, the library of life that has evolved over billions of
years – our
biodiversity – is being destroyed, poisoned, polluted, invaded, fragmented, plundered,
drained and burned at a rate not seen in human history. If we were coal miners
we’d be up to our waists in dead
canaries.”
Yet here we
have Wirral council still promoting a scheme that will devastate our own
biodiversity in a key location for wildlife. Apart from the destruction caused by
new roads and buildings, golf courses require, on average, seven times the
amount of chemicals as farmland.
Take air quality: we know that Wirral fails
to meet World Health Organisation safe limits. Some of our residents are
literally chocking to death on the air they breathe. Many others have their
health impaired.
Yet here we
have plans to spend £17 million of public money to build a new road which we
know will increase traffic and further damage our air quality.
And as for climate breakdown it’s almost as if a
scheme based on the wealthy flying in to play a round of golf and flying home
again has been deliberately designed to wind up the surging ranks of climate
campaigners.
When
striking school children tell us they feel let down its exactly this kind of
outdated, 20th century thinking they are referring to.
On more than
one occasion I heard a former cabinet member for the environment refer to the
Hoylake Executive Housing Scheme in the green belt as “my kind of socialism”.
But now we
learn that Celtic Manor do not recognise trade unions, use zero hours contracts
and do not pay the living wage.
If the
cabinet thinks this is an acceptable form of socialism then it is no surprise
that they have failed to carry their own party members with them.
Surely nobody
who calls themselves a socialist could vote for this elitist scheme.
My vision is a Birkenhead that is both prosperous and green.
