OBJ/349/28 GREEN BELT PRESENTATION CORE DOCUMENTS DECC017 Compendium Page 51 0. PREAMBLE Hello, I’m Tony Hinkins. I’ve lived in Frodsham for 45 years and I worked for ICI on local sites from 1966 until 2000. My presentation provides further information on an aspect of Sections 2.2 and 2.3 of our letter to DECC, ref DECC017, of 15 August 2010. 1. INTRODUCTION During this inquiry, several references have been made to the allocation of the Marshes to “large scale industry of national importance” before they were incorporated into the North Cheshire Green Belt. Note that the phrase “strategic industry” is sometimes casually used. The official phrase is “large scale industry of national importance.” We would like to clarify the background to this allocation and the nature of that “large scale industry of national importance.” 2. THE SIXTIES When I first arrived in Frodsham in 1966, the local economic climate was unrecognisable from what one sees today. The local Shell and ICI businesses were expanding very rapidly. New plants were starting up one after the other. All these rusty old plants that one sees today were brand new and shiny. The problem was that there was little space left on the existing sites at Stanlow (Shell) and Castner-Kellner / Rocksavage (ICI) for further expansion. At ICI we were commissioning the VC3 Plant (VC is a precursor to PVC plastic), VC4 was under construction in North Lancashire, and VC5 was pencilled in for the eastern end of Frodsham Marsh. Shell had just broken out of Stanlow and was building the “Shellstar” Plant, now operated by GrowHow UK, on Helsby Marsh.
OBJ/349/28 3. THE IMPORTANCE OF LOCATION If the Shell and ICI businesses were to expand, it had to happen locally for several reasons: • Refineries need to be on a massive scale. There are only seven in the UK and only two of these (Stanlow and Milford Haven) are on the West Coast. • The “ICI” processes are based on local deposits of salt and other minerals • The plants within both sites are highly integrated. One plant is often fed by a process stream from another. • Many basic chemicals are hazardous and difficult to transport • There was little prospect of finding an alternative site for these activities which would be acceptable to the residents of that area. Chemical plants are not popular as neighbours. 4. THE PLANNING ALLOCATION The “large scale industry of national importance” allocation was made in the expectation that the Shell / ICI expansion would continue. The allocation was made purely to accommodate the expansion of these two sites (Stanlow and Castner-Kellner / Rocksavage). One could hardly say “reserved for Shell and ICI” and the authorities chose to say “reserved for large scale industry of national importance”. In the event the boom was short-lived and by the end of the 1970s everyone realised that the era of feverish expansion had come to an end. It took time for the new business realities to be reflected in planning allocations but local people, who worked (or indeed had just been made redundant from) these industries, could see what was happening and were very keen to see this anomaly in the North Cheshire Green Belt corrected as soon as possible. The process by which this was achieved is reflected in documents and processes such as: • The Cheshire County Council (CCC) County Structure Plan (1979) • The Mersey Marshes Local Plan Public Inquiry (1986) 5. CCC COUNTY STRUCTURE PLAN 1979 The Secretary of State for the Environment says the following about Frodsham, Helsby and Lordship Marshes in Paragraph 8 of his introductory letter (Appendix 1):
OBJ/349/28 “The possibility of future development of this area for industrial purposes was a matter of substantial controversy at the Examination in Public...” “...The area is...between two major industries of national importance - petrochemicals and general chemicals - both of which have long term potential for additional development...” This forecast was to prove optimistic. Cheshire County Council’s forecast (that the land was no longer required for industry and could be included in the Green Belt) was to prove to be correct. “...He considers that development there should be contemplated only for an important project which cannot dispense with the special locational features of the area...” “...Moreover he considers that it is right that there should be a general presumption against any development which does not require to make use of the special features which give the area its rare potential for the location of certain large-scale industry of national importance...” 6. CCC MERSEY MARSHES LOCAL PLAN 1986 This Plan was subject to a public inquiry in 1984. By this time ICI appears to have given up its claim to the eastern end of the Marshes and the aim was to make a sound allocation for Shell at the western end. The CCC Draft Written Statement (Appendix 2) starts: “For several years the County and District Councils have been seeking a solution to the problem of how to allow the important Stanlow oil refining and petrochemical complex room for forseeable expansion needs whilst at the same time maintaining acceptable living conditions in the villages and residential areas which immediately adjoin it. It is the aim of the “Mersey Marshes Local Plan” to settle these issues and present an acceptable framework for future development. This Local Plan has been prepared as a subject plan because it seeks specifically to define the future land-use needs of the oil and petrochemical industry...” The accompanying Draft Proposals Map ruled out any industrial development to the east of Hoolpool Gutter. IN SUMMARY The past allocation of Frodsham, Helsby and Lordship Marshes to “large scale industry of national importance” was based solely on the then needs of the local oil, petrochemical and general chemical industries, specifically the Shell and ICI businesses, and the fact that these needs could only be met by “the special locational features of the area”.
OBJ/349/28 APPENDIX 1 CHESHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL COUNTY STRUCTURE PLAN 1979 (EXTRACT)
OBJ/349/28 APPENDIX 2 MERSEY MARSHES LOCAL PLAN PUBLIC INQUIRY 1984 CCC DRAFT WRITTEN STATEMENT (EXTRACT)
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