News Holland House action group facing appeal
Holland House campaigners look set to face a third public inquiry after it was revealed this week that the company behind the latest planning bid is set to appeal against the East Riding of Yorkshire Council's decision to refuse them change of use for the former nursing home.
Last month a meeting of the East Riding of Yorkshire Council's Planning Committee at the Vikings Hotel in Goole threw out plans by Partnerships in Care for a change of use permit - allowing them to turn the property in Hook into a low secure unit for women with mental health problems.
Partnerships in Care have now submitted an appeal to the planning inspectorate. The East Riding of Yorkshire Council, Holland House Action Group and all local people who wrote letters of objection regarding the proposed plans were informed by letter last week of the proposed third inquiry.
HHAG chairman Keith Moore this week said: "So now we have it. PD Services, their financial supporters and Partnerships in Care are waging a war of attrition against the very community they claimed they wanted to work with. They are exploiting loopholes in planning legislation and armed with their massive cheque books are attempting to force something on the community against its wishes.
"We will, with the massive public support we command, investigate all potential ways forward to defeat these two companies. As recently stated this third inquiry will almost certainly push up our legal costs to the £30,000 mark. To contest these two inquires we shall need to turn to the community to help us financially if we are to retain our legal team."
Keith Moore has also contacted Goole MP Ian Cawsey asking him to look at referring this matter to the Secretary of State to see if planning legislation can be amended to prevent further appeals and close any planning loopholes.
Ironically, the news of this latest potential inquiry comes at the same time as a report has been released claiming that more than 400 people have been killed by mentally ill patients over the past eight years - which on average equates to 52 people a year.
This figure has reinforced the Holland House Action Group's belief that such a secure facility should be placed within existing secure facilities, both to reduce the number of these deaths and also to cut the number of cases of escaped patients who harm themselves.
Mr Moore also said that the local Primary Care Trust proposes to move patients out of cottage hospitals in our region and place them into private nursing homes. "Owing to the already acute shortage of nursing beds, this will bed block the rest of the community who need a nursing bed," said Mr Moore.
He added that the action group will be making further announcements after discussing this latest development with their legal team and working out how much this latest fight will cost.
The next HHAG meetings are open meetings and are to be held on: December 13, January 10, February 6 and March 7. All meetings commence at 7.30pm at the Charter Club in Goole.
Published on 7th December 2006 in News.
Add to: Digg | del.icio.us | Reddit
Comments
There are currently no comments
Comments are closed for this article.