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Eastgate plans

10:49am Thursday 1st October 2009 in


YET again The Northern Echo is complicit in the plans for Eastgate’s manipulation and abuse by business interests (Echo, Sept 29).

There is nothing “ecological”

about the Eastgate scheme. The city of Bath is not just a pumped warm water scheme – it is two thousand years of history, genuine hot springs, architecture and culture. Eastgate will never be remotely similar!

This scheme will lay waste the valley, its history and culture.

If it does succeed in creating tourist traffic, it will be an ecological and environmental disaster.

There is no local support for the scheme. The “jobs” it creates will be wealth for construction companies and “consultants” – not for the Dale.

The biomass incinerator is in a stupid place, which will “consume” nearly as much diesel fuel bringing imported wood to the site as it will produce by burning.

The trucks will make for an impossible hazard on the valley road.

There is no wind for the wind farm in the valley. There is no hot spring. There is no biomass supply.

This is the most serious abuse of the term “ecological” in the region. It is absolutely the opposite of an “ecological”

project.

Whatever happened to “journalism” when there is no critique of the business PR which foists us off with such destructive, expensive and pointless waste?

David Sugden, Wolsingham.

Comments(2)

Super steve says...
12:13pm Thu 1 Oct 09

Sounds like Nimbyism yet again, the Eco village will revitalise a ran down but beautiful area, thats what the semi retired Nimbys hate. The Eco village will change the status quo, it will create work, liesure, tourist and residential facilities, where currently theres only a huge slab of abandoned concrete. Whing all you like but creating a living , breathing community where their is only an expanse of concrete is definately ecological. You say there is no local support for the project yet I have spoken to tourists and volunteers at the Weardale railway, and people at leadgate, and people in a pub that was known in the old days as THE RANCH and they all thought it was a great idea. I hope the scheme gets the full go ahead and is backed up with a good sized wind farm that will also greatly benefit the area.

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North Pennine Observer says...
12:10pm Fri 2 Oct 09

Sorry "Super Steve", but the Eastgate plan won't be bringing a jobs benefit to the Dale. In fact it's actually damaged it already - they switched funding from a Wolsingham Business Park to develop it. Hundreds of thousands of public money have already been spent on it and tens of millions more would be needed to build it.
It wouldn't have a big wind farm either or much else in the way of renewable energy, apart from lukewarm groundwater.
But it would have a fish factory, a power station and lot's of downhill bikers (but very little for genuine cross-country mountain bikers). And they like to bring their special machines by road, so no bonanza for the Weardale Railway either.
In fact nothing much for anyone except a very large and expensive blot on the landscape.

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