PUBLIC QUESTION TIME
:
Minutes:
The Area Committee received a petition from Jackie Hood, Chair of Helensburgh Skate Park Project and three young committee members of the Group which has received over 1,117 signatures in support of proposals to build a new concrete skate park at Helensburgh Pierhead site. She advised that the Group were supportive of the plans for the Waterfront Development and asked the Council to support the skate park proposals, inviting the Area Committee to their open day on Saturday 23rd June at 3pm at Helensburgh Pierhead.
Norman Muir, Convenor of Helensburgh and Lomond Community Council had submitted a question in writing but was unable to be in attendance. The Area Committee Manager read out the question on his behalf.
1. The Waterfront Project has been slowly gestating since 2009 and a Masterplan was adopted after public consultation in 2012. In December 2017 the Area Committee changed the location of the leisure centre on the pierhead site, laid out in the still-current 2012 Pierhead Masterplan Addendum.
This was done for unclear reasons and without public consultation. This was clearly a premature decision and unfounded in the light of the potential risk of wave damage and flooding identified in the subsequent pre-application consultation process held in the town.
In the light of community feedback on the development, will the Area Committee re-visit its December decision, honour the agreed Pierhead Masterplan and re-instate the leisure centre in its original location?
The Regeneration Project Manager
advised that officers have checked with planning and their advice is that as
long as there is no deviation from the elements in the Masterplan, or any
defined areas for those elements, then there is no issue in terms of their
specific locations.
The survey undertaken by Helensburgh Community Council supports the preferred
location. The report at Agenda Item 17 addresses the concerns over potential
wave damage and flooding.
2.
Dr Peter
Brown, Vice Convenor of Helensburgh Community Council asked a couple of
questions:-
The following statements appear in A&BC's Standing Orders
(https://www.argyllbute.gov.uk/sites/default/files/constitution_part_b.pdf):
-
“Clear
days” excludes the day of publication and the day of the meeting and does not
include Saturdays, Sundays or public holidays.
Reports for this meeting, on Thursday 21st June 2018, should therefore
have been made public on Council received the Waterfront Development End Stage
Report at 5pm on Monday 18th June. Does the Area Committee agree that this is a
breach of its standing orders, and provides insufficient time for the public to
assess this significant document?
The Chair responded:-
I don’t accept that there hasn’t been sufficient time to consider this report
as this is the conclusion of a very substantial public engagement by the
Council and it is partly because of the tremendous response from the public
that the report was only issued to everyone on Monday of this week. I think it is now a matter of urgency that we
consider this report as the people in Helensburgh are expecting us all to make
positive progress in respect of this matter.
3.
I have
points that I would like to put to the Area Committee regarding the flood
protection of the proposed leisure centre.
i)
The End
Stage Report on the Waterfront Development states that “the Finished Floor
Level of any building to be constructed on the site will be set no lower than
5.4m Above Ordnance Datum (AOD), which is some 0.75m higher than the
predictions for a 1-in-200year event”. The ground floor plan clearly indicates
that the floor of the Plant Room will be at 4.7m AOD, which is much lower than
the 5.4m recommended in the Kaya Consulting flood risk assessment. Why is this
critical part of the building being constructed such that it will be
susceptible to flooding?
ii)
The
Report states “the Design Life for the new Leisure Building is 40years and that
the Climate Change impacts, upon which we have based our design, are forecast
out to 2080, or some 20 years after the new building would have reached the end
of its operational life”. What, therefore, will be the wave overtopping rate
(the amount of water that comes over the sea defence) in a 1-in-200 year
weather event in 2050, which will be well within the lifespan of the building,
and will this be less than 1 litre/s/m, which is the maximum above which damage
would occur to the building?
Fergus Murray, Head
of Economic Development and Strategic Transportation responded:-
i)
The
predicted 1-in-200 year’s water levels are 4.06m AOD for 2018, 4.48m AOD for
2080 and 4.65m AOD for 2100 respectively.
The lowest proposed level of 4.7m AOD for the Plant Room and the Car Park
is set 220mm above the predicted level of 4.48m AOD for 2080.
Our Project Team has concluded that the
proposed levels are appropriate for a 1-in-200 year in respect of the still sea
water level (i.e. astronomical tide + storm surge):
·
4.7m AOD
for Car Park and Leisure Centre Basement
·
4.8m AOD
for footways
·
5.1m AOD
for future development area and
·
5.4m AOD
for buildings and the top of the sea defence crest.
ii)
The
proposed flood defence design levels are above the flood and overtopping
requirements for the joint probability analysis of the 1-in-200 years’ water
levels for 2018.
The unacceptable overtopping levels are
calculated from the sea water level for 2080.
Our design proposals have mitigated this by allowing sufficient space around the perimeter of the development site to allow for the sea defences to ... view the full minutes text for item 4
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