Friends of the Earth Cymru challenges Legend Court over "planning assurances" claim

Friends of the Earth Cymru has written to Legend Court director Alan Gunter calling on him to name whoever gave the company "assurances that planning permission would be forthcoming" [1] for the company's proposed theme park near Newport in south Wales.

The group was responding to claims made by Legend Court in the Western Mail on 21 January that it had spent more than three and a half million pounds promoting the proposal after receiving some assurances from an unnamed source.

Julian Rosser of Friends of the Earth Cymru commented:

"It is all very well for Legend Court to make these vague allegations but it is important for us to find out if there is any truth in them. If a senior figure in a local authority or Quango is giving assurances to developers then that person has contempt for the planning system. They also risk wasting developers' and public money as well as causing great anxiety to local residents."

"On the other hand, Legend Court executives seem to have little knowledge of, or regard for, the planning system in Wales and it could be that they simply misunderstood what they were told. This would beg the question of why the Welsh Development Agency and Wales Tourist Board believed that these people were competent to run a multi-million pound theme park."

"I hope that Mr Gunter will clarify this situation for us so action can to be taken to see that this sort of situation never arises again."

Notes

[1] Western Mail, 21 January 2000.