Archived press release

M1/Westlink inquiry Inspector: unfit and compromised

14 March 2003

Friends of the Earth has written to Regional Development Minister Angela Smith concerning the fitness of the Inspector who conducted the M1/Westlink public inquiry, on the day she published his report [1]. The pressure group insists Mr Francis Guckian was unfit to hear the inquiry because he was 75 years old and ill at the time of the hearing, took very few notes and has a conflict of interest. Friends of the Earth's letter cites five reasons why a fresh inquiry should be held:

1. Age
Mr Guckian was 75 at the time of the inquiry last November and December, ten years above the maximum age at which he would normally have been permitted to hear a Planning Appeals Commission inquiry [2].

2. Illness during the inquiry
Mr Guckian fell ill before the inquiry began, necessitating a short postponement, and sources close to the Inspector have told Friends of the Earth that Mr Guckian had not properly recovered by the time the inquiry began. He appeared frail and unwell throughout the inquiry and had difficulty hearing some of the contributions.

3. Inadequate note-taking
Mr Guckian took very few notes during the inquiry, meaning that he had to rely upon his memory while adjudicating upon the detailed legal and technical evidence given over a four day period. Friends of the Earth raised this issue publicly at the inquiry and Mr Guckian conceded that he had an inadequate record of the inquiry proceedings. There is no official record of public inquiry proceedings, unlike in a court or parliamentary setting. Neither had Mr Guckian an assistant: he had a 'technical assessor' to assist him during the first M1/Westlink public inquiry, held in November and December 2000 but refused the offer of an assistant on this occasion. Participants from all sides remarked privately upon the Inspector’s age, frailty and scant note-taking.

4. Conflict of interest
Mr Guckian is a Director of Londonderry Chamber of Commerce which lobbies Government for increased spending on roads in the North West [3]. Because of the Chamber's particular view of the relationship between roads investment and economic development [4], Mr Guckian's Directorship of the Chamber represents a non-pecuniary conflict of interest, meaning the inquiry he heard cannot have been fair and impartial, as required under Human Rights legislation.

5. Barriers to public participation
Efforts to facilitate public participation in the inquiry fell short of expectations. There was no pre-inquiry meeting held or procedural guidelines issued and many participants were unaware of the rules governing the inquiry until they were corrected by the Inspector for breaking one of them. Journalists received no official briefing material and many turned to Friends of the Earth for an explanation of the project history and inquiry proceedings.

Lisa Fagan, Transport Campaigner at Friends of the Earth demanded a fresh inquiry be heard:

"Angela Smith must reopen the inquiry and provide an adequate forum for the presentation of evidence. This would be in the interests of participants and in the wider public interest because it would help restore confidence in the public inquiry system."

Notes

[1] [back] DRD press release 14 March 2003.

[2] [back] Although the Planning Appeals Commission (PAC) did not hear the M1/Westlink public inquiry because it was held under a separate piece of legislation, namely the Roads (NI) Order, the PAC hears the vast majority of public inquiries in Northern Ireland and their upper age limit provides a useful comparator.

[3] [back] On 11 March 2003, a senior Roads Service official met the Londonderry Chamber of Commerce and the following extract is taken from a press statement issued by the Department for Regional Development:

"Over 60 per cent of major road schemes currently on site in Northern Ireland are on routes serving the North West, Roads Service’s Director of Network Services, David Orr, said today. He was speaking at the meeting with Londonderry Chamber of Commerce to discuss a number of long-term roads issues affecting the future economic development of the North West. Mr Orr said:

“Today’s meeting was positive and constructive and once again the Chamber took a strategic view of the transport issues facing the North West. The Chamber put forward its case for major road improvements on the A6, A5 and A2 corridors to the city [our emphasis] and I was able to show that Roads Service is making good progress on these routes.”

And Mr Guckian, on behalf of Londonderry Chamber of Commerce, included the following comments in his submission on Shaping Our Future, the Draft Regional Strategic Framework for Northern Ireland (later known as the Regional Development Strategy):

"It is now over thirty years since the Chamber of Commerce was prominently involved with the then Government in the designation of the A6 as the main traffic route to Belfast. At that time major improvements were carried out to link with the M2 and M22. From the earliest days it was recognised that additional works would be necessary if the route would reach UK or European Standards, in particular by-passes at Toome and Dungiven. Thirty years on and we are still waiting." [Our emphasis]

[4] [back] Londonderry Chamber of Commerce is of the view that roads spending supports economic development, however the UK Government-appointed Standing Advisory Committee on Trunk Road Assessment pointed to evidence that major roads projects can ‘suck’ economic investment from a region or locality as firms find it increasingly possible to service the region in question from a base at some distance. Much other evidence exists but suffice to say that the view of the Londonderry Chamber of Commerce concerning the relationship between roads investment and economic development is merely a view and not a statement of fact.

Friends of the Earth Northern Ireland
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Published by Friends of the Earth Trust