Local environmental justice group "Impact" has added to the controversy over plans to redevelop Redcar's Coatham Enclosure. The group calls them 'seriously flawed', failing to meet the standards that the council itself has set.
"If this goes ahead as the planners wish" says Redcar's Paul Munster, one of the authors of the Impact report,"then it won't be a flagship project, it will be a dinosaur even before it is built".
"We fear that the flood risk to Redcar homes will be seriously increased if the open space that makes up most of the site is tarmacked over. When we get heavy rainstorms there will be nowhere for the water to go. Climate change is already raising the threat, and this needless development will make it worse.
At the same time, there are real concerns about loss of an amenity open space that is crying out to be improved as an asset to the town; and fears that the new development will act as a magnet, drawing customers away from the fragile economy of the town centre."
The 'dinosaur' charge draws on the expectation that building standards must quickly change in the face of global warming. Already some more progressive councils are insisting on 'carbon-free' design, and Impact has listed them in its suggestions to Redcar and Cleveland's 'scrutiny commission', set up to consider comments on the Coatham Enclosure proposals.
"During the lifetime of these buildings, carbon emissions must more than halve. It would be crazy to build them now without aiming for the highest possible environmental standards" says Paul. "The technology is there... it only needs the will."
The full referenced document is on the 'Impact' web site at www.impact-teesside.org/coathamenc.htm
