Probe into 'Ghost Ship' Plan
by Matthew Pardo, Evening Gazette
9 September 2003 – Potential risks of chemical pollution damaging an internationally important wildlife site today forced experts to recommend a probe into 'ghost ship' planning proposals.
Government wildlife advisers English Nature has told Hartlepool Council it should prepare an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) on plans for a wall to block in the ships at Able UK's Graythorp site.
In June, Billingham-based Able UK won a contract to scrap and recycle 13 US naval 'ghost ships' on Teesside. Because of their chemical contents they could not be taken apart in the USA - and Able UK then tendered for the contract to break up the ships.
The company said the contract was worth almost £11m and would create 200 jobs at the company's Graythorp dock.
Environmentalists, nationally and locally, are opposed to the plan.
To dismantle the ships the company wants to block them into a dry dock, created by bricking up an existing facility at Graythorp.
But to create that wall the company needs planning permission from Hartlepool Council. Time restrictions mean Hartlepool Council has to decide today if it will have a full EIA.
Yesterday a spokeswoman for English Nature confirmed there is a need for a closer look at the planning proposal. They say there is a risk of potential chemical leaks from the dry dock and a risk of disturbance to wintering birds living on neighbouring Seal Sands.
A Hartlepool Council spokesman said: "English Nature is a statutory consultee. We have been consulting with them and we will be speaking to them again today.
"Any comments from English Nature will be taken into full consideration when we are deciding whether we require an EIA."
Mike Childs, campaigns director at Friends of the Earth, said: "The proposal to build a cofferdam in a site of special scientific interest, next to an internationally important wild bird site, must have the most rigorous environmental assessment."
A final decision on whether to carry out an EIA was expected before the end of today.
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