A personal message from Tony Williams:

Many thanks to all the people who helped in the fight to stop building the Seafood Park on Newlyn Coombe. We shall continue to keep an eye on developments in case there is any change in the situation. The RDA and Penwith District Council are still refusing to provide any documentation about the proposed work; not even a copy of the plan for their last proposal. So much for Freedom of Information!

We have decided to hang on to the fighting fund, to which so many people generously contributed, for at least six months and then we will review the situation to see if any further work may be required.

We will leave these pages on this site as record and testament to the campaign.

This is the Info page of Protect Newlyn Coombe - the protest group formed to stop the building of a 'Seafood Park' (aka fish processing plant) on a new industrial estate to be sited on 16 acres of beautiful green fields adjacent the junction with the A30, the unspoilt corridor to  Land's End, and the B3315, our tree-lined gateway to Newlyn.

Protect Newlyn Coombe and Stop The Marina! have formed an alliance whereby we mutually support each other's causes. We are in regular contact and many of our supporters are members of both groups. We regularly exchange information.

As part of the massive programme of potential development threatening Newlyn, it has been proposed that a large seafood processing plant be sited in the Coombe. Three fields running alongside the A30 have been earmarked for this development, marked by red on the aerial photo of the area.  The same photo also shows how close the proposed development lies to a residential housing estate.  The plant will include 70,000sq ft of industrial estate and lorry parking, or 16 square acres.  It is alleged that this industrial development will shore up the declining fishing industry and create new jobs.

So why is that bad news for Newlyn?

The Site

Our primary objection is that the site is a greenfield site, and an area of natural beauty.  It is one of the last remaining attractive gateways to Newlyn and Penzance, given the thoughtless development of Eastern Green in past times.  It is also the gateway to the magical coastline of Lands end.  Fishing is an important industry in Cornwall but so too is Tourism.  Any industrial development just as the natural beauties of West Penwith are reached is bad new and should be rejected.  Once this land is built on it will never return to green fields.  The Council for the Protection of Rural England (CPRE) reckon that we risk losing most of the countryside over the next 30 years unless there is a sharp reversal of current building policy.  We would like the case for this fish processing plant to be proven to us before we can agree to the disposal of this greenfield site and so far we have been offered no compelling reasons.  There appears to be a lot of potential objective I money sloshing around and this is one way to spend it, and the site is the easiest and closest one to think of.  We do not understand why the plant needs to be this large (perhaps because the available site is 16 acres), and we cannot understand why a suitable brownfield site cannot be located.  There is space available at Long Rock, why is this not being considered?

click image to enlarge

The Wildlife

The land is just sitting there doing nothing isn’t?  Well, no actually.  It is already the home to varied wildlife.  Mr Brian Dodd (Squadron Leader, RAF, Ret’d) has been carrying out fieldwork in the Coombe for the Cornwall Wildlife Trust to provide data for the Cornwall Bird Atlas Project.  He has listed over 58 different bird species, a number of which are of concern to the RSPB due to their declining numbers.  Birds include owls and other Birds of Prey, Kingfishers, Grey Heron, Little Egrets, Woodpeckers, Dippers, Tree Creepers, Wagtails and many more.  Mammals include Bats, Rabbits, Badgers, Otter, Mink, Stoats, Hedgehogs and Rabbits.  There are many butterflies, Whites, Blues, Meadow Brown, Peacocks, Painted ladies, Ringlets, Heath, Tortoiseshell to name but a few.  There are various Dragonflies, Damselflies and other insects.  The river contains Brown Trout and eels.  The Coombe provides the kind of habitat that is becoming increasingly rare in Britain - mature ancient woodland, clean water and uncultivated meadow.  Once these fields are sacrificed and the precedent set how long before the land the other side of the crossroads is developed and there is one large ribbon development along the A30?

It is claimed that the plant is necessary to rejuvenate the declining fishing industry.  Local Newlyn Skipper Shaun Edwards wrote a letter to the Cornishman (3^rd November 2005) expressing the thought that the industry decline would not be affected by the construction of the Fish Processing Plant.  That a beautiful site would be despoiled for a project that would require a thriving trip boat trade to sustain it.  In his opinion “in five to seven years time Newlyn will be a toy-town industry with only small day boats”.  While we hope that is a pessimistic view of the Newlyn fishing industry, it is difficult to make the connection that fish processing will actually benefit the catching sector.  Other skippers have offered the opinion, albeit anonymously, that it will make no difference to them.  They will land their catch as normal and sell it as normal.  They do not have a problem selling their fish.  Only a few fish processing companies will benefit from the value-addition of processing the fish.  Many say that the French and Spanish buyers insist on buying fish “head-on” because they have their own processing plants in their own countries which process the fish they way they require it.  They would simply buy their unprocessed fish elsewhere. 

 The biggest concerns of the catching sector seem to be the high price of diesel and quotas.  The most direct benefit to the fishing industry would something like grants to make boats more fuel-efficient.  This would help both the fishing community and the environment.  Many feel that the establishment of a fish processing plant in the Coombe would simply enable some existing processors to redevelop their existing, more picturesque premises in the heart of Newlyn as flats or holiday lets.  Mr Edwards said “in effect they are diversifying and securing an alternative income for themselves elsewhere because they know as well as we do that their income from buying and processing fish and shellfish is and will continue to be on the decline”.

 As for jobs, yes there would be the creation of about 110 jobs, according to Mr Tony Woodhams, Newlyn Fisheries Officer for Penwith Council.  But what quality would these jobs be?  Would they be skilled, offer meaningful training, have prospects, career progression and decent wages?  Would people working at the site be able to buy their own home on the wages?

from the SOUTH WEST OF ENGLAND REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT AGENCY, MINUTES OF THE 37th BOARD MEETING 18 November 2002 (Item 12)...

The presentation was welcomed by the Board who expressed interest in the regeneration strategy and felt it put forward a strong argument to create a sustainable fishing industry in Newlyn which would, in itself, secure successful tourism. However, there was scepticism that sufficient value could be added to the fishing industry to improve wage levels and it was agreed that addressing poor earnings across all jobs in the far west of Cornwall was an enormous challenge.

Some outside labour is already employed by fish merchants (one in particular has a majority of Eastern Europeans in the workforce), as they offer flexibility (you can lay off itinerant labour whenever you want) and cost efficiency.  We must stress that we have no problem with the idea of outside labour per se.  If a company has difficulty finding local workers then finding someone else who is willing to do the job is perfectly acceptable, and every human being has the right to seek work wherever they choose.  However, when there is a proposal which involves the destruction of a beautiful local greenfield site justified on the back of job creation – jobs which do not provide benefit to the local community - then this fact becomes relevant.

Maybe it will.  However no detailed plans exist and this could easily be the usual sheet metal and block construction.  To our knowledge there has never been an attractive industrial estate built in Cornwall yet. Take a look at Crowlas, Water ma Trout, Hayle, Long Rock…  it is up to us to become involved and ensure that if the development goes ahead it will be done sensitively.  At some time and somewhere these other communities must have objected…

 On numerous occasions we have asked SWERDA to provide us with copies of plans, reports on traffic, acoustic impact, ecology etc., but have been allowed to see nothing.  Either these reports have not been done and do not exist or we are simply being blocked from access to them.  Until we see what is actually proposed how can we lend out support to the scheme?

The whole process has, so far been cloaked in secrecy.  The proposal for the “Seafood Park” has never been publicized except for the odd one line reference buried deep at the end of other reports.  Permission for greenfield planning consent was made without any consultation with local people.  The public and residents of the Coombe have only been made aware of it purely through the efforts of other residents.  It has been a struggle to get copies of the plans from the RDA, and they have refused to allow us to see their associated reports until the plans have passed through planning.  They have a dismissive and secretive approach in their dealings with those who will be most greatly and profoundly affected.  They have, however, in reply to requests for information, sent a document called “Future Foundations” which included the following paragraph:

“Sustainable developments will involve people and communities in their planning, design and construction.  This does not mean a professional team assessing the site, working out a design and presenting a proposal at a public meeting a week after the planning application is made.  Rather developers as project promoters are expected to start by considering what local communities’ needs are, who will be affected by the project and how they can best be involved in decision making”

We’ve read it.  Have they?

 We asked Mr Tony Woodhams for a list of all those proposing to take up outlets at the processing plant, but business confidentiality has been offered to us as a reason this information cannot be revealed.  So how exactly are we to discover what sort of jobs are being created?  If the site really needs to be so huge?  Is it really going to be fully utilized or will Newlyn have a huge white elephant of a processing plant sitting needlessly on its lovely greenbelt?

Yes, we are.  As Tom Oliver of the CPRE says “Ministers will always deride individuals and communities who fight for the cause as Nimbys.  It is the insult of choice for those who oppose destructive development.  But these are the most unselfish people who are fighting for future generations as well as their own.  It is important for everyone and especially people who live in urban areas who need the countryside for peace and quiet to become Nimbys” (the Times, September 9^th 2005)

Areas we are unable to fully explore, because we have not been allowed to see any reports or surveys are questions about the impact on the community of light pollution, noise, smell and of course, increased traffic.  The traffic issue is in common with concerns raised in relation to all the other Newlyn Regeneration plans.  How will Newlyn cope with the increased levels of traffic these proposals will bring, and how will those living in and about Newlyn experience any peace and quiet over the next few years (if ever again) if all these development plans are actioned.

Finally…

These massive plans for Newlyn will overwhelm the village and completely change its character in a totally artificial way.  This is not the natural evolution of a modern community, but wrecking and exploiting on a grand scale.  Why does Newlyn need so much help?  Like all Cornish communities there are the usual problems with house prices and employment, but Newlyn is certainly not the most deprived community in Cornwall.  It is vibrant and proudly independent.  It is home to fishermen, artists and crafts persons, entrepreneurs, publishers, restaurateurs, shopkeepers, school teachers, doctors…  The reason so much interest including outside private investment has been attracted here may be that Newlyn has something that will make profit.  It is not on its last legs, it is a viable investment opportunity.  This is where we live and a place we love and we need to safeguard it for future generations.  We should take great care to ensure that any development is widely beneficial and completely necessary.

No wrecking here please - Jeremy Le Grice’s personal view is that Newlyn is under threat

Reprinted from The Cornishman 8^th September 2005

FROM a Strategy of Regeneration Newlyn starts with one distinct advantage - in the eyes of a public not directly involved with art, the name itself is widely recognised and conjures-up a place remarkable for its beauty, writes Jeremy Le Grice.

Those familiar intimate paint­ings set the scene and place this otherwise obscure spot firmly onto the map of England, if not the world.

 That those works were cre­ated more than a century ago is less important than the aston­ishing fact that the integrity of the village remains quite as pal­pable today, due to the harbour, fish and fleet which still demand the ceaseless toil as they did then.

 The Newlyn Forum for Regen­eration made much of its readi­ness to give credence to the opinions of artists now working in the village. However, in re­ality, those views tend to be set aside or dismissed. There is fear in some quarters that they may be too fanciful or impractical -above all artists’ do not live in the real world’.

It is a fact that, due to our survival professionally being so complicated and demanding, we necessarily develop an excep­tionally strong hold upon reality, financial and every other type.

 It is a truly an astonishing fact that Newlyn has marvellously so far retained its integrity, against all the odds. What a contrast when set beside quaint fishing villages round the coast which sold out, dropping dead in spirit, and became vacuous tourist traps.

By contrast Newlyn has nat­urally and unselfconsciously re­tained a powerful sense of purpose, now rare, simply by getting on with the job in hand and updating equipment and fa­cilities as and when needs must.

Above all, not pandering salaciously to the ideas that have destroyed those other places left, right and centre. There is so much loot on offer that a breed long known for their prowess as wreckers can hardly be expect­ed to resist the temptation to make the fast buck -1 fear that I am witnessing a village on the brink of suicide. Regarding the actual state of the Industry, said to be so much under threat, I quote published Whitehall statistics for the most recent available year, 2003, which tell that landings worth almost S15 million were made at Newlyn, slightly down but generally in line with previous recent years. For a tiny village at the far end of Cornwall these sums do not strike me as qualify for the term “struggling”. The sums do not amount to peanuts for anybody here.

So over to the East Coast and the major port of Peterhead, which lands double the fish that Newlyn, has constantly achieved. However, the second place we hold nationally is ex­pected to be continued. It is argued by the forum that Newlyn should be pulled apart in order to maintain such a prominent position - but suitable modernisation, plant, hygiene, trans­portation and a few buildings can achieve this. Talk of an en­tirely new quay and proposals to fill parts of the harbour to pro­vide facilities and shops for tourists is surely nonsense. No wrecking here please.

It is time to mention Pont Aven, the similar sized fishing harbour on the South West coast of Brittany, where the artist Gau­guin briefly held sway at the same time that Stanhope Forbes did so here. Having embraced tourism with unseemly enthu­siasm, haste, naivety and greed, the village is a now total mess.

 Tatty shops, psuedo-art, burger-bars, internet cafes and ice cream stalls are on every corner and down each alley. The innate dignity and beauty of that vil­lage, once as powerful as Newlyn is still, evaporated when the place became reliant upon ar­tificial financial funding, govern­ment grants and EC support. As the sanctimonious bishop smug­ly pointed out to the beautiful but corrupted actress, “there are no free dinners”.

 It will be piously claimed that this picture is too dreadful to validly compare with Newlyn. Look again; I quote now from the Final Report of the Newlyn Fish Industries Forum, 2004.

It runs to 60 pages with var­ious appendices, the second of which, when referring explicitly to the harbour Conservation area, contains the recommen­dation that all buildings within the existing harbour area will require to be demolished and replaced as part of the strategy.

 Then says, referring to the village beyond the immediate harbour, older buildings “be­cause of their age and config­uration are a constraint would be better converted”. Now we can see why the forum likes to keep reports se­cret as long as possible.

Within the heart of Newlyn thrives a community, many of whom come from the same stock that, over the past thousand years and more, have gradually and painstakingly built-up the harbour, the fishing industry, and the community itself. They are all too well accustomed to the work involved with working the fleet and surviving, against all odds, gales and every other hazard through their remarkable initiative and resilience, on their own.

 With similar spirit a large number of ingeniously adapted functional buildings have been progressively developed here and there inside the village itself, in an organic way, over many years. These suit the diverse uses of the fishing industry.

Hugely expensive plans, re­ports and recommendations from the consultants, paint a vividly specious image of an opportunity, presented in the con­text of this locality of almost Biblical proportions, for trans­forming the apparent future prospects into a barely recog­nisable, irresistible mini-heaven. Those buildings are disgraceful­ly condemned in need of what is termed ‘brought forward’ - in other words destroyed in their present form. This amounts to a covert way of presenting the vil­lage to developers - easy pick­ings corrupting its very nature. One can easily imagine apart­ments advertised as “exclusive Newlyn artists studio harbourside maisonettes com­plete with mod cons”. Cons in­deed.

 The problem of Newlyn Bridge probably reduces the Highway Authorities to a deathly pallor as they struggle to come to grips with international juggernaut in a very confined space, alongside demands from residents to keep them and other traffic moving from across all points of the coastal area to the west. Now, over the horizon, appears an added proposal for creating ever greater congestion by develop­ing Penlee quarry, already a na­ture reserve in itself, and to lay waste to an important site on the approach to Newlyn, reducing it to an industrial wasteland in the interests of a ‘fish park’.

 The name smells of spin and practices connected with expen­sive PR, marketing, fleecing and pulling wool more than fish. Both schemes echo the mistakes ex­perienced in Penwith during the ‘70s, since when out-of-town rib­bon development and spoiled green-field sites have become wildly unpopular and frowned upon generally.

The A30 western approach to Penzance is magically preserved to this day, it remains rural. Nonetheless, it is in imminent danger of being reduced to a thinly disguised urban industrial sprawl from which there would, logically, be little to prevent de­velopers claiming continuously the extra mile, extending in one last gasp on a final lap of dis­honour to Land’s End itself.

In the ‘60s Penwith lay on the brink of qualifying as a National Park. To this day the area re­mains, officially, an area of ex­ceptional natural beauty and sensitivity.

 Do we not need to resolve this complex opportunity for us all to introduce the spirit of that sim­ple and indisputable fact throughout Newlyn and its wider environment.

“Adding Value To Fish”

 ‘we are moving towards the individual barcoding of all fish’ – Michael Galsworthy

  ‘the little fish enjoy themselves in the sea’ – D.H. Lawrence

They want to build a ‘seafood park’
on a local beauty spot
to ‘add value’ to the local catch
and sell it for a pot

The Spaniards, the Frenchmen too
say “leave the fish alone!
if we want ‘added value’
we’ll do it here at home!”

How do you improve perfection?
do you simmer it in wine?
do you smoke it, stuff it, grill it
or garnish it with lime?

Do you fillet, gut, de-scale it
do you squeeze it in a tin
do you smother it in sunflower oil
devoid of head or fin?

Did anyone ask the fishes?
all they want is to survive
to swim, to breathe, to fight, to breed
to keep their kind alive;

The trawlers scrape the ocean bed
leave nothing in their wake
not eel nor wrasse, not ling nor bass,
not pilchard, bream nor hake.

The autumn wind makes mackerel clouds
the seas are empty now
there's shoals of fish in heaven
but there's nothing down below

Tom Bawcocks’s gone.  The world has changed, We need
a different hero now
one who'll bring home common sense
packed tight from stern to prow.

So how do we add value
to the creatures in the sea?
respect them and protect them
above all, let them be.

"I know the human being and fish can co-exist peacefully" – President George W. Bush