(Letter to the South Wales Evening Post)
Sir,
The Green Party strongly supports Swansea West MP Geraint Davies’s call for an environmental impact assessment of the proposed motorbike race on Swansea Beach (‘To bike or not to bike …’, Monday 13 February, pages 16-17).
BID Chairman Dave Kenny’s argument is based entirely on economic benefit. The threat of global warming has taught us that economic activity can never be separated from environmental and social impacts. All human activity, no matter how small or how localised, impacts on the environment – and we ignore this impact at our peril.
Council Leader Chris Holley’s promise to carry out an environmental assessment after the event is not good enough. By then the damage will have been done and could be irreparable.
Swansea Council’s own ‘Pre-Application Advice’ for planning applications states, “Proposals which are likely to give rise to significant environmental effects must be accompanied by an environmental statement. … The preparation of an Environmental Statement ensures that the impacts of a development are fully understood and taken into account before the development is allowed to proceed.” (My emphasis)
Surely the Council’s own rules apply to them equally as much as to anyone else?
Yours,
Keith M Ross, Swansea Green Party
Swansea Greens - Historic Blog 
Posted by swanseaandllanelligreenparty on February 20, 2012 at 9:12 am
Letter appeared (slightly edited) in today’s Evening Post. The beach race has now been postponed (Beach race put on hold following MP’s concerns) and will not happen this year.