Member Article

Teesside company wins 'ghost ship' battle

The recycling of so-called “ghost ships” on Teesside looks likely to go ahead, after council bosses changed their minds on the prospect. Able UK won a controversial contract with the US government to dismantle up to 13 vessels at its Hartlepool yard, four of which arrived in late 2003, but delays caused by environmental and planning concerns prevented any work.

Hartlepool Council has now removed the final hurdle by admitting it can no longer block planning permission. Last year, Hartlepool councillors rejected a number of planning applications by Able UK, but the authority has now said new government planning policies mean it has no chance of successfully challenging an appeal by Able UK to the Planning Inspectorate.

Rob Cook, chair of Hartlepool Council’s planning committee, said: “It was very apparent that this was a battle we had absolutely no chance of winning and the decision has been taken in the best interests of the people of Hartlepool. “The options we were left with were either to go ahead and lose the appeal which could have cost the Council – in essence local people – a lot of money in legal fees or decide not to contest the appeals at all.”

Able UK has welcomed the decision, which came too late to save an order from the United States Department of Transportation Maritime Administration to scrap the further nine vessels originally destined for the Teesside facility.

Peter Stephenson, Able UK chairman, said: “Although the Council has no objections to the scheme, ABLE still does not have planning permission. We are exploring whether the Council will now grant permission so as to remove the uncertainties as quickly as possible. ABLE will continue to act in a responsible way so as to save costs for the people of Hartlepool and bring additional long term employment to the town as soon as possible.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .