This recording tells the story of the Goodwin Sands SOS campaign to prevent the rapacious mining of the Goodwin Sands and identifies what we consider to be the failings in the marine licensing process. It is taken from our presentation to the International Maritime & Shipwreck Society conference in Plymouth in February 2019.
This video of a possible WWII bomber found on the Goodwin Sands in 2018 highlights how geophysical surveys cannot reliably detect crashed military aircraft. This plane was described as a ‘seafloor disturbance’. There are 29 similar targets in the dredge zone and no one knows what they are.
GOODWIN SAND SOS PRESS RELEASE
SATURDAY MARCH 9TH 2019
We won a significant battle at the
High Court yesterday, when claimant Joanna Thomson was awarded a Judicial
Review of the Marine Management Organisation’s decision to allow Dover Harbour
Board to dredge 3 million tonnes of aggregate from the South Goodwins sandbank.
Outside the Royal Courts of Justice – from L-R: Daniel Piccinin of Brick Court Chambers, Mrs Joanna Thomson, Paul Taylor of Richard Buxton Ltd (solicitors)
The Judge, The Honourable Mrs Justice Thornton granted Joanna’s solicitors leave to proceed to a Judicial Review on one of the two grounds presented to the court by Marie Demetriou QC of Brick Court Chambers, London.
Leave was granted on account of
the fact that the MMO had not considered the impact of the physical removal of
the volume of 2 million m3 of sand from a designated Protected
Feature within the Goodwin Sands proposed Marine Conservation Zone. They
had only considered the impact of removing the surface area of the subtidal
sand, which is a designated Protected Feature within the proposed Marine
Conservation Zone.
Leave was refused for the second ground,
that the MMO could not conclude that dredging would pose no risk to the
underwater cultural heritage of the Goodwin Sands because the relevant
document had not been agreed and finalised before making their decision.
Joanna’s, Richard Buxton Ltd, are considering appealing against this ruling.
Richard Kerr-Wilson,
whose uncle Flying Officer Jack Kerr Wilson (no hyphen on purpose) was shot down over the Goodwins in May 1940, welcomed the
decision, saying that ‘the Goodwins should be respected as a war grave for
those who gave their lives for their country during WWII’.
After the hearing, Joanna stated
‘this is a major step forward for all of us who consider the Goodwin Sands
should not be subject to rapacious mining by Dover Harbour Board, or anyone
else. They are quite simply, not a quarry to be exploited by a
budget driven developer trying to get away with applying 1980’s lack of
regulations to the present day requirements of detailed Environmental
Statements’.
The Sands, which are a proposed
Marine Conservation Zone, have been described by Wessex Archaeology, who
reviewed data for Dover Harbour Board’s environmental consultants, as
‘archaeologically extraordinary’ on account of their holding the highest density
of maritime assets in UK waters.
Judge Justine Thornton overturned a previous ruling by Judge David Holgate, who initially refused leave to proceed, in what could only be described as ‘a vitriolic rant from someone who had clearly not read the papers properly’.
It is anticipated that the Judicial Review will be held in June and will take place at the High Court. Dover Harbour Board requested that the hearing took place before 21st June 2019 and this was accepted by both the Judge and Joanna’s Counsel. The costs cap against Joanna in case she loses was capped at £10K but Richard Buxton wants to appeal this also as it is based entirely on the expectation of being able to raise more funds.
A transcript of Judge Thornton’s
summing up will be made available in due course.
END
BBC Radio 4 News – 8th March 2019
BBC Radio 4 News – 8th March 2019
More Funds are now Needed
This is of course excellent news but we now need to raise at least another £30K for legal fees going forward. We have already raised this amount so we know it can be done! Donations can be made through our CrowdJustice link, or if you are a UK taxpayer, please contact us direct, again through the website, as we can claim gift aid, which would boost your donation by 20%.
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