Right one quick (ok, it's me, not quick)... one post from me!
I have to be up early tomorrow to head to London for the day! I am going to be putting a nice large cash deposit down on a docklands flat I have had my eye on for a while now. I have unexpectedly come into a large amount of cash, that was handed to me in a brown paper bag as I left the Town Hall earlier today... which was nice!
On a serious note, I think TrinitarianWF2's posts sum up things well. Mr Cummage was a plain and simple smear campaign ambush and further more, the inspector is clearly minded to dismiss his evidence and did say just that... he was not happy with him in the slightest and this may have backfired on the objectors big style! I think we have to question his motivation for giving evidence and it looks like it might, unfortunately, be motivated by local club rivalry. Mr Cummage lives in Lofthouse, nearer to J41 M1 than J30 M62 but he owns a business in Castleford and the 'news' of this impending ambush was broken on Cas Forum just a few hours before it then happened! It is very difficult not to draw conclusions from this and given the Mr Cummage was very reluctant to say who he was, what business he owned (the inspector had to push him to reveal this, as he didn't want to say) and his only 'tie' to the site was "We are thinking about buying a house in Methley" leaves me very suspicious of his motivation for giving evidence to the PI. I suspect had the inspector known in advance who he actual was, then he might of been minded to not let him speak, but because he was down as being part of a group from Methley Residents Association, I think this is how he slipped in under the radar.
BTW, clearly it is OK for me to question his motivation because mine is so very clear... see above about brown paper bags!
The other witnesses that appeared were quite weak. The Barton Willmore guy didn't seem to know who he was actually working for when asked, who are "Wakefield Residents Interest Group' by YCP's barrister and wanted to avoid answering the questions. When asked, so who actually instructed you, the answer was Paul Williams & June Fender. Paul Williams being a Newmarket Lane resident and June being a busy body from Methley of course! When June Fender was pushed on if she had paid Barton Willmore, she was forced to answer that a 'sponsor' had paid them!!!
Two other witnesses lost all credibility when asked one question at the end of them extolling the ecological virtues of this site... have you read the Environmental impact statements and addendum's submitted to this inquiry? No, was the answer... and pop went that balloon! God only knows why they didn't read them and at least refute some of the evidence and points made within them... they spent 20 minutes talking and it was all gone in one word... no!
The final Ecology guy from Crofton had read the statements and had indeed even talked to Yorkcourt's Ecologist, although they clearly disagreed with each other... but he blotted his copy book a little by questioning Mr Hesketh's (YCP Ecologists) professional integrity!
Finally, we had June Fender who even had me speechless... and that takes some doing! She went on a potentially libel assault of WMDC, YCP & Peter Box and I was just staggered by what she was prepared to say in an open public forum! Andrew Piatt of Yorkcourt called her evidence defamatory and let WMDC give her a good kicking. I think that WMDC barrister had no choice given what she had said, but he was hard but very fair on her and he actually guided her out of libelling WMDC & Peter Box but at the same time this showed her up for what she was!
Even I stuck the boot in at the end a little and G.Price Fan Club lined her up with a couple of questions and I followed up and got her to admit that WCCG was not a conservation group, did not exist prior to Newmarket being mooted and that it was actually a residents action group just formed to oppose the project.
So, all in all I think they did themselves more harm than good and whomever thought letting June Fender speak was a good idea clearly needs their bumps feeling!
Finally, I know lots of financial stuff and section 106 agreements have got people all excited, especially on the other forum, but we just need to let this inquiry concluded and also let us understand exactly what came out of today and what YCP will say about the ambush. We have met with Yorkcourt and others and have no reason to doubt their motivation, integrity and commitment to this project.
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