David Parkin from Peak Cluster interviewed on Radio Merseyside this morning.

Listen to BBC Radio Merseyside this morning discussing Peak Cluster.  with an interview with Dave Parkin CEO of Peak Cluster

Listen from 1hr 06 mins 45 secs

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0031rwj

Action Against CCS Chair, Laura Beveridge, gave an update about the campaign. She also highlighted that Peak Cluster state they have changed some of the pipeline route to avoid residential areas, yet in some areas, particularly on the Wirral, that principal has not been applied. She also expressed concerns that about the mental strain that months of not knowing where the Above Ground Infrastructure will go is placing on the local community.

The presenter Paul Beesley challenged David Parkin to explain why they hadn’t rerouted the pipeline away from residential properties on the Wirral. Dave Parkin answered by waffling on for over a minute and a half about why they need to build the pipeline (like he was explaining it to a child) and, as Paul Beesley tried to get him to answer the original question he blurted out “…..its about saving important industries and jobs….”

Credit to Paul Beesley for trying to steer David Parkin back to answering the original question, although Parkin again didn’t really answer the question but stated that the design is an iterative process… “you consult, you listen, ….you undertake more detailed design studies, you refine your plans. “ what people are seeing now is the next stage of that process and its not necessarily a final design” “we have taken a lot of feedback along the pipeline route and we have made adjustments where we think its right to do so”.

Answering Laura’s point about the uncertainty for the Wirral he said “weve been very clear (that old phrase again!) that there’s still a lot of work to do on the Wirral……we are taking feedback from the Wirral very, very seriously” “we will come back to the Wirral in January and that is when we will be a bit clearer (just a bit clearer this time, not very clear) about what we are looking to build and how we are looking to build it and where we are going to build it” “ Im hoping your listeners are reassured, to a point……that we will come back with a better project”

Asked “is this a government backed scheme?” Parkin responded “….ultimately this project will only go ahead with government backing but it is being delivered by the private sector”.

Paul Beesley pushed him again to answer directly, and repeated the question “but is it a government backed scheme?” Parkin: “yes, so there is some government money in the project at the moment and ultimately when we come to build it, it will be built by private money, but the “long term support framework” for the project will be government backed” We wonder what exactly the “long term support framework” entails? Is he referring to the “Contract for Difference” subsidy to the cement plants to pay for them to use the pipeline estimated to cost the government £300 million per year? Or the on-going maintenance costs after Peak Cluster / Spirit Energy have walked away from the Morecambe Bay gas fields and the monitoring and maintenance becomes the Government’s responsibility?

Paul Beesley went on to set out the overwhelming opposition to the pipeline from the public, local politicians and stakeholders such as Cheshire Wildlife Trust and Chester Zoo and asked “is it really going to go ahead with this level of animosity?” “Its clear that organisations and people don’t want this to happen…””whatever you say about we all must be aware of climate change and carbon….this is being opposed from every angle, it’s not going to happen is it?”

Parkin replied “what alternative is there?” “…fundamentally this is necessary for the UK…we are very well aware of the level of opposition…..but solar farms being built in Lincolnshire are opposed…transmission lines being built in Suffolk are opposed…windfarms in scotland are opposed….this is just part of the natural process while developing national scale infrastructure”

As the call continued there was a number of references to “other projects” and people saying that they have “started digging”. Parkin failed to mention that this refers to HYNET – another CO2 pipeline project that his company, Progressive Energy, is also undertaking.

Interestingly, Parkin mentioned the “consents and permits” that they will need to obtain from the Environment Agency….the very same Environment Agency chaired by Alan Lovell, previously the chair of Progressive Energy, (the lead Peak Cluster partner) the company that Parkin is currently a Director of and which both Parkin and Lovell are still major shareholders.

The call was ended with Parkin stating “…..there is an 18 month process in which the planning inspector does this publicly….then after that the secretary of state will make a planning permission decision on the project…then after that it still needs to get its financial support across government aswell”