As part of Hull’s City of Culture celebrations, the 75-metre, 25-tonne offshore wind turbine blade had been installed in the city’s Victoria Square without planning permission, according to the Hull Daily Mail.
The Hull Daily Mail writes:
The blade was made at the new Siemens factory before being loaded onto the back of a transporter lorry and driven into the city centre in a largely secret operation.
Now City of Culture organisers are preparing to submit a formal planning application to avoid any possible enforcement action being taken by Hull City Council. Under planning law, official consent is not required for structures classed as temporary if they are only there for a maximum of 28 days.
However, anything intended to remain beyond that 28-day timescale does require official permission from a local planning authority. In the case of Blade, it is scheduled to stay in Queen Victoria Square until mid-March.
In a statement, the council’s planning manager Alex Codd said: ‘Nationally, planning permission is not needed on a piece of land that is being used for an event that is to last up to 28 days.
‘However, as the installation will be temporarily located in Queen Victoria Square for longer this, we understand the Hull 2017 team are now preparing an application for planning permission, which will then go through our usual planning process.’
People who feel it spoils the setting of the nearby historic buildings are entitled to lodge official objections which would then require the issue to go before the council’s planning committee.
