Hutchison Port Holdings (HPH) has received a five year build extension on the new container port development at Bathside Bay in the UK – it gives the company up until 2021 to start work.
HPH says that the extension was applied for because of the recession. Paul Davey, HPH spokesman, said to Port Strategy: “The Bathside consent was extended due to the recession impacting on growth. This is not unique to Bathside or even ports.”
Tendring Council says that it’s important that the development goes ahead because it’s absolutely vital to the economy of the town of Harwich and the district of Tendring itself.
The multi-million Harwich International Container Terminal (HICT) project was originally given the green light by the Secretary of State in March 2006 following a Public Inquiry. It will be located adjacent to Harwich International Port and it's hoped that it will bring much needed jobs and investment to the area.
Hutchison Ports originally came forward with an application to extend the time limit for the scheme for another five years in January 2011
It then applied for a variation on the original development application last November but later retracted it in light of “the anticipated costs and delay associated with a call-in and public inquiry.”
This provoked urgent talks at Whitehall to try to rescue the proposal because the council feared that HPH would pull out of the development altogether.
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