February 3 - The latest attempt by Associated British Ports (ABP) to block the Able Marine Energy Park (AMEP) on the south bank of the Humber has been rejected.
In response to Mrs Justice Patterson's decision to refuse the application by ABP, which was seeking a judicial review of the decision of the Secretary of State for Transport to grant a Development Control Order for the AMEP project, Able executive chairman Peter Stephenson said "it is surely time for them to recognise the game is up".
In her decision Patterson found against ABP on all the grounds it put forward in applying for judicial review, describing its claim as "unarguable".
"Their claims surrounding the so-called Killingholme Triangle, the small area of land which is needed for AMEP, have now been rejected by the hugely detailed and lengthy planning process, overseen by senior planning inspectors, a Government Minister, a Joint Parliamentary Committee - and now by the High Court," said Stephenson.
"Every other interest on the Humber - including the Local Enterprise Partnership, the local business community, local authorities, local members of parliament and their constituents - have looked on in despair as time after time a development of such importance to the area has been delayed and put in jeopardy by the actions of a single company.
"ABP can now seek to challenge Mrs Justice Patterson's comprehensive rejection of their arguments through an oral hearing but that would once again delay AMEP and yet again highlight that ABP are more concerned with defending their near monopoly position on the Humber against the interests of the whole region and the UK for that matter."
