Saving Siccar Point - The Deadline Is September 23rd
Photo by Meg Stewart on Flickr (browse more photos of Siccar Point)

I haven’t been on Tumblr much due to a busy schedule, but this is something that’s very important and I meant to post about sooner. Siccar Point is an incredible treasure for science and is now threatened.

www.savesiccarpoint.co.uk is the site to go to where you will find out everything you need to know about why it’s threatened, what we can do, and why this is important to save. I strongly suggest reading through the site, but I will do a quick summary for everyone here on Tumblr. As a note, I am in no way affiliated with savesiccarpoint.co.uk, but I have included a lot of their words and directions on how to help just in case anyone has trouble browsing their site.

What’s Happening

A company called Drysdales, which treats vegetables and delivers to supermarkets, wants to clean off their products by digging a trench, fill it with concrete, and have the waste from the now-cleaned food enter the ocean.

From what I have read on the site, they do treat their water with reeds, but this new proposal at Siccar Point may just have untreated water go through the trench and into the ocean. Either way, digging a trench through incredibly precious and important geologic formations is bad enough. The photo above is from savesiccarpoint.co.uk.

Read The Objection

Again, I strongly suggest reading through their entire site as there is much more information, details, and even emails with officials you can read through on the exact plans for this project, exactly where this trench would be, and why the whole area should be protected.

How You Can Help

Object! The Scottish Borders Council has extended the time for objections until September 23rd, 2012. As the site says, “object sooner rather than later”.

One great way to help is by liking, reblogging, and spreading this post - and others related to it - around as quickly as possible! There’s less than 20 days to object, and everyone is important to helping the cause. A new post on SSP states this:

“We’ve been contacted by Scottish Borders Council asking if we could request that anyone wanting to contact them use the registration process as described below rather than email them. However, the registration process only works for address in the UK, so for anyone outside the UK email is the only option available at the moment. We’ll be discussing with the council tomorrow whether an alternative system of contact could be put in place to deal with the volume of objections. We’ll keep you informed.” — savesiccarpoint.co.uk

When visiting the site, click the “How To Help” link in the sidebar and that will scroll you automatically down to all the ways you can help by objecting. I am copying it to this post just in case anyone has trouble finding it on the site. Everything in the blockquotes below is directly from savesiccarpoint.co.uk:

Send your objection:

The most common method of objecting is via post, but given the limited time available, the best way to have your objection heard is probably to register online and raise your objection directly.

If you don’t reside in the UK, or prefer to email your objection, please see below.

1. Register on the Council Web Site here
2. Click “Register” button
3. Fill out your details, and wait for the email reply
4. Click on the link they send by email to complete registration
5. Login to Site
6. Click on the “Seach | Simple Search” button on the grey bar
7. Type - drysdale - into the search screen
8. Select the plan for the “installation of pump house…”
9. Click on Make a Public Comment
10. Enter your comments
11. Submit your Comments

It’s not a very user-friendly system and a few people have commented that it’s very difficult to register, but please stick with it. You will get there in the end.

Please Note: Your name, address, and the comments you make will be publicly available. Only do this if you are happy for this to happen.

View the Application:

See the Application for yourself, and read the associated documents. You can then make up your own mind about the plans.

View the Application

The Ref Number is: 12/00929/FUL

Object to the Planning Application by Email:

You can also send your objection by email. This may be the best method if you do not live locally or in the UK. Here’s how:

We’d be grateful if you didn’t send your email directly to Scott Shearer, the person in charge of this application at SBC. Please just use the “prs” and “ped” email addresses below. Your email will reach him.

1. In the Subject Line put “12/00929/FUL Objection Comment”
2. Add your comment in the email body
3. Send your email to prs@scotborders.gov.uk or ped@scotborders.gov.uk

If you want to CC anyone else into your email, you might want to consider:

• Scottish Natural Heritage: anne.brown@snh.gov.uk.
• Scottish Environmental Protection Agency: Stephanie.Balman@sepa.org.uk.
• Crown Estates: enquiries@thecrownestate.co.uk

The site says as well that there are two “major official agencies who could object to the proposal. They are Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) and the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA).” These contacts can also be found on the “How To Help” link, just scroll down a bit and you’ll see a section on both these agencies. There is just so much information on these pages that I cannot fit into one post, so make sure to read thoroughly.

Please spread the word around, everyone, as there isn’t much time left. Read through their entire site to get all the information you need. Below are links to their Facebook page and their email if you have any questions for them.

Save Siccar Point Facebook ⦁ info@savesiccarpoint.co.uk