Peel Ports
Take a deep breath and prepare to enter the shadowy world of Peel Ports, the company looking to – amongst lots of other things – operate the Liquified Natural Gas Plant in Hunterston, Largs.
Peels Ports are not simply a gas company, however – they are one of the biggest fish in the UK capitalist scene, involved in (amongst others): infrastructure, transport, real estate, land, transport, logistics, media and retail. And as big fish, they have been able to, as think tank ExUrbe puts it, “blur the line between public and private interests”.
Hunterston Parc
Peel Ports’ proposed Hunterston Parc site – also next to the ailing Hunterston Nuclear Power station – is due to be massively redeveloped over the next 20 years, providing a hub for a host of energy intensive activities that violate Scotland’s climate commitments. These include:
- A Liquified Natural Gas terminal
- A combined cycle gas turbine power station
- A deep water port with 200 thousand ton capacity
- Facilities for marine construction and decommissioning
- A site for the recycling and storage of plastics
- New road and rail connections
No Environmental Impact Assessment?
Peel Ports are also planning on decommissioning oil and gas rigs at Hunterston Parc, a project they planned on doing, rather cynically, without an Environmental Impact Assessment on a Site of Scientific Interest. Fortunately, campaigning from the Friends of Firth of Clyde fought and won an Environmental Impact Assessment and we now await both the results and North Ayrshire Council’s response to the Environmental Impact Assessment. Given that Peel Ports’ plans openly involved dredging 2.4 million cubic metres of seabed, and suffocating a number of important species in the process, their prospects should not look great, at least in a sensible world.
This is not Peel Ports’ first foray into the Hunterston area – indeed, they are the controlling authority for 450 square miles of the River Clyde under the name Clydeport Operations Ltd and they were at the forefront of a (thankfully, rejected) 2011 proposal for a coal power station at Hunterston. Which operated under the shadowy pretend name Ayrshire Power
Peel Ports in Liverpool
Peel Holdings’ website proudly proclaims that the company is positively impacting peoples’ lives. While it has been positively impacting the finances of John Whittaker who established the company 40 years ago, the same cannot be said of the inhabitants of the North of England and who are impacted by this company’s practices.
Up until 2012, when it was halted following a public enquiry, Peel had come under particular fire for allowing peat extraction on its land at Chat Moss, dubbed Salford’s ‘rainforest’.
In 2015 Peel Ports created a biomass terminal at Liverpool’s Gladstone Dock to facilitate the importation of wood pellets, derived from the destruction of wetland forests in the Southern US. These pellets are then transported by rail to Drax power station where they are burned, releasing vast quantities of CO2 into the atmosphere.
Peel wants to expand its port operations further in Liverpool. As well as increasing pollution from shipping this will lead to increased traffic on the roads, which Highways England wants to deal with by extending the nearby motorway right through Rimrose Valley country park.
Peel is also attempting to expand Liverpool Airport, encroaching onto greenbelt land at Oglet Shore. The Oglet is adjacent to the internationally important wetland areas of the Mersey which has RAMSAR status and is home to many RSPB Red List farmland birds such as grey partridge, snipe and lapwings.
A recent report by The British Lung Foundation found that there are 1000 plus deaths directly attributable to toxic air pollution levels in the deprived areas of Liverpool, two such areas being those around the air and sea ports. Do these people think Peel is positively impacting their lives? We don’t think so!
Shadowy Influence
This use of shadow companies is typical of Peel Ports, with 342 registered and active companies and subsidiaries, (although owner John Whitaker maintains a 75% stake in the group). Despite obscuring their activities in such a manner, Guy Shrubsole, author of Who Owns England?, documented their influence, writing: “Peel Holdings operates behind the scenes, quietly acquiring land and real estate, cutting billion pound deals and influencing numerous planning decisions”.
Back in 2014 high level collusion was found between Peel Holdings and Salford Council. A `Memorandum of Understanding’ obtained under the Freedom of Information Act revealed that Salford Council, I-Gas, Greater Manchester Police, Peel Holdings and other organisations were sharing intelligence, communications and branding during the anti-fracking protests at Barton Moss.
More recently Peel’s cosy relationship with Highways England on its road plans was revealed by Freedom of Information requests.
Unsurprisingly, this cosy relationship between Peel and state institutions apply in Scotland too (as pointed out by the SANE Collective, for example). They own a 25% stake in Intu, operators of the (financially precarious) Braehead Shopping Centre. They built the port for INEOS’s Dragon Ships, which ship in fracked gas from Pennsylvania, despite Scotland’s moratorium on fracking. And no less an authority than our own Glasgow City Council have given them permission to build a £100 million shopping district on the Clydeside, fulfilling our council’s somewhat weird fetish for corporate shopping centres.
With thanks to Save Rimrose Valley and Save Oglet Shore and Greenbelt for writing the parts on Peel Ports’ activity in Liverpool and the North West of England.
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