Public Consultation
As so often, consultation (or any other interaction) with the actual public has been very limited. Two public meetings have been held. The first, at Leziate, discussed a marina that was inward-facing, connected to the inland waterways by the River Nar. The second was held by the Friars' Community Group on the 5th September 2007 in the local church. The public were invited to attend to hear two senior officers of the Borough Council of King's Lynn and West Norfolk present their proposals and advise people of how the plans were thus far progressing.
The proposals at that stage were not well received. The published record of that meeting reads;
"There was standing room only at All Saints' Parish Church for the public meeting on Weds 5th Sept. John Norton, Head of Regeneration at the council (and his colleague David Harding, NORA Project Manager), gave a sparkling illustrated talk on where the council is at present with regard to the marina. His presentation was well delivered and everyone was impressed by how much work seems to be going into this project. It is clear the council are passionate about this, and judging by the people who attended, whether they were from the immediate locality or further afield (S. Wootton, Fair Green, Terrington St Clement, West Lynn for example), the people of the area are equally passionate that what happens in the town happens with their consent and approval. John Norton made it clear that he sees it as being an important part of his role that not only are the people informed about the marina, but also they share the council's enthusiasm for it.
However, if that is the case it became clear as the meeting progressed that much more work has yet to be done to convince the people of the town that it is economically feasible, that the disproportionate scale of it is justifiable, and that the well known problems of silting and tides are surmountable. Even John Norton conceded that dredging is very likely to have to take place on a regular basis, but perhaps more worrying is the evident lack of evidence produced. Difficult questions were occasionally swept aside and deemed "irrelevant", and this produced some anxiety in the assembly. One person described the plans as being a "folly" and this seemed by the reaction to reflect the general feeling of ill ease."
And let's not forget that was back when the 2007 'Final Masterplan' was the current thinking and stated:
Hardings Pits Doorstep Green was the product of public dissent, and the form it took at its inception was determined by local consultation: considering the public unease over a version of the marina project that valued and wished to protect the Doorstep Green, it's no surprise to find that the current proposals are deeply unpopular. The tactics of the council over the latest proposals reflect this. The absolute minimum time was allowed between the announcement of the proposals and their adoption. The council were hoping to confound popular protest by presenting a fait accompli before effective protest could be mustered. Unfortunately (for the council) this tactic only succeeds if there is no really deep feeling against the project. It is very well to state their adopted policy and to say that they will not be deflected from their course, but there is a long process between the adoption of a policy and its execution, and the possibility of carrying this project through in the face of the bitter opposition it is facing is on the far side of remote.
There have been no published results of any public opinion surveys on the marina/waterfront development project: the Lynn News (http://www.lynnnews.co.uk/) weekly vote ("Should land at Hardings Pits be taken for the development linked to a Lynn marina?") returned No = 85%, Yes = 15%, but as there isn't any mechanism to stop multiple voting and there's no data about the number of votes recorded this isn't the most scientific result ever.
At this time (12th March 2009) the 2009 revised masterplan is not in the public domain: the only part that has been published (on the BCKLWN website) is appendix 2 which consists of two sketchmaps showing the increased area of building and the diversion of the River Nar.
(Update Dec 2009)
During the summer of 2009 a number of consultations and roadshows relating to the diversion of the River Nar through the
Hardings Pits Doorstep Green were held. Incredibly, these collected no views at all on
whether the diversion of the Nar was desirable or not: the only input sought was opinions on the
most attractive way to landscape the resulting river banks.