A Séance at Avoncliff?

The owners of North Mill Avoncliff are considering holding a  séance to contact the spirit of Australian TV and newspaper owner Kerry Packer...

We can't endorse all the lifestyle choices Mr Packer made but we certainly have considerable sympathy with his philosophy and observations on government as expounded by the man himself when dragged in front of a panel of Aussie bureaucrats.

Watch as the youngish guy in the middle of the panel grins helplessly as his colleagues dig themselves ever deeper....

Got a tad more than they bargained for it would seem....  he's probably given God's croupiers a hard time too.

Well, here we are - now in sight is the third anniversary of North Mill Avoncliff's application for abstraction and impoundment licences from The Environment Agency - we've endured two rounds of determination and still... no electricity being generated at Avoncliff - in fact, thanks to the EA, it seems as far away as ever...

The Environment Agency has wilfully burnt its way through well in excess of  £500,000, lost a case at the High Court where it admitted to acting illegally, dissembled and delayed and certain officials have clearly conspired to pervert proper process taking place. All over a licence that costs £150 and is a stepping stone to local authority planning permission - which hasn't even started yet....

The hubris and flagrant disregard for statutory duty displayed by these civil servants has been truly epic.

That to date no persons have been held to account over the toxic mess of irrational, arbitrary and perverse activities perpetrated by the EA at Avoncliff is a true indictment of our increasingly dysfunctional public institutions. That no environmental pressure group has even squeaked about the EA messing up make it clear that he who pays the piper calls the tune principle is in operation. 

In the meantime the EA have messed up the second round of determination and are busying themselves with what they seem to do best: