L3 Harris are appealing against the Council’s decision to refuse them planning permission for their extension. The case is now going to the Planning Inspectorate (an independent body, based in Bristol), who will decide whether to uphold the Council’s decision or overturn it in favour of the company.
Here’s two things you can do to help kick the factory out of our city.
1. Write to the Planning Inspectorate ASAP to register your concerns about the company’s presence in our city. The deadline is 8 January: why not do it today and then ask your friends to do the same! It is a two step process and will take less than five minutes.
Click here to access the Planning Inspectorate website, and then click on “Make a Representation” to write your objection. There is some sample wording at the bottom of this page you can copy, paste and amend – or feel free to write your own representation!
You are writing in your capacity as an “interested party / person”.
(If you need the 7-digit case reference number at any point, it is 3355883)
Sample Wording:
Here’s some sample wording and information you can adapt: do use your own language to make your own concerns felt, and so the Inspectorate realise the range of feeling about the factory! We have highlighted a few areas for personalisation in italics and with square brackets. The main advice we have is to centre your representation on how the arms factory in Brighton impacts you as a community member and resident – L3Harris’s appeal argues that the presence of the factory in Brighton has little impact on its residents and we need to show them how wrong they are.
[STARTS]
I urge the Planning Inspectorate to reject L3 Harris’ appeal of Brighton and Hove City Council’s refusal of planning permission for its extension. I am a resident of the city [insert other relevant detail here e.g. I live near the factory, I support the City of Sanctuary status.] I support the Council’s decision to refuse planning permission and I urge the Inspectorate to hold a public hearing into the case, given the gravity of the issues at stake and the level of local concern about the factory’s presence in our city.
[If you have any concerns about social cohesion e.g. if you are a person of faith, a victim of racial harrassment or religious intolerance as a result of the company’s presence in the city and the unfolding genocide in Palestine, or a community member or activist with one of the many groups in the city, let the Planning Inspectorate know.]
Brighton and Hove City Council took great care over its decision, seeking legal advice to guide it and taking three additional months from when the item was first due to be heard by Planning Committee. This was not a decision taken lightly and they did consider the development framework and national planning policy. The Council decided that “the risks to community cohesion outweigh all other material considerations.”
L3Harris appears to be using the appeal as a delaying tactic, to draw out the legal and bureaucratic process to avoid having to take down its extension before its lease runs out 2027. The extension was built as a temporary structure, and was due to be demolished at the end of 2023 anyway: there is no reason the company cannot demolish it now.
[ENDS]
2. Write to your Councillors and encourage them to defend the Council’s decision. You can find your Councillors here. The city Planning case number is BH2023/03236 and the Planning Inspectorate Appeal reference is APP/Q1445/W/24/3355883. You can congratulate the Council on making a decision in favour of social cohesion, and urge them to ensure the Council robustly defends its decision with the Planning Inspectorate.
To contact the Stop L3Harris campaign, follow us on Instagram at @stopl3harris, or email us at stopl3harris@proton.me
Brighton Against The Arms Trade 