L3Harris Planning Application

BRIGHTON AND HOVE CITY COUNCIL IS FACILITATING THE MANUFACTURE OF LETHAL WEAPONS COMPONENTS IN THE CITY.

Five years ago, L3Harris Brighton built a temporary extension to their factory in Moulsecoomb. According to documents submitted to Companies House, the extension was needed to help exploit a greater share of work on the F-35 aircraft platform – a plane Israel is currently using to bomb Gaza. Now L3Harris are asking the Council if they can make the extension permanent. If the application is rejected, the extension will have to be dismantled.

Local opposition to the planning application has been incredible, with over 600 objections being made to the council, plus 150 signatures on a petition, and letters from two of the three MPs for the city. The planning application was tabled to be discussed by the council on 6th March, then everything changed.

We have just received this update (28th Feb 2024) from the Stop L3Harris Campaign:

In a surprising turn of events, Brighton and Hove City Council has deferred its discussion of L3 Harris’ planning application while further legal guidance is sought. The next meeting of the Planning Committee is 3 April.
The deferral came less than 24 hours after the agenda for next week’s meeting – including the L3 Harris case – was published, and the planning officer’s report recommended that the committee grant permission.
What happened during those 24 hours? We can’t be sure, but here’s what’s been going on around the issue:
The day after the officer’s report was published, informal legal advice was received that councillors are not required to take into account the materiality of what L3 Harris makes (i.e. weapons components), but the issue is capable of being taken into account. Therefore, if Planning Committee members say they would like to attach weight to the fact that the weapons will be used for human rights abuses and violations of international humanitarian law, they may do so.
Prior to the officer’s report being published, two resident academic experts provided the Council with a briefing setting out the factual background about the company’s components being used in Gaza and also Yemen, and the legal background of the UK’s arms export licensing rules and the International Court of Justice ruling.
On 24 February around 200 people attended a rain-sodden march to the L3 Harris from The Level and a vigil at the factory gates, at which they tied the names of some of the Palestinian children killed by Israel in the last four months to the gate of the factory. Local media covered this with reports and photos.
Caroline Lucas MP has pressed the government to publish the details of the reviews it says it has conducted of arms exports to Israel.
Several city councillors and two of the city’s MPs – Caroline Lucas and Lloyd Russell-Moyle – have submitted objections.
Over 600 online objections have been lodged against the application by local residents, along with a further 130+ signatures on a petition.

Let’s keep up the pressure. check for updates here https://linktr.ee/stopl3harris.

Planning Permission Background

On 4 September 2018 L3Harris Brighton were granted planning permission by Brighton and Hove City Council (BHCC) to build a temporary extension to its factory at Emblem House, Unit 2, Home Farm Business Park, Brighton. According to BHCC planning application documents and Companies House financial reports this is to meet expected expansion of demand for weapons technologies on international exports of the Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) warplane, and emerging opportunities in military drones.

In granting planning permission, the Council stated that:

The temporary side extension hereby permitted shall be permanently removed from the site on or before 5 years from the date of this permission and the land reinstated to its former condition.

In outlining why the extension needed to be removed within five years, the Council stated that the structure was not considered suitable as a permanent form of development. The deadline for removal was September 2023.

Human Rights and the Council Constitution

L3Harris Brighton have invented, patented, and manufactured a new bomb release cable called the Field Replaceable Connector System (FRCS) which has seen astronomical increase in international demand over the last two years. The FRCS cable cuts the cost of dropping guided bombs by ten fold, thus increasing the capacity of air strikes by military aircraft.

The BHCC constitution, Part 2. 11.02 (c) states

‘All decisions of the Council will be made in accordance with respect for human rights (the authority will give particular consideration to the implications for human rights of any proposals at an early stage in the decision making process)’

But NO consideration of the implications for the human rights of millions of civilians across the globe has been made by BHCC in granting permission to EDO to expand its weapons systems factory.

Further, Brighton and Hove is a City of Sanctuary. The council is therefore “committed to building a culture of hospitality and welcome, especially for refugees seeking sanctuary from war and persecution”. Allowing the production of lethal weapons components in the City is in direct contradiction to this agreement.

In July 2019 the UN council of experts evidence, on the use of L3Harris Brighton parts in attacks on civilian infrastructure in Yemen, was published. This evidence was already in the public domain when the planning decision was made in September 2018, which leads us to question the the level of checks carried out by the City Council when the planning permission was granted. Following publication of the report there was discussioon at a full council meeting. Following this 33 councillors and local MP Lloyd Russell-Moyle wrote to the defence secretary, Ben Wallace, requesting that export licences to L3Harris Brighton be suspended.