After Clearwater's surrender, another location prepares to knuckle under to Scientology
We have so much admiration and respect for a former London Scientology staffer by the name of Alex Barnes-Ross.
He has made so many inroads in the UK educating media and politicians about the abuses he saw in Scientology, and the abuses that other survivors experienced.
And Alex is cheeky. One of our favorite things that he did was, as he began organizing protests at Scientology’s annual IAS galas, which started up again after the pandemic in 2023 at the church’s UK headquarters, Saint Hill Manor, in East Grinstead, England, he noticed that Scientology had not bothered to get the necessary permits to erect the giant tent that it holds the three-day event in.
But rather than acknowledge that a former staffer had noticed this and simply ask for that permission, Scientology leader David Miscavige instead submitted plans to build a large car park at Saint Hill, along with new concrete footing for the giant tent.
For months now we’ve been covering this controversy with Alex’s help. And you’ve seen how many local environmental and other groups have protested about Dave’s plans for what is a rather pristine rural property that is officially designated an “Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.”
Dave’s new parking lots would infringe on critical habitat for the Great Crested Newt, a protected species that is taken very seriously in England. New lights installed at the location would affect the local bat population in a negative way. A water main runs right under the car park, and so on.
There are so many reasons that Dave’s plans are a bad idea, especially for a development that would be built to be used for an event that takes only three days of the year. And especially with Dave building a new auditorium in Clearwater, Florida called “L. Ron Hubbard Hall” that Scientology has indicated will end up hosting the IAS gala when it is finished, making any development at Saint Hill superfluous.
Well, things are coming to a head, and Alex has pointed us to some documents that recently came in to the Mid Sussex District Council, which will make its decision about Dave’s plans a week from today.
And those documents suggest that the District Council has decided it’s going to knuckle under to Scientology despite all of the concerns of local environmentalists.
“The council are recommending the application for approval, but the report is scathing and notes so many problems with it. It doesn’t make sense,” Alex tells us.
We can understand how he feels.
Just two weeks ago, the city council in Clearwater voted to give a downtown street to Scientology as part of its L. Ron Hubbard Hall project, even though the auditorium could be built without shutting down the street to the public.
And now, public officials in England are about to surrender to another of Scientology’s unnecessary requests.
Why? Is it fear? Intimidation?
Surely no one in the local area really believes that Scientology having a new car park on critical newt habitat so some Scientologists can park there three nights a year is going to benefit the local economy.
Scientology is struggling. It is a shell of what it once was, and strains to bring in new members when it is the subject of so much harsh media attention and public ridicule.
And yet, we have seen time and time again that David Miscavige continues to have success in two crucial areas: Convincing wealthy Scientologists to fork over huge sums of money, and convincing local politicians to go along with his schemes.
What a racket.
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I did it! I did this course quite a long time ago and doing it newly and GAT II was wonderful. It was a spiritual experience this time, and I am fortunate to have been able to do it here at Flag. Highly recommend for everyone, particularly mothers!
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As first heard on the Group Therapy podcast…
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Oh no! Why on earth would the council do this! It’s truly heartbreaking if it goes through.
Nuts!
You put up a good fight, for a good cause, Alex. If the council is too daft to go with Doing The Right Thing, it is not because you and the other protesters did not give it a solid try.