Scientology's plans run into ecological quagmire: Meet the Great Crested Newt!
With this year’s IAS gala looming, Scientology’s back-door attempt to get permission to erect its giant tent for the three-day annual event at its UK headquarters, Saint Hill Manor in East Grinstead, England, has run into yet another obstacle, and this one is warty indeed!
Former Scientology staffer Alex Barnes-Ross has led protests at the last two IAS events, which started up again in 2023 after a break for the pandemic. And it was Alex who discovered that Scientology had not been applying for formal permission with local government officials to put up the giant “marquee” on one of its empty lots.
So this year, Scientology has asked permission, in a roundabout way, by submitting to the Mid Sussex District Council a rather massive planning application to put in a carpark for 619 spaces, some permanent bathrooms, and also a permanent footing for the tent.
Alex immediately raised serious issues with Scientology’s plan, and he’s kept us updated as letters of support have come in, the East Grinstead Town Council refused to endorse the plan, and the West Sussex County Council raised objections over the lack of flood measures.
And now, Alex forwarded to us perhaps the biggest obstacle to Scientology leader David Miscavige’s plans yet.
And it has to do with an adorable little amphibian!
Now, our readers in the UK may be surprised to hear that we’ve never heard of the great crested newt and conservation efforts to protect this species. Apparently, it’s long been an issue for developers in Sussex, perhaps something like the snail darter over here.
But the point is, if you’re going to build in certain parts of England, you need to know whether you are encroaching on great crested newt territory!
And just take a look at this beauty of a map that was supplied by NatureSpace, which was consulted on Scientology’s plans.
The red shaded zone is high impact area for the little creatures, where there is “highly suitable habitat and a high likelihood of great crested newt presence.”
Now, take a look at Scientology’s proposed development, the red outline, and you can see that it’s almost all in the high impact newt territory!
According to the NatureSpace report, Scientology’s planners had anticipated that the newts might be an issue, and they suggested that work could take that into account, but in a “non-licensed” way. (In other words, we’ll do our best not to step on the little buggers, and you’ll just have to trust us.)
The NatureSpace report’s conclusion is that this isn’t good enough, and that they are “not satisfied that the applicant has adequately demonstrated that there will be no impact to great crested newts and/or their habitat as a result of the development being approved.”
The environmentalists, in other words, are saying the plans should not be approved unless Scientology jumps through a lot more ecological hoops, with licensed specialists, to make sure they don’t destroy newt habitat.
You know we couldn’t wait to get Alex’s thoughts.
Who would have thought the humble newt was capable of throwing such a huge spanner in the works for Scientology’s proposed development.
In the UK, great crested newts are a protected species and it’s actually an offence to disturb, kill, or capture them or to damage or destroy their habitats.. Which means Captain Mickywitz can’t just simply confront and shatter them. They wield a power any OT would be envious of. In fact, their presence alone can be enough to stop any construction project in its tracks, and it looks like that’s what may be about to happen at Saint Hill.
As with the issue of flood mitigation, yet another authority has found Scientology’s plans to be inadequate and in order to proceed, they’re going to have to apply for a licence — all for the sake of the newts.
These are all consequences of developing in a protected Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and things that are completely avoidable by simply hosting the IAS event elsewhere.
I must say, I now have a newfound respect for the newt. Forget nukes in volcanoes, newts at Saint Hill is the new Wall of Fire!
So now, with a no vote from East Grinstead Town Council, a call for more flood information from West Sussex County Council, and a don’t tread on our newts from the environmentalists, what will the Mid Sussex District Council do?
And when is Dave going to reveal the date for this year’s gala?
You sure axolotl questions, Ortega!
Want to help?
Please consider joining the Underground Bunker as a paid subscriber. Your $7 a month will go a long way to helping this news project stay independent, and you’ll get access to our special material for subscribers. Or, you can support the Underground Bunker with a Paypal contribution to bunkerfund@tonyortega.org, an account administered by the Bunker’s attorney, Scott Pilutik. And by request, this is our Venmo link, and for Zelle, please use (tonyo94 AT gmail). E-mail tips to tonyo94@gmail.com. Find us at Threads: tony.ortega.1044 and Bluesky: @tonyortega.bsky.social
For the full picture of what’s happening today in the world of Scientology, please join the conversation at tonyortega.org, where we’ve been reporting daily on David Miscavige’s cabal since 2012. There you’ll find additional stories, and our popular regular daily features:
Source Code: Actual things founder L. Ron Hubbard said on this date in history
Avast, Ye Mateys: Snapshots from Scientology’s years at sea
Overheard in the Freezone: Indie Hubbardism, one thought at a time
Past is Prologue: From this week in history at alt.religion.scientology
Random Howdy: Your daily dose of the Captain
Here’s the link for today’s post at tonyortega.org
And whatever you do, subscribe to this Substack so you get our breaking stories and daily features right to your email inbox every morning.
Paid subscribers get access to a special podcast series…
Group Therapy: Our round table of rowdy regulars on the week’s news
At the Int Base our nemesis was the cute little Kangaroo Rat. Every time a new building went to the Planning Commission, we had to promise we were not inconveniencing any of those very special creatures in the process. Roof rats, Norwegian rats, plain old nasty rats were fair game.
The river was usually bone dry, except for the exciting times when upstream dams broke and so on. So we never had to worry about snail darters or Delta smelt. At least a modicum of common sense prevailed there.
We considered the submissions to the Planning Commission to be starting-point suggestions and felt free to invent an acceptable truth about any local rodents that might be around. Probably something similar will happen here.
I, for one, am glad that official England protects the newt even if criminal organisations are possibly inconvenienced. If the Co$ were run in a competent manner, this would be a minor detail which could be worked around. As it is, with management by temper tantrum from defendant David “he is NOT insane” Miscavige, all bets are off.
The only thing that is certain, is that COB will blame the staff for his own lack of management skills. Too bad the staff are conditioned to consider this normal.