Officials for a rural England district near Canterbury on Thursday rejected as "incredibly stupid" a proposal by a group of high-speed traders to build radio masts as tall as the Eiffel Tower, dashing plans to open a faster trading route between financial markets in London and Frankfurt.
At a public meeting Thursday night, the Dover District Council rejected separate planning applications from Vigilant Global, part of Chicago-based DRW Holdings LLC, and New Line Networks -- a joint venture between Chicago-based Jump Trading LLC and New York-based KCG Holdings Inc. Representatives from both firms declined to comment.
"In 26 years as a councilor, this is the worst application I have ever seen," said Bernard Butcher, the vice chairman of the planning committee, in his response to Vigilant's application. "This particular proposal is just unsightly, it's too incredibly stupid for us to even contemplate.
"There have to be other locations where it will not cause so much havoc and unsightliness," he said during the meeting.
On one side of the council chamber were executives from the world of high-speed trading and their planning and public relations advisers. On the other side were members of the public opposed to the erection of two 980-foot towers in the nearby countryside. Vigilant and New Line Networks had waited a year for the council to decide whether they could proceed with their plans, which would have shortened trading times between Europe's two biggest financial centers.
Planning officer Andrew Somerville laid out the case against the towers: they would spoil views from Richborough Roman Fort, one of the area's main tourist attractions; they presented marginal benefit to the national economy; and Vigilant, at least, had failed to sufficiently assess the potential danger to the local environment.
"We are disappointed by the committee's decision, but acknowledge the feedback provided by the members of the committee," said Eric Bellerive, director of Global Network Architecture at Vigilant. "It is our firm belief that this proposal would have solved a real problem for the financial industry, whilst providing significant value to national and local economies. It is important that we now take time to reflect on the feedback provided by the councilors and evaluate if there is a manner in which a future scheme could progress in a mutually beneficial fashion."
After the local official had recommended that the towers be blocked, the 10-member committee of elected councilors took turns criticizing the plans, leaving little doubt as to the eventual verdict. Vigilant's proposed tower was rejected by nine votes with one abstention. New Line Networks' tower was unanimously blocked.
The councilors dismissed arguments made by the speed traders' experts. Jon Bradburn of Montagu Evans, Vigilant's planning consultant, and Sean McNamara, the operations director of New Line Networks, were both given three minutes to make their case.
Bradburn pointed out that there is already an industrial works next to Richborough Fort, and that Vigilant has offered to share its mast with other high-frequency traders, eliminating the need for multiple towers. The councilors also heard claims made by a speaker against the Vigilant development.
"The sole use of this mast is to facilitate computerized gambling on stocks and shares," said Mike Matthews, a retired engineer at the meeting. "There are no benefits from this development either locally or nationally."
The speed traders can still appeal to the U.K.'s central government to argue that the towers have a wider benefit to the British economy. Ultimately, a minister could overrule Dover District Council, allowing the project to go ahead, said Iain Gilbey, a partner at law firm Pinsent Masons who specializes in infrastructure planning.
"It's a bit of a wait and see," Gilbey said.
Information for this article was contributed by Hayley Warren and John Detrixhe of Bloomberg News.
Business on 01/28/2017