Algihaz Due Diligence Failure: WTRG Report on Walshaw Moor

The Walshaw Turbines Research Group (WTRG), part of Stronger Together, has published the first in a series of reports for Mustapha Hajjar, CEO of Algihaz Holding, concerning the proposed Calderdale Energy Park (CEP) on Walshaw Moor.

This first report examines what WTRG argues was a significant failure of due diligence by Algihaz in November 2021, particularly concerning the availability and suitability of construction aggregates for the proposed development.

A central issue is the eventual identification of a requirement for approximately 616,000 tonnes of imported noncalcareous hardstone.

WTRG argues that this should have been identified during Algihaz’s original due diligence before the agreement concerning Walshaw Moor was signed. The report points to information that was already available concerning the weakness and suitability of local rock and argues that the aggregate requirement should therefore have been understood much earlier.

The requirement has significant implications beyond construction. The report describes a proposed delivery programme involving approximately 30,800 HGVs, carrying the imported material, with consequential impacts on communities and roads well beyond Walshaw Moor.

The aggregate issue has now also become the subject of a letter-before-action sent to Calderdale Wind Farm Ltd and Algihaz.

Colne Town Council and Laneshaw Bridge Parish Council are the claimants. WTRG says it supplied technical evidence and legal advice in support of the letter, which argues that the failure to properly consult affected communities about the substantial imported aggregate requirement raises issues under the principles of English common law governing lawful consultation.

WTRG considers this the first effective legal action taken against Algihaz in relation to the Walshaw Moor proposal. The report also notes that a further letter-before-action is being developed concerning a different aspect of the project and involving another claimant.

For WTRG, the significance of the aggregate problem extends beyond the material itself.

The report argues that the failure to identify such a fundamental engineering and geological issue during the 2021 due diligence process is also relevant to the question of whether alternative sites to Walshaw Moor were properly considered. That issue is examined in WTRG’s second report.

The full report contains the detailed evidence and analysis behind these arguments.

The views and allegations summarised above are those of the Walshaw Turbines Research Group and are set out in its full report.