800 Lorries now..burning issue!

ROW RUMBLES ON OVER PLANT STABILITY:
Tyre burning at the Cemex New works plant has started again - when and IF they can get the plant working, with its brand new bag filter!

And the burning of London's household and commercial waste - described as "Climafuel" - along with the tyres, coal and petcoke, is now imminent. RBC councillors, officers, and an expert, have said in a Report that this is UNLIKELY to cause ADDITIONAL risks to health. But they have added an almost impossible-to-meet proviso that this should "ONLY" be carried out in a "STABLE" plant. And "Cemex will have to strengthen the plans significantly to prove further evidence of its safety in the town."

For seven years the Environment Agency has refused to answer any questions about plant stability, and the unlimited hours of operation when no Emission Limits are in force. The new STACK CAM shows how very many hours downtime there are, and how the plant occasionally puffs into life and then dies again. It admirably demonstrates plumes from different point sources at the plant.

The Rugby Advertiser Editor's Viewpoint:
"The Environment Agency in its wisdom has made its decision. It is unfortunate that there have been incidents which have "dusted" cars and homes in the vicinity (not to mention stripping paint off cars!) This must be very irritating and a little worrying when you think about the dusty particles in the air when this happens.

Anyway the decisions have been made and I know that despite this Rugby in Plume campaigners will continue their protests. That is their right. In essence I go with their concerns, but I think it is now time to move on.

The new main issue has to be the number of lorries thundering round the town each day. I think I remember the figure of 200 lorries a day, (at the turn of the century in the first year of operation maybe?) but certainly there is a constant flow of heavy vehicles trundling round the town each day.

Quite apart from the NUISANCE and the POLLUTION (Goodness knows what our carbon imprint is like?) this has got to be CAUSING DAMAGE in the streets and ROCKING the foundations of our buildings."

IS TRAIN TO SOUTHAM THE ANSWER?
"Whatever happened to the proposed re-opening of the railway between Rugby and Southam to deal with this freight? Although I think there was a plan and it was shelved, I think it is time to reconsider!"

HAVE I GOT NEWS FOR YOU?
# The railway was always a red-herring and was always a non-starter, but Warwickshire County Council has deliberately caused all this harm to Rugby town, giving extra permissions all the time without considering the "damage and destruction" they allow.

# Actually only the 70 (?) lorries coming from Southam daily loaded with clay would use that route - and those returning empty, or loaded with steaming hazardous bypass dust that has been dumped unlawfully at Southam since 2000, using WCC's extended "temporary " planning permissions for INERT Cement Kiln Dust - without any IPPC Permit.

# The other 600 or so HGVs daily are going to, and coming from, other places and would not use any railway - even if Rugby people paid for it ourselves!

# WCC stopped the Western Relief Road from being built, to allow Rugby Cement time to contemplate IF it would like the railway to "nowhere" to open - but of course it would not, as hardly any lorries travel that route.

WHY TELL THE TRUTH?
When lies are all they know? Of course Rugby Cement did not tell the truth about what they were building; what the emissions would be; what the total number of HGVs would be; and what any environmental impact would be.

The gullible WCC planners said, initially, regarding the planning application: 4 July 1994: " The large increase in HGV traffic proposed appears to raise some doubts as to whether the existing network could cope. Consequently there must be considerable doubt as to the acceptability of the proposal."

But Brian Cole Associates of Wellingborough put in a lorry plan saying the maximum movements going in would be 173 and going out would be 229. They added that up to be 403 lorry movements a day. Then that became 806 lorry movements a day.
Then 16 December 1994 BCAL wrote again to WCC: " We enclose for your attention a copy of the TRAFFIC IMPACT ASSESSMENT. The report concludes that the effect of the proposed works traffic will have no significant impact in terms of NOISE: VIBRATION; AIR QUALITY. Rugby Cement said that the Rugby Cement old plant "has on occasions generated up to 365 HGV trips, and as a result of this UPGRADE a further 446 trips could be generated." A most unlikely story!

RUGBY BOROUGH COUNCIL :
"From a practical point of view the increases in heavy vehicle movements on Parkfield road and Lawford Road are likely to be unacceptable in environmental and safely terms."

The Environment Agency (13/3/95) itself was not at all concerned with the traffic that the Agency was FORCING into Rugby - and they wrote to Rugby Cement : "If you do not provide the necessary data and need an extended period then we may delay issuing the IPC Permit." In the event Rugby Cement did not FINISH its IPC application until FOUR YEARS LATER on 16 JUNE 1999!!! Then they decided with the EA; and RBC to HIDE the application from the public, so there would be NO CONSULTATION and NO REALISATION as to what was built. Any delay in the IPC permitting would have inevitably have lead to an ESSENTIAL LAWFUL IPPC application being made, as the EU Directive 96/61/EC was due to be implemented on 1 November 1999.

PULLING THE WOOL TO GET UNLAWFUL IPC PERMIT - UNDER THE WIRE.
So all three authorities involved and Rugby Cement colluded together to hide the application.
The Agency gave an UNLAWFUL IPC permission on 8 September 1999 - to get it in under the wire, without the public having any opportunity to say, or indeed even to ask, ANYTHING at all about the works;

# the pollution;
# the raw materials;
# the fuels;
# the emission limits:
# the lorries;
# the 18 low level sources;
# the fugitive emissions;
# the TOTAL BURDEN.

POOR RUGBY RESIDENTS:
What they do not know will not harm them - MUCH!