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STARTING TODAY, WE Publish ONLINE A SELECTION OF RUGBY RESIDENTS LETTERS WHICH HAVE BEEN PREVIOUSLY PUBLISHED IN NATIONAL OR LOCAL PRESS.

(Let us know if some slip us by..)





EAST JOURNAL:

To the Editor,

BUILT IN THE WRONG PLACE.

During my visit to the Environment Exhibition held at the NEC, Birmingham a few years ago, Baroness Barbara Young said to me quote “Pat, you and I are never going to be able to agree with each other because the Rugby Cement works should not have been built there”. (Adjacent to 60,000 Rugby Town People)

Fellow campaigners and I have for the past seven years tried in vain to protect our Environment, especially in and around RUGBY, Warwickshire. I have been extremely active as a founder member of Rugby in Plume trying to stop tyres and municipal solid wastes and other "alternative fuels" fro being burnt in the nearby cement factory. (Now a Co-Incinerator)
During 2002-2006 I represented the residents of Long Lawford on Rugby Borough Council. The constant deluge of changes made by the cement industry (profit before Health) makes everyone concerned, because of the known problems of dioxins, particulates, dust, nuisance, odour, hundreds of additional daily movements of lorries and fall-outs over the residents. The "expansion" of the existing cement works, (under the disguise of the word “Up-Grade”) commenced in 1995 was the start of something BIG, unbeknown to the people who happen to reside in the area. The growth of the cement works, to treble its size, was accompanied by a great lack of any proper consultation, a great deal of misinformation and a huge amount of economy with the truth. There has been so much “Impropriety” through the years, now scrutiny and thorough investigation is urgently required. The Environment Agency does not protect our environment, WHY?, Is it because they are unaware of what goes on.? Is it because the are politically constrained or short of resources? They are unable to make and administer any meaningful safeguards, because the applicant constantly requests variations. The threat of claims for COMPENSATION causes fear, and an inevitable paralysis in the minds of many otherwise worthy local councillors, and who pays for this showcase, we the public. The residents feel powerless to bring about change to their dilemma, because it is always the applicant who gains meaningless permits. Frustration is the flavour of the day followed by apathy. Local residents have attempted to use the Judicial Review process in order to have the dreadful decisions of recent years reversed. So far that process has been unsuccessful, but the effort continues. Such complicated matters, brought before Judges in a condensed form for a few hours, remain so difficult for them to share our experiences and to fully understand our grievances. The powers and duty of the Environment Agency need strengthening to enable them to serve the defenceless public on a stringent level playing field. The Health Protection Agency was formed to assist and advise the EA with it’s work load, but it has failed Rugby citizens. They have not applied the precautionary principle in order to safeguard the citizens of Rugby, especially the young and elderly and to provide protection for future generations.

Yours sincerely,

Mrs. Patricia Wyatt.
Long Lawford Parish Councillor.