Government Reacts to Clean Air Lobby
Over the last seven weeks, members and supporters of the Breathe Clean Air Group have been lobbying Government Ministers to try to stop the controversial Barton Renewable Energy Plant and to change Government policy on the dangerous practice of burning biomass.
“It seems like no coincidence” said Pete Kilvert, Chairman of the Breathe Clean Air Group, “that the Government’s response is to try to gag us and other campaigners by introducing the Transparency of Lobbying, Non-Party Campaigning and Trade Union Administration Bill. We have responded to this bill in a letter to Chloe Smith MP,” he added.
Trafford based Breathe Clean Air Group has been campaigning for 3 years to stop the Barton Renewable Energy Plant which will be located in Davyhulme, Greater Manchester and which will burn The Peel Group’s contaminated waste wood and other commercial and industrial waste. The campaigners say that tiny airborne particles known as PM2.5 Particulate Matter, from burning wood, will have massive ill-health impacts on Trafford, Salford and Manchester.
The campaign group has also written to DEFRA to protest about the Government’s intention to prevent Local Authorities, such as Trafford Council, from monitoring airborne pollution, and declaring Air Quality Management Areas in locations where air pollution is at risk of causing serious health problems, such as the M60 motorway corridor.
“The European Union and the World Health Organisation have laid down air quality standards that the UK Government is treating with contempt,” said Mr Kilvert. “Instead of trying to solve the problems of air pollution, Ministers are turning a blind eye and sweeping it under the carpet. Pollution caused by traffic, industry and power generation will cause massive ill-health and disease in the future, unless it is tackled now. That’s why it’s crucial to stop the Barton Renewable Energy Plant and other biomass and waste incinerators being built,” he added.