Good morning Neil
How are you today? Feeling ok?, not under to much pressure at work I hope, good!
good! I was just sitting here thinking about the dust covering my car once again, wondering
why my chest throat and eyes are burning and the Northwood area is stinking of wood
preservative, and I thought - I know!, I will ask Neil if he could give me the answer.
But maybe not.
Anyway, how are you getting on with the closure of the Sonae plant (I am sure
I have asked you this before?) since the meeting with yourself and John Baxter and
others, you don't seem to want to share your progress with me, could it be there
has not been any?, could it be you are just to busy doing other things much more
important than to take time to let the people of Northwood know what is happening
(or not happening as the case may be).
In my last e-mail to you I asked about the thousands of tons of building
spoil being dumped at the end of Simonswood lane and you gave the usual answer
(divert it to someone else who will divert it to someone else and so on) once again
I find my self thanking you for your help in resolving the concerns of myself and
other residents of Northwood, as you stated it's not your department, in the mean
time, we have been told the Sonae is going to start running trains at 5.30am,
could it be the spoil tip is a very poor attempt to block the noise that will
no doubt come from the train ?,we will wait and see. Oh by the way the people
who drive around Kirkby on trial bikes and sand buggies thank the council for
providing them with a
nice big hill to drive onto, they, like the council,
don't care if they make a nuisance of themselves. It's not on there door
step is it?
Anyway back to the Sonae: In the last meeting I attended, John Baxter seemed
to know a lot about the layout of the Sonae plant and I voiced my concerns over the
new plume of smoke coming from the plant which started at around 8.00pm and stopped
about 5.00am. He said it had something to do with the start up procedure of the
drying process and would only be evident when that procedure was started. It would
now appear the start up procedure is happening every night at around the same time.
Is this normal or is this the start of another "unforeseen plant failure"?
If you are standing on Simonswood lane facing the plant, the smoke is coming
from two small chimneys which are next to the warehouse type building. The roof
of the building is discoloured and it looks like there is deposits of something
on the side of the building - could this could be burnt paint?, this smoke is
now pumped out 24hours a day but it is reduced during the day to a faint
plume just visible to the eye if you look for it, but at night it is
spewing out. Why this happening and what is is it they are venting
into the night time air? If you and John are not too busy, could
you please answer the following and reply some time this month?
1
What is happening with the trains?
2
How much progress have you made with the closure of Sonae?
3
Why am I still having problems with dust and burning to my eye and chest?
4
Why is there now two plumes of smoke every night from the Sonae plant?
5
What is the second plume of smoke and why only at night?
6
What are the deposits on the side of the building?
7
Are you aware of this second plume and if not why not?
The questions above are all connected to Sonae in some way so I am of the opinion
you should be able to answer them with out to much trouble should you find you are
unable to answer them could you please forward the names and e-mail addresses of
the relevant people who can.
waiting as ever
Joe
Note: The idea behind publishing letters such as the one above is to highlight
the importance of locals contacting various bodies to try and force the issue.
We do need an organisation such as KATS to co-ordinate such activities - but so
far there's been little attempt to do this. Why? The last KATS meeting was months
ago as far as we know - Nonetheless, its important people do continue the fight and
as Joe's correspondence shows it is bringing public information into the public arena.
There's too much secrecy regarding Sonae and Kirkby Times is a vital platform to share
these issues with the community. The Kirkby Extra or Knowsley Challenge seems to struggle
when it comes to reporting on Sonae - this is editorial policy rather than a will from
reporters. We are starved of information regarding the Sonae issue - never forget our
local councillors simply stood by and allowed it to happen. Nothing new there.
