We All Need To Work Together To Protect Nature.

 

Members of North Staffs Pensioners Convention met in the Mitchell Arts Centre in Hanley for a public meeting to discuss environmental issues.

 

Green Party councillor for the Stafford war of Doxey and Castletown Tony Pearce was one of three speakers invited to address the meeting. Also on the platform were former Stoke-on-Trent councillor and member of the Save Berryhill Fields Action Group, and Dr Mick Salt of the Stop the Stink Scientific Advisory Group.

 

Tony Pearce spoke about how he had grown up in Stoke-on-Trent and been active in local politics from an early age, before working in education and then as a full time official for the National Union of Teachers.

 

He held elected positions on Stoke-on-Trent City Council and Staffordshire County Council for Labour before becoming disillusioned with the party’s policies, including its response to the threat posed by climate change.

 

The Green Party offered a more viable alternative with its understanding, he said, that the drive for endless growth is the cause of many of the problems we face and commitment to social justice. In 2019 he won his current seat for the party and since then has worked to make protecting the environment a priority for the county council.

 

He has tabled motions calling for the declaration of a climate emergency, single use plastics and helped to set up a Climate Change Panel to involve the community in decision making on environmental issues.

 

The important thing was, he said, for everyone to realize they had a role to play in working to protect nature.

 

Dr Mick Salt, a founding member of the Stop the Stink Scientific Advisory Group spoke about the ongoing campaign with Red Industries over the ‘stink’ from Walley’s Quarry.

 

The impact of pollution from the site, caused it has been claimed, by the illegal dumping of hazardous waste at the site can be seen in the 22,239 complaints received about the ‘stink’ by Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council in 2021 alone. A further 43,263 complaints were received by the Environment Agency and pollution from the site was described by the Appeal Court decision following the case presented by the family of Matthew Richards as posing a ‘real and immediate’ risk to public health.

 

Despite repeatedly issuing enforcement notices, Dr Salt said, the Environment Agency had failed to follow through when it came to ensuring Red Industries too the required action. He also spoke about the intimidating methods used by Red Industries to inhibit protest by members of the community, including taking out an injunction banning protesters from outside the gates to the quarry.

 

Barry Stockley spoke about the struggle to protect Berryhill Fields, which began in the 1980’s when it was proposed as the site for an opencast coalmine. Residents and the council fought successfully against British Coal to prevent this, eventually winning their case in 1994. He described this as being “one of the most satisfying” days in his career as a councillor.

 

The proposed Local Plan, originally to be created by Stoke-on-Trent and Newcastle-under-Lyme councils as a joint exercise, saw the site come under threat again in 2017. This time as the site for 1306 houses, if this has gone ahead it would have destroyed a habitat that is home to 167 species of birds and to rare brown hares and great crested newts.

 

The proposed Local Plan collapsed following a disagreement between the two councils and there was, he said, a strong possibility that the land would not now be developed, but the threat remains in place.

 

Responding to a question from the floor about the often-confusing rules around recycling Dr Salt said there was a need for a consistent and clear nation wide set of guidelines. Also responding to a question about recycling Tony Pearce said that the deal requiring the County Council to pay for a fixed quantity of waste to be burnt, regardless of the amount sent to the incinerator, removed the incentive for more to be done to encourage recycling.

 

Questions were also asked about the lack of funding for the Environment Agency and other bodies, the need for hydrogen powered busses to replace the polluting diesel ones used by First and the impact of lack of access to green spaces on local children.