Topic: Are you concerned about cement works emissions?

[Rosebud]

A lot of respiratory problems can also be related to peoples perfume/deodorants/air sprays etc etc.

And animal fur. I am highly allergic to cats. Ho dear are you the only one in your family that suffers

[Al]

In any event, the proposal is to undertake air-monitoring on the ground to see what is happening at ground level in places such as Studland Park.
 
At the moment, all the monitoring is done inside at the bottom of the stack before the emissions actually are emitted.

How can it be shown that an airborne particle found floating around in Studland park came from anywhere in particular? Especially when, as I understand it, many of the pollutants that the cement works are alleged to be chucking out are also caused by other sources found locally (like cars). Its a fine idea in principle to do this monitoring, I just don't see how it can work in practise.

[baldy]

This is a good point, Al.  It is one that Lafarge have mentioned.
 
The intention is to establish whether it is physically possible to monitor the air at ground level in places where the cement works plume is known to ground, such as the eastern end of Studland Park / The Butts / upper Newtown.
 
The chief Environmental Health Officer at WWDC advised me that this would have two stages. The first is establishing what type of monitoring is possible, installing the machine and running it to collect data over a long enough period.  The second is analysing the data to establish what any data means and whether it poses any health risk.
 
The PCT and HPA would have to be involved in determining whether this was a public health risk to people in the area.
 
To my mind, if the results of all of this showed that there is a pollution issue, we would then have to turn to looking at the possible sources of the pollutant. At that stage, I think all options would have to be looked at to nail down the exact source, but by then we would have identified a more specific problem to look for.
 
Clearly, if the results of any extra monitoring show that there is no increased risk to health, then the exercise would help allay any fears people in the locality have, especially if this is tied in with any statistical evidence that there are no statistical blips in the area reflecting above-average diseases etc.
 
 

[Al]

Seems sensible. My worry would be if an increased level of pollutant was found that the cement works would be immediately blamed by people. Even if it was cleared later by further research, mud tends to stick. That said, it does merit looking into and if the cement works and local environmental agencies can work together to allay peoples fears, that can only be a good thing. Psychosomatics play as big a part as anything here I feel.

[Quantumtheory]

That's interesting Councillor Hawker. Can I ask which party you are with and if you have a personal web page?

[Al]

That's interesting Councillor Hawker. Can I ask which party you are with and if you have a personal web page?

He is an independent. As of last month he didn't have a web page of his own, but said he was developing one and it would be ready in October IIRC. I'm sure he can correct me if wrong

[baldy]

That's interesting Councillor Hawker. Can I ask which party you are with and if you have a personal web page?

As Al says , I am Independent of any party. If you click on the two links below in my signature, you'll see some more information.
 
The "Independent Group" at WWDC is not a "party". It is simply a political "group" for purposes of being recognised within Local Government legislation which sets out detailed rules about how seats on committees of principal authorities are allocated strictly only to grouped members first. The group also permits group members to substitute for each other on certain committees when one cannot attend and also creates a "group leader" who can attend group leader meetings when very urgent or important issues come up and the chief executive needs to consult key councillors quickly.
 
There is no formal group structure at the town council, though most members do belong to a party and tend to work together within their party in a loose way.
 
I do not yet have a website, but I am thinking about setting one up this Autumn. I have many other admin issues to resolve before then.