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There has been increasing coverage of this vital issue in the press, both local and national. We, therefore, felt it appropriate to repeat here some of the comments and letters that have appeared together with relevant newspaper reports

The local papers, especially The Chronicle; The Evening Leader; and The Daily Post, are to be complimented on the neutral position they have carefully taken on all aspects of this highly emotive and very important debate.

Where relevant, we have also listed here reports by CANK on events as they unfold and important letters that have been sent in.

January 14th
M & S Expansion Plans Unlikely if Kiln Plan goes ahead
Vicar joins fight against controversial kiln plan

January 21st
Big Guns Raise Fears over Kiln Plans
MBNA Bank voices Concerns
Cynical manoeuvre to exploit communities

January 27th
New Twist in Kiln Row
'Put Health Fears in Context' Plea

    Copies of Letters  to Flintshire County Council
          Planners Must Put an End to this Burning Issue
          Consider the Wider Implications - John Cowley, Head of Business Operations, M&S Financial Services

CANK's final submission to the local press just prior to Planning Meeting (not published)

February 2nd
Newspaper Extracts from Evening Leader the day after the Planning Decision

February 7th
Cllr Derek Darlington's Newsletter to his Penyffordd community

February 12th
Letter received from Ieuan Wyn Jones, Assembly MP, confirming Plaid Cymru have asked Peter Law to call the application in.
CANK's report on Village Meetings at Buckley and Penyffordd
        Castle's allegations  with regard to CANK's distancing itself from the work of Dr van Steenis, are addressed.
        Important extracts from The National Code of Local Government Conduct
Copy of Castle Cement's letter to former employees giving the suggested wording of letters to The Welsh Assembly.

February 18th
    From The Chester Chronicle, Mold & Buckley Edition
    Article
           Going Public?
    Letters
            Health v Jobs: Castle's bluff on closing should have been called
            'We Feel Betrayed'
           Human Rights Legislation should be used against kiln

February 21st
    CANK's February Newsletter
    Castle Cement News Release d/d 17th January
    Letter from Killamarsh - a moving account of the realities of living near an incinerator NOW CLOSED DOWN

February 25th
    Letter in The Chester Chronicle
           Castle Should Come Clean

March 1st
Letter to The Chester Chronicle from CANK Chairman, Arnold Woolley, headed Dioxins or Democracy
News of a substantial fuel oil spill at Padeswood reaches CANK from a concerned member of the public

March 3rd
The Chester Chronicle
        Front Page News

            No Minister!
           'He [Paul Murphy - Welsh Secretary} was challenged on the Government's lack of action and the situation's
            apparent contradiction with Tony Blair's pledge on health and the environment taking precedence over
            jobs.'

            Castle may be prosecuted for oil leak

            Letters
           Attitude to voters was deplorable
            'they [councillors] should first remember that they officially are - representatives of the people.'
           Labouring under decision's weight
           To describe what followed as debate is to put an entirely wrong label on what was a puerile discussion'
           Road to Damascus is well travelled
           'There is a failure to protect people now and Cllr Matthews cannot claim we will be protected in the future.'

20th March
The Wrexham Leader
           Toxic Waste Furore
            Disturbing news story of a proposal for recycling half a million tonnes of waste each year, both hazardous
             and non-hazardous, at a plant to be built near a country park and residential housing at Cefynybedd, near Wrexham.

24th March
The Chester Chronicle
           Letters
           Perils must not be underestimated as pollution is the tip of an iceberg
            An excellent letter by a resident of Oswestry, Shropshire, which nealty summarises a lot of the areas of concern.
           Scaremongerers: not us says CANK
            A letter from the CANK Secretary responding to Castle's repeated allegations of 'scaremongering'.
31st March
The Chester Chronicle
          Report
          On the open letter written by a protest group in Killamarsh, Derbyshire (see February 21st above)

Evidence of another spillage at Padeswood
         Pictures only, at the moment - waiting more details

CANK's April Newsletter to it's members

21st April
    Letter
    Kiln proposal puts wealth before health

April 22nd
    Daily Post Article
    A burning question

10th May
    Article
    Mystery of Street cursed by cancer (Daily Mail 10th May)
    Disturbing story from Liverpool. Whilst environmental controls have been tightened in recent years, given the extreme
    toxicity of the emission products, who is to say that they are yet strict enough?

18th May
    Articles
    Incinerator cancer threat revealed (Guardian 18th May)

    Pressure builds on Meacher as waste strategy is held up - again (Guardian 18th May)
        The leaked documents linking incinerators to cancer are a stick of dynamite under Michael Meacher'

19th May
    Letter
    Figures show increase in CO2 emissions

    Article
    Britain steps out of line on incinerators (Guardian 19th May)
         'They (incinerators) are treated in the same way as nuclear power stations - people no longer want them,'

20th May
    Press Release
    House of Commons Environment, Transport and Regional Affairs Committee
    Relating to the Committee's 6th Report on the Environment Agency
        'There has been a failure of leadership in the Agency'
    Note:This is a PDF file and will require Acrobat to read it

    Articles
    Waste Watchdog attacked by MPs (Guardian 20th May)
        'the government and the Environment Agency have failed to take the necessary action to prevent the illegal
       dumping of  waste' (see also separate story 8th May)
       See also alarming story relating to Byker, Newcastle above

    Tories turn green over incinerators    (Guardian 20th May)
       'A moratorium on the building of all new incinerators, until British scientific research rules out a cancer risk'

Joint Channel 4/Guardian investigation into the illegal dumping of waste
    Story broke 6th April in the Guardiannewspaper and was covered on the Dispatches programme that night:
        6th April
        Tide of polluted landfill 'beyond control'  (Guardian)
            Landfill tax scandal - Guardian Special Report (includes access to full 30,000 page Guardian Report)
           Channel 4 - Dispatches programme (useful links and programme transcript of their 'Dirty Money' story)
                                                There is also a 'Forum' section where you can leave your own views.
        7th April
        Downing Street acts after landfill tax dodge revealed (Guardian)
        25th April
        Meacher orders inquiry into illegal dumping    (Guardian)

25th May
    Front Page Article
    'Cement Works Cancer Furore' - Daily Post 25th May 2000
    Guardian Online
        Government backs burning waste
           Opinion:Another wasted opportunity
                    'Superficially, gaining electricity from burning rubbish is a good idea. But the toxic ash has to be
                    disposed of and  the fumes produce dioxins and other toxic chemicals that can cause cancer. '

    Press Release from local pensioner, John Ellis
                    Stating his intention to take his case to the European Court of Human Rights if the Welsh Assembly
                    decide to approve the planning application.

26th May
The Guardian
    Meacher wins 25% target for recycling
    Dioxins found in allotments near incinerator

The Independant
    Discovery of an excellent series of recent articles on waste incineration and related issues:
           Incinerator pollution can have devastating  effect on birth rate (26th May 2000)
                    See also abstract of related article in The Lancet
           Alert as allotments are found to contain toxic waste  (26th May 2000)
                    Follow up to analysis of fly-ash at Byker Newcastle (see also Press Release, below)
           New laws will enforce council recycling targets   (26th May 2000)
           Incinerator go-ahead will inflame residents    (25th May 2000)
           MPs say pollution watchdog has failed to act on dumping     (20th May 2000)
                    Report on House of Commons Select Committee's damning indictment of the Environment Agency's effectiveness
                    Quotes Report's specific reference to EA's performance re Castle Cement at Clitheroe:
           ‘It is very important that where there is controversy over a site regulated by the agency, that it must be
                    active in meeting local concerns.  The fiasco at Castle Cement in Ribblesdale must not be repeated
                    elsewhere’

           What a load of rubbish     (12th May 2000)
           Network of massive waste incinerators planned for UK    (24th January 2000)

    The Telegraph
           The Byker , Newcastle story
           Plan for 165 waste incinerators will blight rural areas

    The Chester Chronicle
           Kiln Decision Slammed

    Newcastle Journal
    Incinerator Ash hugely contaminated

    Press Association
    Rubbish Incinerators get Go-Ahead
    "We will introduce a moratorium on new incinerators until independent British scientific evidence proves they
    are safe"                                             (Damien Green, Conservative Environmental spokesman)
    ``If we are not careful, we are taking too big a risk. The incinerator route really is a very risky route."

28th May
    Six Stories from Byker
        A poignant indication of what it is like 'on the ground' in Newcastle after the incinerator ash report was released this week.
        "After the report results were announced at Newcastle Civic Centre, an angry allotment holder scattered
            produce across a table at which officials were sitting."

        Letters
           Agency's trust needs careful consideration  from John Ellis on the reported ineffectiveness of the Environment Agency.
           Phoenix wants answers local group asks why local councillors appear to continue to ignore the kiln's health implications.
           Council not listening  'Once again the people we pay to protect us completely ignored us'

4th June
        Article
        Guardian 27 April 1997
        Toothless tiger is on the run
         Written a year after the Environment Agency came into being, still highly relevant, this article is very critical of
         the agency's performance on it's first anniversary:
        'the agency ... "weak-willed", "lax" and "unable to defend the environment from the ravages of big
         business" due to it's cosy relationship" with those it is meant to be regulating.

        'Authorisations are amended or granted according to the needs of industrial processes rather than those of
        the environment or people's health."

        Compare these with criticisms levelled three years later. Nothing seems to have changed!

        Independant 4 June 2000
        Editors join village battle against waste incinerator    (See also Mountfield Heritage website)

11th June
        Articles and letters from The Clitheroe Advertiser and Times - March 2000
                Seven years since hazardous waste started being burned at Clitheroe and STILL the struggle  continues!
        Three letters from The Chronicle:
           Time to prove we are not a soft touch over incinerator
           More fuel for the fire
           Where's the caution?
        Evening Leader Report
           Anti-kiln campaigners get £1,000 boost to fight plans

16th June
        Letters in:
       The Chronicle
           Kiln campaign needs cash
       Lancashire Evening Telegraph
           Inquiry call from valley residents       (with thanks to David Mortimer, Clitheroe FoE)

       Report
       The Chronicle
           Kiln protest taken to Number 10

       Press Release
           Excellent piece from the Mountfield Heritage Group addressed to Michael Meacher following publication of the
           UK Waste Strategy document

26th June
    From Mary Horner - graphic time lapse video stills of what looks like a major dust breach from Kiln 7 at Clitheroe
    'the cleanest kiln in Europe' on 7th June 2000!
    Just imagine this over Padeswood.

 Newspaper
        Letter
        The Evening Leader
        Incinerator proven to be dangerous
        Disturbing news of a possible new incinerator for Wrexham together with an interesting suggestion that encapulation
        would dispose of waste whilst avoiding pollution altogether.

Reports
       Chester Chronicle 30 June 2000
       Cement kiln protestors go to the top
            Downing Street protest

       Lancashire Evening Telegraph 5 July 2000
       IN THE CLEAR?
            Front page story following the suspension of the burning of Cemfuel at two of Castle's Ribblesdale kilns
           Related Editorial:-
           Lets clear the air over Cemfuel
           'this move brings a breath of fresh air to a row that has gone on since the firm  began burning the
             controversial fuel at Clitheroe in 1992'

      Clitheroe Advertiser & Times 6 July 2000
      Air Quality campaigners celebrate as burning of Cemfuel is stopped
            'the Environment Agency...stated quite categorically the it "currently considers Cemfuel is a hazardous
            waste"

            COMPARE THESE REPORTS WITH:
           Living within our means
           Castle Cement's recent advertisement and flyer distributed to homes near Padeswood

July 21st
CANK
        July Newsletter to it's members, covering the pre-Inquiry meeting a few days ago and the recommended steps anyone
        concerned should now take, including a specimen part letter for those who wish to write directly to the Inspector.

Newspapers
    Letter
    Chester Chronicle
    No job is worth risk to health
        'perhaps he, or his employer can provide independant hard scientific evidence that confirms that there
            'would be no threat to health'.'

    Reports
    Chester Chronicle 21 July 2000
    Anger over cement works rap
           'a cement company....has accused critics of trying to close it's operation'

        Interesting comparison here with a report the week before in:
    Clitheroe Advertiser and Times 13 July 2000
    Castle Cement is ordered to pay £119,000 as it admits three offences of air pollution'
           'Castle Cement believes that it is the actions of a small number of local protestors, intent on closing the
            works'
          (See also press statement by Blackburn, Hyndburn & Ribble Valley, Friends of the Earth)

        As I see it . . . by Vivien Meath
        We need to know whether Cemfuel is putting people's health at risk
            'it seems rather strange that Cemfuel was considered safe to burn on June 29th this year but, by European
            standards, not safe on June 30th!'

    Lancashire Evening Telegraph
         Editorial
         Doubts over pollution are not dispelled
            'What is now needed is for effort to be made by all sides to find a cure. Difficult that may be, as the judge
            suggested, but we do not believe it is impossible. And after all these years of controversy, a satisfactory
            conclusion is needed more than ever.'

           CANK Comment
            SURELY IT WOULD BE BETTER TO AVOID THE 'ILLNESS' IN THE FIRST PLACE THAN TO
            HAVE TO LOOK FOR A 'CURE'!

        Cost of policing firm is £250,000
            'The court heard that 400 to 500 complaints were received each year by the Agency from local residents.
            Between  April 1998 and May 2000 1,105 complaints had been received.'

July 28th
       Public Inquiry
       CANK's general newsletter dealing with the Inquiry in general and what needs to be done by all interested
            members of the public

Newspaper
        Chester Chronicle
        'Castle Cement's...plan...has met massive opposition from people worried about health risks' (Chronicle)
        Four angry letters this week, three of them responding to last week's article: Anger over cement works rap
        Kiln firm's 'friendly' policy questionable
                'In common with its existing operation at Padeswood, Castle's propaganda stinks'
        Motivated by Profit
           'Has Castle Cement's Padeswood plant manager Tony Allan lost the plot?'
        Concerns over Health
           'As a spokewoman for Phoenix I cannot let the comments in your article of July 21 go unchallenged.'
        Concern over health does not amount to scaremongering
           'No one has mentioned closing Castle other than Mr Allan himself '

August 4th
Newspaper
    Chester Chronicle
    Report
           Farms may be at risk
            Landowners fear waste-fired kiln could cause environmental damage
            'Any threat, even a perceived threat, would be devastating for the industry'

    Letter
           Kiln proposal violates our human rights
           'The question is, will the inquiry or the Assembly veto Castle's plans as a potential violation of Article 8?'

Link
           North Kildare/South Meath Alliance Against Incineration
          Campaign group in Co Kildare, Ireland who, we understand, have recently had an application for a hazardous waste
            incinerator turned down by the local authority.

August 11th
Newspapers
    Chester Chronicle
        Letter
           Residents must fight to save their communities
                'We have everything to lose and nothing to gain if this goes ahead'

    Clitheroe Advertiser & Times
        Reports (27th July 2000)
          Plea for health survey support turned down
            'Cancers in one street in Clitheroe are unlikely to be due to emissions from Castle Cement'

        Daily Express (17th August 2000)
        Luxury ice cream maker is linked to risk of cancer
            'There is nothing we can do about the levels of dioxins in our ice cream........The pollutants are largely
            created by incinerating waste, metal smelting and vehicles.

       The Chronicle (18th August 2000)
        Job loss claims by campaign
        'Castle admit a new kiln would mean 33 fewer jobs on-site and 100 fewer at the company's other plants'.
          CANK COMMENT
            This puts Castle's much repeated claims that campaigners 'scaremongering' is putting jobs at risk, into perspective

        Landowners oppose cement development

Newspaper
        Letter
        Chester Chronicle
        Controversial incinerator over the border will have far-reaching effects on us all
        Letter from a concerned Chester resident living over 10 miles from the Castle Cement plant

October 8th
Reports
    Flintshire Evening Leader 4th October
    New Row over Kiln Go-Ahead
    Looks like Castle may have mislead Flintshire County Council by threatening to close the plant if their application failed!
        This clearly is not a new technique for the company - see:
           Lancashire Evening Telegraph June 20th 1998
           Planning Chief's probe call after jobs shock
            ' .....is to ask planning officers to investigate whether Castle Cement had "welched on any promises."'
    The Chester Chronicle
    Poster campaign rams home anti-kiln message
    'it is reckoned one person in 15 in Penyffordd and Penymynydd backs plans for a waste-fired kiln on their
    doorstep'

November 3rd
Newspapers
    Reports - National
     Two disturbing articles - all the more so when one remembers that cement kiln co-incineration does not have the
    sophisticated abatement systems in place as purpose built incinerators, neither are they subject to the same stringent
    regulatory controls!

    Observer 29th October
    Toxic fumes from refuse ovens could kill 9,000
    'Research earlier this year suggested that, between 1974 and 1987, children who lived within three miles of an
    incinerator were twice as likely as others to die of cancer.'

    Guardian 1st November
    Cover-up claim on incinerators
    'MPs accuse civil servants of hiding health dangers'
    Whitehall secrecy exposed by Alan Watson, Public Interest Consultant, who will be giving evidence at the Padeswood
    Public Inquiry after it reconvenes.

    Reports - Local
    Daily Post 27th October
    Kiln probe company on pollution charge
    Chronicle 27th October
    Protestors claim opposition is high
    Chronicle 3rd November
    Authorities tried to 'rush' project
     'I began to get a distinct feeling a less than open and fully consultative agenda was being attempted'.

    Letters
    Chronicle 27th October
MP keeping quiet
    'Surely Mr Jones owes it to the  Padeswood workforce to make his views known to them'
    Stark Figures
    Chronicle 3rd November
    Support Us
    'This is the biggest development to affect this area for many years and they {MP & AM} should come out to
    support the people who elected them.'
    Clitheroe Advertiser & Times
    We owe much to you for speaking out so bravely
    Letter to the people of Clitheroe from CANK chairman, Arnold Woolley

The Evening Leader (December 7th)
    Tories pledge to fight kiln
        'People feel betrayed by their elected representatives in County Hall, Cardiff and Westminster'
    The Chronicle, Mold & Buckley Edition (8th December)
    Kiln would be 'danger to health'
        'We are now satisfied that the potential health implications are significant and, with the full support of the
        Conservative Party prospective parliamentary candidates in every constituency bordering Alyn & Deeside,
        call on you to refuse planning approval.'

    Letters
    The Chronicle, Mold & Buckley Edition (17th November)
    Kiln Challenge

Guardian (15th December)
Incinerator Firm Faces Charges over Toxic Waste
Those responsible for the Byker Incinerator ash scandal are to be charged.