Opponents to plans for a rendering plant at Hopwood may become so frustrated by the impotence of the authorities that they turn to direct action.
This suggestion was made by Coun George Lord, leader of Worcestershire County Council, which is about to decide on the planning application by Mayfield Farm for a chimney that would allow the factory to go ahead.
He was speaking at a meeting held by the protest movement HARM at Alvechurch Village Hall. Coun Lord told the meeting: “You should never give up; you should keep on fighting. All I can suggest to you, and encourage you to do, is to do what I am going to do, which is to try to get this thing stopped.
“You feel you can’t trust local councils, you can’t trust inspectors and so you feel totally frustrated. You might feel that you don’t want those lorries coming in, and how are you going to stop it? I am not telling you to do it, I am suggesting it is a possibility.”
Earlier, Coun Lord, who represents the Alvechurch Ward at county hall, said: “It is a complex matter and a serious matter. The problem was created by Bromsgrove District Council because they gave this plan two certificates of lawfulness for rendering.
“I have asked the question of our legal people if they [the certificates] can be revoked. I don’t think I have received a positive answer.”
Coun Lord said that as he was not a member of the county planning committee he could “say what I like, I can do what I like and I shall”.
He went on: “The people who own this site do not care that a new school is going nearby, they do not care about the caravan site [Waterside Orchard]. They want to make money. I don’t blame them for making money; I do blame them for an irresponsible attitude to the public.”
He would be telling members of the planning committee the plan was a danger to the health of people who live nearby. “My hope is that when it comes before the planning committee in December, we shall refuse it.”
Coun Lord said one ray of hope was that at the inquiry into the Kidderminster incinerator plan, the Government inspector had ruled that a “perception of a public health threat” was enough to turn it down.
‘Suddenly, the car filled with a stench’
For an idea of what might be planned for Hopwood I visited the De Mulder & Sons rendering plant at Hartshill, near Nuneaton, writes Richard Peach.
From miles away you can see the white plume of steam pouring constantly from the chimney, but when I stopped near the entrance there was little smell apart from a faint “tang” in the air – and even that could have been imagined.
Then, as I drove up a small lane around 400 metres from the factory my car was suddenly full of a gagging stench. I realised I had passed under the trail of the cloud of steam drifting sideways from the site and not, on this day, dispersing upwards into the atmosphere.
I didn’t stop until I reached the top of the hill overlooking the factory, where I spoke to a local man walking his dog. He told me the smell depended on the day. “Today is a medium to bad day. Some days, it will make you retch,” he said.
“In the summer, when you open your windows, it gets in and, while I’m no scientist, it seems like it is heavier than air and it settles in your house.
“It is diabolical. I don’t know how anyone could build something like that near where people live.”
There are only a handful of homes in the area of the Hartshill site and all, apart from one near the entrance, appeared to be at least 400-500 metres from the factory. If this factory was in Hopwood, there would be many more properties in direct range of the plume.