Local pollution
 

Now that the scheme for redevelopment of the Gateway at Church is likely to be abandoned due to the Health and Safety risk of the proximity of Wm Blythes, I have websearched for this gov site which shows the sort of hazards Blythes poses. It also shows all the hazardous industries in the locality. (It needs updating because Cockers on New Lane is now closed).
If an industry is spoiling the redevelopment and imporovement of our district, how easy or how difficult would it be for our local council to insist that it be relocated?
Ps I have had to delete the link because it sends you to the flood map - if you search there - Enviro Agency - you will find it

Re: Local pollution
 

Environment Agency - Maps
This link is the way for this info

Re: Local pollution
 

Interesting question Margaret. In the first instance, in all matters like this, the ultimate criteria is the question of 'Need' i.e. so employment/money spinner that Blythes bring in over-shadows the projected employment/commercial/aesthitics viability of the proposed plans.. health reasons is the big one. Doubt whether we could shift 'em due to these criterias.

Presume, that was what it was decided on in the end.

As in the Whitebirk thread being discussed .... all financial really, to bring money into the pot to keep us all in the style we are used to ... :D And build for the future of course.

Re: Local pollution
 

http://www.wm-blythe.co.uk/WMBLYTHE/...story!OpenPage
They have 200 employees including Hapton.
How many more than those 200 have health problems due to the proximity of their factory to dense housing - I suspect many more.
I have seen too many workers at that site die before they reach retirement.

Re: Local pollution
 

Feel sure guidances are really tight now though, through Health and Safety measures. Like the turning down of this application 'cause could be a risk to those working around it ?

Think of all the compensation claims that would be entered from people working in other buildings should they be struck with the slightest illness.
Even though, not the cause, not worth the court case costs at the end of the day of proving their illness was from other areas.

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What constitutes an Industrial disease has always lagged behind the actuality.
EG- Only in recent years has 'Industrial Deafness' been added to the list which qualify for compensation.
The situation is made more difficult when poor general health has led to early death -no doubt enviromental pollution contributed to poor general health but cannot be pinpointed as the cause.
Statistics on premature death are difficult to find , but it is a generally accepted fact that the NW region (due to our industrial heritage) has a shorter life expectancy than most.

Re: Local pollution
 

My son and his wife lived in Church at the time of the birth of their 1st child and moved away just before the birth of their 2nd. That eldest child of the three is the only one affected by asthma.

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That Enviro site lists the times that they have exceeded permitted polution limits - not many - but who decides what limits are 'safe'? and new health research shows that many other so called safe limits in the past weren't. The only way to be 'safe' from pollution is to move it as far away as possible from populations - difficult in our overcrowded island - but 'on our doorstep'! - NO

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A little off topic I know but a few years ago I was listening using a radio scanner to a mobile phone conversation between a local football player and a 'lady' who lived on Alleytroyds, he was booking her for an evening of errrrmmmm pleasure, if you know what I mean ;):D

Re: Local pollution
 

i lived in church for years n always blamed blythes, for the pollution, then in 77 i started work there and discovered, most of the pollution i was blaming them for was coming from Ashworths. worked there for nearly 23 yrs, was on all the commitees as well as the union, and you wouldn,t credit how keen they are on health n safety,they aint perfect,no-one is,but an important fact is the factory was there Before any of the houses, used to be a row of cottages down the bottom of the site by the brook, not sure about those,but they were gone before i was born.

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There was a woman on there who used to do outside catering.

Lovely finger buffets.

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What are her ham shanks like?

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So the houses were built to house the workers, in the days when the working population was an expendable commodity, and needed to be located near their worksite.
Now that we know better than to make such planning disasters, which do we move now - the houses or the factory?

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sorry Margaret , have to disagree , providing the company is operating within the rules they have a right to be there , the argument is a bit like the one where folks buy homes near an airport then start complaing about the noise and demanding double glazing

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I can see your point Jack. We have the option of leaving this bad planning by our ancestors as it is, or trying to improve a blackspot in our town. It would br easier to resite this factory than to resite hundreds of people - that is if we really want to improve the area of Church - I am sad that even considering it has low priority.

Re: Local pollution
 

think the folks in the Ribble valley around Clitheroe have been fighting a similar battle for years with Ribble Cement and if the "money' folks in the Ribble valley have been unsuccesful I don't hold out much hope for Hyndburn,
also think this thread ties in with the other one about the decline in Church and it being 'downwind' from obnoxious odours from Ashworths glue works in Bridge st.

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When I lived there I regarded sulphur and arsenic more of a health hazard than boiled bones.

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Considering the number of years Billy Blythes has been in operation Local health records/statistics would show any anominalies , though it may be a bit difficult since probably until recent years most of the folks in the area were smokers ( or children inhaling second-hand smoke) and it would be difficult to separate breathing problems caused by one from the other

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think i've mentioned before in other posts , but seem to remember that during the 50s/60s Blythes seemed to employ a 'high' number of Polish workers , quite a few lived in Great Harwood at a hostel 'Allsprings Lodge' and as kids they allways scared us because they had a "yellow' jaundiced look about them, in later years (60s) some of them had 'local relationships' then after the fall of comunism these old guys were reunited with their wives from before the War (WW2) these 'old' Polish women arrived to re-unite with their husbands , one couple lived next door to my parents , great people , but my mum had problems with the fact that 'old' woman sprinkled poppy seeds on all the foods she cooked , my Mum was convinced they were drug addicts :D:D:D

Re: Local pollution
 

How right you are Margaret...............I refer to a previous thread.
I know that you and willow have subscribed to it but I think it's relevant.

http://www.accringtonweb.com/forum/f...tcp-31685.html