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Article from Green Light - February/March 2002 Neasden Lane Pollution: "The situation is therefore not entirely straightforward" This phrase features in a letter to me from Martin Everett, Environment Protection Team Leader of the Environment Agency dated 19/12/01 which was written in reply to an email that I sent to the EA asking why some licenses for the waste processing firms based in Neasden Lane had been revoked. Readers of Green Light may recall that this arose from a correspondence with Paul Daisley MP and local councillors which, after some time eventually led to the disclosure that this had happened as a result of dust pollution in Neasden Lane. In this correspondence I had been trying to find out what exactly this pollution was and not having obtained any detailed answer from Brent Council, I asked the EA. They have now informed me that some licenses were suspended rather than revoked and that this is pending the construction of "effective enclosures" to prevent further pollution. However I feel that the EA's reply still does not tell me exactly what the pollution was, in the letter it is referred to as "dust" and "waste materials (and any emissions) […] largely associated with those arising from demolition, construction and refurbishment operations". Also, I am told that some enforcement actions "are still being pursued" by the EA. I therefore intend to write back for more details on what exactly was the composition of the dust, whether any of the suspended licenses are still suspended, whether any enforcement actions are still being pursued, and if not does the EA think the remedial measures against pollution are now effective It seems clear that there has been pollution in Neasden Lane and I think local residents and those who use the road should what exactly it is or was they have been subjected to. Finally translators of bureaucratese might be able to help me with the following sentence which appears in the letter: "However there is currently no statutory regime in place requiring waste producers to apply the waste management hierarchy to mitigate environmental impacts of waste production at source." What can it mean? |