Erin Brockovich

I had a look at Erin's Blog today - It's good - check it out by clicking on the link in the title above, or in the new inspiration section on the right hand side.

Some choice quotes:

1) "When it comes to human lives, compromise means failure."

2) "Half a victory is no victory."

3) "The only true victory is prevention."

Have you seen the movie with Julia Roberts in it?

Leziate Joint Assembly Meeting

THINK GLOBAL, ACT LOCAL!

Thanks to everyone who attended last night's meeting at Leziate Sailing Club.

Having had chance to digest what happened at the event, I would have preferred us to have come out of it with an immediate action plan with a few key steps showing the way forward.

As it is, each of the local action groups who attended will be asked to provide two people to be put forward to a form a larger regional body, with an overall group/committee being chosen within the next 3 weeks. If anybody from East Winch or West Bilney would like to be put forward for this group, then please contact us in the usual way.

Sam Knox has written his review of the evening and I would encourage you to go over to www.savepentney.co.uk and read his comments.

One notable question which did not end up with a satisfactory answer related to the badly finished lake at Bawsey.

Why should the mineral companies be allowed to continue to put lakes in each quarry if they are devoid of life for many years?

Still, we were able to put names to faces and have some idea of who to talk to and follow up with within the local councils.

Thanks to Karan & the people at Leziate Sailing Club for organising the event.

Thanks also to the People of East Winch and West Bilney who tolerated my words of Gloom and Doom for the second time. I expect we will have to bang to same drum for some time to come, until people start to sit up and take notice.

I do have two words of positive encouragement, though.

ERIN BROCKOVICH!

Feel free to leave your comments in the usual way.

Response from RSPB

Dear Mr Paddock,

Sorry for the delayed response, I was on leave all of last week. I have put a Wildlife Pack in the post for you today. I have been able to provide you with the following statistics from 2007 in regards to the types of wildlife queries we receive. The total number of queries we received last year was 80,247.

Here's the percentage breakdown:

Contentious: 4%
Welfare: 23%
Species: 8%
Law information: 4%
Information request: 6%
Identification/sightings: 8%
Feeding: 4%
Nestboxes: 3%
Birds in gardens: 8%
Conservation related: 11%
Other: 21%

Example of some of the conservation related queries we get
Agriculture: 140 queries
Habitat destruction: 1005 queries
Habitat creation/management: 314 queries
Planning issues: 441queries
Windfarms and other energy: 256 queries

Hope this is of help to you, and thanks again for getting in touch.

Kind regards,

Briony Coulson
Assistant Conservation Officer
RSPB
Stalham House, 65 Thorpe Road
Norwich
Norfolk
NR1 1UD
Tel: 01603 697588
Fax: 01603 660088

Reply To 1st Comment on 'Okay - So Who Is To Blame?

In reply to this anonymous comment, quite possibly from a beneficiary of quarrying……………..definitely from a man;-

Like most blokes, you have completely missed the point. I acknowledged the necessity of SOME quarrying, (read it again!), just because there is a silica vein under the ground at MIN 40 doesn’t necessitate using it.

I USED TO OWN LAND – if it had been harbouring any silica sand beneath its grassy pastures I wouldn’t have sold out to a mining company.

Just got a conscience I guess.

Okay – So Who Is To Blame?

The sinking prospect of my recent house purchase, (not a million miles from this proposed cancer carbuncle – yards actually), dropping like the proverbial stone in value, got me to wondering just who is responsible for this outrageous financial theft? Even if silica sand was the healthiest thing for us since Goji berries and mango smoothies, home buyers do not actively seek out houses that are rammed right up next to a quarry.

With this thought in mind I realised there were some pretty obvious front running contenders:-

WBB
Norfolk County Council
Parish Council
Gordon Brown

(not necessarily in that order…)

So let’s take WBB for a minute. This is a lawful mining company whose purpose is to carry out work all over the country to the best of its ability for apparently necessary reasons. So are they actually to blame for trying to earn a crust with skills they have trained for, and employing people to do a recognised, legitimate job? Schools and hospitals do need to be built occasionally after all.

Actually, when you look at it like that maybe they aren’t?

However……..

we can all make choices in this world, and for WBB to choose to purchase and excavate a site that is so close to a village it practically sits in people’s back gardens, is not only an immoral and thoughtless choice, it is sickeningly callous in the extreme.

So WBB – no thought, no morals, no ethics……………no thanks!

Next up in the dock, Norfolk County Council. As I understand it, every council in the country has an obligation to the government to meet a required amount of localised quarry sites for the purpose of excavating silica sand. So then, NCC has a problem on its hands has it not? Where to allow these hideous eyesores to be dug in our county? At the moment MIN40 is a request, a proposal that they have to consider, along with a hundred or so others. Just like all our requests for alterations of the landscape, including extending our kitchens, building our conservatories and sticking bedrooms over our garages.

So what can they do?

Well from the information to hand, Norfolk is well over subscribed in the ‘Silica Quarry Club’. Maybe this council should be requesting, or insisting that our county has been plundered enough thank you very much! Councils are there to serve and act for its residents, for which we pay heavily, not sit up there at County Hall playing pass the parcel! The time has come NCC, to stand up with us, and for us, not against us.

And so to the Parish Council……. my pen just took a suicide dive off the desk! I am aghast! I thought Parish Councils were supposed to be even more thoughtful and supportive of local issues than anyone else?! My childhood experience in a little village in Surrey brings to mind of the Parish Council there. They were fighting tooth and nail against a large number of private houses being built on a green belt area close to my home, at the other end of my road in fact. I think this was going on even before I was born.

I am 50 next month - those houses have still not materialised . . .

Whilst I would always prefer to see rolling green countryside as I’m sure we all would, right now I would welcome some nice bright new houses at the proposed site for MIN 40 if it was a choice between that and a Grand Canyon style cancer pit. At least it would mean homes for people.

So yes, East Winch Parish Council, I think you should take a much closer look at your responsibility to our village and its residents rather than satisfy any conflicting interests.

Gordon Brown – our Prime Minister – not that any of us actually voted for him! Poor man, he’s had a tough time of it lately hasn’t he? The buck stops with him for everything, but then he wanted the job – quite badly. There are issues clamouring for his attention in all directions, but above all this he always states he has ‘the interests of the nation’s families at heart’. If that is the case why is the government so badly underestimating the seriousness of the insidious health repercussions of mining silica sand? Why force councils all over the country to have such high quarry quotas? Why LEGALLY ALLOW mining company’s to quarry so close to any village, to even back up right onto the borders of people’s homes where children play in the gardens?

Shame on you Prime Minister.


So there we have it, the not so ‘Fab Four’ - or do we? There is someone missing off this list.

How do companies like WBB get hold of the ground in the first place to mine this sickening stuff? Who is selling them the land or leasing it to them?

Friends, whilst all of the names on the list can be held accountable, the main culprit is the one missing off the end of it. The person or persons unknown who have sold or leased the ground at East Winch, now known as MIN40, to WBB Minerals.

Just exactly WHO DID THAT????

Maybe they haven’t only vanished off the end of the list . . . . . .

MIN 40 Walk, 260408

I walked around "MIN40" this evening with the family, looking for the barn owls.

We got excellent views of several skylarks, singing way up in the sky, and then dropping down into the field like a stone. There were also swallows, house martins and sand martins newly arrived from Africa, skimming low over the fields, collecting insects. A couple of common partridges startled and flew across in front of us. At the sewage works, we heard a yellowhammer singing his characteristic "a little bit of bread and no cheese". There was also a chaffinch perched on the overhead cables.

There were also the usual wood pidgeons, rooks and pheasant.

Preventing occupational cancer

GLOBAL: A worldwide epidemic of occupational cancer is claiming at least one life every 52 seconds, but this tragedy is being ignored by both official regulators and employers. This stark warning comes from a global union coalition, which this week launched stage one of a “zero cancer” campaign to tackle what it says is the No.1 workplace killer worldwide.

Marcello Malentacchi, General Secretary of the International Metalworkers’ Federation, says: “Occupational cancer is the most common work-related cause of death, ahead of other work-related diseases and accidents, but it is not taken seriously by regulators or employers.”

“Despite occupational cancer being the single largest cause of work-related deaths, the risks have been downplayed by governments, health and safety enforcement agencies and employers. The end result has been a wholly preventable epidemic of cancers,” says IMF general secretary Marcello Malentacchi.

“This epidemic has to stop. Trade unions in hundreds of countries will be joining the campaign. We’ll be calling for widespread workplace mapping, inquiries and surveys, and a big drive to get rid of the top killers, such as achieving a global ban on asbestos,” adds Malentacchi.

A link to this article is in the title and we have set up a new section called Industrial Disease in the column on the right.

Let us know about other links of a similar nature by emailing us at the address below or leaving comments. Thank you.

The truth...

"All truth goes through three stages. First it is ridiculed.
Then it is violently opposed.
Finally, it is accepted as self-evident." -Schoepenhouer

http://www.compleatmother.com/quotes.htm

"Truth is incontrovertible, ignorance can deride it, panic may resent it, malice may destroy it, but there it is." -Winston Churchill

http://www.quotedb.com/quotes/3464

"If you tell a lie big enough, and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it." -- Joseph Goebbels

http://curezone.com/blogs/fm.asp?i=968111

Mark Knopfler (Dire Straits) said it best...

INDUSTRIAL DISEASE

Warning lights are flashing down at quality control
Somebody threw a spanner and they threw him in the hole
There's rumors in the loading bay and anger in the town
Somebody blew the whistle and the walls came down
There's a meeting in the boardroom theyre trying to trace the smell
There's leaking in the washroom there's a sneak in personnel
Somewhere in the corridors someone was heard to sneeze
goodness me could this be industrial disease?

The caretaker was crucified for sleeping at his post
They're refusing to be pacified it's him they blame the most
The watchdog's got rabies the foreman's got fleas
And everyone's concerned about industrial disease
There's panic on the switchboard tongues are tied in knots
Some come out in sympathy some come out in spots
Some blame the management some the employees
And everybody knows its the industrial disease

The work force is disgusted downs tools and walks
Innocence is injured experience just talks
Everyone seeks damages and everyone agrees
That these are classic symptoms of a monetary squeeze
On ITV and BBC they talk about the curse
Philosophy is useless theology is worse
History boils over there's an economics freeze
Sociologists invent words that mean industrial disease

Doctor Parkinson declared "I'm not surprised to see you here
You've got smoker's cough from smoking, brewer's droop from drinking beer
I don't know how you came to get the Betty Davis knees
But worst of all young man you've got industrial disease!"
He wrote me a prescription he said "You are depressed...
But I'm glad you came to see me to get this off your chest
Come back and see me later - next patient please
Send in another victim of industrial disease."

I go down to speakers corner I'm thunderstruck
They got free speech, tourists, police in trucks
Two men say they're Jesus one of them must be wrong
There's a protest singer singing a protest song - he says
"They wanna have a war to keep us on our knees
They wanna have a war to keep their factories
They wanna have a war to stop us buying japanese
They wanna have a war to stop industrial disease
They're pointing out the enemy to keep you deaf and blind
They wanna sap your energy incarcerate your mind
They give you rule brittania, gassy beer, page three
Two weeks in espana and sunday striptease"
Meanwhile the first Jesus says "I'd cure it soon"
Abolish monday mornings and friday afternoons
The other one's on a hunger strike he's dying by degrees
How come Jesus gets industrial disease?

http://www.markknopfler.com/

How much are your lungs worth?

This made me angry. A man contracts silicosis and his company are fined...

How much?

£100,000?

£50,000?

£10,000?

Guess again...

"Quarry failed to protect workers
A County Durham quarry firm has been fined after lapses in health and safety contributed to a worker contracting a potentially fatal lung disease. Dunhouse Quarry Ltd, of Staindrop, was fined £3,750, after admitting breaching hazardous substance controls."

The company was also ordered to pay costs of £8,177, which means the court made substantially more out of it than the unfortunate victim.

For the full article, click on the link in the title.

How much are your lungs worth?

Now the Fight Begins...

Check out Daisy Wallage's article on our campaign in the Lynn News by clicking on the title above. Our thanks to Daisy for raising awareness of the cause and also of the meeting at Leziate Sailing Club on Monday!

Occupational and Environmental Cancer Prevention

"A global epidemic of preventable industrial cancers is killing hundreds of thousands each year because governments and employers are failing to take simple and effective preventive action. Top cancer prevention experts from around the world, meeting in Scotland this month to prepare an occupational and environmental cancer prevention strategy, will reveal the full extent of the problem and will call for the use of safer substances and processes and a phase out of the worst cancer-causing culprits."

As a contribution to the global trade union zero occupational cancer campaign, an international conference will address a major threat to public health: the toll taken by occupational and environmental cancers. The 25 April 2008 event to be hosted by Stirling University, Scotland and supported by unions in the UK and across the world, will feature top union, campaign and academic experts from Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Finland, the UK and USA.

Speakers from international health and safety agencies including the World Health Organisation, the European Agency (EU-OSHA) and the International Labour Organisation will also contribute. The conference will assess the best available policies and practices, including presentations from leading researchers and commercial organisations on toxics use reduction, from members of bodies such as the Canadian Cancer Prevention Coalition and from trade unions and non-governmental organisations.

Union safety specialists and safety representatives will have the opportunity to make contact with top international experts on occupational cancer causes and incidence and on prevention strategies.

Click the link in the title to find out more.

125 signatures on MIN40 e-petition!

Thanks to everyone who has already signed the MIN40 e-petition to stop WBB minerals quarrying right next to our village and destroying our conservation walk.

Please talk to your friends and persuade them if you can to add their names to the list.

Breckland already have 1,000 signatures - so let's see if we can catch up!

Radio Norfolk Interview, Thursday am

Sam Knox (Save Pentney Action Group) and Neil Paddock (East Winch Action Group) recorded an interview with Jill Bennett for BBC Radio Norfolk 95.1, 95.6 104.4 FM on Tuesday night in Pentney.

This was broadcast on Thursday, 24th April 2008 as part of the news and also featured on the morning programme.

You can now listen to the item in full by clicking the title of this article, thanks to Sam for providing the link.

www.savepentney.co.uk

For the previous news item, read by Steve Martin, pleae click here:

http://www.SavePentney.co.uk/audio/radionorfolkinterview.mp3

COUNTY HALL, 23/4/08

“Our ambitions for Norfolk are:

• an inspirational place with a clear sense of identity
• a vibrant strong and sustainable economy
• aspirational people with high levels of achievement

We are protecting and sustaining the environment.”

The first official EWAG correspondence, your objections, and a petition with 195 signatures were safely delivered to County Hall in Norwich this morning - Thanks to everybody for doing your bit and making this possible!

Members of the planning department were offered the opportunity of a photograph, but declined.

"FIRM DISMISSES CANCER FEARS" EDP

WBB's Integrated Systems Manager Andy Price is quoted in EDP news 21/4/08 as saying:

"Silica sand as it exists in the ground is completely harmless because the sand grains are obviously too course to be breathed in."

Ok Andy, Well that's all right them. So why not leave it where it is?

No, I'll tell you what, We'll all move out, and you come and live in the village next to the quarry and we'll see if you get cancer or silicosis within the next 30 years, ok?

And then we'll see who's right, the actual experts who wrote the Report on Carcinogens 11th edition, or you and your team of "experts".

The residents of East Winch and West Bilney do not want to be your Lab Rats...
As one local resident has remarked "HOW DARE YOU PLAY WITH OUR LIVES?"

Not Just Newts!

I was surfing Google for references to Grandcourt Farm, and came across this little gem:

For the full report, click on the title of this article:

Heidi Thompson, Ecology Manger NCC stated:
􀂙 Biodiversity is still in decline in Norfolk, and this is an indication that current approaches are not working.
􀂙 Wildlife habitats have become increasingly isolated and fragmented, and surrounded by hostile land uses.

Grandcourt Farm West - Planning Decision

My Blood Boils...

I have attached the some extracts from the Council's correspondence above.

This relates to the land immediately to the west of MIN 40, and had planning permission granted only 7/09/07.

This begs the question...

How many East Winch residents knew?

There were only two objection letters "balanced" it would appear by 2 letters in favour. Conservation bodies and councillors alike let it go through without telling us and with out so much as a whimper.

Given that we now have over 100 signatures on our e-petition in just two weeks for MIN 40, I am sure we would have had at least that many had this been properly communicated at the time.

The tract of land threatens 500 year old oaks whose loss would be "regrettable".

Further more any lakes built are subject to a bird management plan which means it won't attract birds in case they collect in large numbers and collide with the jets from RAF Marham.

Have a look and write those letters!

This will also enable the company to link up to the north with their "secret" northern quarry / carbunkle / blot on the landscape which could be the death of us all.

And we are electing these people and paying them to represent us.

Our council tax is paying them to create a potential death camp in West Norfolk. A land, given time, devoid of both animal and human life.

Is your life worth a flat screen TV?
Are your children's lives worth a glass bottle?
Is the destruction of the beautiful countryside is anyway justified?

Can anyone think of a reason to carry on paying their council tax?

They need to see sense.

So much for the government's claim on their 2007 budget document
Building "Britain's future: Fairness and prosperity for families"

Why is Silica Sand so important?
Is it really more important than people?

The government and those assembled who approved this / did not object thought so.

And why no mention of Health Risks?

"Health & Safety Executive - No Objection."

Perhaps they don't read their own literature!

http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/cis36.pdf

Vote Now.

"Man's inhumanity to man is not only perpetrated by the vitriolic actions of those who are bad. It is also perpetrated by the vitiating inaction of those who are good."
Martin Luther King

VITRIOLIC
1 a: a sulfate of any of various metals (as copper, iron, or zinc); especially : a glassy hydrate of such a sulfate b: oil of vitriol
2: something felt to resemble vitriol especially in caustic quality; especially : virulence of feeling or of speech

VITIATING
1 : to make faulty or defective : impair
2 : to debase in moral or aesthetic status a mind vitiated by prejudice
3 : to make ineffective

Source: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary

Writing to NCC & Grandcourt Farm Planning Details

A proactive and highly motivated neighbour of mine checked with the council to see if writing a letter carried equal weight to filling in the objection form.

The response follows below:

#1 - Re Writing into the Council:

Thank you for your email. It would be preferable for your comments to be made in a letter with headings instead of having your comments split between the form and a letter. I can confirm that a letter will be properly counted, registered and included with all other responses when reported to the relevant committee.

Norfolk County Council

#2 - Grandcourt Farm Details

Following our telephone conversation, I am writing to provide details as requested, about the site at Grandcourt Farm for the extraction of Silica sand, which already has planning permission.

The application went to Planning Committee on 05/05/2006 and the report to the Planning Committee is available on our website at the following address:

http://www.norfolk.gov.uk/consumption/groups/public/documents/committee_report/planreg050506item6apdf.pdf

A plan showing the boundary of the site is included in the report.

The minutes of the Planning Committee meeting at which the decision to approve the application was made is available at :

http://www.norfolk.gov.uk/consumption/groups/public/documents/minutes/planreg050506minspdf.pdf

The application was received in December 2004, planning permission was granted on 07/09/2007.

Thanks to ... for this useful information.

MIN40 Proposal - A Good Idea?

The red boundary line shows how close the proposed MIN 40 quarry would be to the heart of East Winch Village (in Green).

Given the risks of silicosis and cancers from respirable crystalline silica to workers and local residents, would you dare sign this off?

The Report On Carcinogens, 11th Edition states:
"Respirable crystalline silica, primarily quartz dusts occurring in industrial and occupational settings, is known to be a human carcinogen."
"The link between human lung cancer and exposure to Respirable crystalline silica was strongest in studies of quarry and granite workers" and also "Residents near quarries and sand and gravel operations are potentially exposed to Respirable crystalline silica."

For the sake of the children living in Town Close (with their Garden Fence literally adjoining the proposed quarry site)
HELP US STOP THIS NOW!!!

The Secret "North Quarry" - Close Up

Here's a close up view of the Secret North Quarry in Ashwicken

East Winch Church can be seen in the background

Did you know this was here? Should you have done? Is it safe?

Secret Silica Sand Quarry Exposed

Here is a quarry being dug 400m to the north of East Winch, without the resident's prior knowledge. We believe silica sand is being extracted.

HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?!!!

Respirable crystalline silica is known to be a human carcinogen.

This confirms what we said to people at the meeting on sunday - you can see the sand exposed - we are at risk from the carginogenic dust already.

WBB Mineral's Business Cards read "Working together for mineral solutions."

For those residents living so close to a working silica sand quarry it could be the final solution.

Check out Multimap's feature by clicking the title of this article.

Sell Your House for £899

I have just seen an ad on Google with the above title.
I didn't think the place would be worth that much!

(It's actually an ad for an estate agents and is describing what their fees are)

What is PM10?

"The PM10 (particles measuring 10µm or less) standard was designed to identify those particles likely to be inhaled by humans, and PM10 has become the generally accepted measure of particulate material in the atmosphere in the UK and in Europe."

Find out more about airborne pollution by clicking the title of this article.

Letter from Henry Bellingham MP

Terry has received this letter from Henry Bellingham, our Local MP, together with the response from the Norfolk County Council. As ever, we encourage you to comment on these by clicking on the word "Comments" at the bottom of this article. Thanks.
If you have not joined us before, Welcome!
To read the letter, just click on the attached picture. Thank you.

MIN 18 / 58 Visit

Some additional pictures from today's visit

A bird strike - probably a Sparrowhawk kill

The Pond from the opposite MIN 18 side

Small mossy plants (unknown)

View across MIN 18 to East Winch Church

MIN 58 / WAS 39 - West Bilney Pit Visit 14/4/08

Earlier today we visited West Bilney Pit. This is designated by the Council for both Mineral Extraction and Landfill.

There was an abundance of summer migrant warblers, including Willow Warbler, Chiffchaff, and Whitethroat. Skylarks were singing through most of the visit. A green woodpecker was observed flying backwards and forwards on several occasions.

A shooting club and an archery club use the site, as evidenced by the warning signs around the site.

The original Carstone pit has been allowed to revert back to nature over the last 20 years or so.

When it was first being dug, Sand Martins inhabited the sheer faces of the quarry.

Nightingales used to frequent the nearby woodland though they have not been seen for some time.

Now there are sycamores, small oaks, rows of birch, gorse and broom.

Small lichens could be seen on the former quarry's floor growing in the sandy soil.

Teazles grow in abundance and are used by flocks of goldfinchs during colder spells.

A pond in the corner often contains dabchicks, snipe and woodcock, though none were present on this occasion. Although warblers were seen in the trees next to the water.

Several common finches were seen, chaffinches, greenfinches and possibly some yellowhammers and linnets. There was so much birdsong at times that it was difficult to distinguish the different songs from one another!

When the soil warms at times slow worms, grass snakes and adders can be seen.

I photographed some tracks in the sandy soil.

MIN 18

We walked out of the pit and walked along the boundary of MIN 18

This is a substantial field bordered by mature trees, some of which have recently been felled by the Forestry Commission. Freshly felled areas create good habitat for Nightjars.

In the distance, the landfill site could be seen, as well as East Winch Church.

The pit is a hidden jewel of a place. I thoroughly enjoyed the visit and would enjoy visiting again.

One Voice That Shall Not Be Silenced...

On our walk around Grandcourt Farm this morning, Paul said how he enjoyed listening to the sound of the Skylarks which are breeding on the site. We enjoyed great views of them.

When I saw one singing so close by, it was an intensely emotional moment. The skylark sings with an exultant voice, a song of joy, a cry of freedom.

I felt that it should symbolise the very cause which we have dedicated ourselves to.

One Voice That Shall Not Be Silenced.

Another One Bites the Dust

Paul, Myself and the boys walked around part of the conservation walk at Min 40 (Grandcourt Farm) this morning.

There was bright sunshine and a fairly constant wind blowing to the east.

We got great views of 4 skylarks (Protected under the UK Biodiversity Action Plan), a beautiful peacock butterfly that posed for us. We could hear the yaffle of a Green Woodpecker, the trilling of a Wren, as well as the song of Chaffinches and Dunnocks from the little belts of trees on the site. A small brown bird that could have been a meadow pipit fluttered away from the tall grasses and flew to the north.

Paul showed us East Winch's only pond.

We palked past the rabbit warrens and the sewage works, coming to a drainage ditch where we found sticklebacks in the shade of a tractor tyre, where Paul says he has seen a Kingfisher on his daily walks.

It was a wonderful walk, I wish had had known about it earlier, as I would be out doing it regularly! Ben said he couldn't understand why people would want to destroy such a beautiful place.

As we approached the houses on the corner of the village, we noticed the children playing on their slide in the garden, and I dreaded the prospect of the sand from the new quarrying sites being blown right across their garden.

As we walked past, James spotted what appeared to be a dead shrew. Paul picked it up and noticed a bite wound on its back. It would appear that a cat had attacked it and killed it.

If any nature lovers can tell us what species this would be from the photos we would appreciate it. Please leave your comments.

EWAG Meeting well attended

A quick outline of the meeting...Minutes to be issued in due course.
East Winch Action Group had a well attended meeting today at 2 p.m. in East Winch Village Hall when nearly 100 people turned out to get an update on progress made.

RE-ELECTION
The team re-elected the Action Group Committee (known as the CAG = Command Action Group) and Paul Edwards stepped down from the chairman's role and passed this onto Neil Paddock, with the approval of those present. Paul emphasised that he would still be playing an active part in future proceedings as part of the Command Action Group.

Further appointments to the Group that were reconfirmed included Nell Steele (Deputy Chairman), Paul Edwards, Terry Robertson, Wayne Footer and Mike Rawlings (Command Action Group).

FOCUS
We heard that the primary focus of the meeting was to get the objection forms back to the council in good time for the April 25th deadline, and a covering letter would be drafted which would extend to the other local sites proposed, to save us from having to complete objections for each site.

MINUTES
Neil Paddock introduced himself to those assembled and read out the previous meeting's minutes.

UPDATE
Paul Edwards provided an update on activities, including work on the website, local press interest and dialog with other local action groups, including ERASE and Save Pentney.

EMAILS TO BOOST E PETITION SIGANTURES
Paul requested everyone assembled to pass on emails to their friends and family to sign our e-petition for MIN 40 (The land to the east of Grandcourt Farm).

DELIVERY TO NORFOLK COUNTY COUNCIL (NCC)
Paul also mentioned our plan to drive the completed forms to NCC, obtain a receipt and had a photograph taken at the point of delivery.
Residents were encouraged to keep a copy of what they had sent.

OBJECTION FORMS
Terry Robertson was congratulated for his part in organising the delivery to local residents of the Objection Forms.
A show of hands demonstrated that the majority of the room had forms and had completed them, either online or as a hard copy.

CELEBRITY INVOLVEMENT
Terry also mentioned that he had written to Bill Bryson, Martin Brundle and Stephen Fry to support our campaign.

PARISH COUNCIL'S RESPONSE TO NCC PROPOSALS
Mike Rawlings read out the Parish Council's response to NCC's Proposal of MIN 40 together with his response to particular paragraphs from that letter.
Mike's response was extremely well received by those assembled.
Nell Steele proposed that a letter be drafted to the Parish Council to express our views.

Nell also expressed her concerns about the proposals and their affect on local wildlife.

FURTHER LOCAL COMMUNICATIONS
We discussed how we might best make contact with local landowners, councillors and other parties going forward.

WEST BILNEY RATIFIED
Those assembled voted unanimously to include West Bilney and MIN 58 within the scope of our objections to NCC and be part of the Action Group's remit.

FUTURE COMMUNICATIONS
We established that the majority of those present could be kept informed electronically, and we would also make use of local notice boards and the Post Office. It was proposed that those with internet access to share with their neighbours who aren't currently online.

CANCER TRAGEDY
One resident gave us a touching testimony that 13 of his family had worked in the pits, or lived by them, and had since tragically died of cancer. He added that 75% of the people he had worked with over the years had also died of cancer. A transcript and recording of that will be made available in due course.

ERASE MAP SHOCKER
Neil Paddock informed those assembled of the existing planning permission given in 2004 in the field to the west of MIN 40 and area about twice its size, and the existing silica sand quarry in the north, highlighted by the map provided by the Exploited Region Against Silica Extraction (ERASE) group.
Neil also mentioned the opinion of a local expert, who warned of an airborne particle called PM10 created by quarrying, which causes significant health effects to those who had inhaled them.
That report would be passed on in full to the Command Action Group (Committee).
Mike read out a response from WBB Minerals about the effects of sand and dust from their 2004 planning application for the west side of Grandcourt Farm.

ACTION GROUP FUND
It was agreed that a fund would be set up to reimburse Action Group Members for printing costs and similar expenses.

COLLECTION OF FORMS
It was also agreed that Objection Forms were to be dropped off by residents next Sunday 20th April at the Village Hall between 10am and 2pm, where assistance would be given with completion if required. It was proposed that donations could be made to the fund starting from that date.

Any Other Business
--------------------
A draft Mission Statement and Code of Conduct/Ethics for those elected to EWAG had been produced and would be passed onto the CAG for perusal and amendment.
Once approved it would be signed off by all members and made available.

One resident expressed his opinion about current world food shortages and questioned the rationale of the government to destroy arable land in order to mine silica sand. He also mentioned there was a Hobby present on MIN 40.

Another resident requested a full list of future meeting dates for the Parish Council, and copies of the draft mission statement and code of conduct.

A question was asked about the timescale for the development to the west of MIN 40
The full duration of which would be about 12 years.

Meeting Closed Approx 4:30pm

[Note: any significant omissions are the responsibility of the Webmaster]

BBC Radio Norfolk Interview 13th Apr 11 am News

BBC Radio Norfolk Transcript of News 13th April 2008 11.00 am read by Steve Martin

"People in a Norfolk village are meeting today over plans for a quarry near their homes. The site in East Winch is one of more than one hundred proposed for Norfolk.

Neil Paddock from the East Winch Action Group
Says there is a lot of Ill feeling even though the plans are only at a very early stage"

“There are these maps of very large areas of land which have been designated, or at least proposed at this stage, that go right up to people’s villages and in some cases houses will literally disappear. So clearly we’ve got a lot of strong feelings within the village at the moment and in neighbouring villages as well.”

Save Pentney Meeting. 1 p.m. Sat Apr 12th

Neil Paddock attended the meeting on April 13th to offer our support to Sam Knox and our Pentney neighbours at Pentney village hall.

For additional Information, please click on the tile above to be taken to Sam's website. Thank you.

Parish Council's Response to MIN 40

ADDENDUM - I understand that the actual document was not visible for those who weren't on Google Mail - the text of the original response is given below:

Please read the document,
Then vote and tell us if you think it goes far enough.
You can leave a direct response by clicking on the word
"Comments" below.
These can be left anonymously if you wish. Thank you.

***START OF DOCUMENT***

East Winch Parish Council

Responses to Norfolk County Council Re. Norfolk Mineral and Waste Development Framework.

Section: 6.4 Issue 2 “ Cumulative Impact of Development, How Option DC1
would be implemented

Whilst it is understood that there is a continuous requirement for minerals
With regard to Silica Sand, it is understood to be a strategic mineral
which occurs in certain areas. However sand and gravel must be considered
to be readily available in numerous sites in West Norfolk. It is felt by
parishioners that there are sufficient workings in this Parish and that
further developments of this nature are not desirable. Therefore the
feeling is that when a strategic mineral such as Silica sand is found in an
area with large sites to extract this there should not also be large sand
and gravel sites in the same area.

Option CS2 - Spatial Distribution of Development

This option as it stands will allow the same areas to be inundated with
Mineral and Waste sites and possibly become just one large hole in the
ground. It is understood that there is a continuous requirement for
minerals but it is felt by parishioners that there are sufficient workings
in this Parish and that further developments of this nature are not
desirable in the same area and sites should be well spread across the
county.

Section: 8.4 Issue 12 “ Waste going to Landfill, How Option DC5 would be
implemented.

It is recognised that there have to be Waste Disposal sites but West
Norfolk is adequately served by the landfill site at Blackborough End and
any extension of this facility would be unwelcome and be considered an
imposition by all residents therefore there should be no more landfill sites
permitted.


Section: 9.6 Issue 18.1 “ Lorry routes, How Option CS6 & DC6 would be
implemented.

It will be recognised that the parish of East Winch and many other small
parishes are served by a system of minor roads and lanes all of which are
neither suitable nor capable of additional traffic. Apart from the A47 trunk
road all other roads in the parish are already in a dilapidated condition
and any further traffic such as mineral and waste lorries would cause them
to become unsafe for normal traffic. The routing of lorries should not
only be secured through planning conditions but should also be strictly
enforced.

Preferred Option DC10. Development Control – Sustainable Construction and Operations. Section: 10.18 Issues 7, 31, 34, 36 and 37“ Recycled and Secondary
Aggregates, Water Resources, Flood Risk/Drainage, Greenhouse Gas Emissions,
How Option DC10 would be implemented.

The Parish of East Winch is known for its environmental diversity from the
SSSI area surrounding the old gravel workings situated within and adjacent
to the parish continuing on through woodland and open landscape of natural
beauty. There are recreational facilities in the immediate area for
boating, quiet fishing and bird watching. Any devaluation of these
facilities would be unacceptable to some 130,000 people within the Borough
of King's Lynn and West Norfolk. All developments whether large all small
should covered by enforceable conditions, not just guidance.

It may be seen from all of the above that major expansion of the already working mineral extraction facilities in the Parish would be both unwelcome and devaluing of amenities and lifestyle in this Parish.

Section: MIN 40 - East Winch.

Grandcourt Farm.

It is appreciated that silica sand is a strategic mineral and only occurs
in certain areas but the scale of the proposed site is felt to be excessive
as it encroaches too much on to the residential area of East Winch village.
There is a possibility that an area of half the size may be acceptable with
adequate vegetation screening.

Section: MIN 40 - East Winch, MIN 40 - highways

Although the site is located adjacent to the A47 trunk road access from the
site onto this would not be acceptable. The site should be accessed from an
internal access road.

Explanation for above statements re. Grancourt Farm.

As Silica Sand is a strategic mineral and local policy will undoubtedly be overruled by national policy any reduction that can be gained on the proposed area of the site needs to be negotiated now and definitely at the next stage of consultation when it will be know which sites will be included in the final proposal and ultimately at the Planning Application stage which may not be for many years if the site is included.

***END OF DOCUMENT***

Interview - Sunday Morning, 13th April

There will be a short radio interview about the challenges we face in East Winch and our Action Group on BBC Radio Norfolk, hosted by Steve Martin on Sunday Morning, April 13th.

How to show your support...

Many of you will receive a small postcard sized leaflet in the next few days, if you haven't done so already.

If you support the "Save East Winch" Campaign, please show your support by popping the leaflet in your front window or in your car window so it is visible to all. Thank you.

ERASE MAP SHOCKER!

I want to extend my thanks to Jon from the ERASE group for producing this map.
ERASE stands for EXPLOITED REGION AGAINST SILICA (SAND) EXTRACTION.
You can view ERASE's NEW site at the link on the right, or click the title of this article.

This map shows not only East Winch and MIN 40, but all the other planned and existing local developments in the area. It's not a pretty picture!

As we prepare the Agenda for Sunday's meeting of the East Winch Action Group, here are some of the things we have been up to since last sunday:

• Printing Save East Winch campaign literature and putting up posters locally
• Distributing leaflets
• Talking with the council about how to lodge objections
• Developing this web site and adding extra links to external sources
• Developing a list of objections to Min 40 for distribution
• Talking to local contacts in the ERASE group and setting up their website (see link in title above)
• Reading up on and discussing the Parish Council's response to the MIN 40 proposal
• Preparing our own response
• Talking to local conservation groups, such as RSPB.
• Talking to local press, and the local school
• Talking to local villagers in both East Winch and West Bilney
• Discussing ideas to raise awareness of our campaign

We want to thank everybody for your support so far, and look forward to seeing you at Sunday's meeting. We want to represent your views as fully as possible, so please use the comments section under this message to let us know how you feel about what's going on.

We welcome your feedback.

If you know other people in the village who are not quite sure what to do, then please give them a friendly nudge and encourage them to come along to the village hall at 2pm on Sunday. We will be able to provide you with a report of where we are as a group and what still needs to happen to achieve our deadline for submitting the objections to MIN 40 by 5pm on April 25th.

Aerial Views of "MIN 40"

The land designated as MIN 40, resembling a

giant slice of Battenberg cake is shown above.

Its proximity to the village is obvious.

Now imagine that being replaced by a gaping hole in the countryside.

What impact is that likely to have on our lives?

Can you see your house on here?
Click on the photo and have a closer look.

Our opponents may have thought this would be

a piece of cake - Let's show them they have bitten

off more than they can chew!

Thanks to Paul and John for providing the aerial photos.

Hockham Woods Saved!

I have added a link to "Hockham And Wretham In Tandem Against Gravel Extraction Action Group" as they have been successful in opposing their local scheme.

Whilst our fight to save East Winch goes on, please take some encouragement from their achievement.

WE CAN DO THE SAME...BUT WE NEED TO ACT FAST!!!

An extract from their website (link shown below) says:

"Norfolk County Council contacted us Thursday April 3rd to advise us that the Forestry Commission have WITHDRAWN their proposals for Hockham Woods.
This is absolutely fantastic news. A big THANK YOU TO YOU ALL for your support
A massive thank you to everyone who...
A) Took the time and effort to complete the objections forms either on paper or on-line by our estimate over 80% of villagers have now registered their objections at County Hall which is a huge proportion and underlines the strength of feeling and commitment we all have against these proposals.
B) Added their name to the No 10 E-Petition, which reached a fantastic 1,072 number of signatories before it closed on Saturday. Out of the 8500 live on-line petitions on the government site ours climbed up to the 130 spot in only four weeks! A copy of this was handed in with the paper objections forms at County Hall on Friday March 28th and it will be presented in full to the Forestry Commission."

http://www.hawitage.co.uk/

Beginning with the end in mind...

A friend of mine asked me what I hoped to achieve in raising the objections...
Here are my views...

Main Goal - To Save the Village!
-----------------------------
- To Protect our village, East Winch from encroaching mineral extraction & landfilling.
- To Protect our children from the choking and debilitating risks of silica dust ingestion.
- To Protect our way of life and livelihoods, our health, wealth and happiness.
- To Protect the countryside and its wildlife for future generations to enjoy.

Sub-Goals - What will happen as a result:
------------------------------------------
1) That the village will act in a united way with one voice and object to the plans by April 25th and that the objection will be successful.
2) The village will become united and strengthened as a result.
3) That the council & government will review and modify their plans to decimate Norfolk with quarries and rubbish dumps over the next 20 years as a result of our combined efforts (our village and those others that join up to fight the cause).

That's my opinion - I'd love to hear your views on the subject - please leave your comments. Thank you.

Save East Winch

Save East Winch - Postcard sized

Try clicking on it and pressing print - Alternatively email me for the .jpg or .pub file

Business Card Sized Poster Available Here!

Just Click on the Image and Click on Print!

New Printable A4 Poster Here!

Just click on the picture and click print!
Alternatively, email me for the .jpg or .pub file