The Kirkby Times campaigned since 2002 on this issue of the pollution caused by the Sonae factory situated in Kirkby. The Liverpool Times is re-publishing the Sonae material taken down after legal moves.
The Liverpool Echo ran almost a full page story on Sonae. The article hit out at Sonae and it seems that The Kirkby and now Liverpool Times message of ‘KICK THESE POLLUTING CRIMINALS OUT OF KIRKBY’ is finding a new lease of life as the councillors and even George Howarth give credibility to the idea that Sonae has to go.
Maybe even God Almighty has His hand in this one. After all, we began putting all the old Sonae material up, and then Sonae went on fire!
Toxic Sonae
The Echo chips in and breaks the news that….
“CHIPBOARD firm Sonae is under pressure again today as politicians backed an inquiry into the latest accident at its controversial plant.
Dozens of fire fighters rushed to the Kirkby factory last week when a pump room caught fire, believed to be caused by leaking oil.
The blaze joined the long list of incidents at the Moss Lane firm, dogged by controversy since its 1999 opening.
Today, Knowsley North MP George Howarth echoed support from Knowsley council for a top-level investigation.”
Hold on, George Howarth calling for investigating Sonae?
Given that he stood by and allowed Sonae to locate here in the first instance, it seems a bit rich that he now jumps in to hog the limelight as if he is the ‘Swampy’ the ‘Eco warrior’ holed up under Sonae.
The Echo tells us that both Mr Howarth and the local Council have been….
“bombarded with calls from residents and factory workers worried about their safety”
We’ve had 8 years of this – with complaints pouring in over those years.
The Echo continues with George Howarth pledging to bring the issue up in parliament. If we as quick to do this as he was to vote in the bombing of the Iraqis then he would have done this years ago.
More from the Echo…
“Mr Howarth said: “I intend to outline the catalogue of events at Sonae.
“I will be urging ministers to press the HSE to ensure that unless and until the factory is guaranteed safe, it should remain closed.”
The events in Sonae have been outlined on The Kirkby Times, and now as we republish all the old material we will see that this issue of Sonae has gone far beyond any acceptable pollution trade off for a few local jobs.
The closure of Sonae would see Northwood become a far better place to live. Just to be able to look up and not see that damned chimney would probably make your house price go up 10%, and make you exercise more, as the Sonae pollution zone is taken away giving back a little bit of a green zone back to the people.
Compensation for health and environmental impact.
Needless to say, the issue of compensation hangs over us. People who get slightly bruised in a ‘whiplash’ accident feel pain for a second and a bit of an ache for a few weeks (or a few months with a good QC). But the Sonae pollution of 8 years standing and the years to come is a matter which should be looked at.
We need to demand that Sonae not only leave, but they also need to compensate every last person in the pollution radius. Perhaps more important is that they pay millions for clean up of the areas they have infected with filth. After all future generations will be using this land.
With that problem out of the way, it might kick start community politics and give working class people all over Liverpool and the UK a much needed confidence booster that we can actually win something other than a body bag in Iraq or Afghanistan.
This struggle to close Sonae down is not some phoney make do political cause threw together by a ‘rent-a-mob’ of professional agitators - it’s about working class people fighting for better conditions and in doing so, meeting the usual obstacles of local government, national government and big business. It’s a battle of good versus evil. Just one of many little community fights in the UK being fought for by ordinary people who have decided that there is no-one that will stand up for us.
In Kirkby, the schools have spoken out against Sonae, the parents and teachers have done so also. Locals GP’s have spoken out, as have the churches and many individual councillors and political activists of all shades. The consensus of opinion might sway on some matters, but with Sonae, it’s a case of everyone pretty much singing from the same hymn book.
Situating the Sonae factory here was an injustice to begin with.
Kirkby already has enough pollution with one of the biggest industrial estates in Europe on our doorstep and an increasing corridor of car fumes cutting through the town along with the green lungs of the town (ie, grass, trees) being concreted over.
The sell off of school fields and the loss of hundreds of acres of green areas all points towards Sonae needing to be taken out of the equation. The area they occupy can be used for something that does not pollute Kirkby.
Note, all the old Sonae material taken off the Kirkby Times is going back on The Liverpool Times - the process is under-way so if anyone wants to use links to videos to add to the material already up here, feel free to do so.
Click here to see the latest Sonae material as it goes up
The Liverpool Echo ran almost a full page story on Sonae. The article hit out at Sonae and it seems that The Kirkby and now Liverpool Times message of ‘KICK THESE POLLUTING CRIMINALS OUT OF KIRKBY’ is finding a new lease of life as the councillors and even George Howarth give credibility to the idea that Sonae has to go.
Maybe even God Almighty has His hand in this one. After all, we began putting all the old Sonae material up, and then Sonae went on fire!
Toxic Sonae
The Echo chips in and breaks the news that….
“CHIPBOARD firm Sonae is under pressure again today as politicians backed an inquiry into the latest accident at its controversial plant.
Dozens of fire fighters rushed to the Kirkby factory last week when a pump room caught fire, believed to be caused by leaking oil.
The blaze joined the long list of incidents at the Moss Lane firm, dogged by controversy since its 1999 opening.
Today, Knowsley North MP George Howarth echoed support from Knowsley council for a top-level investigation.”
Hold on, George Howarth calling for investigating Sonae?
Given that he stood by and allowed Sonae to locate here in the first instance, it seems a bit rich that he now jumps in to hog the limelight as if he is the ‘Swampy’ the ‘Eco warrior’ holed up under Sonae.
The Echo tells us that both Mr Howarth and the local Council have been….
“bombarded with calls from residents and factory workers worried about their safety”
We’ve had 8 years of this – with complaints pouring in over those years.
The Echo continues with George Howarth pledging to bring the issue up in parliament. If we as quick to do this as he was to vote in the bombing of the Iraqis then he would have done this years ago.
More from the Echo…
“Mr Howarth said: “I intend to outline the catalogue of events at Sonae.
“I will be urging ministers to press the HSE to ensure that unless and until the factory is guaranteed safe, it should remain closed.”
The events in Sonae have been outlined on The Kirkby Times, and now as we republish all the old material we will see that this issue of Sonae has gone far beyond any acceptable pollution trade off for a few local jobs.
The closure of Sonae would see Northwood become a far better place to live. Just to be able to look up and not see that damned chimney would probably make your house price go up 10%, and make you exercise more, as the Sonae pollution zone is taken away giving back a little bit of a green zone back to the people.
Compensation for health and environmental impact.
Needless to say, the issue of compensation hangs over us. People who get slightly bruised in a ‘whiplash’ accident feel pain for a second and a bit of an ache for a few weeks (or a few months with a good QC). But the Sonae pollution of 8 years standing and the years to come is a matter which should be looked at.
We need to demand that Sonae not only leave, but they also need to compensate every last person in the pollution radius. Perhaps more important is that they pay millions for clean up of the areas they have infected with filth. After all future generations will be using this land.
With that problem out of the way, it might kick start community politics and give working class people all over Liverpool and the UK a much needed confidence booster that we can actually win something other than a body bag in Iraq or Afghanistan.
This struggle to close Sonae down is not some phoney make do political cause threw together by a ‘rent-a-mob’ of professional agitators - it’s about working class people fighting for better conditions and in doing so, meeting the usual obstacles of local government, national government and big business. It’s a battle of good versus evil. Just one of many little community fights in the UK being fought for by ordinary people who have decided that there is no-one that will stand up for us.
In Kirkby, the schools have spoken out against Sonae, the parents and teachers have done so also. Locals GP’s have spoken out, as have the churches and many individual councillors and political activists of all shades. The consensus of opinion might sway on some matters, but with Sonae, it’s a case of everyone pretty much singing from the same hymn book.
Situating the Sonae factory here was an injustice to begin with.
Kirkby already has enough pollution with one of the biggest industrial estates in Europe on our doorstep and an increasing corridor of car fumes cutting through the town along with the green lungs of the town (ie, grass, trees) being concreted over.
The sell off of school fields and the loss of hundreds of acres of green areas all points towards Sonae needing to be taken out of the equation. The area they occupy can be used for something that does not pollute Kirkby.
Note, all the old Sonae material taken off the Kirkby Times is going back on The Liverpool Times - the process is under-way so if anyone wants to use links to videos to add to the material already up here, feel free to do so.
Click here to see the latest Sonae material as it goes up