"IMPACT" TAKES ITS FIRST STEPS

 
Industrial incinerators at Charltons and Seal Sands^* are top of the list of concerns for a new residents group.

IMPACT, an independent organisation for Teessiders who want to do more about the problems of living beside industry, was formed at a meeting in Eston on Thursday evening that attracted people from throughout the Teesside area and Hartlepool.

One of its first steps will be to ask Stockton Council to block a request from Cory Environmental Ltd.^* to renew permission for a toxic waste incinerator at Seal Sands.

New Chairman John Brunton, of Eston, explained "IMPACT has been formed to provide help for local people who fear that their health or environment is being damaged by industrial processes. The most pressing concern is the threat to the whole of Teesside from Cory's plans to burn 30 thousand tonnes of hazardous waste each year for the next twenty five years. That can only add to health risks and the bad image that we already suffer. No council should sanction that."

"In the long run IMPACT wants to build up skills and resources that local communities can use to challenge the industrial giants. We'll welcome new members who share those aims. We've had a lot of help from Friends of the Earth to get this going, but IMPACT will be independent, and we have no hidden agendas - we're just a group of people who want to do more to make the Teesside towns a better, safer, place to live."

ENDS

Notes

1. John Brunton can be contacted on

2. People wishing to know more about IMPACT can contact secretary Carole Zagrovic at 24a The Bungalows, Grangetown TS6 7SQ, Tel 01642 - 459171

3. There are more details of IMPACT, plus a briefing about the incinerator, on the web, at impact_home.htm