Julia Wilton, of Buckfastleigh Community Forum, writes:
The results of the Parish Poll speak for themselves. 95% voted NO on what was a very high turnout for a Parish Poll. Voters ranged form 18 year olds
to a woman of 101 who stated that she would chain herself to the gates if this went ahead!
The morning after the poll, Paul Carey of MVV Environment went on BBC Radio
He has accused the Buckfastleigh Community Forum of scaremongering and of distributing misleading information. His suggestion is that the people of
Buckfastleigh are easily duped. The truth is that both sides put their case.
MVV/ Gilpin have had their side of the story well reported in all media, they have had a Quarry open day, they have put leaflets through people's
doors and they put up 'YES' posters during the campaign. Is he really
suggesting that the Buckfastleigh Town Council and Dartmoor National Park Authority have also been duped? They have both formally recommended
rejection of the plans.
MVV's allegations of scaremongering now need to be questioned rigorously. It is very easy to make such an accusation, but MVV never backs this up with
evidence. We stand by every single fact that we presented during the campaign. The number of lorries going into town is perhaps the greatest area
of contention and we would like to make it absolutely clear that the numbers that we quoted were from MVV's own documentation and copies of those
documents are on our website.
MVV has consistently refused to debate the Quarry plans. We hereby offer a formal invitation for everyone to see – will you go head to head on radio or
TV in a live debate with an independent chair?
On BBC Radio Devon on Friday morning, Paul Carey implied that everything was perfectly all right with the plans, that MVV was engaging with the community
and that we had taken part in an independent health impact assessment which, he suggested, gave a clean bill of health to his plans.
Let us be absolutely clear on this. MVV had to be dragged kicking and screaming to undertake a health impact assessment. We called for it and they tried to squirm out of doing it because they knew what the results would be. It was only when it was quite clear that Devon County Council was going to
insist that it finally happened. And what was the result of the study? It found 29 negative impacts on the health of the people of Buckfastleigh and
the surrounding area. It found that there would be eight positive impacts but most of these were minor and related to the workers in the IBA plant.
I ask readers to question who is giving out misleading information?
MVV has already stated that they would ignore the judgement of Devon County Council if this plan is rejected and that they go to appeal to the Secretary
of State who, in my opinion, has a record of rubber stamping any proposal concerning incineration without even visiting the location.
Let's be clear, they show no respect for the people of Devon. We are now calling for the people of Devon
to stand up for the future of this county. If one planner can steam roll an outrageous plan through one community – who's next on the list? Ivybridge
has a similar scheme waiting in the wings.
Let's tell our politicians that if they
want to remain in office they better start looking after our interests rather those of big business.





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