Branch
Report:
14th September 2006
Presentation by Lembit
Opik MP
The first technical evening
this season was held on Thursday 14th September at the
Heronston Hotel, Bridgend. 39 members and guests enjoyed a presentation
by Lembit Opik, Liberal Democrat MP for Montgomeryshire, who spoke on the
effect of quarrying on the rural economy and the aggregate levy in
Wales.
Lembit has over 2000 of his
constituents employed in the quarrying industry and thus he is quite
familiar with the effect quarrying has on the local economy and with the
‘NIMBYist’ attitude some people have towards the industry, although he
believes it is a business which is indispensable to Britain. He outlined
the complaints that he has come across in his constituency surgeries when
people are complaining about the local quarry. His reply to them
generally relates to the lifestyle that they have and if they did not have
quarried stone they would not have such a lifestyle and also global
climate change and the fact that it is better for the material to come
from Montgomeryshire than Mongolia due to the related transport pollution
costs. The fact that many people also don’t realise that most open
water/wetlands in the UK were formed as a result of quarrying and very
effective restoration schemes, can also change a persons perception of the
quarry.
It is this opportunity to
look smart, think smart, be green and environmentally conscious that our
industry does not play on and advertise the fact that we do so many
environmentally enhancing projects. As an industry we undersell
ourselves and we need to be more proactive about our image and the work
that we do for the environment and the local community. From a political
aspect quarrying is a sensible service and as such it will not get
punished by the politicians simply because of the lifestyle that we choose
to live. The problem with the politicians is that the people who are
advising the ministers are not fully aware of the industry and thus it
might pay to send every politician a copy of the Quarry Management Journal
simply to market our industry more and improve the understanding of the
advisors.
The EU were deciding this
week on whether the aggregates levy was actually legal or not.. It was
designed as an environmental taxation as an incentive to develop the use
of recycled aggregate. In some areas it has encouraged the use of
recycled aggregate, but it was felt that the aggregate levy had not been
fairly used in Wales as the normal aggregate has the £1.60 levy but slate
in North Wales is exempt, which to some is ridiculous due to the waste
produced from the processing of slate. There was lively discussion on
this topic as it is important to many people. As a final thought Lembit
suggested that we should get Griff Rhys Jones to champion quarrying in
Restoration Quarry to highlight the important work that we do in our
industry!!
Lembit Opik MP with Branch
chairman Mike Winterbottom (right) and technical committee member Simon
Grey (left)
