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20 Oct 2007 New DEFRA Study
A new study by DEFRA into Marine Polution - Courtesy Cornish
Guardian (pdf file) >>
more
10 Oct 2007 Killer Nets
Pictures from our own David Peake in Polhawn Cove have made
national and local headlines see links
>>
More
10 Oct 2007
Conservative Conference
SHERYLL Murray, Tory
candidate for South East Cornwall, gave a spirited speech during a
debate in the conference hall on the menace of soil being dumped in
the sea and washed back up on the county's beaches. The sea around
the Westcountry is a good deal clearer than in Bournemouth where a
few tonnes of muck would probably go unnoticed!! Quote Courtesy:
Matt Chorley's Conference Diary
05 Sep 2007
Did silt play a part in diving deaths?
Police investigating the deaths of two wreck divers at the Scylla,
off Whitsand Bay, are looking at whether silt dumped in the area may
have been a contributing factor >>more
see also >>
here
24 July 2007 - Early Day Motion
An early day motion EDM 1925 has been launched in the
House of Commons "That this House condemns the
continuation of the dumping of dredged material by the Ministry of
Defence and others in Whitsand Bay, South East Cornwall; and calls
upon the Government to investigate alternative methods for the
disposal of dredged material"
more
22 June 2007 -
Dumping Resumes in Whitsand Bay
Dumping has resumed Whitsandbay - just in time for the
Holiday Season! See this letter from Dave Peake to the editor of the
Western Morning News (pdf file)
download
03 March 2007 -
Unanimous Support to
Preserve Bay
Caradon Councillors showed full support for the
protection of our beautiful Whitsand Bay. It is sad that the
government is carrying out disposal operations in this area and the
only justification they can provide is that the site has been used
for centuries
>> More letter
Agenda Item (pdf)
09 Feb 2007 -
Letter to DEFRA
Recent letter to DEFRA from Dave Peake copied to a wide range of
stakeholders (pdf file)
More
09 Feb 2007 - Conservative
Party Press Release (pdf file)
press release
Jan 2007 -
Expansion of Caradon dumping enquiry - Conservative Press Release 20
Dec
Conservatives on Caradon District Council have ensured
that the impact of the dumping of dredged spoil in Whitsand Bay will
be considered by two Caradon panels. On Tuesday, Marine
Conservationist, Dave Peake, became one of the first members of the
public to ask a formal question at the start of a full meeting of
Caradon District Council. He wanted to know the position of the
council following the decision of the government to allow the
resumption of dumping in Whitsand Bay.
The recommendation of the Environment Portfolio Holder was that the
Council's community Services Panel should look at the impact on
Public Health.But Councillors accepted Cllr Sheryll Murray's
proposal that the adverse effect upon the tourist Industry and our
economy must be taken fully into account, and the Council's Planning
and Local economy Panel will also now consider the impact of future
dumping on the economy of the area.
Speaking after the meeting Cllr Murray said, "I am concerned that
the continued use of this disposal site is contravening Principle 15
of the Rio Convention. The Shadow Minister, Bill Wiggin MP has
tabled a question challenging the Minister Ben Bradshaw on this
subject and Mr Bradhsaw claims this is not the case."
Cllr Brian Galipeau said "The Government's safety report has met
some serious scientific challenges. Not least is the evidence that
dredge material is strewn over Whitsand Bay in places it should not
be and where it will remain for years. It should not be difficult
to find a more suitable dump site in the area of natural dispersal
for sediment washed down from the Tamar. It would also reduce costs
and help regeneration of the Plymouth port."
Cllr Murray, who is also the Parliamentary Spokesperson for South
East Cornwall Conservatives, said, "I will continue to pursue the
precautionary principle. The Minister stated in his reply to Mr
Wiggin that disposal had taken place for over 100 years. This is not
a reason to continue to pollute the marine environment and is
clearly unacceptable from a Minister who claims to have green
credentials. This proves that the Conservatives are the only Party
with the will and the weight to protect our Marine Environment for
future generations."
01
Jan 2007 -
Commission
rejects opt-out extension on red diesel
Four
million pleasure boaters are set to suffer a huge increase
in fuel costs next year after the European Commission
refused to renew the UK derogation on red diesel tax. The
European Commission has rejected an application to extend a
derogation allowing use of the fuel under the EU Energy
Products Directive. The current derogation runs out on at
the end of this month.
Whitsandbay.org would be
grateful
for your views.
29 Nov 06 - Marine Bill
Letter from DEFRA (pdf file) >>
more
23 Nov 06 - More Dumping Soon?
We
understand that the licence application for the Cattwater Harbour to
dispose dredged material at Whitsandbay may have been approved by
DEFRA (Ben Bradshaw) back in July but for some strange reason we have
not been able to find formal confirmation of this.
Grateful for any information on this or of any signs of Dumping
recommencing in Whitsandbay.
12 Nov 06 - New Paliamentary Spokesperson
We
are delighted to reveal that Sheryll Murray has been adopted as the
Conservative Parliamentary Spokesperson for South East Cornwall.
Sheryll has been a leading member in the Stop Dumping campaign over
a number of years and this will serve to raise further the political
profile of the dumping issue in Whitsandbay. >>
more
08 Aug 06 - New Paliamentary Group
A new Parliamentary Group has been formed on Angling - details
can be found here:
New
Parliamentary Group there is also a new link to the SACN new
website Here:
http://www.sacn.org.uk
11 March
06 - More Dumping Planned
We understand that DEFRA have received a licence
application dated 6th March from The Cattwater
Habour to dispose of 20,000 tonnes of dredged material at Rame Dump
Site. The Consultation will appear on their Website idc.
Written comments should be sent to Andy Dixon at : Marine Consents &
Environment Unit, 3 - 8 Whitehall Place, (2nd Floor - Area D),
London. SW1A 2HH or Tel : 020 7270 8664 or 8662
07 March
06 - Whitsand Bay - Looe Front Opens
I will continue to work to keep the public profile of
this high and will publish this and responses on the subject in the
public domain including the press. I think we are all agreed that
“A hundred years is long enough”.
Brian Galipeau, Caradon Councillor, Looe & St Martin
Download (pdf)
04 March
06 - Taking the Fight to Europe
As a follow on from the public Meeting letters have been
written John Roberts and Ben Bradshaw questioning the Precautionary
Principle. A meeting has been requested with Caroline Jackson
MEP Chair of the European Parliament Environment Committee and Beil
Parish Chair of the Agricultur and Fisheries Committee to establish
how to take things forward in Europe.
Bradshaw
Letter
Roberts Letter
02 March
06 - Public Meeting on Whitsand Bay Dumping
WASTE DUMPED AT BEAUTY SPOT.
Around 6 million tonnes [see post meeting note] of dredged material has
been dumped off the Cornish beauty spot of Whitsand Bay over the
last 30 years, it was revealed last night.
The disclosure provoked outrage -----
More
Meeting_Notes
Post Meeting Note:
We have received a letter from DEFRA dated 10 March stating that it is in fact 6M
tonnes of waste that has been dumped and not 60M as widely reported.
07
Feb 06 -
Public Meeting on Whitsand Bay Dumping
Confirmation has been received from DEFRA that they will attend
a Public Meeting on the Whitsand Bay dumping. This will take
place at Millbrook Village Hall at 7pm on Wed 1st March 2006.
Please try and be there for this important meeting - all are most welcome.
11 Dec 05 -
Government Pledges to Protect the Marine Environment
Strategic Goals in the DEFRA report:
To enhance and
conserve the overall quality of our seas, their natural processes
and their biodiversity; To use marine resources in a sustainable and
environmentally sensitive manner in order to conserve ecosystems and
achieve optimum environmental, social and economic benefit from the
marine environment; To promote public awareness, understanding and
appreciation of the value of the marine environment and seek active
public participation in the development of new policies.
(How do you reconcile this with what is happening in Whitsand Bay?)
more
11 Dec 05 - House of
Commons Debate - Recreational Sea Angling
Mr. Colin Breed (South-East Cornwall) (LD): I, too, think
that we must not forget sea anglers. In Cornwall, sea angling
contributes a great deal to seaside activity ---. As appears
to be the case in other countries, sea anglers should be included in
discussions so that they can play a role in the constructive
governance of UK fishing
more
07 Dec 05 - DEFRA to
attend Public Meeting
We are advised that DEFRA are willing to attend a public meeting
in the Rame Peninsula area early in the new year regarding the
Whitsand Bay Dumping issue. This is a very welcome development
and we will publish further details when known.
20 Oct 05
- Government Hooking into Sea Angling
"At last the Government is listening to the million men,
women and children who go sea angling each year and generate £1
billion for the UK economy," said Richard Ferré chairman of the
National Federation of Sea Anglers’ conservation group. "We welcome
the government acting on the advice anglers gave earlier this year."
more
4 Oct 05
- Cornwall County Council - Paper on Rame
Head Disposal Site
A paper on the Rame Head disposal site was presented to the CCC
Environment Policy and Development Scrutiny Committee on 6 Sep 05
(see link below pdf download) and outlines CCCs position on the issue. Importantly
see Annex1 re the CEFAS report. A link to CCC is
provided for convenience and context.
ccc_paper
Link
to ccc site
1 Oct 05
- Anglers to be Consulted on new Marine Bill
With a new legislation to be introduced in a new Marine
Bill that will be drafted next year, there is an opportunity to
press for a number of changes that the Recreational Sea Angling (RSA)
sector has been asking --------------
more
30
Sep 05 - Response from DEFRA
Regarding the dumping issue, we have received various documents from DEFRA including a letter
defining their proposed way ahead, minutes of the 22 July meeting
and a response from cefas. Their response does
not take into consideration the recent findings of Prof
Pingrees paper - which to be fair we have only recently published. However, the significance of the issues in Prof Pingrees
paper relating to the dispersion model required and that used by
cefas must not be underestimated and in our opinion consideration of
his findings
is essential in any future work. Comments most welcome. (all
downloads are in pdf format).
defra Letter
minutes
cefas
response
24 Sep 05
- Important New Evidence on Bay Dispersion
Please download and read the Paper
from Prof Pingree. We consider its findings
lend argument to the fact that spoil
can find its way ashore in Polhawn Cove and
that the tidal measurement work suggested in the paper be
commissioned by DEFRA without delay.
Download
11
Sep 05 - Dumping - Silt Impacting HMS Scylla?
We have received two recent emails
from divers: Tony Leverett [22Aug] “I dived the Scylla
yesterday and certainly did notice a cloudiness in the water that
was clearly not plankton, as well as some debris on the seabed that
clearly was not natural -----”.
Peter Hennessey [10 Sep] -
"My DO almost wouldn't let us dive the Scylla a couple of
weekends ago because of concerns over silt / vis and new divers.
We also dived
around the corner on Tinker shoal and the Mewstones the same weekend
and the vis and the life there was excellent so it seems like a
local thing to Whitsand bay to me. Don’t be put off diving the
Scylla, it was a good dive despite the vis and silt----".
We have also had reports
that the water on Polhawn Beach was "looking like soup".
30 Aug 05 - Angling -
Three Sea Million Anglers
more
10 Aug 05 - A Bio
Economic Review of the Recreational Angling for Bass (pdf file 300kB)
Download
08 Aug 05 - BASS asking
for help with BMP
More
23 July 05 - Western
Morning News Article Re Meeting on Evidence
A crucial
scientific report into the possible pollution of the Cornish beauty
spot of Whitsand Bay was yesterday dismissed as a "whitewash" after
it emerged it used evidence from sewage outfall pipes that do not
exist.
More
23 July 05 - BASS
Appeal for help
Please
help BASS spread the following
message as widely as possible
amongst the sea angling community.
Message
22 July 05 - Meeting on
Evidence Regarding Disposal of Dredged Material
This meeting has been called at the Marine Biological
Association on the 22 July. The general public have been excluded
from this meeting (which we find totally unacceptable) but see the
WMN article above.
25 June 05 - Government
Response to 'Net Benefits' report expected soon
More
09 June 05 - "Legal
action may be taken to stop dumping in Whitsand Bay'
BBC News Report
06June 05 - Important
New Report on Recreational Sea Angling in the SW
"We estimate that over 3000 jobs are linked to sea angling in
the SW"
Recreational Sea Angling in the SW
05
June 05 - Cornwall
Sea Fisheries Committee Representation
The new angling reps on the CSFC are Stuart Athay whose family run three tackle shops --
Helston, Penzance & Porthleven plus a small charter angling boat out
of Porthleven and Kevin Bennetts, Conservation officer for the CFSA.
We wish them every success and offer our full support in
promoting the interests of recreational angling in Cornwall.
3 June 05 - Marine Protected Areas
See this article by Leon Roskilly of SACN in relation to Marine
Protected Areas.
Marine
Protected Areas
25 May 05 - CEFAS Report Issued
Please find a link to the CEFAS report. In their words:
"Evidence from monitoring surveys indicates that
physical, chemical and biological impacts are localised within, and
close to, the boundaries of the disposal site"
Your Comments on the report would be most welcome
-(try to download the full version if you can - it will take a while
to download ~ 8MB; exec summary ~ 11kB)
CEFAS
Report (full report)
CEFAS report (exec
summary)
23 May 05 - Diver Missing
A diver is missing feared drowned.
He had been diving on the wreck of the James Eagan Layne. It is
understood that two divers had surfaced but found their marker buoys
were tangled and went back down to separate them. It is believed
that the man was a member of a diving club visiting the area.
25 April 05
-
"The Scylla - One Year On"
The talk
"Scylla - One Year On" is at
7pm on
Thursday 28th April, in the Resources Centre of the Marine
Biological Association, Citadel Hill, Plymouth. Dr Hiscock will be
presenting his photographs of the variety of life now established on
the vessel. All are welcome - further details from National Marine
Aquarium.
23 April 05
- Whitsand Bay Dumping "Must be Stopped" - Western Morning News
A recommendation to CDC: "That Caradon
writes to Defra demanding that no further dumping be authorised off
Rame Head pending the outcome of the monitoring report; that if
there is scientific evidence of contamination Caradon gives
practical support to the campaign to prevent continued dumping off
Rame Head"
The move comes amid intensifying public protests about the effects
of the dumping. More than 1,000 people have now signed an online
petition.
23 April 05
- Conservatives Back Recreational Angling
See this article by Owen Patterson in SACN
more
21 April 05
- Anglers Hook Labour Party (written 15 April 05)
That is a front page headline in this week's
Fishing News, the weekly newspaper of the UK Fishing Industry.
More
07 April 05 -
Labour launches its new Anglers Charter
Labour has produced a new Charter for
Angling in consultation with the national representative
organisations for the sport and government ministers.
Anglers Charter
25 March 05
- Net Benefits report
The Environment, Food and Rural Affairs parliamentary
sub-committee has delivered its findings on the contents of the Net
Benefits Report, written by the Prime Minister's Strategy Unit.
The report recognises the contribution of Sea Angling at around
£1billion per year. Note
para 130 -141 (particularly para 139) under the Sea Angling link.
Sea Angling
SACN latest news.
23 March 05 - Letter from
DEFRA
We have received a response from DEFRA which we find flawed in
several areas. Also there is a link to UK obligations under the 1992
OSPAR convention. We will respond to DEFRA and would gratefully
receive comments, legal points etc that may assist in our reply
(Both documents are in PDF Fomat)
DEFRA
Letter
OSPAR Convention
21 Mar 05 - Sunday Telegraph -Mr Morley is one
of our Biggest Tippers
Meanwhile, to compound this strange
behaviour, he himself authorises perhaps the most reckless example
of fly-tipping anywhere in Britain >>
Full Story
20 Mar 05 - Scientists to Check on Bay Pollution
The Plymouth Marine Laboratory, the University
of Plymouth, the Marine Biological Association and the National
Marine Aquarium are to meet government officials to investigate the
issue.
10 Mar 05 - Colin Breed MP - Abject Failure of
Defra to Supervise Dumping
"Once
again we see a muddled account from DEFRA of the events surrounding
the granting of the latest application for dumping in Whitsand Bay"
>>
More
6 March 05
- letter to DEFRA
Shellfish such as lobsters are clearly sick and the natural kelp
beds are in a disastrous state. The whole area is being destroyed.
>>
Full Letter
5 March 05
- Save our Bay from Waste - Headlines Western Morning News (3
March 05)
Internet petition launched >>
Full Story
3 Mar 05 - Press Release - Local
MP demands immediate cessation to dumping
Colin Breed - "the dumping has clearly contaminated the area"
Press Release (adobe pdf file)
2 Mar 05 - CDC Response
Presentation to Council tentatively agreed for,
Wednesday 27 April >>more
1 Mar 05 - S Murray letter to
DEFRA - inviting them to a local public meeting
"I am therefore writing to invite you to visit the people of Rame at
your earliest convenience in order that you can hear the views of
ALL the local people for yourself and see the video evidence"
1 Mar 05 - S Murray email to CDC
- inviting them to see the D Peake Presentation
"It is essential that both
Councillors and Officers who are promoting this area as a Tourist
attraction and who are responsible for the Marine Environment and
Public Health are aware of this disaster"
19 Feb 05 - Whitsand Bay Dumping
- Public Meeting to be Held
A public meeting with Dave
Peake giving a presentation is being arranged for Monday 28th
February 2005 at the Sheviock Memorial Hall, Crafthole, at 7pm.
19 Feb 05 - Whitsand Bay - Save
the Bay campaign
Ashley Gray (the ppc for SE
Cornwall -Conservative) has recently launched a 'Save the Bay'
campaign in his election newspaper and we understand it has received
a tremendous response.
11 Feb 05 - Whitsand Bay is Best
says Which Magazine
"most spectacular stretch of sand on the south coast" says the magazine,
adding: 'The fearsome walk down the cliff paths might be a bit
tricky with a large brood in full beach kit in tow, but the reward
is an uncrowded ribbon of sand that's long and spacious, yet blessed
with rocky snugs if you want somewhere cosier to camp.'
11Feb
05 -Colin Breed letter to Elliot Morley MP 9
Feb 05
Colin Breed MP has written to Elliot Morley expressing his deep
concern over the recent application for continued dumping of waste
at Whitsand Bay >>more
11
Feb 05 - Torpoint Journal - 20 Jan 05
Last Wednesday the Shadow Fisheries Minister, Own Paterson MP, was
at Rame Head, meeting local campaigners who want the dumping
stopped.>>more
3 Feb
05 -Colin Breed takes Campaign to EU
Colin Breed, Liberal Democrat MP for South East Cornwall has taken
the campaign to stop dumping at Whitsand Bay to the European Union
>>more
21
Jan 05 -Challenge to John Prescott
John Prescott is to visit the area to dive
Scylla.
Local diver Dave Peake, said he would
be inviting him to dive
on other parts of the bay which have suffered damage
>>more
13
Jan 05 -
Fury at Further Dumping Plans
MoD granted a licence to increase fourfold the
amount of waste it dumps off the Rame Head site from 50,533 to
201,527 tonnes in 2005
>>more
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