Leatherdog Lane Tip

Further to the recent press coverage of the abuse of the local community by the new operators of the Leatherdog Lane tip. This situation has been an absolute disgrace since the original small operation sold out to big business based in Hartlepool. We now have a massive pile of decomposing waste which will prove in the long term to be a serious health hazard to the
local community.
The Environment agency has various standards which they are supposed to apply to ensure the
safety of the environment but it would appear that they have failed to stick to their own standards when monitoring the site, leaving the local people with a legacy of poisons being emitted in one form or another from this mountain of waste which has been sent to us from far and wide in the pursuit of profit by the absentee owners.
The stench from the tip is predominately as a result of the leakage of landfill gas. This contains predominately methane and carbon dioxide, neither of which smell, but also a proportion of Hydrogen Sulphide (the bad egg smell) and a proportion of organic compounds which both smell and are highly poisonous. Hydrogen Sulphide is considered a cumulative poison which
builds up in animal tissues. The organic compounds have similar properties plus they are linked to birth defects in animals. There is no way this can be acceptable or reasonable, and I believe most other local people will agree.
The operators are said to now be burning the major part of the landfill gas in an enclosed
flare in an attempt to reduce the complaints about the stench. This sounds helpful at first sight but ignores the problems this can cause. Incomplete or uncontrolled combustion of the organic compounds produces dioxins which are among the most poisonous compounds known to man. Only carefully controlled high temperature combustion can minimise (not eradicate) the production of these dioxins. I do not wish to see another Bonnybridge legacy in East Yorkshire. I would prefer our local descendants to have the accepted normal number of fingers and toes etc.
It has been suggested that the Methane is a long term asset as it can be used to generate electricity. While this is true in principle, the use of landfill gas to power an internal combustion engine to drive a generator is recognised as the dirtiest option of using the gas, as the engine has
a significantly worse performance in terms of discharging dioxins than combustion in a boiler where high temperature controlled conditions might be achieved or “cleaning” up the gas by removal of the sulphides and organic products to a standard where it could be injected into a natural gas distribution main and burnt in a dilute manner over a widely dispersed area. The last solution can of course be considered only if safe disposal of the organics and other undesirable content which are removed can be assured and that the gas network is willing to accept the methane/carbon dioxide mixture.

Solar Panels and Feed in Tariff. 12 months on

Following my foray into the world of Solar Generation a year ago I have calculated that over the 12 months since commissioning the electricity generated produced FIT payments worth £1522 This is plus an estimated reduction in my electricity bills over the same period of some £120.
I reckon that equates to a return on investment of 10.95 percent tax free. In these times of poor interest rates that is quite amazing.

The installation was carried out by Alexander Electrical of Goole and I registered my FIT generation with EDF. The registration administration was tedious but the payments started from the day of commissioning and every quarter I get an email asking for the current reading on the total generation meter.

I noticed a letter in the Goole Times today (19th Jan 2012) from someone who had had problems with an out of area installation company. This makes me glad that I chose to support a local business.

Parasite Alert

A friend of mine had an unfortunate experience yesterday. She had a call from a man who claimed to be investigating her computer running slow. Despite her being naturally wary he was very convincing and overcame her suspicions. Thus he ended up with remote access to her computer. Some malware was planted and it was only when the scammers claimed there were a number of viruses on the machine and asked for card details did the penny drop, the call was ended and the computer switched off.
After she called me I advised her if she had financial or shopping details on the machine she could have exposed her security and passwords to the scammers. Consequently she phoned her bank, stopped all her credit cards and changed passwords then we ran a system cleanup and restored the machine to a few days ago. Everyone needs to be on their guard against these parasites and if you get such a call refuse to give any details or allow them any way of getting into your machine. (although getting their details would be extremely useful to the police).

Christmas Greetings

A merry Christmas and a happy New Year

Parish Council By-election 15th December 2011

Following the resignation on health grounds of one of the Parish Councillors the Parish Council was contacted by Chris Newsome with an expression of interest to serve. This was the only contact received by the Parish Council and under normal circumstances would have resulted in an appointment by co-option or if more than one expression of interest had been received a selction would have been made by the council. This would have had no cost to the community.

However under electoral law if ten members of the public request an election one must be held. In this instance ten residents of Chestnut Drive, Gilberdyke, comprising Mike Whitleys family and close neighbours wrote to the East Riding Council calling for an election.

As a result the council taxpayers ended up paying for an election, which in ball park figures is £3000. This money was not budgeted for and will have to be borrowed from other funds then replaced by increasing the precept for next year.

Increasing the precept for next year is not something the Parish Council want to do in times of austerity, so will have to cut back on other expenditure. The £3000 would have gone a long way towards a skate park/BMX facility for the village kids.

Well done to the Chestnut Drive gang of ten - your actions simply jeapordise progress and to hear your hero state in the aftermath of the count (which showed almost three to one majority for Chris Newsome) that he did not expect to win anyway, makes the wasted time, effort, and money almost criminal!

Drainage project progress

I'm delighted to report that phase 2 of the drainage work is now underway. Completion of phases 2 and 3 will give confidence to those residents of Westbrook Road and Crescent who suffered so drastically during the 2007 flood. Its a great pity that so much delay was caused to the project but luckily no-one, that I am aware of, has had floodwater into their houses since the catastrophic event (although some came pretty close on at least one occasion).

This work in the village is another major step along the way but we must not forget the works still required to complete improvements to the outfall to the River Ouse at Blacktoft.

None of this improvement would have happened without the Parish Council and the Gilberdyke Flood Action Group who had to fight every inch of the way to complete the investigation and obtain the Mason-Clark report which was the instrument in compelling the relevant authorities to act.

Special thanks must go to our ward councillor Paul Robinson for his tireless work in pressing matters forward despite many personal attacks and attempts to obstruct progress.

Standards Board complaint against trusted local councillor

The East Riding Mail carried a report today regarding a complaint against our Gilberdyke Ward Councillor, Paul Robinson.In my personal opinion, the whole issue is a result of Mike Whitley, the complainant, conducting a long running, vexatious campaign against Paul Robinson in particular and Gilberdyke Parish Council in general as can readily be seen by study of the Parish Council minutes and reports in the local press. The saga started in the aftermath of the floods of 2007 when it was discovered that Mr Whitley, against drainage board advice, had installed two 12" pipes as an unofficial culvert into the critical water course carrying the majority of the surface water out of the village. Despite this action contravening more than one act of parliament the authorities tried hard but unsuccessfully to obtain a solution through agreement.Eventually as a last resort, the legal route was used and a legal notice was served on Mr Whitley by the Drainage Board. Subsequently the phase one works were completed, albeit approximately two years after an agreed, co-operative solution would have provided. The delays did result in a higher cost to the community insofar as the loan interest rate rose during the delays and the effects of rising contractor costs also came into play. Personally I would have used the legal notice immediately the obstructive behaviour started but that is now water under the bridge and the recently completed large culvert worked exactly as designed during the last heavy rains this year.


I am not medically qualified so can only give a laymans personal opinion but for Mike Whitley to conduct his ensuing aggressive campaign of misinformation and obstruction to hamper the flood defence work improvements plus personal unfounded attacks on members of the Parish Council I consider shows a considerable degree of paranoia. Readers will not be surprised to learn that the same individual made three failed complaints against me via the Standards Board but each of these was rejected. In addition he has made failed complaints against the chairman of the Parish Council and previous failed complaints against Councillor Robinson. It seems obvious to me that he used the procedure as a free (to him) vehicle to cause disruption and a pattern of vexatious behaviour is established