Scott Rees and Co presented a cheque for £500 yesterday to the Action to Reduce and Recycle Our Waste (ARROW) campaign to block plans to expand the Whitemoss Hazardous Waste Landfill in Skelmersdale.
The local community of Skelmersdale have been a long battle against the plans to expand the landfill site significantly, all of which will culminate with a hearing due to take place next Tuesday in Manchester.
In the mean time the action group have been desperately appealing to people and businesses within the local community for donations towards the £5,000 needed to cover the legal fees for the Barrister and yesterday Scott Rees and Co threw their support behind the campaign.
Presenting the cheque, Managing Partner, Royston Smith, said: “We are only too pleased to offer our support to this cause. Since the plans were announced to expand the landfill, we have been in opposition and hopefully the hearing next week will bring about the right outcome.”
“Many of our staff live in the Skelmersdale region so we are well aware of what sort of impact that allowing this expansion will have on the local community. Hopefully other businesses will follow suit and donate if they haven’t done already.”
The plans were announced more than two years ago and since then, the Skelmersdale community have bound together to try and bring proceedings to a halt.
Should the plans to expand proceed, there are concerns of the wholescale adverse effects that this could have on the area, not just the fact that is would destroy the way the area looks. In 2014, concerns were raised that extending the tip would undermine genuine developments for recycling and the treatment of hazardous waste.
Pollution was also a major concern, not to the local water table and wildlife but the effects that it could have on human life within the area, due to airborne particles. On their Facebook page, titled ‘No Whitemoss Landfill – Skelmersdale’, the story of a seven year old boy, Zane Gbangbola, who tragically died in his bed during the floods of February 2014 in Surrey, is shared.
He was killed by the poisonous gas, Hydrogen Cyanide and pre-inquest it was announced by the Environment Agency that levels of 500 times above a fatal dose found in Zane’s bedroom after the accident. It is believed that the lethal gas had come from the nearby landfill site and his family have show their support to ARROW’s attempts to block the expansion of the Whitemoss Landfill, which would encroach further on to areas of civilisation.
If you live in Skelmersdale or have relatives that live in Skelmersdale who you wish to protect, you can help. Simply get in touch with nicola.escott@arrow.org.uk to make a donation.