North-East News
Residents plan boycott of waste firm
8:00am Thursday 29th July 2010
RESIDENTS affected by a fire at a Darlington waste recycling centre have vowed to hit the owners in the pocket in a bid to close it down.
A boycott campaign will be carried out against Albert Hill Skip Hire following a week-long blaze at the firm earlier this month.
A public meeting held on Saturday heard this was the latest in a series of fires and anti-social activities at the premises over the past few years.
The meeting, attended by nearly 100 people, agreed to raise awareness of the firm’s conduct to persuade customers to use other companies.
At the meeting, held at St James the Great Church Hall in Albert Hill, residents told how acrid smoke from the latest blaze entered homes.
Residents said they had to keep all windows and doors shut for the duration of the fire while others had to move out.
Others said that noise, dust and smell from the site was blighting their lives.
A letter of apology from the company’s secretary, Tim McHale, was circulated.
It said: “We are now looking at ways to improve the site further with a view to avoiding any future incidents of this nature.”
However, the apology was rejected by those at the meeting.
Coun Andrew Scott said he had been dealing with complaints about the company for several years.
He said it had undergone a number of name changes, making it difficult to bring a successful prosecution.
Darlington MP Jenny Chapman, who organised the meeting, invited suggestions to overcome the problem, the main one being a boycott campaign.
“Commercial pressures might be the way forward,”
she added.
Residents affected by the fire were also encouraged to submit compensation claims to the company’s insurers.
A communications network of local residents has also been set up to keep local people informed.
Antony Shepherd, owner of Albert Hill Skip Hire, said: “Unfortunately those houses are situated next to an industrial estate that’s been there since the days of steam.
“It needs to be asked why the council gave planning permission to those houses 30 years ago when there was an industrial estate which had been there since the 1830s.”