CEMFUEL protesters will be urging councillors to take Castle Cement to court over plume grounding problems at a special meeting on Wednesday.

However, members of Ribble Valley's community committee look set to decide against court action.

In a report to councillors, chief legal officer Paul Timson explains that the cost of outside experts who would be needed and the chance of losing the case could be substantial.

Because the problem is already being dealt with by the Environment Agency, the council would have to seek the consent of the Secretary of State to begin court proceedings itself for "statutory nuisance" arising from Castle's premises - namely plume grounding.

And the Secretary of State would have to be satisfied that the agency was not doing everything in its power to solve the problems before he would grant the borough council permission to act itself.

All five items on the committee's agenda refer to different aspects of the Castle Cement controversy.

Local environment campaigner Mrs Mary Horner and Environment Agency inspector David Coulburn will be among the speakers to address the committee. Ian Sutheran, Castle Cement's works manager will speak on behalf of the company,

Apart from the possibility of court action, the committee will also be tackling the order which environment watchdogs have placed on the firm to install a scrubbing system to cut down on harmful emissions from the Ribblesdale plant.

The company wants more time to install the equipment and has also revealed that such "fuels" as old tyres and waste carpet could be used in the kilns once the clean-up programme is in place.

The committee will also have chance to comment on a recent report from the House of Commons Select Environment Committee which delves into the environmental impact of the manufacture of cement.

Councillors will finally be asked to consider future policies for dealing with Castle Cement and planning development controls over the burning of Cemfuel there.

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