'The Peat Question'
During the general election, we asked candidates from Worsley and Eccles South for their views on the peat extraction application at Chat Moss and peat extraction in general, as well as what action their party is planning to take at a local or national level. This is how they responded:
Conservative candidate at the general election, Councilor Iain Lindley replied: “I took part in a recent walk out to the peat extraction site on Irlam Moss not long ago, and I was appalled by the destruction I saw – it was like walking on the moon. I would be opposed to any new planning application and I would much prefer to see the extraction work stop (and the bog restored where possible) when the current licenses expire.”
MP for Worsley and Eccles South, Barbara Keeley replied: “I went on the recent protest march to Chat Moss and was horrified by the impact of peat extraction on the landscape. I have since submitted a letter of objection on behalf of local residents to the proposal to continue peat extraction. As an alternative, I support Salford City Council’s plan to return Chat Moss to its natural form as a wet mossland and to prohibit further peat extraction. The Government has announced the phasing out of peat for gardening so there can be no justification for its continued exploitation at sites like Chat Moss. The majority of the Moss is Green Belt land and should be protected from this urage. I hope that instead of continued peat extraction we can strengthen farming at Chat Moss as it would be great to restore the area to becoming a productive supplier of vegetables and other crops to Salford, as it did in the past. The area could also be valuable for informal recreation and leisure. There is much to do to realise the vision of the restoration of Chat Moss and if re-elected as MP for Worsley and Eccles South I will work hard to see this happen.”
Liberal Democrat candidate at the general election for Worsley and Eccles South, Richard Gadsden, replied: “Peat mosses take thousands of years to form and can be destroyed in just a few hours by mechanised harvesting. I am opposed to the renewal of the license to extract peat from Chat Moss and would prefer to see the extraction stop and the moss to be restored to its natural state. I would favour legislation nationally to create a presumption to reject any planning application that involved the destruction of peat mosses.”
'The Local Peat Question'
We also asked candidates for Irlam Ward on Salford City Council for their views on the peat extraction application at Chat Moss and peat extraction in general, as well as what action their party is planning to take at a local or national level.
Councillor Richard Houlton - Irlam Ward replied: “I am completely against the continuation of peat extraction on Chat Moss, indeed any mossland. It is important, now more than ever, to protect our environment and saving Chat Moss is vital to our fight against climate change. Therefore, I have been working with Jackie Anderson who led the protest against Salford Council’s Core Strategy plans to build on the moss and she has subsequently started a Salford branch of Friends of the Earth. I will also be fighting the plans to build a methane extraction plant and Labour’s continued aggressive threats to concrete over our precious mossland. I will oppose officially any proposals in council that are of no benefit to our area and further, will oppose any plans put forward by New Labour to collaborate with peel holdings in the destruction of our environment.”
Mark Armstrong, Independent candidate for Irlam, replied:
The proposed plan of action for the moss is now going to be methane extraction. This is a process where the methane is extracted by pumping vast quantities of water from the moss and then separating the methane from the water. The water dispersed back into or onto the ground, some waters are naturally high in salinity and sodium adsorption ratio. There has been controversy on how to best manage these saline waters. Then the surplus water is pumped back into the point of extraction, various concerns about this are that peat moss retains thousands of tonnes of other greenhouse gas’s such as CO2 and is in essence a live organism and the introduction of water with high saline or sodium contents could kill it. I am strongly opposed to this as the government contradicts itself at every turn, they say that they want sustainable fuel source and that they want a good eco strategy. If this is licensed the extraction of methane is not sustainable and once the damage is done it would take decades for the moss to recover. It is just another example of the country being ravaged by developer and businesses for short term gain with no consideration for the environment.
A defra report states that:
UK soils contain over 10 billion tonnes of carbon, more than half of which is in peatlands. The 2009 Soil Strategy set out the Government’s approach to safeguarding our soils. Defra will publish additional guidance this year on how farmers can best protect their soil. Later this year Defra will consult on a new Peat Framework for Action and publish the results of research on how best to protect our vital peatlands. Continued peat extraction: Damaging Natural Environments Peat moss bogs, this is where most of the peat moss comes from, it a non-renewable resource. They have developed their own ecosystems,which sustain a multitude of plant and animal life, removing peat moss destroys these environments. All of this will affect you and many generations to come; the whole process is not dissimilar to strip mining as the plant involved will continually march on to extract new areas as the methane becomes exhausted.”
Current Councilors from Irlam Ward:
