Villagers air fears about dust pollution
Anger over Norbord emissions
Residents in Cowie got the chance to voice their concerns about the village’s dust pollution at a meeting on Monday.
Villagers have been left angered after emissions from the chipboard manufacturers in Station Road covered cars, windows, garden furniture and even pets in dust.
Officers from the Scottish Environment Protection Agency identified the cause of the latest incident on May 20 as the failure in dust suppression measures at Norbord’s sawdust shed.
Representatives from both Norbord and SEPA attended the May meeting of Cowie Community Council to discuss the issue.
Following the meeting, a spokesperson from Norbord said: “We regularly attend meetings of the community forum in order to understand local concerns and have full and open conversations with the community.
“We felt the most recent meeting was well–balanced, and are currently working closely with our regulator, SEPA, to address the issues that were raised.
“We are also putting in place additional preventative measures to avoid similar issues in future.” Iain Cruickshank, area manager at SEPA said: “At the meeting we informed the community that we are undertaking an intensive audit of the site, and advised that SEPA has deployed further monitoring at the site and in the surrounding area to assess local impacts.
“We are clear that compliance is non-negotiable, and as part of our ongoing engagement with the site we are discussing preventative maintenance issues to prevent a re-occurrence.
“We will continue to work closely with the operator to progress improvements at the site.
“We always urge people to inform us if they are concerned so that we can take action to protect the environment, and would advise the public to contact our 24-hour Pollution Hotline on 0800 807060 when they are affected by dust from the site.”
Bannockburn councillor Alasdair MacPherson also attended the meeting.
He said: “SEPA and Norbord heard at first hand the concerns of local residents so I sincerely hope that SEPA, as regulator, will consider all enforcement options open to them in order that the community’s concerns are addressed once and for all.
“The levels of emissions recently are totally unacceptable, so I hope Norbord take heed and get their house in order”
Some residents last week protested over dust pollution incidents.
One villager accused Norbord of prioritising profit over health and safety – a claim the company denies.