Danczuk calls for a calm approach to Ding Quarry campaign

Simon Danczuk

Rochdale’s Labour Parliamentary Candidate Simon Danczuk has added his support to the Say No to Ding Quarry campaign, but has called for a calm and measured approach instead of angry outbursts.

He said: “We only have to look at other campaigns across the UK, from the Nine Ladies protest in Derbyshire to the Crownhill Down campaign in Devon to see that emotions run very high whenever quarrying threatens our natural habitat. I believe that if the quarry were to be reopened it would have an unacceptable environmental impact and it is only right that all political parties in Rochdale oppose this development.”

However, he questioned whether some of the more heated remarks made recently by Liberal Democrats in Rochdale were helping the cause.

“Angry posturing is not going to help at all, we need to be looking for solutions not making emotive outbursts,” he said. “The Liberal Democrats in Rochdale have a reputation for playing hard and fast with the truth when it comes to campaigns, as we have seen with their handling of the hospital reconfiguration. First Paul Rowen claimed that the hospital had closed then he said it was now a ‘cottage hospital’. Both these statements are false and calculated to whip up hysteria. My view is that campaigns are best fought by providing the public with clear facts and making sensible, reasoned arguments.

“The way to tackle the application by D P Williams Holding Ltd to recommence mineral extraction is by using existing planning laws to our advantage. Although Paul Rowen was on Rochdale Council for a long time he was never on the planning committee and the same goes for the Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Candidate Elwyn Watkins.”

Both Mr Rowen and Watkins, he added, had recently made emotional outbursts on the subject of the application to re-open the campaign. Councillor Elwyn Watkins said the quarry would open “over my dead body” while Paul Rowen MP, issued a rallying cry of “let battle commence!”

In contrast, Mr Danczuk pointed to response of Liberal Democrat Councillor Wera Hobhouse, who has urged her party not to lose sight of the “real issue”.

“Councillor Hobhouse has rightly pointed out that this campaign is about tough operating conditions and I hope her party will bear this in mind and cease their angry posturing,” he said. “Campaigns of this nature are about delivering the right results to the public and I want to work with colleagues across the political spectrum to make sure this quarry is not re-opened.”

He added that because local members of all three main parties opposed the re-opening he hoped the campaign would not become party political.

He said: “I am aware that the Save Spodden Valley campaign coordinator, Jason Addy, has recently written to Paul Rowen asking him to stop claiming credit for cross party campaigns and I hope Mr Rowen will not be putting party politics before the best interests of Rochdale.”