Alfred McAlpine Slate Limited are asking for grants of tens of millions of pounds of taxpayers money to enable them to move two million tonnes (or one, or ten million!) per annum of Slate Waste from Blaenau Ffestiniog to England. They claim that if this material does not go by Rail it will have to be moved by hundreds of lorries . We are told that the people of both Gwynedd and Conwy will gain both great economic and environmental benefits from this project.

WHAT IS THE REALITY ?

1

The weight of each slate train = 100 present Passenger Trains.

One hundred times the noise

One hundred times the vibration.

One hundred times the carbon dioxide release [Global Warming]

2

Every loaded slate train means another train returning empty.

3

For every thousand tonnes of slate waste carried, nearly one thousand tonnes of train have to be

moved. (463 tonnes each way).

4

WHAT IS THE SLATE WASTE INTENDED FOR ?

Only as ‘sub-base’ for road building i.e. the poorest quality bottom layer.

5

THE SLATE WASTE IS NOT NEEDED:

“Slate waste …… serves only to swap one waste product with another “ (Arup report to Welsh Assembly - Page 50, Section 10.2)

Penmaenmawr Quarry already has 100,000 tonnes piled of material displaced from the market since slate waste was `subsidised` by the Government’s tax regime of 2002. They had none before.

6

About a quarter of a million gallons of diesel fuel would be burnt every year, for every one million tonnes of slate waste moved - massive unnecessary pollution to replace one spoil heap with others.

7

The project contravenes the Welsh Assembly, U.K. Government and European Union ‘Proximity Principle‘ .There is abundant superior or equivalent material much nearer to points - of - use. At a time when climate change and global warming are nearing the top of the political agenda, the transport over such great distances of large tonnages of low value material by the burning of fossil fuels is obscene.

8

The project contravenes Sustainability Principles, encouraging current extremely wasteful quarrying methods: 145 tons of waste for every one ton of slates at Oakley Quarry, Blaenau Fastening (Arup 2001, p.8 section 3.3).

9

The project in public-funded form is illegal. It contravenes Fair Competition Laws because the project only benefits Alfred McAlpine Slate Limited - no other users have come forward. Obviously this disqualifies the project from Objective One and other funding.

Rail-associated grants are only for the replacement of existing road traffic with rail (Arup, Summary) The slate waste does not currently go to England at all.

10

McAlpine’s threat of 400 lorries per day is SCAREMONGERING . Rail transport is uneconomic (see below) and movement by road to England is even less viable. All that can be sold, within N Wales, goes by lorry already, and would continue to go by lorry. Moreover, the figure of 400 lorries a day includes the Penrhyn quarry in Bethesda which is unaffected by the rail project

.11

ECONOMIC (NON-)VIABILITY of the project:

Transport cost: £8, or more, per tonne. (Arup, p.58; Jacob’s Economic Assessment, p.10)

sale value at destination: £5, or less, per tonne. (Many quarries are forced to sell secondary aggregates for less than £1 per tonne before tax (sourced from British Aggregates Association). Apparently, McAlpine are ready and willing to lose £3 or more for every tonne transported.

So what is the real motivation for this scheme?

12

NEW JOBS ?

Losses: 2 railway jobs (Llanrwst Signal Box and Tal y Cafn manned crossing).

Jobs have already been lost because of slate waste in Conwy coastal quarries - 10 in PENMAENMAWR alone, and the other 133 jobs there will be at risk if the project were to proceed.

Countless jobs in tourism are imperilled. Hotel proprietors close to the railway line fear that at best rooms will become unusable. Other tourism related businesses anticipate a reduction in visitors due to the imposition of noise, intense vibration and fumes, and the intrusion of inappropriate industrial sights on a rural landscape.

Gains: Reliable senior aggregates representatives estimate no more than 10 or so new jobs will be created at Blaenau Ffestiniog rather than the 45 or 85 claimed by McAlpine’s DTZ report (Section 4.12) The existing 81 quarry jobs are mainly dependent on the roofing slate market, so will not be safeguarded by waste aggregate sales.

It would be cheaper for taxpayers if each of the proposed new employees were to be given a million pound trust fund and sent to relax in the Bahamas than to finance this worthless scheme.

ALTERNATIVE JOB POSSIBILITIES:

Many manufacturing opportunities exist for novel uses of slate waste that would create considerably greater employment near any of the sources of the material.

13

The latest proposals (Atkins 2004) are probably neutral in their effect on the passenger service. They no longer seem to be a danger to it: but on then other hand certainly do not safeguard it.

Various of the proposed works will require the line to be closed. The works to Gethin`s Viaduct we are told will require “prolonged “ closure (Atkins 2004 section 4.6.7).

Freight traffic will greatly increase cost and frequency of maintenance. Increased traffic will mean work will have to be done at night and on Sundays.Up to l8 trains per day each way could run with the proposed new signalling (Atkins 2004 section 6.7.1)

14

Will the project turn Blaenau Ffestiniog into a green and pleasant land?

No! Existing waste tips will hardly be touched. .Some are even protected as industrial archaeology.

15

Question: Do the inhabitants of Conwy wish to sacrifice their quality of life for the benefit of McAlpine’s directors and shareholders?

Question: Is this another “Communities Last” initiative?

Resources for Information and Reference :

Arup Report to National Assembly, June 2001: ‘North Wales slate tips -
a sustainable source of secondary aggregate?’

Parkman, July 2001: ‘Conwy Valley Line Study’, for Conwy CBC and WDA.

‘Survey of arising and use of 2° materials as aggregates’. Office of
Deputy Prime Minister, Sept 2002.

DTZ Pieda ‘Economic Impact Assessment’, commissioned by ? date ?

Jacobs, March 2003: ‘Review of economic impact assessment’; December
2003: ‘Environmental Impact Study’. Both for Conwy CBC.

Written and oral evidence to House of Commons Welsh Affairs Select
Committee, April 2003, including evidence from Rail Freight Group,
Arriva Trains and Network Rail.

Quarry Products Association ‘Assessment of impacts of aggregates levy’,
Sept 2003.

Strategic Rail Authority’s ‘A consultation paper on a strategy for
community railways’, Feb 2004.

‘The Conwy Valley line - a 10-year development plan’, published by
Conwy Valley Rail Initiative, July 2004.

Letter from North Wales Regional Aggregates Working Party to HM
Treasury, 2004.

Copious documents from British Aggregate Association and numerous other
documents including those on alternative and worthwhile manufacturing
uses of slate waste.

Prepared for Slate Waste Action Group by Adrian Fawcett Bsc Hons and Peter Haslegrave Ph D. 26.10.2004

For your information should you wish to object to the project :

Addresses and Telephone Numbers of your Welsh Assembly Government Members >>

E-Mail your Assembly Members. You can E-mail all members with one click! >>

E-Mail a committee. I would suggest Environment, Planning and Countryside >>

E-Mail another committee. Economic Development and Transport >>

E-Mail another committee. European and External Affairs >>

For your information :
Addresses and Telephone Numbers & E-Mail addresses of Conwy County Borough Members >>