Publications
Archive

Civil/Digital Rights – General reports

This section lists reports on the general theme of civil and digital rights. You should also see the GreenNet Internet Rights Toolkit or the APC 'Participating With Safety Toolkit'.

ICT Policy: A Beginner’s Handbook
Produced the the Association for Progressive Communications, 2003.
A guide to global information and communications technology (ICT) policy, and the benefits and threats to the development of civil society groups as ICT developed globally (I was one of the contributing writers of the report on the sections related to surveillance, data retention, cybercrime, terrorism, freedom of expression and cybercrime).

Research Briefing: Environmental Activism
June 1997
As I became more involved in training people to become 'pollution detectives' as part of my work, I began to produce handouts and training materials. This is one of my early efforts. Essentailly, it's all about informaing people of their civic rights to information on pollution and polluting processes and then developing this information into a campaign.

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Civil/Digital Rights –
GreenNet 'Internet Rights Toolkit'

During 2000 I undertook a length writing commission from GreenNet to help them produce a series of briefings as part of their 'Internet Rights Tookit'. These are the first editions. For the latest information see their web site – http://www.internetrights.org.uk/.

Note that the GreenNet 'Internet Rights' Toolkit gives a UK/European-centred review of the issues. If you want a more general, non-country-specific view see the APC 'Participating With Safety Toolkit'.

Introduction to GreenNet 'Internet Rights' Toolkit
Glossary for GreenNet 'Internet Rights' Toolkit units


1. An Introduction to the Internet
   How it works and what it can do for you
2. Data Protection
   The protection of privacy and your rights to information held by others about you
3. Using Encryption and Digital Signatures
   How to protect privacy, and your identity, online
4. E-Consumer Protection
   Buying and carrying out business transactions online
5. Privacy and Surveillance
   How and when organisations and the state can monitor your actions
6. Campaigning Online
   Using the Internet to get your point across
7. Intellectual Property
   Protecting ideas in the new information economy
8. Computer Crime
   The law on the misuse of computers and networks
9. Expression and Defamation
   Your rights to free speech online, and when free speech transgresses the boundary of defamation
10. Electronic Rights in the Workplace
    Changes to workers rights and employers responsibilities in the new information economy
11. Media Regulation and Convergence
    The impact of the new digital media on society
12. Civil Rights and Internet Regulation
    How proposals to control the Internet affect our civil rights
13. Interception and Surveillance
    The RIP Act and its implications for individuals and service providers
14. Keeping Your System Secure
    Basic information on how to protect systems and networks when working online
15. New Terrorism Legislation
    How new terrorism legislation may criminalise the work of protest groups

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Civil/Digital Rights –
APC 'Participating With Safety Toolkit'

Produced in March 2002, Participating With Safety was a project created by the Association for Progressive Communications (APC) that sought to develop a training package for activists, jounalists and human rights workers on using information and communications technology safely. To support the project I was commisisoned to write the outlines for seven briefings, which I then edited in co-operation with interested users from Eastern Europe and former Soviet Union states.

Note that 'Participating With Safety' gives a general, non-country-specific, review. If you want a more UK/European-centred view see the GreenNet Internet Rights Toolkit.

The units are available as follows:

Introduction to 'Participating With Safety'
Glossary for 'Participating With Safety' units


1. Introducing Information Security
   This unit outlines what information security is, and the different means that exist to protect your information from damage or loss
2. Backing-up Information
   This unit explains how to organise your information, how to keep regular copies, how to make back-up copies, and how to store them securely
3. Passwords and Access Controls
   This unit outlines the purpose of access controls, such as passwords or encryption, and how to use them
4. Using Encryption and Digital Signatures
   This unit describes how data encryption and digital signatures work, and how they can be used to protect your information from unwanted intrusion
5. Computer Viruses
   This unit outlines what computer viruses are, and how to minimise the risks from the damage they may cause
6. Using the Internet Securely
   This unit describes how the Internet can be used as a means of surveillance, by the state and corporations, and how these surveillance measures can by avoided
7. Living Under Surveillance
   This unit outlines the scope of private and state surveillance, and how simple measures can reduce (but never eliminate) the potential impacts of surveillance

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Government Consultations

Back in the days when I was a 'serious' environmental consultant I did a lot of work on government consultations. Here are a few examples:

House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee Inquiry – Keeping the Lights On: Nuclear, Renewables and Climate Change
September 2005
A memorandum for the HoC's Environmental Audit Committee that outlined the problems of both peak oil, peak gas and peak unranium as a factor in planning the UK's future energy supplies.

Response to the 'Opportunities for Change' Consultation
May 1998
A report for the Free Range Network on the government's proposals for revising the UK Sustainable Development Strategy.

Final Draft PPG10: Response to Consultation
March 1998
A report, for the Free Range Network, on the Department of the Environment and the Regions consultation on new waste planning guidance [which DEFRA had previously tried to squeeze through a very limited consultation before the Free Range Network found out about it and made it very public! – hence the work 'final draft' in the title].

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Development Plans

Oh, so many development plans! Many plans, numerous council chambers and over a decade later and I look back and shudder – I escaped, but some people spend their entire professional career in public inquiries!

The Cherwell Local Plan: A Response to the Deposit Draft
March 2001
The report, for The Edge group in Banbury, on the proposals contained in the draft local plan of Cherwell District Council in north Oxfordshire.

Welwyn Hatfield Local Plan: A Response to the Deposit Draft
March 2001
A review of the Welwyn-Hatfield draft local plan for local Friends of the Earth groups.

Stevenage Local Plan and the West of Stevenage Development
On behalf of the local Friends of the Earth groups I undertook work on the draft Stevenage Local Plan, the draft North Hertfordshire Local Plan, and on the proposals for the development of 10,000 houses west of the A1. This produced a number of outputs:

• "Development west of the A1(M) At Stevenage: Local Authority Master Planning Principles" An appraisal of the scheme and the legal implications of approval
  April 2000
• Stevenage Local Plan: A Response to the Deposit Draft
  January 2000
• Removing the WOS Development from the North Herts. Local plan
  December 1999
• The Stevenage District Plan: How to object!
  December 1999

Response to the Deposit Draft of the Denbighshire UDP
July 1999
A report, on behalf of Vale of Clwyd Friends of the Earth, objecting to the draft unitary development plan (UDP)of Denbighshire council in North Wales.

A Response to the Dacorum Local Plan
January 1999
A report, for the Tring Envronmental Forum, on the draft local plan of Dacorum Borough Council in Hertfordshire.

A Critical Evaluation of the Essex Waste Local Plan
November 1998
An evaluation of the proposals contained in the draft Essex Waste Local Plan for another consultancy group (with suits!) working on the plan.

Response to the Deposit Draft of the Warwickshire Structure Plan
October 1998
A review of the draft Warwickshire Structure Plan for local Friends of the Earth groups.

Response to the Deposit Draft of the Hertsmere Local Plan
September 1998
A report of the policies of the draft Hertsmere Local Plan for Watford and District Friends of the Earth.

Lancashire Minerals and Waste Local Plan Public Inquiry
1998
Lancashire... dustbin of the North West! I undertook a major amont of work on waste in Lancashire for the ARROW group in Skelmersdale from 1996 to 1999 – in order to defeat proposals for a large landfill site on the edge of Skelmersdale in Round O Quarry. Below are some of the more interesting proofs of evidence produced for the public inquiry into the waste and minerals plan:

• Session 1 proof: Minerals
  
• Session 2 proof: Waste Round Table
  
• Session 3 proof: Landfilling
  
• Session 3 supplementary proof: Arisings and Site Selection
  
• Session 4 proof: Minerals and Waste
  
• Briefing on Landfill Need in Lancashire
  

Response to Vale of Glamorgan Unitary Development Plan Deposit Draft
May 1998
A report for the Friends of the Earth Cymru Local Groups Network on the draft Vale of Glamorgan Unitary Development Plan (UDP).

Project Proposal: Development Plans in Wales
February 1998
A proposal to Friends of the Earth Cymru for a project to undertake work on all the development plans in Wales on behalf of Friends of the Earth local groups – taking advantage of the fact that all the plans were to be revised within a few years due to the creation of 22 new unitary authorities).

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Engineering

My first love is engineering, and over time that's grown to encompass electrical and mechanical engineering and more recently computer ICT/software/systems. From time to time I get asked to do workshops, or real design-build work, for small projects in the UK and abroad. Here's a selection of some of the work I've churned out in the last few years.

Outline for an uninterruptible/renewable power system
October 2006
An outline for a uninterruptible/renewable power system for a community radio station in rural Guyana (where regular power cuts played havoc with the broadcast schedule!). The general idea was that I'd make the parts out of automotive components so that it could be maintained/repaired locally. In the end I think they got hold of a wholly commercial system based around my specs.

The Free Range 'Tri­-Tent'
2006
Don't ask me silly questions... I might answer them! I dashed off this as a result of someone asking how they could put together a weather-tight space with just some tarps and a rope. The dimensions are proportionate to the size of the tarp, so the biggest I've made to far is 7' (if you make a bigger one, let me know/send me a picture!).

Brave New Brum Workshop Summary/Handout
October 2005
The handout for a two day practical workshop on 'doing energy' in Birmingham – looking at things like how much power we use, ways to reduce it, and how to use small renewable power systems to take some of your demand off-grid. This is the sort of stuff now encompassed in some of the Trash Tech. Engineering workshops that I run.

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Free and Open Source Software

I began using free software in the late 90s, and Linux in 1999. From 2001 I haven't used a Micro$oft system at home. I now find that I can turn my own private interest into a job as other people want to undergo the same transition I went through a decade ago – especially as my approach focusses on the community/development applications of FOSS.

Technological Standards, Digital Rights Management and Free Software
December 2004
An essay I wrote for a course at Göteborg University that a friend asked me to take part in and give feedback. The essay looks at whether it is possible to encompass digital rights management systems within free software – a contentious if archaic issue within the FOSS movement – whilst retaining the fundamental 'openness' principles of free software (answer: I think not!)

Creating Linux Networks with Trash Technology
2004
A presentation I gave at a few training events in London during 2004 on recycling scrap computers to produce computer training platforms to tech ICT in the community (it followed on from the CLTC work, shown below).

The Community-Linux Training Centre
2003
A presentation I trawled around a few computer geek events, Linux User Groups and universities in 2003, describing the design/application of The Community–Linux Training Centre. If you'd like to know more see the CLTC web site.

The Campaigner's Computer Maintenance Mantra
1993/4 (first edition)
A little something I wrote long ago when teaching roads/direct action protestors how to use computers – for people to fix to the wall next to their computer and keep them on the straight and narrow.

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Genetic Engineering

I've done a bit of campaigning on genetic engineering – e.g. I hosted the UK's list of genetically modified crop test sites on-line before the government did. Here's an example of my work.

Response to Nuffield Council on Bioethics Consultation, "Genetically Modified Crops: The Social and Ethical Issues"
July 1998
A response, for the Free Range Network, to a consultation on the social and ethical issues raised by the growing of genetically modified crops.

Statement by Paul Mobbs relating to the genetiX snowball website
April 1999
My statement to the High court in 1999 relating to the action by Monsanto against the group genetiX snowball. I was covered by the injunction because of hosting the web site, and so I want along to the "queue for justice" outside the court.

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Intellectual Property Rights

Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) are a mostr pernicious legal instrument. It's not enough that modern commerce has to provatise and take our land and natural resources – now they're privatising thought and ideas as well! Over the years I've done various bits of work on IPR; here's an example.

Implementing Directive 2001/29/EC: Comments on the proposed amendments to the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988
October 2002
A response to the consultation on amendment to UK copyright law for GreenNet, focussing especially on the impacts the proposed changes would have on the use of information in the community. There are two files:

• Objection for the Patent Office
  
• GreenNet users briefing
  

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Minerals Extraction

Over the years I've looked into a lot of holes around Britain, usually because they were about to fill them wirh waste. Here's a selection of reports on minerals and minerals restoration.

Lancashire Minerals and Waste Local Plan Public Inquiry
1998
Lancashire... dustbin of the North West! I undertook a major amont of work on waste in Lancashire for the ARROW group in Skelmersdale from 1996 to 1999 – in order to defeat proposals for a large landfill site on the edge of Skelmersdale in Round O Quarry. Below are some of the more interesting proofs of evidence produced for the public inquiry into the waste and minerals plan:

• Session 1 proof: Minerals
  
• Session 2 proof: Waste Round Table
  
• Session 3 proof: Landfilling
  
• Session 3 supplementary proof: Arisings and Site Selection
  
• Session 4 proof: Minerals and Waste
  
• Briefing on Landfill Need in Lancashire
  

Cilyrychen Quarry IDO Stage II Registration – Analysis of Tarmac's Application and Technical Statements
June 1997
A review, on behalf of the Campaign for the Protection of the Gwenlais Valley, of the application to update the quarrying permission for large quarry in an area with important nature conservation sites.

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Nuclear Power/Nuclear Sites

I've worked on nuclear problems since the mid-80s, both civil and military. Here are a few examples of my work.

House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee Inquiry – Keeping the Lights On: Nuclear, Renewables and Climate Change
September 2005
A memorandum for the HoC's Environmental Audit Committee that outlined the problems of both peak oil, peak gas and peak unranium as a factor in planning the UK's future energy supplies.

Uranium Supply and the Nuclear Option
Oxford Energy Forum (journal of the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies), May 2005.
A short paper on the global availability – past, present and future – of uranium, and the critical limitation that the likely future shortage of uranium represents to the much trumpeted "nuclear renaissance".

Harwell Laboratory: Southern England's New Radioactive Waste Repository?
February 1999
An analysis of the UK Radioactive Waste Inventory, and the significance of the information it provides in relation to radioactive waste storage at Harwell in south Oxfordshire.

Radioactive Substances in South East England
October 1997
A report for anti-nuclear groups in the south-east on the presence and use of radioactive substances and the storage of radioactive wastes.

AWE Aldermaston's Radioactive Waste Transfer Station
In 1995/6 I did some work for anti-nuclear and peace groups in Berkshire relating to a proposal from AWE Aldermaston (where Britain makes it's nuclear weapons) to construct a radioactive waste transfer station. Please note that these reports have been converted from a now redundant file format and so the pagination has been lost, along with any graphics.

Analysis and Response to the Environmental Statement for the AWE Aldermaston Waste Transfer Station
May 1996
This was the report on the environmental statement that was eventually submitted by AWE for construction of the transfer station.

Assessment of the planning application for a waste transfer station, AWE Aldermaston
April 1995
Originally Berkshire County Council were just going to wave the proposals for AWE's radioactive waste transfer station through – this report outlines the authority's responsibility to demand an environmental statement for the development even though it did not require planning permission.

Response to Safeguard International's Environmental Statement on the Culham Radioactive Waste Transfer Station
November 1995
A report on the proposals to turn an old garage into a transfer station for hazardous radioactive wastes. It was rather a farce of a planning application, having been first unlawfully approved and then withdrawn by the local council, before being taken over and badly handled by the County Council.

Submission to the AWE Community Inquiry
March 1994
In 1994, Reading Borough Council held an informal 'community public inquiry' into the activities at AWE Aldermaston. This was my submission on behalf of Friends of the Earth in Oxfordshire. Please note that this report has been converted from a now redundant file format and so the pagination has been lost, along with any graphics.

Chapelcross Nuclear Power Station
In 1991/2 I did some work for the Chapelcross Watchdog and Action Group on the contamination from the Magnox power station and the proposals for a new nuclear power station. The results were surprising! Please note that these reports have been converted from a now redundant file format and so the pagination has been lost, along with any graphics.

Chapelcross 'B': the case against construction of one, or two, Pressurised Water Reactors on the Solway Firth – Report on preliminary study
March 1992
A review of the proposals for replacing the Magnox power station, which primarily was used to produce military plutonium and tritium for Britain's nuclear bomb programme, with one or two pressurised water reactors.

Inner Solway Radiation Survey
December 1991
In order to get a better idea of the problems at Chapelcross one of my first actions was to carry out a baseline survey of the radioactive contamination around the area in order to set some priorities for further research and action.

Reports on the Atomic Energy Authirity's Harwell Laboratory Site
I spent an awful lot of time in the late 80s/early 90s working on the problems of the UKAEA's Harwell Laboratory in South Ocfordshire. In a large part, along with some of the other work on nuclear and polluted sites (e.g., Chapelcross above), I learnt a lot of the skills and tactics that were to become valuable when I 'turned pro' in 1992 (note at the time I went under the name of the 'Banbury Environmental Research Group'). Please note that this report has been converted from a now redundant file format and so the pagination has been lost, along with any graphics.

UKAEA Harwell: Issues and Public Safety – A report for the Local Liaison Committee
May 1990
A report for the Harwell Local Liaison Committee on the problems of the site that they proported to be the watchdog for. It caused a stir at the time, and the publicity caused the AEA a lot of headaches and cleanup costs.

AEA Harwell – Nuclear and Environmental Hazards
1990
An article published in SCRAM on the hazards of the Harwell Laboratory site in Oxfordshire.

The Safety of the UKAEA Harwell Establishment and in particular the Safety of the Harwell Materials Testing Reactors
December 1989
A report produced for the House of Commons Energy Select Committee (and subsequently referred to officially as "the Mobbs report"). It led to a lot of denials from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), but the fact that the issues had been brought out in front of a Commons committee meant that the pressure was on the UKAEA to live up to the bland assurances given on their behalf by the HSE.

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Peak oil, gas, coal, nuclear... everything!

Much of my work is now devoted to finding ways to move beyond the current economic, development and resource paradigm as the imminent peak in global oil production, and other critical resources, causes the world to review how it works. Here's a collection of some of my work on the subject – you should also see the 'Energy Beyond Oil' project/book work too.

House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee Inquiry – Keeping the Lights On: Nuclear, Renewables and Climate Change
September 2005
A memorandum for the HoC's Environmental Audit Committee that outlined the problems of both peak oil, peak gas and peak unranium as a factor in planning the UK's future energy supplies.

Uranium Supply and the Nuclear Option
Published in Oxford Energy Forum, the quarterly journal of the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies, Issue 61, May 2005.
A short paper on the global availability – past, present and future – of uranium, and the critical limitation that the likely future shortage of uranium represents to the much trumpeted "nuclear renaissance".

Turning the World Upside Down
Published in an edited form in The World Today, the journal of the Royal Institute for International Affairs (Chatham House), vol.60 no.12, December 2004.
An article I wrote for Chatham House, to which they added the snappy introduction, "Could you live with the same amount of energy now available to those in the third world? A dramatic change such as this is likely within fifty years as present energy sources are used up. So future generations will have to manage with just a third of the energy we use now."

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Planning/Plannng Appeal Inquiries

I used to do a lot of planning application/planning appeal cases, but not so much now as I find the more proactive work of 'Energy Beyond Oil' far more interesting. Here's a few examples of the information produced some recent inquiries – you should also see the Development Plans section for development plan-related inquiries

Calor Gas Appeal, Canvey Island
September 2007
I represented the local community group in Canvey Island, People Against Methane (PAM), against the proposals by Calor Gas to build a new liquefied gas import terminal right next to the town. In the end Calor withdrew from the appeal before it began, and so the proof was never used (damn!).

Investigation of the power of local planning authorities in Wales to vary the boundaries of Strategic Search Areas for wind power development
March 2007
An opinion for local community councillors/campaigners as to whether Carmarthenshire Council could extend the boundaries of an SSA beyonds that identidied in planning guidance.

Awel Aman Tawe Wind Farm Public Inquiry
Summer 2006
In 2005/6 I represented a local community group in South Wales who were opposing a wind farm. I took part because, as wind farm go, it was a stupid proposal, but more importantly it would have invalidated the new wind farms planning policy (TAN 8) in Wales. Here's my main proof of evidence and the closing statement.

• AAT Appeal – Proof of Evidence
  
• AAT Appeal – closing statement
  

A review of the application to restore the dwelling house at Pantygarn, Carmel, Dyfed
June 1994
A report on problems with a developer trying to build a house in the middle of an important SSSI (now a National Nature Reserve/SAC). At the time the nature conservation bodies in Wales were under a lot of political pressure to allow any form of economic development, and so in response to the clearing of hedgerows in the SSSI they justified the illegal damaging activity as (in words I will never forget), "linear coppicing". Please note that this report has been converted from a now redundant file format and so the pagination has been lost, along with any graphics.

Frontier Plastics' Gamma Irradiator, Pontllanfraith
1993
An early and rather strange job in my early professional career – a plastics factory in Gwent wanted to put the largest lump of cobalt-60 in the UK (outside of Sellafield's waste materials stores) in a valley in Wales where there was serious mining subsidence. In the end I recommended it was approved with the condition that the mineworkings were first pressure grouted to prevent collapse – so it didn't go ahead as the company couldn't afford the multi-million pound cost of the works. Please note that this report has been converted from a now redundant file format and so the pagination has been lost, along with any graphics.

Application by Frontier Plastics to install a gamma irradiator, Pontllanfraith, Gwent – comments upon the proposed development
My original report for the local campaign group on the proposals.

Evidence to Islwyn Borough Council on Frontier Plastics Irradiator Application
My second report – written after I had raided the files on the planning register, and where I found all sorts of nuggets – such as the fact that the chief planning officer had commissioned a number of reports, but he only ever cited the one report with a positive reponse to the planning committee!

Grounds for Refusal
A little missive thrust into the hands of councillors as they arrived at the meeting to decide the application, much to the annoynance of the borough solicitor.

Comments upon the Coca-Cola Schweppes Beverages Supplementary Environmental Impact Assessment
June 1990
A report from the days when I worked for free – an assessment for Banbury Friends of the Earth of the proposed Coca-Cola factory that was proposed for a new industrial estate on the edge of the town. Please note that this report has been converted from a now redundant file format and so the pagination has been lost, along with any graphics.

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Pollution

Once, whilst sitting on some illegally dumped (by a government agency!) intermediate level radioactive waste transport flasks with the media taking photos from a distance, I remember thinking, "can't I get a better job than this?". Some of the pollution I came across over the year was pretty ghastly (especially the incident with the incinerator ash in Byker) – here's some examples.

British Council Russia – Science Café
2006
Each year I do a number of guest lectures and science-type events at schools and universities around the UK. Here's the slides and text I produced for a British Council Russia science café event (video streaming to a school in Irkutsk from London) a few years ago:

• Handout/summary of 'Climate change in Russia' presentation
• Slides for 'Climate change in Russia' presentation

The Byker RDF Plant and the Contamination of Land in Newcastle upon Tyne with Incinerator Ash
Report draft, November 2000
This report was never properly finished, and still remains as a draft. However, it provides a detailed account of an investigation into how Newcastle City Council's incinerator plant was run, and how contaminated ash was used on allotments and parks in Newcastle.

Response to the Colne Valley Local Environment Agency Plan (LEAP)
January 1998
A report, produced on behalf of Friends of the Earth groups in Hertfordshire, to the Environment Agency's management plan for the Colne Valley (west of London)

Research Briefing: Five Myths About Waste Incineration
November 1997
Produced for groups in Hertfordshire (and Essex) opposing waste incinerator proposals, this now rather dated handout lists the popular myths that local authorities use to justfy building incinerators. Even though it's out of date people keep asking me for it because it's a good summary – but as the new Planning Bill will probably unleash a new round of incinerator proposals I'll probably have to update and re-issue it at some point.

Research Briefing: Environmental Activism
June 1997
As I became more involved in training people to become 'pollution detectives' as part of my work, I began to produce handouts and training materials. This is one of my early efforts.

Appraisal and response to the applications for consent to discharge trade effluent from the Newbury Bypass
October 1996
A report for Friends of the Earth and the Third Battle of Newbury on the impacts of discharging water from the Newbury Bypass site into local watercourses. At the time the Environment Agency were just letting the works proceed, and this and similar reports, complementing the action by protestors on the ground at the time, were just a few pin-pricks to annoy the regulatory bodies into doing their job properly.

The Sea Empress Spill: The Potential for Human Health Effects
March 1996
a report for Friends of the Earth Cymru on the health hazards of the Sea Empress oil spill. At the time most of the concern was for the physical/amenity impact of the oil spill and not the toxic impacts. This report alerted many of those who were recovering oiled birds at the time without any protective equipment, as well as those living near the coast, as to why they were suffering conditions such as breathing difficulties and skin rashes. Please note that this report has been converted from a now redundant file format and so the pagination has been lost, along with any graphics.

Response to the application for a permanent shooting school near Curridge
January 1996
a report on a proposed shooting school near the village of Curridge (one of a crop of such shooting schools I dealt with around that time) and the noise and highways impacts it would generate. The difficulty was getting the local council to accept that noise was a valid planning matter since usually it's an issue of 'nuisance' dealt with by the environmental health department, not planners. Please note that this report has been converted from a now redundant file format and so the pagination has been lost, along with any graphics.

Contaminated Land in South Ribble
July 1994
A report for Friends of the Earth on the extent of contaminated land in the former (now re-organised out of existance) South Ribble District Council area of Lancashire. The purpose of the report, given the debate raging about contaminated land registers at the time, was to take a former industrial area and see what scale of contaminated land register could be produced.

Contaminated Land: What's The Problem? – The implications of contaminated land issues for the small property buyer.
1992
An information-cum-advertising report on the hazards of contaminated land – a lot of my early commercial work related to contaminated land/toxic pollution issues. Please note that this report has been converted from a now redundant file format and so the pagination has been lost, along with any graphics.

AEA Harwell – Nuclear and Environmental Hazards
1990
An article published in SCRAM on the hazards of the Harwell Laboratory site in Oxfordshire.

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Radioactive Substances Authorisations

I've always done a lot of work around nuclear sites, but the late 90's saw some of the major sites coming up for their Radioactive Substances Act authorisation renewals at around the same time – a plan was hatched with some interested persons and organisations and this was the result:

Consultation on RSA authorisations for the UKs Magnox Nuclear Power Stations
August 2000
On behalf of an ad-hoc consortium of environmental and anti-nuclear groups I undertook a major study of the operaion and radioactive discharges from the Magnox nuclear power stations. This is a very large report, and is split into many sections for easier downloading:

• Briefing on Magnox Consultation
• Magnox Consultation – Main report
• Annexes contents
  
• Annex 1 – Radiation, health and the environment documents (index)
  
  • A-bomb survivors: factors that may lead to a re-assessment of the radiation hazard, Alice Stewart/George Kneale, International Journal of Epidemiology 2000; 29, 708-714 671
    
  • Radioecology: relevance to the problems of the new millennium, F. Ward Whicker, Journal of Environmental Radioactivity 2000; 50, 173-178
    
  • Environmental effects of radionuclides observations on natural ecosystems, D. Copplestone et. al. Journal of Radiological Protection 2000; 20, 29-40
    
  • Evaluation of annual external radiation doses at values near minimum detection levels of dosimeters at the Hanford nuclear facility, David Richardson et. al., Journal of Exposure Analysis and Environmental Epidemiology 2000; 10, 27-35
    
  • A system for radiological protection of the environment: some initial thoughts and ideas, R.J. Pentreath, Journal of Radiological Protection 1999; 19/2, 117-128
    
  • Control of low-level radiation exposure: time for a change?, Roger Clarke, Journal of Radiological Protection 1999; 19/2, 107-115
    
  • The Seascale cluster: a problematic explanation, Richard Doll, British Journal of Cancer 1999; 81/1, 3-5
    
  • Unexpected sensitivity to the induction of mutations by very low doses of alpha particle radiation: evidence for a bystander effect, Hatsumi Nagasawa/John Little, Radiation Research 1999; 152, 552-557
    
  • Genetic heterogeneity in the population and its implications for radiation risk, Report of NRPB Advisory Group on Ionising Radiation, Documents of the NRPB, 10/3
    
  • Childhood cancer and nuclear installations: a review, C.R. Muirhead, Nuclear Energy 1998; 37/6, 371-379
    
  • Cancer in the offspring of radiation workers, F. Alexander, Busby/Scott Cato, A. Stewart, British Medical Journal 30/5/98; 316, 1672-1673
    
  • Intercellular communication is involved in the bystander regulation of gene expression in human cells exposed to very low fluences of alpha particles, I. Edouard et. al., Radiation Research 1998; 150, 497-504
    
  • Radiation roulette, Rob Edwards, New Scientist, 11/10/97; 36-40
    
  • Fitness and germline mutations in barn swallows breeding in Chernobyl, Hans Ellegren et. al., Nature, 9/10/97; 389, 593-596
    
  • Further evidence for elevated human minisatellite mutation rate in Belarus eight years after Chernobyl accident, Yuri Dubrova et. al., Mutation Research 1997; 381, 267-278
    
  • Death rates from leukaemia are higher than expected in areas around nuclear sites in Berkshire and Oxfordshire, Chris Busby/Molly Scott Cato, British Medical Journal, 2/8/97; 315, 309
    
  • Childhood leukaemia in US may have risen due to fallout from Chernobyl, Joseph Mangano, British Medical Journal, 19/4/97; 314, 1200
    
  • Case control study of leukaemia among young people near La Hague nuclear reprocessing plant: the environmental hypothesis revisited, Dominique Pobel/Jean-Francois Viel, British Medical Journal, 11/1/97; 314, 101-106
    
  • Infant leukaemia after in utero exposure to radiation from Chernobyl, E. Petridou et. al., Nature, 25/7/97; 382, 352-353
    
  • Chernobyl's legacy to science, Editorial, Nature, 25/4/97; 380, 653
    
  • Cancer risk of low-level exposure, Marvin Goldman, Science, 29/3/96; 271, 1821-1822
    
  • Genomic instability induced by ionising radiation, William Morgan et. al., Radiation Research 1996; 146, 247-258
    
  • Incidence of leukaemia in young people around La Hague nuclear waste reprocessing plant: a sensitivity analysis, Jean-Francois Viel/Dominique Pobel, Statistics in Medicine 1995; 14, 2459-2472
    
  • Risk of radiation induced cancer at low doses and low dose rates for radiation protection purposes, Cox, Muirhead et. al., Documents of the NRPB 1995; 6/1
    
  • Inconsistencies and open questions regarding low-dose health effects of ionising radiation, Nussbaum and Kohnlein, Environmental Health Perspectives 1994; 102/8, 656-667
    
  • Excess of other cancers in Wales, Chris Busby, British Medical Journal, 22/1/94; 308, 268
    
  • Child leukaemia after Chernobyl, Ivanov et. al., Nature, 21/10/93; 365, 702
    
  • Tritium: the overlooked hazard, Ian Fairlie, The Ecologist, Sept./Oct. 1992; 22/5, 228-232
    
  • Neonatal mortality in Germany since the Chernobyl explosion, Jens Scheer, British Medical Journal, 28/3/92; 304, 843
    
  • Cancer in populations living near nuclear facilities: A survey of mortality nation-wide and incidence in two states, Seymour Jablon et. al., Journal of the American Medical Association, 20/3/91; 265/11, 1403-1408
    
  • Background gamma radiation and childhood cancer within ten miles of a US nuclear plant, Maureen Hatch & Mervyn Susser, International Journal of Epidemiology 1990; 19/3, 546-552
    
  • Cancer near potential sites of nuclear installations, Paula Cook-Mozaffari et. al., The Lancet, 11/11/89; 1145-1147
  • The risk of childhood leukaemia near nuclear establishments, J.W. Stather et. al., NRPBR215, January 1988
• Annex 2 – Legal and procedural documents (2.1 megabytes!)
• Annex 3 – Engineering and economics Documents (2.2 megabytes!)

Objections to the Application by the UKAEA for a Radioactive Substances Act Authorisation at Harwell Laboratory
March 2000
On behalf of Oxford and Southampton Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament I produced objections to the review of the Radioactive Substances Act authorisation at the UKAEA's Harwell Laboratory in south Oxfordshire:

• Objection on behalf of Oxford CND
• Objection on behalf of Southampton CND

Application for a RSA Authorisation for the AWE Aldermaston
November 1999
This report is a response, on behalf of the Nuclear Awareness Groups, to an application by the company that runs the UK's Atomic Weapons Establishment (where Britain makes its nuclear weapons) for a license to discharge radioactive substances.

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Waste Management

A lot of my work in the late 80s and the 1990s involved rubbish – both working on policy through council consultations and plans, as well as opposing specific proposals for damaging waste facilities. Here are a few examples.

The Byker RDF Plant and the Contamination of Land in Newcastle upon Tyne with Incinerator Ash
Report draft, November 2000
This report was never properly finished, and still remains as a draft. However, it provides a detailed account of an investigation into how Newcastle City Council's incinerator plant was run, and how contaminated ash was used on allotments and parks in Newcastle.

Abernant Farm Landfill Application
October 1999
A response, on behald of Dinefwr Friends of the Earth, to a planning application for a landfill site, near Abernant in Carmarthenshire, that sought to regularise the unlawful activities on the site.

A Critical Evaluation of the Essex Waste Local Plan
November 1998
An evaluation of the proposals contained in the draft Essex Waste Local Plan for another consultancy group (with suits!) working on the plan.

'Best Value' and Waste Management in Local Authorities: An Independent View
Institute of Waste Management's 'Best Value in Waste Management' Seminar, November 1998
A paper for a seminar I gave to the Institute of Waste Management's conference on 'best balue'.

Apraisal of Biffa's Application to Change Waste Types at Stewponey Landfill Site, Stourton
September 1998
On behalf of the local community group FLAGS, I undertook a eries of reports on the proposals by Biffa to switch from inert to toxic wastes at their landfill site near Stourton west of Birmingham – which sits on one of the most important groundwater resources in the area.

Lancashire Minerals and Waste Local Plan Public Inquiry
1998
Lancashire... dustbin of the North West! I undertook a major amont of work on waste in Lancashire for the ARROW group in Skelmersdale from 1996 to 1999 – in order to defeat proposals for a large landfill site on the edge of Skelmersdale in Round O Quarry. Below are some of the more interesting proofs of evidence produced for the public inquiry into the waste and minerals plan:

• Session 1 proof: Minerals
  
• Session 2 proof: Waste Round Table
  
• Session 3 proof: Landfilling
  
• Session 3 supplementary proof: Arisings and Site Selection
  
• Session 4 proof: Minerals and Waste
  
• Briefing on Landfill Need in Lancashire
  

Round O Quarry Landfill Public Inquiry
On behalf of ARROW in Skelmersdale, I undertook a large amount of work in relation to a public inquiry into the proposals to allow landfilling in Round O Quarry. Below are the two main proofs produced for the inquiry, and a brifing produced for members of the public who wished to take part in the inquiry process:

• Inquiry Supplementary Proof
  August 1998
  
• Inquiry Proof of Evidence
  July 1998
  
• Briefing on Round O Public Inquiry
  March 1998
  

Final Draft PPG10: Response to Consultation
March 1998
A report, for the Free Range Network, on the Department of the Environment and the Regions consultation on new waste planning guidance [which DEFRA had previously tried to squeeze through a very limited consultation before the Free Range Network found out about it and made it very public! – hence the work 'final draft' in the title].

Research Briefing: Five Myths About Waste Incineration
November 1997
Produced for groups in Hertfordshire (and Essex) opposing waste incinerator proposals, this now rather dated handout lists the popular myths that local authorities use to justfy building incinerators. Even though it's out of date people keep asking me for it because it's a good summary – but as the new Planning Bill will probably unleash a new round of incinerator proposals I'll probably have to update and re-issue it at some point.

Waste disposal on Allsopps Hill Quarry, Rowley Regis, Warley, West Midlands
June 1996
A report on the out-of-control operations on a f