District Council pledges to continue to work for Firth Rixson solution + court judgement published

1 March 2010

The District Council met with representatives of the Residents' Action Group today (Monday) and has called another meeting with Firth Rixson management for later this week in a bid to protect local jobs the company has said it will cut in Darley Dale.

Derbyshire Dales Chief Executive David Wheatcroft said: "The District Council does not want to see Firth Rixson axe jobs in Darley Dale and from speaking to local residents today it is clear they have always shared this view.

"Indeed, the Action Group have told us they want to reiterate a positive approach with the company in identifying a way forward. They told Firth Rixson as far back as 2008 that they were prepared to give the company time if Firth Rixson could guarantee the time would be used positively to investigate further noise reduction measures.

"What both the District Council and the residents now want to see from Firth Rixson is a reasonable technical solution that protects jobs in Darley Dale for the foreseeable future and also the living conditions of local people.

"We have heard the company's closure plan - what we want to hear now is the survival plan."

Mr Wheatcroft said the District Council accepted Firth Rixson had put in place several measures in the past in an attempt to reduce the nuisance, but stressed these had not resolved the problem of the 5,600 tonnes press at the Darley Dale plant.

"It was only after 10 years of talking when it was made clear to us by the company that they were no longer prepared to consider further noise reduction measures that we issued the noise abatement notice," Mr Wheatcroft said. "This is something we were obliged to do on behalf of residents who have a right to peace and quiet in their own homes outside what most of us would regard as normal working hours.

"However we made it crystal clear to Firth Rixson that our door was always open – and this continues to be the case. We believe a solution can be found and that the company has it within its power to protect local jobs in Darley Dale."

He added: "Much has also been made in media reports of late about the £200,000 spent by the District Council on the court case. But let's put this into context: we reluctantly served a noise abatement notice in 2008 and Firth Rixson appealed against this notice. We were then obliged to defend their appeal. We didn't take the matter to court but we made sure, in the public interest, that the money spent was the absolute minimum required to successfully defend our original decision.

"The judge ruled in our favour – his telling comment was ‘The company caused the nuisance; the company must abate it'. However, he also decided he did not have the legal authority to add the court costs we had incurred onto the considerable legal costs of Firth Rixson.

"It will come as no surprise therefore that we will be appealing this decision – a move we believe will cost in the region of £10,000."

Said Derbyshire Dales District Council Leader Councillor Lewis Rose OBE: "Despite all the contradictory stories circulating around the Derbyshire Dales at the moment about job losses, court rulings and the like, the District Council is determined to stay in close contact with Firth Rixson and with the local people affected by the company's operation in Darley Dale.

"Council bashing can be a popular sport and we seem to have been on the receiving end of some serious, and may I say ill-founded, allegations over the past few days.

"This does not however affect our position on this issue. While we took no satisfaction whatsoever issuing a noise abatement notice to the company, it must be stressed that this action was done with a heavy heart and as an absolute last resort after a full 10 years of negotiations with Firth Rixson over the noise nuisance suffered by local people."