What Lies Beneath Rattlechain Lagoon?

It is becoming increasingly clear to me that the most dangerous people to handle this deadly chemical- “The Devil’s element” after morons working for Albright and Wilson and their waste contractors are military muppets- at least in the UK.

The home guard, the fire guard, bomb disposal that dispersed the spray rather than contain it; I have written about all of these. As the article below attests from 19th March 1960 Newark Herald, we now have the R.E.M.E to add to that list. I had to look up that acronym I must admit. The Corps of Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME) are supposedly the British Armies professional engineers. 😆

Obviously, all was not well in Nottingham at this time when kids had been pinching stocks of abandoned P4- here interestingly named as “yellow phosphorus” in this article which is the preferred bullshit name for it in industry. One kid had been seriously burnt by the mobile “chalk”. He would of course be lucky to survive given the systemic effects of this poison on the body. Not the first time that “peril to children” had been mentioned in connection with this substance.

When one reads articles such as this it underlines the sheer incompetence of those in power to deal with such artefacts and the likely reason that Albright and Wilson were probably the ones who had supplied it to imbeciles in uniforms to start with. They would also be likely to get it back to conveniently dispose of- such was their connections with said military outlets. All too often the casualties of phoney war were civilians and wildlife, the only aggressors, those supposed tasked with protecting the UK from none existent real threats, except the ones they made themselves.

I had to smile at the comment made by a science teacher “Anyone who would dump this stuff is a fool and – well it’s a criminal action”. But a certain UK company were allowed to do that with impunity by all of those in authority. 

PUT THAT LIGHT OUT!

The familiar battle cry of the ARP from Dad’s Army. The formation of the civil defence of Britain during WW2 including the fire guard, were responsible for a designated area/building and required to monitor the fall of incendiary bombs , particularly those containing white phosphorus and pass on news of any fires that had broken out to the regular fire service.

As we have seen from the stupidity of the home guard and their misuse of AW bombs and later off loading them, it does appear that there was a real risk of self inflicted injury as an aside to anything the Germans dropped from above.

One example below from the 7th August 1942 Norwood Press and Dulwich Advertiser shows how one hapless lecture resulted in burns injury to an instructor after throwing burning phosphorus into a fire! With fools like this it is a wonder as to how Britain kept going and managed to fan the flames from self inflicted defeat.

One of the key revelations in the Sandwell Local Plan which was only revealed by the authority at the 11th hour is that SMBC had entered a formal protocol, a “memorandum of understanding” with Rattlechain Redevelopments Limited as well as the “charity” known as the CRT- once again an apparent reboot homage to the corrupt cabal goings on of the late 1980’s and the Black Country Development Corporation. This was unsigned it is stated, and I made an FOI request in relation to that matter, which SMBC have once again refused as they did the bogus “environmental survey” that it was claimed had been undertaken before the massacre of trees this time last year.

This desperate attempt to make it look like something had evolved 14 years after the previous examination in 2011, (when nothing has), is underpinned by the fact that the council state they had not even signed it- a farcical home goal that hopefully the inspector at the examination will have seen through like everyone else.

The refusal came after the examination, and I predicted they would refuse it as they had the previous request. An internal review has now delivered the same, so I have complained to the ICO about this insidious backroom dealings of planning policy and who and in what role these dealings are conducted.

It is concerning that there is job swap between individuals working at Sandwell council in this department and private developers, and vice versa, as if they are being planted to gain knowledge by the latter industry. This sham of job swap between public and private sector should be outlawed in my opinion, and we have seen it before with those involved in regulation at the Environment Agency and other public sector bodies.

It is not the first time I have challenged public sector bodies and won with the ICO, such as the landmark request where the CHaIRS group minutes revealed discussion about rattlechain lagoon, and how several bodies had collaborated to cover up the genuine concerns about birds being poisoned by an industry these useless fucking bastards had failed to bring into line. It only showed their incompetence for what it was and “expert” I am afraid is a phrase which does not equate with public sector quangos.

Another challenged FOI to The Food and Environment Research Agency, (FERA), showed how one VLA, (now APHA), individual actually fucking named me in trying to stop me finding out phosphorus levels in a poisoned bird! So much for their neutrality and protection of corrupt industrial polluters. Economic interest is what these parasites are about, as are their political backers.

No, the civil service don’t want the public to find out the truth about private company poisoners do they?

I am not the only one concerned about Sandwell Council and their FOI responses and attempting to hide behind exemptions like the one used in this case. Community activist Darryl Magher has written a piece about financial matters which is of interest. Environmental campaigner The Reverend Paul Cawthorne has also submitted FOIS to SMBC about rattlechain and got the run around revelation.

We shall see what develops if you’ll excuse the pun and hopefully the ICO will agree with me that the public interest test of this outweighs the crap that the council are using about future intent, THEY HAVE HAD 14 YEARS TO DO SOMETHING, FROZEN IN STONE LIKE A STATUE- AT SOME POINT THERE HAS TO BE AN END. 

Scenes in and around rattlechain lagoon during the recent freeze

I usually produce an annual calendar highlighting the manmade damage that the local chemical industry inflicted (and still does) on the Oldbury/Tipton area, but this year I’ve decided to champion something that they will never destroy- NATURE. 

For all the poisonous crap that Albright and Wilson and Rhodia dumped into the lagoon, for all the shite of industry that the Hurst Family and others dumped around and on top of that to make profit on the adjoining land, for all the “crap sites for residential” that Barratt Homes built, THEY FAILED. THEY FAILED because their plans failed to stop nature, its unpredictable resilience, tenacity and agents guided to protect it against their unscrupulous plans.

Despite the toxic crap, plants have grown back, wildlife has returned in the most unlikely places and the flap of a tiny butterflies wings have heralded the turn of the tide.

The small blue butterfly, and established colony off Temple Way

So the area despoiled by the chemical industry and polluted by conmen “regenerators” has had other ideas, much more simple but infinitely more powerful than any pathetic politician fronting a quango talking about “growth”. NATURE will always fight back, it will silence liars who claim to be “environmental consultants” but are just developer cocksuckers, it will foil policy planners who are the same, and it will outlast any toxic nuggets that man dumped in folly, to be a place where things can live.

Below are some examples of flora and fauna of the area in question, some of them now on the red list making a complete mockery of the nonsense about this area being of low conservation value as those who only are interested in house building avarice or their agents try to portray.

Sheepwashrattlechaintempleway calendar 2026

It’s not just the chemicals that these scumbags made that was toxic in the community- some of their staff were outright wrong-uns and convicted criminals.

We have seen lags like The seaman saboteur  James Pinel and metal thief Ernest Sulley   disgracing Trinity Street Towers, and of course AW had a long line of environmental convictions as a company.

But in an apparent homage to the withering of Mrs Gunns’s bush from The Oldbury smell fame, one chemical engineer in question in 1986 nicked some unnamed acid- most likely phosphoric, from the Trinity Street stores.

The 21st January 1987 Sandwell Evening Mail reveals that Mr Telebak had ‘alf inched some acid from his employers and pursued a neighbourly feud against a man proud of his raspberry plants, no doubt turning them yellow after a tipple.

He was fined £50 and discharged if you’ll excuse the pun also being “reprimanded” by his employers allegedly. AW liked to pride themselves as being “good neighbours” with its pathetic sycophantic  “residents committee” consisting of those well connected to the company or even employed by them FFS! Obviously some employees at least like this one were representative of their real demeanour in the community.

As we take a break for a while with matters relating to current events in the area, it is worth a reminder of the different types of waste that Albright and Wilson, as well as other polluting chemical industrial outlets in the Oldbury vicinity pumped out via their manufacturing folly. Much of this was dutifully removed by “people of the road” and often “people of the boat” in Rattlechain lagoon waste tipping terms.

Chemical waste was everywhere, but “scrap machinery” and pipework was another waste material that was lanced from Trinity Street when it had outlived its purpose. That contaminated material also had significant consequences in how it was dealt with, or not as this case from the 15th November 1962 Birmingham Daily Post reveals.

AW had flogged off scrap to local tatters, but is was contaminated with their deadly chemical phosphorus waste. Mr Mole had been disposing of said steel pipework when it exploded in his face causing burns and injuries.

AW contested the claim against them and were not found liable by the judge, and yet the question remains as to how and why they should get away with disposing of material such as this with such gay abandon and the lack of regulations in them being able to do this without censure. Mr Mole received his cut, but AW found dumps like Rattlechain and the Gower Tip easier avenues to dump “scrap material” instead. Lying beneath the water and soil are large amounts of barrels, pipework and scrap machinery all contaminated with the same material that caused the burns here.

Rattlechain ESID report (Conceptual model Environmental setting and installation design report) URS

At page 3 paragraph 1 1.2 Introduction “Installation Details.”

“Historically a variety of waste types were deposited, including chemical drums containing phosphatic muds. It is thought that some drums containing wastes with up to 1% phosphorus, may have been dumped annually until 1995. The historical disposal of solid material such as chemical waste and scrap machinery has also been reported. URS 2002.”

This is a guest blog post by local campaigner Darryl, active in the community in relation to environmental concerns and issues surrounding “reclamation” of contaminated land, in particular the so called “Friar Park Urban Village”, much lorded by the WMCA mayors and politicians of all major parties whose support of this is highly questionable. I have said my piece about this site which can be read HERE. 

It emerged in The Sandwell local Plan, that this site as well as land off and including Rattlechain lagoon had been given the status of “strategic sites” by Sandwell Council, and an attempt no doubt to extort tax payers money out of cleaning up private land the polluter did not pay to do- in this case the disgusting polluter Severn Trent Water. The Matter 9 site allocations council statement about Friar Park can be read between pages  9-13 of the document below.

Sandwell_Council_Matter_9_statement

This is not the first time I have thrown the doors open to guest blogs about damaging sites in the community and “remediation” gone wrong stories. If you would like to tell your story of similar issues and it concerns contaminated land, landfill sites and the effect on communities, YOUR COMMUNITY, then please get in touch via our facebook page. If you disagree with his opinion, why, and what evidence can you offer? 

OPINION BY DARRYL MAGHER

How FPUV, Rattlechain, the A4031/M6 corridor and a blinkered MP are steering Sandwell into a perfect storm.

Well, we seem to have been here before and are going around in circles. 🙄 It is now becoming as farcical as an episode of Allo Allo.

Just a quick recap. The Black Country Core Strategy set out to define housing/employment /green space provision for the region. This then became The Black Country Plan. That was then pulled when Dudley council through a wobbly. Local authorities then produced their own plan, including the Sandwell Local Plan, of which the examination has just finished and the inspector appointed by The Secretary of State is now mulling over.

Despite this, Richard Parker has now via the combined authority appeared to present another new chapter, and it is difficult to see at present if this supercedes the local plans or how it fits into that strategy, or if this is just the original Black Country Core Strategy to include bankrupt Birmingham and Coventry?

So all hail the “Spatial development strategy” (SDS).

This latest con job, and we will come to it, is just another example of what I call “The theft model”

Here we have three wheels, all dependent on one another and cyclical in that they last around 25-30 years before the exercise is reused and a new generation is gaslit again by the same political propaganda that The Combined Authority is using here. Before this we saw the Black Country Development Corporation do the same thing, and before that the creation of the municipal boroughs in the 1970’s.

Generation is used to prop up business- the interests of the political class where they invest all of their money. The worst type of politician, which is most of them, are from the business sector. They gamble high stakes with your money.

Then the part they are most silent on, the degeneration which is mostly engineered by them to set up Act Three. This could be a stock market crash or other panic where somehow it all goes wrong and areas become “brownfield land”.

The third part is the payoff of the sting, the “regeneration“. We never have explained to us how it all went wrong, or how there came to be “no money left”, but the usual trick between Labour and Conservatives is blame the other. It is this two party state fraud that has seen the creation of the WMCA and the position of mayors- a body and position voted for by no one. There is no difference between Andy Street and Richard Parker. 

Vast amounts of public money are falsely claimed to be being returned to portioned areas like “The West Midlands”, and yet this body itself is now taking away money from your council tax for doing fuck all. They even plan to go on strike– well goo on then, and make it permanent because you do nothing and are an example of useless civil servant parasites who are still probably hiding from someone coughing by shirking from home whilst the rest of us in the private sector can justify our jobs.

You can view the new SDS survey below, and this is where all “Rattlechainers” need to act to ensure this latest consultation rejects housing in this area. You have until Friday, 12 December to take part. 

Have Your Say Today – West Midlands: Spatial Development Strategy – Commonplace

A “community questionnaire” link is here. 

A more important map placing exercise for Sandwell can be viewed HERE. This gives an opportunity to place green dots on a map of Sandwell. Please do if you want to save green space place the dots on Rattlechain lagoon, the land off Macdonald Close and Sheepwash Local Nature Reserve.

You can see that some people have already, and you can also read the comments, but let’s turn this area green to replace every tree that was ripped out! Why is the place important to you as it is? This is an opportunity to engage so please do not waste it when it takes less than a minute! 

I am afraid that the jury is out on this latest tasking event, and I do not buy the shpeel below either.

To me this is a political powerplay by the mayor in an attempt to usurp local plans and force the Conservative Walsall, Dudley and Solihull boroughs to give up more so called “green belt” land. This is not such a bad thing in that regard, but the Labour Government’s ludicrous housing targets and direct assault on nature via their Planning and Infrastructure Bill is a wrecking ball for any green space left in Sandwell. WE MUST ENGAGE ON THIS AND EVERY OTHER PHONEY CONSULTATION THEY REGURGITATE  IN FRONT OF US, BECAUSE VOTER APATHY AND LOW PARTICIPATION WILL NOT SAVE ANYTHING AND THAT IS WHAT THEY ARE BANKING ON. 

This third and final week of the Sandwell Local Plan examination was about specific policy areas and their soundness and was conducted online instead of in the council chamber. I had never used Microsoft Teams before so had a practice before the day in question to get used to the application.

Unfortunately, I cannot find that these meetings were recorded as with the previous council chamber webcasts, as there is no record of them in that library.

The specific areas I had commented on were policies SNE1 and SNE2 relating to environmental and habitat issues and policy SCO3 on contaminated land. These areas are obviously key to Rattlechain Lagoon and the ludicrous scheme to use this “void” for filling in waste from a polluter that has never paid on adjacent land.

As with the other days, the inspector had specific matters and issues and invited comments for hearing statements. These areas had already been looked at in some depth in week two, but this overarching policy overlapped this specific site.

Matter 4 concerned natural and historic environment policies. The hearing statement I made for this can be viewed below.

Sandwell Plan matter 4

At the hearing session , the council finally admitted “human error” in relation to failing to recognise Sheepwash as a local nature reserve in 2015, even though they were in full knowledge that it had been designated many years earlier. I expressed concern at this and arguments were made concerning the status of sites and if existing sites would be protected or face deletion.

I did not believe that The Fens pool Nature Reserve or Cannock extension canal were relevant to the Sandwell local plan. In terms of the former, I am aware through a former warden that the designation of this site was based on the great crested newts there, though the way in which Dudley Council and now the CRT have mismanaged it for many years undermines its status, making it questionable if it should have elevated importance above those within Sandwell’s own borders.

There was discussion again around the nature recovery map and its effectiveness when the council were considering overwriting housing in this area.

The discussion on BNG sites in policy SNE2 revealed that Sheepwash had been ruled out by Sandwell planning policy because there were additional site owners such as Network rail. I have to say I find this absurd. I made it clear at the week two hearing that Sheepwash had significantly been mismanaged for years with more interest put into Sandwell Valley and green flag parks, and this omission was yet more evidence in it being blacklisted for spurious reasons. By far over 95% of the site is SMBC owned.

I looked in greater depth as to the inadequacies if the Lepus consulting study BNG sites in this post.

Matter 11 and policy SCO3 concerns contaminated land. My submission in relation to this matter and issues the inspector had can be viewed below.

sandwell plan matter 11

It is clear that there are concerns about how policy is shaped in relation to the current National Planning Policy Framework and its paragraphs, something I realised as this matter unfolded. The theory of “clean up” and responsibility and whose it is has consistently failed across the country and in Sandwell it has unravelled significantly at sites I mentioned such as The Millpool.

Without the polluter paying, without a clear direction that the council can “satisfactorily” guarantee no harm will come to future users is part of the problem, and I think the inspector got that. The wording of a policy is almost part of the problem in that the idea of turning contaminated land into housing is a very bad idea to start with.

This is why I stated that all former landfill sites be removed from residential site allocations within the plan and their acceptance that future risk outweighs built development upon them. 

How do you solve a problem like “the mere”?

BR7P51 Aerial view of white phosphorus chemical waste disposal in Rattlechain Lagoon, St John’s Lane, Tividale, Sandwell, England, Britain, Uk