'IT WOULD BE NICE TO SHOOT DAINTON DOWN'
What confidential documents revealed about Welbeck Landfill site protester
A campaigner claims the operators of a controversial huge tip in Wakefield planned a personal smear campaign against him.
Paul Dainton says he was targeted as president of Residents Against Toxic Scheme.
Waste Recycling Group, lease-holders of the Welbeck landfill site at Normanton, say the information held about him was simply a record of the interest he had expressed in the site and was not compiled as part of any campaign.
But Mr Dainton said he discovered personalised comments when he wrote to the operators of the Welbeck reclamation and landfill site requesting information stored about him.
Under the Data Protection Act, individuals are entitled to see any information retained by companies containing personal details.
He was shocked to receive 300 pages. It would be nice to shoot down Dainton on the question of health impact of gas flaring, said one file. Another document referred to eroding the credibility of Paul Dainton .
He said: I am absolutely flabbergasted that any firm could hold 300 pages of information about anyone.
The content of it is very anti-Paul Dainton and it has a very personal nature. It is not an attack on RATS (Residents Against Toxic Scheme).
The documents show Waste Recycling Group believe Mr Dainton is wrong in his criticism of the Welbeck landfill site. He has campaigned tirelessly against the Welbeck tip for two years on behalf of RATS, claiming Welbeck is Europe s largest toxic tip.
Referring to the pile of documents received under the Data Protection Act, he added: There are letters which mention me personally and make inferences about me influencing local community leaders.
From the outset, RATS have only been there to protect the environment and local people s health, and in particular the health of unborn children.
One memo among documents sent to Mr Dainton, 56, by the company said: Dainton is wrong as usual in his allegations. Dainton mixes up waste incineration with the flaring of landfill gas.They are not linked in any way.
It would be nice to shoot down Dainton on the question of health impact of gas flaring, but I don t know of any helpful statistics.Perhaps our gas partners could help?
The memo ends: I do think it is important to respond directly to (blanked out) on the issue of what we are going to do with the gas as Dainton wants to make this something to run and run another of his great myths!
Paul Tomes, managing director of Waste Recycling Group (Yorkshire region) said: Due to Mr Dainton s extensive involvement and interest with the site, and as president of RATS, the company inevitably held a lot of data which we were obliged to supply under the Data Protection Act. The information held was not compiled as part of any campaign against Mr Dainton. Mr Tomes added: As a responsible company we keep records of all issues connected with the operation of our landfill sites.
He added: If there is any particular point in the set of documents we supplied to Mr Dainton that he feels may require clarification, then he should seek to clarify this with the company.
Mr Tomes said: We do not understand why there is an issue regarding the company visiting the Wakefield Express chat room. The web is a public area and the company therefore, can, and will, view any site that it considers may be relevant to its business.
Mr Dainton was served with two injunctions by Welbeck s operators last year. In March 2000 he was banned from the Welbeck site by Waste Management Ltd.The ban will last for the lifetime of the tip.
He was also banned from revealing details about the lease of the Welbeck site contained in a confidential document, to the press.
The Welbeck saga began in 1998 when RATS discovered Welbeck was allowed to accept polluted waste such as arsenic, mercury, asbestos and cyanide.
In October 1999 demonstrators staged a protest outside the Normanton landfill to turn rubbish-laden lorries away from the site. In June 2000, Welbeck officials declared a visitor day a great success.
Over 100 people attended the 12th annualmeeting of RATS at the Lee Brig Club, Altofts, this week, when details of the Dainton files were revealed.
Part of the Dainton Dossier ...
Documents from which confidential information has been deleted or obscured, include Waste Recycling Group s communications programme January to April 2000, which states: To create a positive perception of the landfill site by highlighting the need for it, educating the surrounding communities about what goes on at the site, and the longer term benefits for the community from the restoration programme.
Also to erode the credibility of Paul Dainton from RATS and correcting the misinformation circulated by him.
The documents also refer to Wakefield Express coverage of the Welbeck site.
One page said the group planned to access the Wakefield Express web site to monitor opinions voiced by Paul Dainton in the on-line chat room, without the group being identified.
Referring to the on-line chat facility, the fax by an unknown author said: I am sure Dainton will be unable to resist using it.
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