If its nasty stick it in the nearest drain - Biosphere?

I don’t generally do requests but I get an email about the leachate issue from Trevor Cowin of Peel one of a range of matters he is pursuing with various organs of government. Apparently he’s is not making much headway with the Chief Ministers Office. This surprises me as I generally get a fairly expeditious response from HQ (or someone he delegates it to) perhaps I don’t bother them that much.

Initially I’m loath to write on the matter but then casting around it seems there are all manner of consultations the government urge us to respond to and yet when someone wants to consult the other way they seem to get ‘the bums rush’ (so to speak).

I’m curious about this leachate issue anyway after all it's been around for sometime. I can remember when the Raggett tip was established ‘a super tip’ we were told - ‘engineered’ like that abortion festering out at Poortown - then it started leaking. I suppose the government needed a short term fix and as just about everything else was going in the sea then it must have seemed logical to just haul it to Peel and sling it down a drain.

However times have moved on. We have biosphere status now that everyone not least the old barbeque king himself the member for Peel Geoff Boot MHK is always going on about,

We have Bill Dale and his crusaders on the go not just on beaches but inland soon he’ll have a crew mopping the floors in government offices at night - the legal or financial fraternity can all pop up from Athol Street and do a shift.

You even feel guilty these days if you turn up in the supermarket and you’ve forgotten your ‘bag for life’ - especially if the customer behind is one of those 4X4 driving sloane’s who has a purpose made rafia bag made by some poor bugger in SE Asia getting 10p an hour.

Meanwhile Peel is still bilge city where it's perfectly appropriate to park a tanker containing thousands of gallons of gunge over a manhole and sling it in. Its really not on.

Anyway now I’ve got that of my chest Trevor Cowins email is below. However if I was him I would simply pop in to the CMs suite and ask can he have a word with Howard about the delay - after all as the great man often says he is approachable and I for one have no reason to disbelieve him:

“Dear Mr Quayle

I refer to my e-mail to you below of the 2nd August 2018 below.

It is now over 12 months since I wrote to you, at the suggestion of the Attorney General, and asked you to arrange for an investigation to be carried out into my allegations of offences under the Water Pollution Act. I’m still waiting to be advised –

(a) whether such investigation has been carried out; and
(b) if it has been carried out what the findings of the investigation are.

It is becoming apparent, sadly, from my dealings with many Departments across the Isle of Man Government, including in particular the Cabinet Office, that a course of conduct exists towards dealing with cogent, focused and valid arguments and criticism of Government Departments and its Ministers and Officers by members of the public, which is to attempt to stifle those representations by refusing to respond in an attempt to snuff out that criticism. That flies in the face of open, transparent, accountable Government; and if such an unwritten policy is developing it is unlawful and is the enemy of open democracy and open justice.

Your failure to reply to my e-mails, your failure to inform me whether or not an investigation has been completed and, if it has, your failure to inform me of the findings of any such investigation, are clear examples of the course of conduct which I’m referring to.

Hopefully, in the light of these comments you will let me have the information which I seek by return.

But, take notice that, if you fail to do so I will make a complaint against you under the Cabinet Office Complaints Procedure which deals with complaints from persons who –

(a) are not satisfied with the standard of service they have received;
(b) have not received a service you think should be available to them;
(c) feel that they have not been treated with respect.
all of which criteria is satisfied because of your failures referred to above.

Kind regards

Trevor Cowin”

Related link: IOM Newspaper report from a year ago

http://www.iomtoday.co.im/article.cfm?id=35909&headline=AG%2520backs%252...

Bernard Moffatt