‘The fires cannot continue, polluting the air and putting the health and wellbeing of Rainham residents at risk of harm.’

We formed Clear The Air in Havering in the first place in order to protect those who are amongst the most vulnerable to the impacts of air pollution in Havering.

Campaigner Ruth Kettle-Frisby writes in the Havering Daily on why her and other local residents have formed a group that are now taking legal action against Havering Council over the toxic landfill site in Launders Lane. Ruth is a lady whose mission to give Havering residents the right to clean air and her determination in this battle has seen her now take this legal action against Havering Council.

When I attended the initial Launders Lane Crisis meetings in Rainham, my heart broke to hear desperate residents at their wits end because of the ongoing fires causing their children and loved ones to suffer, restricting their lives to the point they couldn’t even open their windows or go outside. 

I was there to listen and to see what I could do to support you as a founding member of both Clear The Air in Havering and Havering Climate Coalition. 

I heard your demands on the council and sent the leader of the council, Ray Morgon, an open letter on behalf of Havering Climate Coalition demanding action, which – combined with everything they were hearing from residents at the Crisis group meetings – led to soil sampling and regular resident updates.

Despite this progress, as was always inevitable, the constantly smouldering Arnolds Field caught fire repeatedly during the summer as it had done in previous years. 

The Launders Lane Crisis reached the point of an emergency a long time ago and action is well overdue. The fires cannot continue, polluting the air and putting the health and wellbeing of Rainham residents at risk of harm. 

We formed Clear The Air in Havering in the first place in order to: protect who are among the most vulnerable to the impacts of air pollution in Havering; to address misinformation about air pollution; and to promote clean air initiatives.

I proceeded to stand in Hornchurch with a charity bucket to raise money for the Launders Lane Crisis Group, and to contact the London mayor’s office. I also contacted Mums for Lungs, a brilliant charity of which I’m a member. Founder, Jemima Hartshorn got it instantly. When I told her about the back and forth between the landowner and the council about who will take responsibility, and preplanning applications, Jemima said: “when your house is on fire you put it out”.

Mums for Lungs put me in touch with a brilliant woman from Urban Health called Olamide Raheem. During the summer, with the fires inevitably raging and nothing being done, she put me in touch with Margherita Cornaglia and Christina Chambers from legal firm Mishcon de Reya LLP – finally it felt like we were getting somewhere.

The first question I asked Margherita and Christina is if they’d been in touch with Rainham residents including the Crisis group. They informed me that they had for some time but residents, for their own reasons, had elected not to make claims against the council at that stage. 

Taking Havering Council to court is a last resort in what is without doubt an ongoing intolerable crisis. We needed to act fast within three months of Havering Council announcing publicly their decision not to designate the land as contaminated, and we hope that Havering Council will recognise their responsibility before this gets to court.

The action we are taking is a specific challenge to the way the decision not to designate Launders Lane as contaminated land was made. We and the lawyers think it was made taking the wrong information into consideration and not properly assessing the effect on public health. It does not preclude other action from being taken, such as a group claim or another claim against the council or the Environment Agency.  

Indeed, the whole point of this claim is to start making the council pay proper attention to its legal obligations to protect its citizens – if we are successful it will be a win for all of us, and will show the council they have to take us seriously. 

This action is in my name, and while I am not remotely well off, when acting on behalf of our unaffiliated organisation, I am protected from legal costs and have found myself in the position to actually do something to help.

We believe it was the right thing to do for Rainham residents, especially children who are among the most vulnerable in this scandalous public injustice. 

We welcome you on board to be part of what we’re doing if you have the time, energy and resources to do so. Nobody with any responsibility is committing to putting out these terrible fires, but together we can clean up Launders Lane. 

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