Air pollution is an invisible killer. Across the UK, 30,000 lives are cut short every year, costing the NHS and the economy more than GBP 27 billion. Wisbech, at the heart of the Fens, faces a double threat: deprivation, the looming impact of the Medworth incinerator and 2000 additional HGVs per week on an infrastructure already creaking under the strains or underfunded lack of precision planning. Our solution is simple and affordable. Community-powered air monitoring can protect families, safeguard farming, and hold polluters accountable. Download the full PDF report for detailed reference
Compact monitors costing under GBP 200 can be installed in schools, farms, housing estates, public venues, roadsides, and even tractor cabs across Fenland. This provides a full network, not the limited ground zero approach proposed under the MVV DCO. Their plan fails to address the 25-mile spread of toxins from the incinerator. This solution is practical and preventative, avoiding the cost and harm of hindsight when health and safety are already compromised. Monitors send data automatically to a central hub, which collates results, maps exposure, and issues live public alerts. Residents can check postcode-level data instantly. Councils, the Environment Agency, DEFRA, and Health & Safety receive threshold alarms, creating clear accountability and triggering intervention. This approach is consistent with ECHR obligations, which guarantee protection from harm and the right to a safe environment. To deny such monitoring is to breach Articles 2, 3, 5, 9 and 10 — and invites legal enforcement.
Wisbech in North Cambridgeshire, a town of 30,000, has long been known for fresh food production but remains one of the most deprived in the UK. Infrastructure is weak, unemployment is high, and healthcare is limited, with residents relying on Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Kings Lynn, rated in the lowest quartile for quality. In 2022 the Department for Environment granted a Development Consent Order to MVV, authorising the largest incinerator in Europe on the edge of town. Campaigners and the Local Authorities raised GDP 188,000 to appeal, but the case was dismissed without a hearing because of judicial procedure. Construction began in 2025. Less than a kilometre from the largest school which is soon to be joined by a new school again within close proximity. The plant’s twin 300-foot chimneys will release PM1 and PM2.5 particles, spreading up to 25 miles and affecting tens of thousands. If you think it will not affect you but you live within the radius THINK AGAIN BECAUSE IT WILL.
Health impact: 30,000 early deaths per year in the UK (RCP 2025, Prof Chris Whitty, Heart / Lung / Asthma U.K.). Economic cost: £27 billion annually in avoidable harm. Local danger: The MVV incinerator, with 300ft chimneys, will spread toxins up to 25 miles. Agricultural threat: Even a 5% retailer pullback on Fenland produce risks millions in lost revenue.
THIS IS THE DATA WE CANNOT FORGET - This project is ready to roll out. The technology exists. The costs are modest. The stakes are life, health, and liberty. To delay is to be complicit. To endorse is to act in line with duty, science, and law. Stand Up for Wisbech calls on DEFRA, the Environment Agency, local authorities, and elected representatives: endorse and fund this monitoring network within 90 days. Help us to take The Fenlands into a future where health and personal security are not left to chance, profiteers options, shareholders and balance sheets. We are all facing an uncontrollable mix of overwhelming odds to help the residents of our town, our area embrace at least one surety that of clean air not one of DISADVANTAGE AND SHORTEND ODDS
The MVV option is wide of the mark given the implications