Residents Against SARP Pollution (RASP) was formed in June 1998 in response to two incidents of toxic gases escaping the SARP UK chemical plant in May 1998, in the town of

Killamarsh Killamarsh is a village and civil parish in North East Derbyshire, England, bordering Rotherham to the north and Sheffield to the north-west. Killamarsh is surrounded by, in a clockwise direction from the north, Rother Valley Country Park, th ...

on the border of

South Yorkshire South Yorkshire is a ceremonial and metropolitan county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. The county has four council areas which are the cities of Doncaster and Sheffield as well as the boroughs of Barnsley and Rotherham. In N ...

and

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...

, England. The campaign was formed by local residents and members of the

Socialist Party (England and Wales) The Socialist Party ( cy, Plaid Sosialaidd Cymru in Wales) is a Trotskyism, Trotskyist political party in England and Wales. Founded in 1997, it had formerly been Militant tendency, Militant, an Entryism, entryist group in the Labour Party (UK), ...

. The campaign eventually succeeded in forcing the closure of most of the SARP plant.

Formation of RASP

After a public meeting called by the

Ken Coates Kenneth Sidney Coates (16 September 1930 – 27 June 2010) was a British politician and writer. He chaired the Bertrand Russell Peace Foundation and edited ''The Spokesman'', the BRPF magazine launched in March 1970. He was a Labour Party Memb ...

MEP, who was invited to speak, called for further meetings, which gave rise to the campaign, and also set up an independent inquiry into the site. The year-long campaign involved marches and rooftop protests. RASP protesters even travelled to SARP's headquarters in France to protest.

Victory

The campaigners eventually won the closure of six of the seven sections of the site in late 1999, with the local council looking at siting non-toxic recycling processes on the site.

Campaign Officers

Chair - Kevin Jones
Secretary - Faye Moran
Treasurer - Pat Whitehouse
Vice Chair - Roger Barraclough
Membership Secretary - Samantha Martin
Press Officer - John Moran
Campaigns Officer - Alistair Tice
Legal Officer - Bev Smith
Youth Organisers - Tracey Nettleship, Emma Horsford
Publicity Officer - Trevor Cockerill

Contacts for the Townships:-

Beighton - Dave Milsom
Wales/Kiveton - Mike Sampson
Swallownest - Paul Marshall RASP Officers from RASP website
- retrieved 17 August 2007

References

{{reflist

External links

Environmental organisations based in England Environment of South Yorkshire Environment of Derbyshire