1JI

You can still Canvey Island cows munching quietly in the flat and apparently unending meadows.

Birds twitter in the hedgerows and the wind rustles the spring leaves of trees in the gardens of slumbering, detached, middle-class homes.

But every few minutes this idyllic calm is shattered by the crash and roar of giant red Texaco oil tankers belching their way in clouds of choking diesel smog to the mainland.

Where post-war residents once looked out over the lonedrive to and see -11-. ly flat seascape of this tiny Thames island, unsightly squatbellied storage tanks obliterate the view.

Not far away the historic tranquillity of the night sky is ended in the ever-blazing beacon of the methane gas centre Now, despite the protests of individuals and local authorities, Environment Minister Geoffrey Rippon has ruled that two oil refineries may be built on Canvey.

This will mean that exactly half the island's 4,000 acres will be given over to gas and oil, while in the other half 28,000 people will live under à pall of smoke and smells. The town campaigned once before, back in 1964, to stop Agip, a subsidiary of the Italian state oil company ENI, from setting up a refinery. Their protests were so successful that Agip were unable to start building before planning limits expired and they were forced to back out.

Now, in his latest decision, Rippon has given the go-ahead for a £45m. 4 million-ton refinery to ENI's subsidiary United Refineries Ltd. On an immediately adjacent site Occidental Refineries are soon to begin work on a second complex.

Apart from the pollution and the fire risk, local people estimate that if the plans go forward oil tankers will be roaring on and off the island at the rate of one every oneand-a-half minutes.

But all of this, according to Monday Club member Rippon, is in the 'national interest' But is it in the local interest? The inhabitants of Canvey Island say very firmly 'No'.

Moreover they claim that Rippon has effectively disenfranchised them by trampling down the democratic expression of their opinion.

The island council said 'No' to the refineries: other Essex councils said 'No'. Over 12,000 people almost the entire adult population of Canvey-said 'No' in a monster petition.

Environment Ministry inspector K. M. Sargeant told Rippon the island was unsuitable for more refineries without destroying the amenities.

Overriding these views Rippon has run out the red carpet to the oil giants.

A large number of the testers are workers fror nearby Ford's and Tilbury docks. In fact Canvey used to be popularly known as Ford Island.

Up • to the last war it remained a thinly - populated country haven for retired members of the middle-class, many • of whom followed the advice of the Dutch engineers who reclaimed Canvey from the sea and built themselves light wooden bungalows on piers.

They were surrounded by farms, the air was pure and the sailing was good.

After the war Canvey became even more popular with the middle class as a weekend retreat, and in the boom years of the 1950s and early 1960s workers moved there from central London.

Oil Refineries Resistance Committee public relations officer George Whatley is typical. He came from Tooting. I came here to get out of the dirt, he told me.

Today his home looks out over green fields to the Thames. Soon the view will be transformed by a steel and concrete forest of tanks and masts belching out deadly fumes night and day.

Committee treasurer's wife Mrs Val Smith told me: 'My son's got asthma and I came here for the air. 'But there's sulphur in oil— and that's a chest aggravant. A lot of people here will suffer if these refineries are built.' George and Linda Watson CANVEY JIAN?

moved to Canvey from London liked wears ago because they the look of the fields and the horses.

But said Linda: 'The builders have moved in now. Where they want to build those refineries is about the only land left.' Added Mr Watson: 'We feel so helpless. We're at the mercy of the oil magnates. What can we do?' Hundreds of highly - paid Placards everywhere voice Islanders' protest to the oil men. Above left: workers moved out of London Texaco oil tankers thunder along the Island's tiny streets. Above right: George Whatley (left) with other members of the 'Oil Refineries Resiswith their families seeking a slice of the good life, only to tance Committee'. Top right: The fields and the storage depot.

DADDY! WHY DOES THE MONSTER KEEP EATING ALL THE TREES, CRASS P DDETTV tIN InC ON CANVEY .; - find that for the workin there can be no Shangri ia.. especially if it happens to lie in the path of profit.

As Mrs Smith said: 'They want to turn Canvey Island into an oil refinery:

I hIs 1S undoubtedly true. ._J...LL-11.

Capitalist big business plans to develop the lower reaches of the Thames at the expense of old London.

Canvey Island and the surrounding area is earmarked as a modern fuel centre and there are already oil refineries, wharves and storage depots at Coryton, the Isle of Grain, Shell Haven. Cliff and Thurrock.

The centre is close to new dock developments at Tilbury and the rail, sea, air terminal at Maplin. Europe is not far away and major industries like Ford's are nearby on Thameside.

In the lower reaches of the Thames industry can build new from scratch and escape the constraints and congestion of the old city. To Canvey Islanders the only meaning of fuel centre is fire.

Said Mrs Whatley: 'We all warned them about Aberfan. Now all those poor kids are dead. They have no right to ao unis to us. thir ....

Apart from oil and gas there is also danger from ammunition loaded into ships off Chapman Poin..

Fires and explosions could mean the deaths of scores of people - especially since although there are two roads on and off the island these meet at a single narrow bottle neck roundabout.

Two demonstrations blocking these roads have been staged against the refineries. and in the process two men have been arrested. Now the island council plans to fight their case in the High Court.

Said Mr Whatley: Our democratic rights are al stake on Canvey: Rippon is saying that this country needs oil more than 28,000 peop e need safetv.

John McLean, the Scottish workers' leader remained unaffected by the war hysteria that swept the left in 1914. He agitated against the imperialist slaughter and hailed the Bolshevik revolution in 1917. But he overlooked the necessity to build a revolutionary party in Britain. In part three of this four-part tribute to McLean we examine his strength and weakness. NO SURKENUETS WHO ENTERS HERE