A CAMPAIGNER who claims a cement works is polluting East Lancashire has been told to shut up by Government officials after 10 years of constant complaining.

The Environment Agency has told Mary Horner that it will ignore letters from her - and her immediate family - about Castle Cement's Ribblesdale Works near Clitheroe.

It claims her complaints have become annoying and she is impossible for it to satisfy. Mrs Horner today branded the decision totally wrong and was backed by Ribble Valley MP Nigel Evans, who insisted that the Agency had a duty to respond to complaints and concerns from the public.

Since the early 1990s, Mrs Horner, of Heights Farm, Bolton-by-Bowland, has written hundreds of complaints claiming smell, dust and haze has been produced by Castle Cement.

She also led the campaign against the burning of "hazardous" waste fuel Cemfuel at the site, which she claimed was back-door incineration of toxic chemicals.

The Agency is responsible for regulating environmentally-sensitive industries, as well as acting as a green watchdog for the public.

Details of the ban were reported to the Castle Cement liaison committee, made up of Ribble Valley Council, the company itself and the Environment Agency.

The minutes state: "The Environment Agency informed members that they would no longer be responding to the top complainant.

"This is following 10 years of complaints from this complainant whom the Environment Agency feel they cannot satisfy and consider a vexatious complainant."

A spokesman told the Lancashire Evening Telegraph: "This only happens on a rare occasion but we feel we have done the best we can to help the complainant resolve the issues raised.

"We will no longer respond to complaints about pollution or other issues from the complainant or her immediate family unless it is part of an authorised consultation."

Mrs Horner, whose land backs on to the Castle Cement site, said: "It is wrong that they can pick and choose who they speak to. Just because I have been more vocal than most, I apparently can no longer talk to them.

"It's brushing concerns under the carpet but they won't go away. They can't just tell me to shut up."

Mr Evans said: "The Environment Agency, as a Government body, has a duty to listen and respond to everyone who contacts them. They can't just pick and choose.

"She knows what she is talking about. She has devoted years of her life to this issue."

David Morris, chief executive of Ribble Valley Council, said: "Regrettably, we have to support the actions of the other parties."