Amber Online

Cancer, lung disease, noise, breathing disorders, sleepless nights, the stench of rotten eggs, acid rain.

The catalogue of complaints about Monkton Cokeworks reads like an environmentalist's nightmare. Britain is moving into the era of green politics. But for Monkton residents, life in 1989 is more like the black era. It's not just black dirt and smoke. The blackness is in the mind too. "I've never had one hour's health. I used to say to my husband, if you don't get me out of here they're going to carry me out in a box," said one woman. When Monkton Lane estate was built in the 1950s, it was on the pledge that the coke works would be shut. And when in 1964 Lukes Lane estate sprang up it was against strong advice from government experts. But promises and ignored advice have left a community living in a state of environmental siege. "For 52 weeks a year it's a constant battle to keep abreast of the filth," said Mrs Ivy Turnbull of Melrose Avenue. James McCaffery of Hexham Avenue complained that water ran down the walls because gutters were clogged with dirt. Evelyn Wells told how she left the back door open while she was baking pies. "When I came back a fine dust had settled over them. They were ruined." Many residents can now only breathe with oxygen inhalers. They fear for their children.