Helped by 2,000 protest letters from readers, the Leicester Mercury has succeeded in stopping rubbish dumping on a famous First World War battlefield site.

Thousands of British men – including 500 from Leicestershire – lost their lives near the northern French village of Auchy les Mines.

The newspaper broke the story of the field on Monday, November 8, revealing how the landowner had started to dump rubbish after apparently receiving permission from the local mayor.

But following a huge campaign, just a week later the newspaper has been able to report that the landowner involved has agreed to stop tipping and restore the site with trees.

In the intervening period a huge campaign involving local MPs, Euro MPs and sister titles the Stoke Sentinel, Derby Evening Telegraph, Nottingham Evening Post and Lincolnshire Echo, had put pressure on the British and French governments and the mayor of the village.

Leicester MP Keith Vaz tabled a Commons motion and county MP David Taylor raised the matter in the House.

The other regional titles ran with their own versions of the story, since the North Midlands Division was heavily involved in the battle.

Some 2,000 Mercury readers signed a letter to the mayor published by the newspaper in French and posted them back, often with their own poignant memories of relatives who died in the battle in 1915. The remains of many of the dead soldiers were never recovered from the site.

An open letter to President Jacques Chirac from Leicester Mercury editor Nick Carter was also published on the paper’s front page, and it is now planning a special pullout supplement with the names of all the readers who joined the battlefield campaign.

Mercury editor Nick Carter said: “This was a classic combined operation that linked the mass support of our readers with sustained political pressure from local MPs and Euro MPs.

“We knew from the disgusted reaction of everyone who found out what was happening that we had to stop the work. Now there is a possibility that the site will get a proper memorial to the men who died there.”

Back to the campaigns index

Do you have a story about the regional press? Ring 0116 227 3122/3121, or
e-mail [email protected]