The row over the Peak Cluster pipeline says something bigger about Cheshire and the wider North West.
We all say we want cleaner industry and lower emissions.
But the moment the infrastructure needed to achieve that appears on a map, the outcry begins.
Suddenly the answer from many quarters is not 'how do we do this properly?' but simply 'not here'.
That is understandable at a human level, but it is not good enough as public policy.
Industries such as cement and lime are not optional extras.
They are fundamental to construction, water treatment, manufacturing and national infrastructure.
The problem is that making them produces large amounts of carbon dioxide, including emissions that come from the limestone itself as part of the chemical process.
This is not just a matter of changing the fuel source and carrying on as normal.
That is why the debate needs more honesty and less posturing.
If people oppose the Peak Cluster scheme, fine. They are entitled to do so.
But they should also be clear about what they support instead. Do they want production moved elsewhere?
Do they want more transport impacts on roads and railways? Do they want Britain to import more of these materials and offshore the environmental burden?
Or do they simply hope that a perfect zero-carbon alternative will arrive before difficult decisions have to be made?
There are trade-offs whichever path is chosen. That is the point.
This is not a battle between good and evil.
It is a question of which set of compromises is more realistic, more honest and more manageable.
A pipeline crossing parts of our region is a serious matter and deserves detailed challenge.
But opposing it without offering a credible alternative is not a responsible position.
It risks looking less like environmental concern and more like an attempt to enjoy the benefits of modern industry while insisting all the inconvenient parts happen somewhere else.
Cheshire, Derbyshire, and the North West deserve a grown-up debate about this.
That means acknowledging the downsides of the pipeline, but also acknowledging that saying 'no' is easy.
Explaining what comes next is the hard part.
Richard Hoffmann, Cheshire
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